Gory Video Games
 

I am doing a research essay for my college technical writing class and would like your input on this subject:

1. Is violence in video games bad for children?

2. Has gore and game content gone too far?

3. Would you let your children play games like unreal tournament and grand theft auto?

4. Do violent video games increase the violent tendancies in children.

PS: I am not trashing shooting games. I am an avid gamer, I am just talking about children up to about 15.

Violence is bad for anyone who cannot understand the nature of the source.

Game content is appropriately rated, in my (limited) experience

If my children were mature enough to understand the difference between games and reality, yes

Instability creates a situation where otherwise innefectual stimuli would create a problem.

Good People Are Good, Bad People Are Bad
 

1. Within limits, no. GTA and its ilk are at the edge of the envelope, but no.

2. Again, if anything has gone too far its GTA. But even that must be viewed in context. I'm disturbed by it implicit glorification of gangland warfare and utter disrepect for law. So how did it come to be ultra-controversial? Because of sex. Granted it wasn't loving sex. But after everything else in the game I find it humorous that everyone gets upset by the sexual content. Especially since it wasn't "in the game" but only revealed by a hack. Besides, what teenage boy didn't spend hours finding and using the topless Lara Croft patch?

3. My children do play, and have for years. My youngest daughter has actually become a pretty awesome player at FPS games. Especially Half-Life 2 Death Match. She's great, and her boyfriend's better. When they go onto a server together, its a bloodbath (virtually speaking, of course).

4. Violence is learned in many ways. Every human has a natural tendency to violence or violent expression. If children are raised to non-violence, then games can be a good outlet for an otherwise suppressed emotion. I am bothered by the on-line behavior of some cyber-punks. They take getting fragged way too personally. A good, well balanced person will remember that - at the end of the day - it's just a game.

1. Is violence in video games bad for children?

Yes, I believe so. I don't think having children see constant streams of violence without supervision is good for a child's sence of right or wrong.

2. Has gore and game content gone too far?

Gore? No, I don't see gore as real problem if you can stomach it. Content though bothers me. Violence I don't mind as much as sexual content. I don't want to be watching porn while playing GTA or DOOM or any other game for that matter.

3. Would you let your children play games like unreal tournament and grand theft auto?

That would depend on their age. I would let my children play unreal as long as they we're past the age of say 10 or 11. GTA on the other hand they would have to be in the mid to late teens (14+).

4. Do violent video games increase the violent tendancies in children.

I don't think so if they are properly supervisioned while and/or after playing them. If a child is to young I don't believe they will understand the difference between what is right or wrong, proper behavior and what you should not do in real life.

I have never understood this. Why is someone getting their head blown off more acceptable than a pair of tits?

The human body and sexuality is natural. A .44 to the head is not.

Amen
 

Good, somebody else said it first!

Because the head blown off is fake and the tits... oh nevermind. :eek: ;)

To be perfectly honest, I can't explain why I feel that way.

Is it alright if I use quotes from your posts for my paper? Appreciate your help!


















"If it wasn't for Microsoft, the world would be perfect.";

Another question, what do you think is worse for children? violence or sexuality?

Well, I think you can gleam my answer to this...

I grew up in the 70's watching Bugs Bunny and played just about every video game known. I was physically, mentally and emotionally abused by my stepfather, witnessed the rest of my family being assulted and abused. All this before the age of 10. I've shot guns, done drugs, andd drank heavily.

To this day, I've never been arrested. And have never hurt anyone else. I don't want to. Never have.

Stupid kids are a threat whether they view violence or not. Thats what I think.

I have one 7 year old nephew that loves to play GTA3, UT, and Quake3. He's the greatest, kindest kid you could want. H'es polite, curtious, will not cuss, does anything that you ask him to and doesn't complain. He never says goodbye without a hug and always prays to Jesus. He's just not an angy kid, period.

On the other hand, my other nephew from another brother has parents who are wierd religious nuts and he's not allowed to do ANYTHING. No video games period. No birthday parties, no candy, no playing with other neighborhood kids, no this, and no that, and you're all going to hell type people.
This other nephew is so mad all the time. He threatens other kids at school, trashes his room in fits of rage, hits, doesn't mind. A real problem child.

Bottom line, stupid PARENTS will always blame others for their kids mal actions. My religeous nut in-laws WILL do it eventually when their kid ends up in jail. They WILL point their finger at "the sins of our society". And there will be all kinds of "studies" and special interest groups that will back them up. But in the end, it's all a bunch of bullcrap.

Stupid kids should not view violence.

