The Effects of Violent Video Games

[philipj]

Before Columbine happened, I was just the kid in HS that loved Doom and wore a trench coat. After Columbine, I was the kid everyone was afraid of. But I never though about killing anyone. Thought it was funny. I love games where I can blow stuff up, damage, or be head it, but it has no effect on me. The only sort of effect from a game I get is being more sucked into it if you are isolated in the game, like system shock 2 or Quake II.

 

Your referencing the Leonardo DiCaprio fiasco after the Columbine incident... I was in college when that went down. I remember thinking to myself they're trying to put the blame on everything, but those guys were obviously disturb and going through a lot over a long period of time. The paper is still on going, but I think there's a difference between people who play games for the fun of it and people who use video games as an outlet for something else other then for leisure purposes. I remember one article I ran into where this doctor evaluated video games like Doom as a simulator. I think mature human beings are able to distinguish the difference between playing video games for leisure and playing or simulator for leisure versus a person who uses video-games to enact some kind of real life scenario for the sole purpose of a personal vendetta beyond having fun. I mean video games are suppose to be fun to play like a card game or a game of "Battle Ships" or UNO... Anything other then that, then it becomes an issue of a different nature entirely.

[Jack_Quinn_UK]

My verdict is unless you are 3 years old or smoking pot, violent games aint gonna have a effect on you.

 

Smoking pot makes one violent? errm.. yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaah, riiigggghhhhht....

Makes me paranoid though. And it makes me wanna clean the house.

[Tr3vor]

violent games dont have an effect on me

 

<in the backround>

DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH

</in the backround>

[shadow460]

violent games dont have an effect on me

 

<in the backround>

DIE YOU SON OF A *bleep*

</in the backround>

 

I remember Leonard saying that and a few other memorable one liners in Redneck Rampage. Actually with his accent it was more like "Dah you sunuva*****"

 

Imagine: You get pulled over for playing MK3 on a portable system while driving. when you look out thew window, you see that the name on the officer's badge is Stryker and he has his taser out. I think I'd be driving off right about then...

Edited February 21, 2010 by shadow460

[Herbarius]

You get pulled over for playing [...] a portable system while driving

That's just... bizarre.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Herbarius

[Jack_Quinn_UK]

You get pulled over for playing [...] a portable system while driving

That's just... bizarre.

You don't say? I got pulled over for playing snake on my mobile phone while driving. Lol!

[+Random Terrain]

You don't say? I got pulled over for playing snake on my mobile phone while driving. Lol!

Driving while distracted is fun! I play games, text, shave, brush my teeth, yell at the kids in the backseat, and have sex all at the same time while driving. I'm going to do what I want whenever I want and the cops can't stop me! Nothing can stop me, except for maybe that tree over there or that van full of innocent children I'm about to smash into. At least I'll die doing what I love. If other people don't like dying with me, screw 'em. What I want is all that matters.

[+5-11under]

I had a quick look at the questions, and they seemed flawed to me, with the answers potentially open to too much interpretation. If people think about it the way I do, then obviously violent games affect people. However, playing Tiddly Winks or Yahtzee also affects people (and not always in a good way ). The questions should be designed to help reveal to what degree people are affected, how they're affected, whether it is a positive, negative, or neutral experience, and why they're affected the way they are.

 

I wrote more in this paragraph about Columbine/Doom/causality, but decided to delete it... anyway, mentioning Columbine in the questionnaire could easily slant your results in a certain direction.

 

My 3 cents,

5-11under

[82-T/A]

I already took the poll a while back and left my comments... but I don't remember what they were... however, really thinking about this, I am curious...

 

For one... I think that for a child to be violent and / or screwed up really has to do with two things:

 

1 - Upbringing / parenting

2 - Mental disorder

 

Obviously, if someone has something wrong with them, or a pre-disposition where there's some kind of chemical imbalance, you can't blame the parents... otherwise, it's the parents responsibility to ensure that the children are being raised to a certain level of normalcy.

 

As far as games go... they're meant for entertainment. In most games... there's a goal, an understanding. In the older Call of Duty games... you're fighting NAZIs... it's understood that they are bad, and you're fighting for a common good. In Doom, or whatever else... it's the same thing. They're gorey... but I don't see how that can possibly encourage people to want to go out and kill innocent children.

