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Post by SkullSnax on May 15, 2010 14:04:49 GMT -5
What is your opinion on violent video games?
Do you think that they should be banned because they are having a negative affect on society or do you believe that people should leave violent video games alone?
I got thinking about this after reading the recent article about a bill they are trying to pass in California which will stop violent video games being purchased by anyone under 18. They wont even be shown alongside other games and will be treated in a similar way to that of pornography. Kept it a dark room in the back that only adults can enter.
Personally, Im somewhere inbetween. Iv been brought up with violence and swearing and sexual content. I watched South Park since the age of 9 and played 18 rated games when I was only a couple of years older. Iv turned out fine, or at least relatively fine, and so do most people like me. But there is also an argument on the opposing end of it that I can see.
Stories about the effect on the mentality of a person from a violent video game leading to murder, violence and horrible behaviour means that there is a valid case for trying to be stricter on age ratings. But at the end of the day, they really seem to be beating around the bush and going about it in a completely stupid way.
Fact of the matter is that kids dont buy the damn games, their parents do. So the entire argument of taking violent video games away from underage kids is completely irrelevent. What good is it going to do? The only people who are going to be affected by it are those who are borderline old enough to buy them. Those who are mature enough to understand the content and who can usually pass age restrictions. Not that I condone kids doing that, but you can see my point. The kids who they want it to affect are going to continue as normal and the kids they arent that bothered about will be getting punished.
My idea is this. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, they can all do updates on their consoles that allow them to upgrade their system. All consoles have a parental control setting that can be activated, but all consoles have them switched on. So my idea is that they turn all of them on, call the house and speak to the parent with a password for the console, and then if they want their child to play the games they can pass on the password and it doesnt go any further, the parent can only blame themself. But if they dont want their child playing the game, then thats that. It doesnt matter how they buy the game, they cant play it and thats that. Some of you may think though, what about those who were wise enough to lie about their age when they put in their details on their profile. Well how about this one, the parent has to confirm their date of birth otherwise they cant play WHATSOEVER.
I do realise that the idea of companies calling up the houses of each individual and getting them to confirm stuff and give out information is a bit of a hassle, but if its that damn important then why wouldnt people be prepared to take that hassle? As I understand it there are quite alot of unemployed people at the moment, Im sure the hassle could be offloaded onto them.
Thoughts? Opinions? An idea of your own?
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Post by Trey on May 15, 2010 15:16:04 GMT -5
We've all heard the arguments "It's desensitizing!" "It causes violent behavior!" "blah!"
I really don't care what argument you believe when it comes to what it does to a child's mind. I just know that what video game a child is allowed to play should be up to the parents, and not up to the government. We might as well put all rated PG-13 and R movies that contain violence in a dark room in another part of a store.
This law would be fubar
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Nakor
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Post by Nakor on May 15, 2010 16:39:37 GMT -5
Violent games are fine. But the ratings are also important. I think they're too strict on the ratings, personally, but at the same time I do think the ratings are important. The problem is, in part, that parents don't always bother paying attention to what they're buying their kids. Age obviously isn't a perfect (or even good) measure of maturity, so parents will have to decide what to buy based on how well they know their child, and some sort of printed rating helps with that.
But in the end it is the parents' responsibility. The game companies can only do so much, and shouldn't be expected to do anything that will impact people who don't need the control at all. It's like the whole Nintendo friend codes thing -- they went too far, and took a lot of value out of multiplayer for people to protect kids by limiting the freedom of multiplayer play for everyone.
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lydia
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Post by lydia on May 15, 2010 17:05:35 GMT -5
I think it's less about violent video games and more about bad parenting. I've seen what exsposure to these violent video games has done to my friend's little brother. The boy is ten years old and I believe his perception has been blurred. He's always running around and with toy guns "killing" everyone in the house, which is normal, he's ten. However, he's also physically violent to other children and especially animals. I don't think he realises he's hurting someone or something because he's not hurting anything in the videogames. I'm not sure I'm not a specialist. This subject has been very present in my mind and personally I'm not sure what to think.
