Do you think that video games encourage youth to use aggression?

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Guns don't kill people, people do. Same thing here.

If you use videos games as a babysitter and don't teach kids proper morals they will likely be screwed up a little. More often than not parents blame everything but themselves as reasons why their kids are bad.

Think about it, if someone actually thinks parts of a video game, movie or whatever is real enough that they will act out parts of it thinking that it's OK to do so then that person is pretty stupid. Stupidity is a relative term, you can only learn what you are taught so if kids don't learn right or wrong properly then they simply don't know any better. And yes if you use video games as a means of teaching this then yeah perhaps it could cause violence but it's hardly the result of the game.

The answer isn't to shelter kids but rather teach them. Very rarely do kids act out in violence as a result of too much attention from parents.

+1 We used to play fairly violent and graphic video games as kids and didn't turn out bad. Violence in video games can be an outlet and actually fun. It is fun to be bad in a way that doesn't actually hurt somebody else. Our parents taught us wrong from right and we knew it was pretend and you don't do that in the real world.

The problem these days is that kids can just get away with whatever they want and only get a slap on the wrist. Commit an actual crime and there are barely any consequences for youth. Parents either don't interact with their kids or let the TV/xBox etc. be the babysitter. Also, to many parents these days have this stupid touchy feely parenting style where they want to be their child's friend. Reality is that you aren't their friend, you're their parent which is a much more important job with much more responsibility. It is up to the parents to be the responsible party and discipline the kids and teach them wrong from right.

My honest belief is that parenting should be licensed. You may laugh but we have to get a license to drive a car. What requires more responsibility; driving a vehicle or creating well adjusted humans that aren't antisocial irresponsible sociopaths?

[Aquattro]

I think this post is kinda random for a first post to a reef board. What's up??

[Ron99]

Probably a grad student doing some sort of research and using a bunch of boards to do that Either that or maybe someone from one of those dumb ban videogame and TV violence groups trying to start a debate

[nlreefguy]

Personally I do believe that making more forms of violence accessible through casual media might not necessarily CAUSE violence but may make people more apathetic to violence or less likely to be disturbed by it. But if you want to look at a more important factor you might look at how the increase in the divorce rate or the decrease in the amount of time kids spend with their parents leads to more social dysfunction, including violence I guess.

[ElGuappo]

IMO bottom line is your tv/game system is not a baby sitter. if this is where your children are learning their life lessons then maybe you should look at the parents and their neglect. if no one is there to teach them right from wrong how will they know.

I have been a gamer for years and find it a good way to blow off steam . however i had parents very involved in my youth. played sports almost everyday.

when i was being raised and i started to annoy the folks it was " go outside and find something to do" now adays its " go sit infront of the tv and play video games. "

[Diana]

Originally Posted by nlreefguy

personally i do believe that making more forms of violence accessible through casual media might not necessarily cause violence but may make people more apathetic to violence or less likely to be disturbed by it. But if you want to look at a more important factor you might look at how the increase in the divorce rate or the decrease in the amount of time kids spend with their parents leads to more social dysfunction, including violence i guess.

+1

[FitoPharmer]

+1 for anyone saying that guns don't kill people people kill people.
+1 for anyone saying that gaming systems are poor replacements for real parenting.
+1 for anyone saying that gaming systems create indifference to violence and violent situations.
+1 for anyone saying that often this argument or do video games cause violence is used to pass the blame to the game manufacturer from the irresponsible parent.
But also IMO the game manufacturers should have the right to sell the games. In any free society people should be allowed to do what they want to them selves or anyone willing to accept the price, whether that price is monetary, physically, or psychologically based. As long as they are not doing harm to others, or property that should be there personal choice to an extent. When you start to regulate and legislate the morality of the people bad things always happen. People look to laws and legislation too often an have to realize that the power to the change the world only lies within your own hands in most cases. This quote is from the Simpsons episode "the Springfield Connection" where Marge becomes a police officer seems to fit quite well.

Lisa Simpson: Mom, I know your intentions are good but aren't the police the protective force that maintains the status quo for the wealthy elite? Don't you think we ought to attack the roots of social problems instead of jamming people into overcrowded prisons?
Marge: [pauses] Look Lisa, it's McGriff, the Crime Dog!
[uses a hand puppet]
Marge: Hey, Lisa, help me bite crime, ruff, ruff!

I think we often forget that failure and change are basic parts of human nature and too quickly look to governments and corporations to sooth our fears. When really violence and criminals IMO are not a problem directly, they are a symptom. If you continue to treat symptoms, and never look for a cause you can really be doing harm, in this case to society. And i don't know if the parenting license model would work either. I know of a bunch of rich and or powerful people who basically abuse our current system of vehicle licensing, especially when most of the penalties are monetarily based. And I'm also not going to advocate the government taking peoples children. I'm not sure about everywhere in Canada, but here our BC child protection doesn't seem to be all that interested in truly protecting children.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

I would be more worried about the effect on kids under the power of mind altering drugs and using violent video games.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-d...-our-children/
Here is something on the marketing apparatus that sells parents and their children everything from video games to junk food.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/consuming-kids/

[Zoaelite]

Man kind has been killing each other before we were even humans, and WAY BEFORE video games were invented. I don't think Adolf Hitler killed 17 million innocent people because he played Grand Theft Auto:State of Palestine. You also realize that it can be argued that the single largest proprietor of murder through out history is religion, please leave my violent video games out of this .
Levi

(btw off topic, the RROD on my xbox 360 has caused me some serious sleep deprivation I keep having odd Halo 3 dreams lol)