Videogame Violence?

[Marc]

Oh, for crying out loud......Jack Thompson now wants an AO (Adults Only) rating for The Warriors, a game made by (you guessed it) Rockstar. Is it just me, or does it seem Thompson's vendetta is against Rockstar rather than games? As one http://www.cheatcc.com reader put it, "Rockstar could make 'Finding Nemo Part 2' and the guy would want it to have an AO rating."

According to Thompson, The Warriors is a 'murder simulator' that 'should not be sold to anyone' because it's obviously a 'public safety hazard'. Public safety hazard? It's a game based on a camp 70's movie, for God's sake!

It's pretty clear that Thompson is a certified loon. To make the kind of claims he does, you have to be insane.

[SYL]

Yet, so many people get teased or bullied and don't go on kill-crazy rampages. I suspect that any bullying or social alienation that the kind of perpetrators of which we are speaking experience might only be small fuel to a much greater psychological disturbance and not a "cause" at all.

This is of course true, and like everything else, it's not a "magic bullet" root cause of a problem. It can be a contributing factor, though, so it would be equally wrong to discount it.

[bigdaddyyum1]

if u dont want soem one to die then do somethign about it damit

[Marc]

if u dont want soem one to die then do somethign about it damit

I'm not seeing how that one works. You can't predict when some kid with a mental problem will get up and decide to kill his best friend with a hammer. So you can't exactly 'do something about it'. We don't live in Minority Report.

[EVERYTHING]

Excessive violence very well may deserve an AO rating. Does The Warriors deserve it? Maybe but I don't think anyone has seen enough to justify such a rating. But I'd rather see that games can get an AO rating from excessive violence then from a small amount of nudity/ sex IE GTA: SA now being AO because of a sex scene, when you can massacre hundreds of people in it.

You can't predict when some kid with a mental problem will get up and decide to kill his best friend with a hammer.

All of those mass murders show some kind of disturbing signs. It's about being willing to do something when you even think you see something wrong. Of course others believing what you say can be just as important in stopping them in time.

[Marc]

This is just too much.

I know I've said it already, but the above link proves Thompson should be wearing a strait-jacket. Another Fun Fact about Jack: He once accused Janet Reno of trying to play 'When the Saints Go Marching In' on a steel drum in her office.

He was apparently running against her for office in Florida, and started spreading so much crap about her that Miami started to stink.

When it came to the actual voting, Thompson got pwned.

All those mass murders show some kind of disturbing signs.

If we're still talking about video-game related violence here, then what 'mass murders' are you talking about? Some kids may have killed one person, but there have been no mass murders. That's just plain silly.

[Rhiannon]

I will admit I am more prone to do a violent act after playing a violent video game, and I bet most people are.

Less so. I often turn to video games when my anger/emotions boil up, or when I get extremely edgy/energetic. They actually solve as something that calms me down, especially when they're violent. One of my first instincts when I get angry/edgy like that is to turn on a game that will involve a lot of killing (in fact, I've told Andy "I just need to kill things for a while"). By the time I've played for a while, I've completely calmed down.

I will also note that I am not opposed to how women are depicted in video games, and I am a woman myself. Oh, I make jokes about how badly their breasts are rendered, and jokes about how scantily clad they are for their jobs sometimes, but I'm not in the least bit offended. I just think VG artists need to become a little bit more realistic in terms of female anatomy and form versus function.

I was raised with games all my life. Games never made me violent. My father's resorts to verbal violence with threats of physical violence leads me to be violent and bullyish at times, and I regret every moment that I lash out like that - but never once has a video game been my "inspiration" for violent things that I've done.

I don't even think there's such a thing as emotional abuse. I don't agree with the whole idea of "Words hurt as much as violence." It seems dumb to me.

This really isn't designed for this topic: but it does exist. I've been through it. Try imagining a childhood when your father did nothing but talk down to you, tell you you were bad at the things you actually excelled in, slander you behind your back (I was first called a bitch when I was 8 years old), and generally put you down 90% of the time he talked to or about you. It affects you.

If you want to talk about it more, start a new topic in this forum, or just PM me if you want to talk privately - but I'm welcoming the opportunity to discuss my experiences in the open with the rest of the forum in a topic designed to discuss emotional abuse. Leave this topic to the games, though.

[Shi Tong]

From reading the first post and a couple of the most recent posts here's my view:

If a game is rated 18, then that's what it is, it's 18, meaning that it's probably got violence and maybe has sex or whatever there is in there that is the same as the way they rate movies.

Most people would tell you that watching a violent film wont make you commit violent crimes, so why should that be different for video games?

I've been playing games all my life, I've played all sorts of games including beat em up's and shoot em up's, loads of games where I'm shooting someone or where I'm beating someone up, but I'm such a passive person in real life and I certainly dont commit violent acts on people.

If there is any influence from video games on people to perform acts of violence I would immagine it's the same kind of violence which can be commited through watching a film. I personally think that it's in the person to commit the violence, not in what games the person plays or films the person sees (within the guide lines of the ratings (12/15/18) etc.)

If there are "copy cat" killings or that sort of thing then I would immagine that's to do with the person being pretty violent in the first place, and if they didn't copy a game/ film then they'd be making it up themselves.

Question: since video games have been in existance has there been a rise in violent crime in teenagers who are playing the games or not? If there has, then maybe you can argue statistically they do make people more violent. If not, then I would suggest the opposite.

[Jimayo]

Question: since video games have been in existance has there been a rise in violent crime in teenagers who are playing the games or not? If there has, then maybe you can argue statistically they do make people more violent. If not, then I would suggest the opposite.

Fascinating article on the subject. I'd post it but it has graphs and everything:

http://gr.bolt.com/articles/violence/violence.htm

This article shows that violence in kids and teens has decreased during the video game age.

[Jordan]

Excessive violence very well may deserve an AO rating. Does The Warriors deserve it? Maybe but I don't think anyone has seen enough to justify such a rating. But I'd rather see that games can get an AO rating from excessive violence then from a small amount of nudity/ sex IE GTA: SA now being AO because of a sex scene, when you can massacre hundreds of people in it.

What's the point? As Maddox said-

-Titles that contain M (Mature) rating may be suitable for peoples 17 & older.

-Titles that contain AO (Adult Only) rating may be suitable for peoples 18 & older.

There's practically no difference. It's not like a 17 year old is going to get offended at purchasing something that an 18 year old can. And if he will get offended he can just not purchase it.

This article shows that violence in kids and teens has decreased during the video game age.

They're too busy playing. But I don't really think that videogames had any direct affect. Maybe it's just coincidence or general changes in society that is causing this change?