 

Honestly... we've all been bullied at one time or another. The overwhelming vast majority of us on here are huge nerds anyway, so we've had our share of scuffles. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've always been relatively tall my whole life... so nothing ever got physical for me. By the time I was in middle school, if someone was being intentially mean to me, I'd just beat them up. So I don't know what it would be like to be weak, and dorky... (I just know the nerdy part). But I can't imagine anything that could have happened that warrants those kids in Columbine HS shooting those innocent kids. They simply shot at anyone and everyone. I think it's fair to say these children were just flat out disturbed... and the parents did a God aweful job of staying in tune with what their children were doing.

 

Look, if your child is dressing like a goth, and / or wearing trench coats every day... and you see that OTHER kids are not doing it... then chances are it's not a phase... "there's something wrong". Find out what's wrong...

 

 

 

All of that said... I do have to question something... what exactly is the point of movies like SAW or Hostel? The first SAW was kind of entertaining because it seemed to have some sort of plot... and it was also scary when the guy (who appeared to be dead) got up from the floor in the middle of the room at the end. But what is the point of the rest of them? And the movie Hostel??? Other than the naked scenes... I could think of no possible reason to watch it. Why WOULD someone want to watch movies with torture and violence?

 

I am NUMB to violence. I'm not exactly hard-core... but living in South Florida... I've witnessed several car accidents and people literally getting run over by cars. After a while, it's not "shocking" anymore. But I don't understand the desire for people to watch stuff like this? Is it that people are scared / curious and they want to overcome their fears? I dunno...

 

Movies like Aliens and Predator and stuff like that... that s**t is cool... they have plots... but SAW 2-8... what's the point???

 

 

Anyway... I don't think you can blame games... nor do I think they necessarily incite people to want to commit crimes. HOWEVER... I guess if you grow up playing them, and your parents never tell you that this isn't right... your perception of reality on issues like this might not be as solid as someone who clearly knows it's wrong.

 

 

EDIT: Bottom line... if everyone spent their time playing the Ultima games instead of bringing knives and guns to school... this world would be a much better place.

Edited February 24, 2010 by 82-T/A

[philipj]

I had a quick look at the questions, and they seemed flawed to me, with the answers potentially open to too much interpretation. If people think about it the way I do, then obviously violent games affect people. However, playing Tiddly Winks or Yahtzee also affects people (and not always in a good way ). The questions should be designed to help reveal to what degree people are affected, how they're affected, whether it is a positive, negative, or neutral experience, and why they're affected the way they are.

 

I wrote more in this paragraph about Columbine/Doom/causality, but decided to delete it... anyway, mentioning Columbine in the questionnaire could easily slant your results in a certain direction.

 

My 3 cents,

5-11under

 

Well the paper I'm writing about includes information about Columbine so my thought process were along those lines... Plus the deadline to get the survey done was/is approaching so I really kept the questions in general to make it easy on myself. At the time I suppose to have a ten page paper and I only had three so I put together the survey based on the topics I wanted to cover. I never really thought about the questions being "slanted," but I guest it would if the Columbine incident carried more weight then the other questions. The survey helped a lot since then because I've gotten so many responses and opinions, I wasn't sure if the questions I had were enough to cover broad range of topics so I kept the questions simple with most of them having multiple choice answers and putting www.surveymonkey.com comment box to good use... It is after all my first time using Survey Monkey and man... It's been a tremendous success. All of the comments really help to put this paper together since then because I now have the opinions of the general public/participants who's voice their opinions on everything.

[philipj]

I already took the poll a while back and left my comments... but I don't remember what they were... however, really thinking about this, I am curious...

 

For one... I think that for a child to be violent and / or screwed up really has to do with two things:

 

1 - Upbringing / parenting

2 - Mental disorder

 

Obviously, if someone has something wrong with them, or a pre-disposition where there's some kind of chemical imbalance, you can't blame the parents... otherwise, it's the parents responsibility to ensure that the children are being raised to a certain level of normalcy.