Sex and Violence. Both integral parts of the human condition. The former is a good thing and yet we desperately try to hide it from our childen, something which does them no good at all. The latter is always bad, and yet we glory in it continuously on our TV screens, often to their psycological detriment.

What a screwed up species we are!

I love the way you think :D Sadly it's so true and it's not limited to kids.

1. Is violence in video games bad for children?

It really depends on the child. Would you want a 15 year old child molester playing a game like GTA? Not me. Kids who are under 13 probably shouldn't play games with moderate to intense violence. I don't think a little would hurt them. Once again, it all depends on the maturity level of the child.

2. Has gore and game content gone too far?

It's gone about as far as movie content has. In some cases, I don't think it's gone too far. I think the sex in video games has gone too far, though.

3. Would you let your children play games like unreal tournament and grand theft auto?

Hell no. Not until age 13-15 (depending on maturity level).

4. Do violent video games increase the violent tendancies in children?

Depends on the child.

Game content influences people in the same way that the media, friends and family, or propaganda influences people. A person accumulates this influence, which contributes to or changes that person's world view. Being "good" or "bad" has little to do with it IMO.

You asked for opinions about violence and gore so you got opinions...

The question(s) you should be asking is:

Are violent video games capable of "Training" a violent person to be effectly violent. (i.e. can a video game train a young man with violent fantasies how to use a weapon with skill before the he even fire his first shot?)

The Marines at Fort Benning Georgia as part of their forensic analysis of several high school shootings in the US in 1998-1999 asked this question. What they found out is that First Person Shooter games do in fact "train" people how to shoot skillfully without prior practical firearms handling and operation.

One of the goals of the video game: "America's Army" is to recruit, teach and indoctrinate potential soldiers in basic marksmanship and tactical maneuvers before they enroll in basic training. The time the Army recruit has to spend learning these basic infantry skills is much reduced because they will already be familiar with the equipment and concepts that they will have already learned just by playing the game.

Game theory is the new teaching tactic for today's youths and young adults. As it turns out it is a very effective training tool.

In searching for citations to back up my post above I came across this these links:

http://www.dodgamecommunity.com/modu...catid=&topic=1

http://www.forterrainc.com/

http://gamepipe.isi.edu/~zyda/pubs/I...Paper-2003.pdf

It makes for some very interesting reading. My tax dollars hard at work.

That is true, but if parents took responsibility for their children in the first place, and took them out to show what a gun can do, then they will understand the damage a gun can cause and why they are not toys. They will be able to understand the difference between a video game and real guns.

It's such a very effective training tool for youths and young adults that are expected to be used as tools themselves. I think video games only train you to react instinctively and shot without contemplation. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you don't kill anybody (unless in self-defense, blah, blah). Anyway video games have many issues, both good and bad, we can't define them if we don't explore them.

They should be taught that they really bear responsibility for themselves, too. Kids are not stupid. Society tries to deny kids what we managed to get at to: sexuality and information. This is a world managed by hypocrite adults for hypocrite adults only.

I don't think violence is dangerous per se. With a little luck, it's an effective learning tool:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mike_Tyson

Tendency Reinforcement vs Skills Development
 

These are two different questions.

Do violent video games inspire violence in those that play them?

Do violent video games provide training in basic arms skills and tactics?

We can argue about the answer to the first question, but not the second. I can assure you, they are effective training tools. When the USS Ronald Reagan was about to be commissioned, the Marine Detachment put up a Half-Life Team Fortress Classic server. Good box, well configured, big bandwidth, lots of players. I went to it alot. Those jarheads were good. It wasn't just player skill - which was average to good. It was tactics - they really played as a team. They never wandered the map alone, but always in pairs, and coordinated movements. No matter how good a player you were, if 8 of them attacked all at once from 4 different locations - you were toast.

Whilst the translation of virtual weapons skills to real weapons skills might be debatable, the indoctrination on their effective use is not. Short aimed bursts are more deadly. Explosives are a great way to clear a room. Never become a stationary target. Expending your last round makes you defenseless. etc., etc., etc..

Our society has condemned guns so much that people never take their children out to learn about them anymore - this is a problem. For anyone to really understand the responsibility of using a firearm, they must first be able to see the damage that they can really do.

I think that the Idea that video games are the only reason that kids go out and kill people is absurd. There had to be something wrong before that. However, statistics show that kids who are exposed to guns in real life are less likely to go kill people with them.

I have had guns around me since I was a little kid, and when you see them close up and use them, you get a sense of the destruction one of them is capable of unleashing, and it kind of scares you the first time. You understand how real one of them is.