Videogame Violence?

[Asmodeous_9th]

This has always been a topic of interest to me. Being a gamer my self, and having two young brothers(9 and 11 years old), I have noticed the effect games have on young children first hand.

Games have become extremely varied since they started. You have everything from sports and cuddly pink dolls, to mad ex-convicts wielding a bloody chainsaw. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having games that are violent or contain all sorts of sexualy oriented material. What matters is who gets to play the games. People don't realize that the gamers on average are actually between the age of 20 and 30 years old. That's what game companies try to sell to mostly.

The main problem is with young kids who get their ignorant mom or dad to buy them a game that is inappropriate for their age. For example, my little brother's friend got his mom to buy him Doom 3 for the PC. He is only 8 years old, not exactly ready to comprehend what is going on in the game. When I asked him if he had other games he mentioned that he had all the GTA's, Silent Hill's, among other adult titles. Every single one had a Mature rating, and 2 actually had a Adult Only.

It seems to me that the company that made the games is definitely not at fault. Their games are properly labeled for the audience. If parents payed attention when they bought the games, as well as stores making sure the customer is the right age, there wouldn't be any problems

[Jordan]

You nailed it Asmodeous. It is indeed the fault of LAZY PARENTS! It's practically entirely the fault of lazy parents. Parents just do not want to take responsibility and so they blame it on the videogame corporations. Many parents are too busy working to make money to take care of their kids. Some parents just get their kids whatever they want, ignoring what it is that they are getting them. Others put their kids into daycare to rot. Parents and other relatives will get these games for little kids when they should not be playing them. There is a reason why games have M or AO ratings. (Which are the same)

I totally disagree with this. I agree that parents should take a large part of the blame but there aren't the only thing. You may believe that emotional abuse doesn't exist but a person that has gone on a killing rampage most likely has been emotionally abused for years amongst other things.

Then it's the parent's fault for not raising their kids to be strong and possibly contributing to the "emotional abuse." For instance as Wild-Eyes pointed out. Once again lazy parents cannot escape the blame. They are at fault for all problems of society, for not raising the next generation better than they currently are. The way parents raise their kids is definitely a larger contributing factor to how violent that kid will be than whether they play a certain videogame. Most of the bullies I've seen have crappy parents who sit, smoke, drink beer and possibly even hit and "emotionally" abuse their kids.

[Iain]

Kids will get ahold of violent games either through their parents of through their friends, kids want to play and watch things they arent supposed to because theres something exciting about enjoying on the edge media, weither it be porn films, porn magazines, mature videogames, or some other restricted thing they arent supposed to see.

Its very easy to blame parents, but factor in that the youth of today is quite highly intellegent and able to access whatever they wish to via computers or other means, parents cannot monitor their children 24 hours a day, this era its quite impossible to have the traditional family upbringing of one parent at home while the other works unless the single income maker is quite well off, so yes daycares and babysitters are employed to assisst and maybe their decisions arent always the best.

One thing is certain, trying to keep little johnny away from a GTA game is about as effective as telling him to stay away from the cookie jar was decades ago, kids dont like rules and regulations and being told what to do, eventually they'll desire to make their own choices in life even at tender young ages, and parents havent a hope in hell of stopping a youths desire for freedom of choice.

[EVERYTHING]

So Slick if parents wheren't lazy you're saying we wouldn't see violence in kids? That in fact everyone would be fine all the time? I seriously don't think so, argue all you want that parents are at fault, but like Iain said it's far to easy to get your hands on extremely violent content.

Now I do admit it'd be a lot better if parents bothered to understand and then read ratings for games, but it doesn't change the fact that if the kid him/herself have the money for a game some places are bound to not care that they're selling a game to a kid. If fact I know of one kid who bought an xbox without his Mom's permission (I know from being at the EB when the Mom was screaming about the fact she couldn't get cash back and only store credit....)

The way parents raise their kids is definitely a larger contributing factor to how violent that kid will be than whether they play a certain videogame.

I argee with this but this....

Once again lazy parents cannot escape the blame. They are at fault for all problems of society, for not raising the next generation better than they currently are.

is BS. Because <b>every</b> generation has lazy and horrible parents. For that matter if parents are totally at fault why is it that the US alone has so much senseless violence? Why doesn't every coutry? I don't see the parents in the US being the only bad parents in the world after all. Regardless the one thing about this is there is never a single reason why, it's about figuring out what has contributed to such violence. Since if we can get ride of many elements that contribute to a violent personality we may be able to prevent disasters.

[Shield of Rohan]

kids dont like rules and regulations and being told what to do

That's the key, isn't it. Teach them to respect rules and regulations and the basic reasoning behind such rules, as well as key virtues from a young age and they should be good to go . This again rests on the parents to bring up their children to make the right choices. It isn't impossible.