 

As far as games go... they're meant for entertainment. In most games... there's a goal, an understanding. In the older Call of Duty games... you're fighting NAZIs... it's understood that they are bad, and you're fighting for a common good. In Doom, or whatever else... it's the same thing. They're gorey... but I don't see how that can possibly encourage people to want to go out and kill innocent children.

 

Honestly... we've all been bullied at one time or another. The overwhelming vast majority of us on here are huge nerds anyway, so we've had our share of scuffles. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've always been relatively tall my whole life... so nothing ever got physical for me. By the time I was in middle school, if someone was being intentially mean to me, I'd just beat them up. So I don't know what it would be like to be weak, and dorky... (I just know the nerdy part). But I can't imagine anything that could have happened that warrants those kids in Columbine HS shooting those innocent kids. They simply shot at anyone and everyone. I think it's fair to say these children were just flat out disturbed... and the parents did a God aweful job of staying in tune with what their children were doing.

 

Look, if your child is dressing like a goth, and / or wearing trench coats every day... and you see that OTHER kids are not doing it... then chances are it's not a phase... "there's something wrong". Find out what's wrong...

 

 

 

All of that said... I do have to question something... what exactly is the point of movies like SAW or Hostel? The first SAW was kind of entertaining because it seemed to have some sort of plot... and it was also scary when the guy (who appeared to be dead) got up from the floor in the middle of the room at the end. But what is the point of the rest of them? And the movie Hostel??? Other than the naked scenes... I could think of no possible reason to watch it. Why WOULD someone want to watch movies with torture and violence?

 

I am NUMB to violence. I'm not exactly hard-core... but living in South Florida... I've witnessed several car accidents and people literally getting run over by cars. After a while, it's not "shocking" anymore. But I don't understand the desire for people to watch stuff like this? Is it that people are scared / curious and they want to overcome their fears? I dunno...

 

Movies like Aliens and Predator and stuff like that... that s**t is cool... they have plots... but SAW 2-8... what's the point???

 

 

Anyway... I don't think you can blame games... nor do I think they necessarily incite people to want to commit crimes. HOWEVER... I guess if you grow up playing them, and your parents never tell you that this isn't right... your perception of reality on issues like this might not be as solid as someone who clearly knows it's wrong.

 

 

EDIT: Bottom line... if everyone spent their time playing the Ultima games instead of bringing knives and guns to school... this world would be a much better place.

 

That's a large comment to respond to I'll save a little time and respond the best I can... There is a certain level of escapism with video games after all I believe it's safe to assume that people play video games to have a good time doing things that they normally wouldn't do in real life. I played Street Fighter 4 on my XBOX 360, but afterwards I didn't want to go out and do a hydoken on somebody. The game was fun and addictive at times especially when playing the boss and it got rid of my bordem. Everything simulated, nothing done in real life, I didn't take the game very seriously until I got to the boss level and he kept kicking my butt. I think you're right about games having an affect with the mindset that it's just a game, no harm no foul, it's all in good fun, no agenda beyond having fun and winning (or at least trying win). Most of the survey participants are all along those same wavelength in that regard. The Columbine shooters pretty much used Doom as a simulator to carry out their plans, which meant that the shooting was premeditated... Well the same can be said about the US Army back when "Battle Zone" hit the arcades and the Army requested to use Battle Zone as a simulator to train soldiers for the "Bradley Tank;" it was done against the programmers objection, but who's going to say no to the army. People go into the arcade to have a good time, but the army use simulators to train people to kill so intentions do matter. I guess it becomes blantant if a person use a video game for some other reason; I for one prefer the entertainment value... It just get's too deep if games for other then that.

Edited February 25, 2010 by philipj

[Jack_Quinn_UK]

You don't say? I got pulled over for playing snake on my mobile phone while driving. Lol!

Driving while distracted is fun! I play games, text, shave, brush my teeth, yell at the kids in the backseat, and have sex all at the same time while driving. I'm going to do what I want whenever I want and the cops can't stop me! Nothing can stop me, except for maybe that tree over there or that van full of innocent children I'm about to smash into. At least I'll die doing what I love. If other people don't like dying with me, screw 'em. What I want is all that matters.

Fair enough. Hit and run anyone?

