Do video games and movies perpetuate violence?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Entertainment and literature has been violent as long as humans have been on earth. The Bible depicts some of the most depraved brutality imaginable in the most approving terms. The Romans used to watch people kill each other for real. The only thing that’s changed is our technology. Humans are just violence loving fucks. It’s in our biology. I think most people are capable of understanding the difference between reality and a game. I play GTA and other violent games and I’m a complete pacifist pussy in my real life dealings. I don’t think there’s any cause and effect and there’s nothing we could do about even if there was.

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

@Airman Doors

This argument has been made by many more eloquent than I but it’s still worth talking about. Is our popular culture resulting in a propensity towards violence? I sincerely wish that the answer could be a definitive no, but I don’t think that that is the case.

“It is an evil influence on the youth of our country.” A politician condemning video gaming? Actually, a clergyman denouncing rock and roll 50 years ago. But the sentiment could just as easily have been voiced by Hillary Clinton in the past few weeks, as she blamed video games for “a silent epidemic of media desensitisation” and “stealing the innocence of our children”.

The Economist - August 6th

Every new fad is decryed for damaging youth, and video games are no exception. For politicians, it’s a quick and simplistic way to be popular. TV knows that telling its core demographic that they are being threatened by outsiders is good for ratings. The only thing that suffers is reality, but most politicians and TV people are more concerned with eloquent sound bites than reality.

Keep on fraggin’.

[HPL]

I’ll add my two cents here.

I play violent video games a lot. I played through the fallout games several times with the Bloody Mess on, I’ve played the first two GTA games. I enjoyed both Soldiers of Fortune games. I also enjoy Sin City, Tarentino movies, 24, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down. The Gore doesn’t bother me at all. I’m pretty much desensitized.

And yet, I still have no urge at all to attack people, run people over, shoot people, etc. I can’t condone people doing such things without just cause(Self defense). I can’t even get worked up enough to want to road-rage someone. And strangely enough, Call of Duty(which I love) makes me want to become a pacifist as much as go out and join the marines. As much as I sometimes joke about having certain celebrities fight each other to the Death(like in a certain MTV show), in real life I’d never watch it and view it with disgust. I’m againest the use of Torture but I’m fine when Jack Bauer does it.

But then again, I have a clear sense of the difference between fantasy and reality. I think most people do. It’s easy to cheer when you know something isn’t real. It’s how you react to the real thing that makes the difference.

[Cervaise]

@HPL

I have a clear sense of the difference between fantasy and reality. I think most people do.

There seems to me to be an interesting extrapolation to be made from this about the people who seek to ban violent and other extreme entertainment, but it would be entirely speculative and thus I hesitate to make it.

[Monocracy]

This seems to be a lopsided discussion, so let me throw in a recent article that argues the other side.

Video games linked to aggression, study finds

Teachers of 600 8th and 9th graders, aged 13 to 15, said children who spent more time playing violent video games were more hostile than other children and more likely to argue with authority figures and other students.

Males play more video games than females. Males tend to be more agressive than females. Therefore, playing video games is what makes males more agressive than females. Right? Of course not. Most studies see a correlation, then get causation backwards. It’s not that video games make people more agressive, it’s that more aggressive people tend to play more video games.

One study showed that children who played a violent game for less than 10 minutes and then took a mood assessment test rated themselves with aggressive traits and aggressive actions shortly after playing.

This looks like an experiment with no control to me. What if a child played a non-violent video game, such as Tetris, or even a challenging board game, like speed chess? I’m betting that results on a mood assessment test would be similar.