[Jordan]

And this:

parents cannot monitor their children 24 hours a day

Is a mere excuse, used by parents. If parents cannot take care of their kids then why should they even have them? Accepting the responsibilities of a parent is not something to be taken lightly and if one parent or another cannot do as Shield of Rohan states-

Teach them to respect rules and regulations and the basic reasoning behind such rules, as well as key virtues from a young age

In addition to monitoring them, taking care of their well being, "protecting them" as needed and etc. then a couple should not be parents. I won't even get into the high divorce rates of America and faults of a single parent raising a child as I think people can agree that in general a single father or mother cannot raise a child as well as a couple.

why is it that the US alone has so much senseless violence? Why doesn't every coutry?

You don't think that there is high rates of violence, robbery, corruption, prostitution and all that other jolly vice in other countries? Is the US the #1 country for crime? I doubt that...

Regardless the one thing about this is there is never a single reason why, it's about figuring out what has contributed to such violence. Since if we can get ride of many elements that contribute to a violent personality we may be able to prevent disasters.

Getting rid of videogames will not stop violence. In fact I don't even think that it will reduce it. The statistic noted by Jimayo proves that all other statistics, polls, etc. implying the opposite are false and even if Jimayo's statistic does not set in stone the ideal that videogames reduce violence, it also shows that videogames probably do not increase it substantially as well. Indeed I feel that the violence of a person depends on how they are naturally/how they were nurtured rather than their exposure to videogame stimuli. Expose an abused child, who bullies kids at school to videogames, and a nurtured+sheltered child who was brought up "right" and watch the results. I have a strong feeling that in most every case the bully is the one that becomes/is violent because he, by nature is this way.

It isn't impossible.

Correct!

So Slick if parents wheren't lazy you're saying we wouldn't see violence in kids? That in fact everyone would be fine all the time? I seriously don't think so

Nope, but if parents were less lazy or at least more responsible in raising their kids there would be less violence, less corruption and a greater morale society overall. Of course this is not the single, determining factor but how parents nurture their children probably has a greater effect on the youth than videogame stimuli.

argue all you want that parents are at fault, but like Iain said it's far to easy to get your hands on extremely violent content.

It's not hard for a responsible parent to take away this content, educate their children and moniter them either.

Now I do admit it'd be a lot better if parents bothered to understand and then read ratings for games, but it doesn't change the fact that if the kid him/herself have the money for a game some places are bound to not care that they're selling a game to a kid. If fact I know of one kid who bought an xbox without his Mom's permission (I know from being at the EB when the Mom was screaming about the fact she couldn't get cash back and only store credit....)

Xbox is not rated mature...it's not a drug, nor is it deemed a vice, hazard or lude "toy."

A parent that cannot be responsible enough or "busy" enough to moniter their children should not have offspring to begin with. Similarly a parent who cannot take the time to read the back of a game box to see the rating, does not have anywhere near the time to raise a child.

[Jimayo]

You don't think that there is high rates of violence, robbery, corruption, prostitution and all that other jolly vice in other countries? Is the US the #1 country for crime? I doubt that...

Amongst developed countries, the U.S. has, by far, the highest crime rate. You have like 10X the crime rate that we do(canada) and we're right beside you.

[Jordan]

You don't think that there is high rates of violence, robbery, corruption, prostitution and all that other jolly vice in other countries? Is the US the #1 country for crime? I doubt that...

Amongst developed countries, the U.S. has, by far, the highest crime rate. You have like 10X the crime rate that we do(canada) and we're right beside you.

True and I blame it on the idea that people feel obligated in this country to constantly work yet also are careless and irresponsible in rearing children. In this way the kids end up "psychologically abused" by not having active parents to raise them as parents cannot "keep an eye on them as much as they need too." Whatever though. Even if the US has a high crime rate I don't blame it on violence from videogames.

[Jimayo]

True and I blame it on the idea that people feel obligated in this country to constantly work yet also are careless and irresponsible in rearing children. In this way the kids end up "psychologically abused" by not having active parents to raise them as parents cannot "keep an eye on them as much as they need too." Whatever though. Even if the US has a high crime rate I don't blame it on violence from videogames.

Neither do I. There's a lot of factors there, like urban blight, racism, a culture of violence, etc.

[Marc]

Parents are partly to blame when it comes to their kids playing violent games. I know a lot of relatives who but their kids games I shouldn't be playing, never mind them. But as has been said, it's far too easy to buy them yourself. I can't count the amount of times I've tried to buy an M-rated game and not even been asked for ID. In the whole time I've been playing games, I've never been asked for my age. Half the sales assistants I see don't even look at the rating, never mind the parents. So either retailers need to get tougher on their staff, or the ESRB needs to get tougher on retailers.

Side note: Here's one game to make Thompson's head pop.