[philipj]

Thanks for everyones participation... A total of 94 people have taken the survey and has provided a lot of great comments to the questions asked. I never in my wildest dream would've imagine that close to 100 people would take the survey; it has more then met my expectations... Thank you everyone! Today is March the 4th so the deadline for the site to go down has come and gone; it has been quite the learning experience to say the least. Monday I have to give a presentation on the paper so I'll be at it all weekend getting things ready. Once again thank you all of participating... I'm going to try see if I can post the results somewhere after I give the presentation with comments and all so be on the look out.

[JohnnyBlaze]

Hmmm....the survey isn't working. But let me sum it up with one VERY valid point. My favorite genre of games are first-person shooters. I grew up with Doom, hell, we used to play it in school in my social worker's office for boys group. I still remember him having the cheats on a chalkboard in the room as well.

 

I play these games A LOT. Yet, I'm a very smart person and very peaceful....unless I need to fight when I believe I'm being screwed or my character judged. Yet, according to Senator Lieberman and the United States Government, I'm supposed to be a violent person with no regard for society. Well, sheeeeeit, who'da thunk it?

 

Point is, I'm not a mindless drone. I'm a human being. I feel, I love, and I care. Games don't change me. Well, except for my hand-eye coordination. It's very good thanks to games like Doom, Mario, and Tetris.

 

The government is just a bunch of old, rich, white men in suits who listen to classical music and are more backwards in their time period than the Afghanis. Remember though, they did the same thing to movies in the late 60's, porn flicks, and rock and roll music. In 20 years when we're old enough to be elected, watch this debate slow to a sizzle.

 

Because instead of focusing on a war that we shouldn't be in, our economy, our unemployment, and corruption(I live in NJ so I know ALL about it), they rather worry about trivial things like this.

 

What did I just say? Oh, I guess I'm not a "mindless drone of violence" after all. If I were, I probably wouldn't have put this together.

 

So, in layman's terms, my answer is that violent video games DO NOT affect a person unless that person wants it to.

[Jack_Quinn_UK]

Hey philipj, your survey aint working!

[philipj]

The survey will be up until "March 4th, 2010" so feel free to continue in filling out the survey for those who haven't done so yet. And leave plenty of comments if you want. Thanks a bunch.

 

Atariage won't let me use the edit feature to remove the link...

 

Hmmm....the survey isn't working. But let me sum it up with one VERY valid point. My favorite genre of games are first-person shooters. I grew up with Doom, hell, we used to play it in school in my social worker's office for boys group. I still remember him having the cheats on a chalkboard in the room as well.

 

I play these games A LOT. Yet, I'm a very smart person and very peaceful....unless I need to fight when I believe I'm being screwed or my character judged. Yet, according to Senator Lieberman and the United States Government, I'm supposed to be a violent person with no regard for society. Well, sheeeeeit, who'da thunk it?

 

Point is, I'm not a mindless drone. I'm a human being. I feel, I love, and I care. Games don't change me. Well, except for my hand-eye coordination. It's very good thanks to games like Doom, Mario, and Tetris.

 

The government is just a bunch of old, rich, white men in suits who listen to classical music and are more backwards in their time period than the Afghanis. Remember though, they did the same thing to movies in the late 60's, porn flicks, and rock and roll music. In 20 years when we're old enough to be elected, watch this debate slow to a sizzle.

 

Because instead of focusing on a war that we shouldn't be in, our economy, our unemployment, and corruption(I live in NJ so I know ALL about it), they rather worry about trivial things like this.

 

What did I just say? Oh, I guess I'm not a "mindless drone of violence" after all. If I were, I probably wouldn't have put this together.

 

So, in layman's terms, my answer is that violent video games DO NOT affect a person unless that person wants it to.

 

Really the government have no business trying to be big brother... It seem like the more they try to control people the more they wind up putting their foot in their mouths. Most of everyone that took the survey echos your statement:

my answer is that violent video games DO NOT affect a person unless that person wants it to.

 

Hey philipj, your survey aint working!