I'm not sure what to do. I'm not saying the video games has caused him to be violent, but I'm certain they are not helping. I care about this child, however, I can't do anything. I've mentioned the problem to the child's mother and she gets very offended and tells me I know nothing about parenting.
Help? Pls? It's heartbreaking
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Post by Johncoyne on May 15, 2010 19:35:45 GMT -5
I learned what that means today, me so smart. Anyway, I think that if anyone lets things in a video game influence their life that much, they have problems of their own.
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Post by rialvestro on May 16, 2010 2:12:40 GMT -5
If violent video games are teaching people to be violent then I guess everyone who's good at Guitar Hero should be able to play a real Guitar.
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Post by Sypher on May 16, 2010 2:59:31 GMT -5
Australia doesn't have an R18+ rating for games, ours only goes to MA15+ this means all our games are dulled down from the American versions or at an extreme banned completely from being sold in Australia...
R18+ Games should only be able to be purchased by someone over the age of 18, that's the whole point of R18+, its just like going to a cinema and not being allowed into an R18+ movie because you are 15, its target audience is people over the age of 18, just like R rated games.
Its up to the discretion of the parents if they let their children play 18+ games, although, its not a foolproof system as a child could go to a friends house and play these games, or even watch an R18+ movie...
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Post by Trey on May 16, 2010 7:04:11 GMT -5
In The US, we sell games with an "M for Mature" rating, which means nobody under the age of 17 can buy them without a parent. We have "Ao = Adults Only", but they're not advertised or anything. I don't even really know where to get those xD
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Post by click3tyclick on May 16, 2010 12:07:41 GMT -5
If violent video games are teaching people to be violent then I guess everyone who's good at Guitar Hero should be able to play a real Guitar. No, but they might want to learn. Violent games don't make you a professional assassin, but they do make you more violent. That's a fact. It doesn't mean you'll run around killing people, but there is an influence.
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Post by Johncoyne on May 16, 2010 12:29:55 GMT -5
Guitar Hero made me want to play the guitar.
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Post by KipEnyan on May 16, 2010 13:01:56 GMT -5
If violent video games are teaching people to be violent then I guess everyone who's good at Guitar Hero should be able to play a real Guitar. No, but they might want to learn. Violent games don't make you a professional assassin, but they do make you more violent. That's a fact. It doesn't mean you'll run around killing people, but there is an influence. Where's your fact? Every study I've ever seen on the matter has been promptly debunked. They all just throw violent video games at little kids, and when 4 of them start being violent as opposed to 2 in the control, they're like LINK!
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Post by click3tyclick on May 16, 2010 13:06:47 GMT -5
No, but they might want to learn. Violent games don't make you a professional assassin, but they do make you more violent. That's a fact. It doesn't mean you'll run around killing people, but there is an influence. Where's your fact? Every study I've ever seen on the matter has been promptly debunked. They all just throw violent video games at little kids, and when 4 of them start being violent as opposed to 2 in the control, they're like LINK! Playing violent games makes me more aggressive. I don't hit anyone or insult people more often, but it makes me think in a morw aggressive way, if that makes sense.
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Nakor
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Post by Nakor on May 16, 2010 13:11:02 GMT -5
In The US, we sell games with an "M for Mature" rating, which means nobody under the age of 17 can buy them without a parent. We have "Ao = Adults Only", but they're not advertised or anything. I don't even really know where to get those xD The only games that have ever had an AO rating were computer games, with the exception of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which had an AO rating added to it for the hot coffee mod until a version was released to remove it (after which it went back to M), Manhunt 2 which started AO and was reduced to M, and The Punisher which was also reduced from AO to M. Because those three games are no longer AO, there are no remaining console games with the AO rating (unless you can find an old hot coffee version of GTA:SA). Violent games do not make me more aggressive. Therefore they must not make people violent. Anecdotal evidence ftw!
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Post by Trey on May 16, 2010 14:48:12 GMT -5
Where's your fact? Every study I've ever seen on the matter has been promptly debunked. They all just throw violent video games at little kids, and when 4 of them start being violent as opposed to 2 in the control, they're like LINK! Playing violent games makes me more aggressive. I don't hit anyone or insult people more often, but it makes me think in a morw aggressive way, if that makes sense. I'd be willing to bet that playing a violent game is a good outlet. It's actually therapeutic for me. Kinda like punching a pillow.
