How do you feel about Video game Violence?

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K__D
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How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by K__D »

Should kids be limited to what games they play to prevent violence or are video games not the issue here and has taken the spotlight due to media hysteria? Should they be allowed to play recreationally as they please whether the video game is violent or not?
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LuckyR
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by LuckyR »

K__D wrote: November 19th, 2018, 12:21 pm Should kids be limited to what games they play to prevent violence or are video games not the issue here and has taken the spotlight due to media hysteria? Should they be allowed to play recreationally as they please whether the video game is violent or not?
By the government or by their parents?
"As usual... it depends."
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Sy Borg
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Sy Borg »

The current rating systems of videos have been deemed okay by those more informed than us, and there doesn't seem to be a major problem.

If kids are not being corrupted by video games they're being corrupted by the TV, the internet, the news and the generally corrupt public conversation being conducted by "grownups" today. So many adults are, figuratively speaking, covered in mud themselves to the extent where it seems hypocritical to fuss over those in the process of accumulating their own mud in their own ways.

The dirt's coming either way. Smart parents will help their youngsters understand some of the oddities rather than rely on government censorship, which can be readily circumvented by tech savvy teens anyway.
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Eduk »

I agree with Greta. In my experience there are much worse influences and the influences are everywhere. Growing up the single biggest negative influence which I saw was parents. Just to be clear. Not all parents. And likewise if one game could be shown to be detrimental that doesn't mean all games are.
Videogames are so ubiquitous and varied that to single them out as a single entity doesn't make any sense.
Oh and by the way some videogames are clearly detremental influences. But probably not the ones which you are thinking of.
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Steve3007
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Steve3007 »

I've had this philosophical discussion about violence in video games with my own kids. They assure me that if they shoot somebody in the face in a video game it doesn't make them more likely to do it in real life. They claim that the violence is sufficiently alien and far removed from their own real lives that it's no worse than watching a mouse drop an anvil onto the head of a cat, or a coyote run off the edge of a cliff, hover monetarily in the air and then, when he realises that he is unsupported, plunge to what would in real life be a terrifying death.

They won the argument and I now let them shoot people in the face in video games. Am I a bad parent?
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Steve3007 »

If your kids are better at forming a cogent argument than you are, does that excuse bad parenting?
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Eduk »

I think you are already ahead of the curve by having a discussion.
The scaremongering around video games is no different than the scare mongering around video nasties.
The most damaging side of video games, currently, is the payment model. Many games are designed much in the same way that casinos are designed.
Even here though I wouldn't advocate bans. I would advocate education and support.
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by LuckyR »

I don't disagree that the video game violence argument is similar from a practical perspective) to the gun control argument, in the sense that no one can get the adolescent video game genie back in the bottle, ie they are ubiquitous. Similarly, in the US at the current time, if the number of guns imported/manufactured could be magically made to be zero, there are so many guns out in the community already that it would have little to no impact on gun crime deaths, yet would drive most gun owners truly crazy with paranoia, likely to dangerous levels.
"As usual... it depends."
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Eduk »

Huh? Guns aren't remotely comparable to video games.
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LuckyR
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by LuckyR »

If you say so
"As usual... it depends."
Eduk
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Eduk »

What is the harm caused by games? And what is the harm caused by guns?
Is that harm changed in countries with tighter control of guns or tighter control of video games.

You can draw an analogy between subversive literature, music, films and computer games.
You could draw an analogy between gambling and some computer games.
It is harder to draw an analogy between road traffic deaths and games though. Or drug smuggling and games.
Why guns? It is so random. Are you working under the assumption that games and guns are always 'bad'.
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LuckyR
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by LuckyR »

Eduk wrote: November 21st, 2018, 4:31 am What is the harm caused by games? And what is the harm caused by guns?
Is that harm changed in countries with tighter control of guns or tighter control of video games.

You can draw an analogy between subversive literature, music, films and computer games.
You could draw an analogy between gambling and some computer games.
It is harder to draw an analogy between road traffic deaths and games though. Or drug smuggling and games.
Why guns? It is so random. Are you working under the assumption that games and guns are always 'bad'.
I was actually not comparing video games and guns per se, rather noting that in the US both are ubiquitous and thus neither can be legislated out of existance, despite a minority's interest in doing one or both.
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Eduk
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Eduk »

Ah ok, that wasn't clear to me, hence my surprise.
Video games would certainly be extremely difficult to ban. Indeed the world is full of examples of banned works being made even more popular by the ban.
Not sure about guns. Certainly there would be a great deal of resistance. And it would be far from straight forward. I think it might be achievable but that's pure conjecture on my part I don't really know enough to have a strong opinion.
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by Alias »

Meh...
Children need to learn how they are expected to function when/if they grow up. All cultures have toys, games, songs, stories and sporting competitions through which the young learn the values and beliefs, the laws, the protocols of interaction, the class structure, the role they're being trained for and the methods of gaining status in their society.
All cultures have a standard set of wishful lies they tell the very young, followed eventually by exercises in how things really work.
Games are the transition from one to the other.
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ktz
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Re: How do you feel about Video game Violence?

Post by ktz »

From a practical perspective, I suppose I'm on board with the idea that it's more or less unavoidable in a modern context for children to experience the "dirt", as Greta describes it. While probably not appropriate for very young children, I'm not opposed to the idea that team-based video games can create excellent bonding experiences for teenaged children, even if the goal of those games are not of the highest moral caliber.

From a more idealistic standpoint, it certainly makes me sad that as a society we invest so much economic and mental resources in to this particular spectrum of imagination. We don't want to experience killing and war in real life, so why allow children to imagine doing so for hours at a time? Why is there not a greater emphasis on creating compelling educational videogames that teach individuals how to perform surgery, or play musical instruments, or literary analysis? Why as a society settle for games that appeal only to the basest desires of our limbic system?

Also, I feel like it is important to consider the edge cases before declaring with certainty that violent video games are without harm. There's estimates as high as 1 percent of the population who will experience a psychotic disorder in their lifetime wherein they lose the ability to distinguish reality from mental fictions. By contrast, only 0.048% of airplane passengers flagged by the airport security have ever been arrested, with a far lower percentage of those arrests as credible attempts at terrorism. Yet most seem perfectly willing to subject the entire population of airport travellers to screening procedures for this relatively minute risk.
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