 

Sorry about that guys... But the deadly for the survey was March 4, 2010, I guess I should've hammered that deadline a little more to make sure everyone knew. I presented the paper last night and it went pretty well... The survey really added to the paper I presented, I made power point presentation to aid me in my discussion and it went better than anticipated. To tell you the truth I was sweating bullets standing up there, but I got the feeling that it went well. I almost talked past my time limit... I really have to work on that, but the project was a success. I have my good grade for the quarter--that's all that counts.

Edited March 9, 2010 by philipj

[Herbarius]

Look, if your child is dressing like a goth, and / or wearing trench coats every day... and you see that OTHER kids are not doing it... then chances are it's not a phase... "there's something wrong". Find out what's wrong...

You're supposing just being part of a certain sub-culture automatically shows "something's wrong"?

[Jack_Quinn_UK]

Look, if your child is dressing like a goth, and / or wearing trench coats every day... and you see that OTHER kids are not doing it... then chances are it's not a phase... "there's something wrong". Find out what's wrong...

You're supposing just being part of a certain sub-culture automatically shows "something's wrong"?

Your survey could be better, it is not abysmal however.

[philipj]

Look, if your child is dressing like a goth, and / or wearing trench coats every day... and you see that OTHER kids are not doing it... then chances are it's not a phase... "there's something wrong". Find out what's wrong...

You're supposing just being part of a certain sub-culture automatically shows "something's wrong"?

Your survey could be better, it is not abysmal however.

 

Looking back on it now after the fact, yea I agree... It could've been better. The requirements of the report I did was that I either do an interview with a professional in the subject I was doing the report on, or do a survey. I choose the survey because it was easier to do one of those on line and get instant results in order to meet that requirement. I was so busy trying to rush things out the door, when I started on project I didn't know where to begin. Doing a paper is one thing but doing an interview is another... When I did the questions I didn't even do any internet research on the topic let alone had the insight on exactly what I was going to ask, plus the deadline to turn everything in was just around the corner. So I ask some general purpose questions, basically shooting in the dark, posted the survey and voila... I met my requirement thus half the work was done in that respect. Now that I got my survey questions out of the way, I could focus on the paper, which I'll probably post in the near future.

 

 

Being that the survey was up before I wrote the paper using "Survey Monkey," being able to monitor the results in realtime really help to bring the paper to life, because it wasn't based on just piecing together information I snagged here and there from the internet, but was very interactive in a way because people, 99 of them to be excact, responded to the survey with comments. This really helped a big deal to figure out how my paper would be written, so put the questions out there wasn't a total lost in the least. In the future, however, I'm going to give a little bit more thought before I conduct a survey... After all it was apart of the learning experience... The next time I'll be better prepared.

[Jack_Quinn_UK]

Look, if your child is dressing like a goth, and / or wearing trench coats every day... and you see that OTHER kids are not doing it... then chances are it's not a phase... "there's something wrong". Find out what's wrong...

You're supposing just being part of a certain sub-culture automatically shows "something's wrong"?

Your survey could be better, it is not abysmal however.

 

Looking back on it now after the fact, yea I agree... It could've been better. The requirements of the report I did was that I either do an interview with a professional in the subject I was doing the report on, or do a survey. I choose the survey because it was easier to do one of those on line and get instant results in order to meet that requirement. I was so busy trying to rush things out the door, when I started on project I didn't know where to begin. Doing a paper is one thing but doing an interview is another... When I did the questions I didn't even do any internet research on the topic let alone had the insight on exactly what I was going to ask, plus the deadline to turn everything in was just around the corner. So I ask some general purpose questions, basically shooting in the dark, posted the survey and voila... I met my requirement thus half the work was done in that respect. Now that I got my survey questions out of the way, I could focus on the paper, which I'll probably post in the near future.

 

 

Being that the survey was up before I wrote the paper using "Survey Monkey," being able to monitor the results in realtime really help to bring the paper to life, because it wasn't based on just piecing together information I snagged here and there from the internet, but was very interactive in a way because people, 99 of them to be excact, responded to the survey with comments. This really helped a big deal to figure out how my paper would be written, so put the questions out there wasn't a total lost in the least. In the future, however, I'm going to give a little bit more thought before I conduct a survey... After all it was apart of the learning experience... The next time I'll be better prepared.

 

Good luck to the next survey!