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Post by brumagem on May 16, 2010 16:20:32 GMT -5
I'd be willing to bet that playing a violent game is a good outlet. It's actually therapeutic for me. Kinda like punching a pillow. That's been debunked. How good is punching a pillow when you have none to punch? You won't always have your PSP handy when you need to cool down... www.cracked.com/article/85_6-bullshit-facts-about-psychology-that-everyone-believes/ I love this website! The articles are funny and informative.
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Post by Trey on May 16, 2010 16:52:20 GMT -5
I'd be willing to bet that playing a violent game is a good outlet. It's actually therapeutic for me. Kinda like punching a pillow. That's been debunked. How good is punching a pillow when you have none to punch? You won't always have your PSP handy when you need to cool down... www.cracked.com/article/85_6-bullshit-facts-about-psychology-that-everyone-believes/ I love this website! The articles are funny and informative. So, basically they're is going to tell me what is and isn't going to work for me? That's hardly fair. I actually don't like punching pillows because I want it to hurt, lol. I play video games as an outlet because it calms me down when I'm upset. I'm aware that I won't have a video game to calm me down at every instance, but most people are capable of saving the anger for later. Bottling up is mentally, emotionally, and physically bad for you. We all need an outlet.
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Post by rialvestro on May 16, 2010 20:23:10 GMT -5
If violent video games are teaching people to be violent then I guess everyone who's good at Guitar Hero should be able to play a real Guitar. No, but they might want to learn. Violent games don't make you a professional assassin, but they do make you more violent. That's a fact. It doesn't mean you'll run around killing people, but there is an influence. So if a kid is playing something like killing aliens he might want to learn how to kill aliens? Yup makes perfect sense. Honestly though, video games are actually more likely to make people LESS violent. It's kinda like the therapy exercise of hitting a doll and pretending that doll is the person you're mad at. Violent video games actually gives you a NON-violent way to take out your anger. Of course it's not going to work for everyone but for some people virtual violence is a safe alternative to real violence.
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Post by evethor on May 16, 2010 20:29:04 GMT -5
Personally I believe that "violent" video games are to soft. PG 13: you shoot someone but there is no blood or cries of terrible pain. neither is there guts and brains flowing onto the ground. Mature: blood and a death cry that`s been mass produced and repeated every time you kill someone. They are not realistic enough, if anything the games with no blood should have mature or 18 age limit because it is unreal. But on another note I like to kill and slaughter down people in games when I have shitty days, but sometimes it makes me angry BUT only if i can`t faceroll my way over everyone until all I see is corpses. I apologies for the vivid descriptions (actually I do not care but I am trying to be polite, although this note probably ruined it.) Edited: On another note. When you say it`s been debunked or it`s been proved or proved not to work. Who debunked it? who proved it? Can you refer to a source? Who did these experiments? Or is it just something you read sometime but can`t really recall where and when you read it? It might be wrong you know. For example: Maps. When I was in elementary school they still had maps with the soviet union on the map. Science adjusts it views. Be updated! I apologies for the wall of text. (I am sincere this time )
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Post by Trey on May 16, 2010 20:32:59 GMT -5
Personally I believe that "violent" video games are to soft. PG 13: you shoot someone but there is no blood or cries of terrible pain. neither is there guts and brains flowing onto the ground. Mature: blood and a death cry that`s been mass produced and repeated every time you kill someone. They are not realistic enough, if anything the games with no blood should have mature or 18 age limit because it is unreal. But on another note I like to kill and slaughter down people in games when I have shitty days, but sometimes it makes me angry BUT only if i can`t faceroll my way over everyone until all I see is corpses. I apologies for the vivid descriptions (actualy I do not care but I am trying to be polite, although this note probably ruined it.) Has a doctor ever diagnosed you with Psychosis?
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Post by evethor on May 16, 2010 20:37:10 GMT -5
To Trey.
I am offended by the comment but it might not be meant to hurt.
So. To answer you question. No.
But why did you think so Trey? You can PM me Trey so we won`t digress from the topic.
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