When I was a kid my favorite movies involved cowboys killing indians (sometimes the indians killed some cowboys too), and then there were war movies etc. I also grew up around guns and hunting.
To this day I have never felt any desire to kill any indians or be violent in any other way. In fact, action movies don’t interest me that much any more.
I have no doubt in my mind that the link between violent movies/games and violent behavior is non existent.
Perhaps the supposed “link” is backwards? Perhaps it’s not that violent media influences people to violent acts, but violent people actively and purposefully seek out violent media?
[ flippancy ]
There’s a lot of comedy on TV and in the cinema. I don’t notice society getting any funnier.
[/ flippancy ]
To post my opinion at length would be to echo those of Spoofe and Cervaise, and I don’t think I would do a significantly better job of expressing those views.
I’ve just realised something games in early life DO influence you in later life and here’s my proof! I never played Mario Brothers when I was younger and I don’t want to be a plummer, there’s good evidence there. I also never really played violent games either and I’ve never killed anyone. BUT I used to play Infocom games all the time and I made maps of them all, now I’m a cartographer! Oh my GOD! my early game playing days really screwed up my mind and made me become what I am! we should out law them all, games, movies, books, TV everything!
AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!! Eddie runs away now knowing how those games ruined his life.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again:
When someone commits mass murder, and this person is found to enjoy violent media, the media is blamed.
When someone commits mass murder and this person is found to have read the Bible a great deal, the murderer is blamed.
I think SPOOFE has it right. A violent person is more likely to be attracted to violent entertainment.
jab1– who once looked at his parents’ illustrated Bible because it had pictures of nekkid people in it.
You’re right Spoofe (and thanks, everyone, for not, figuratively speaking, shooting that flag that I waved out of my hand).
Ed: you goofed! You shoulda played fligth sims. Then you could’ve been a way-cool fighter pilot (all fighter pilots are way-cool; just ask 'em :))
ExTank
Shift magazine ran an article a couple of months back, looking at this question. They concluded that violent video games provide training - you can learn to handle a machine gun by playing with simulators. You can learn where to aim to insure a kill. Someone who has the intent will be a much better killing machine as a result of this training.
Which is complete Bullshit. Find a game that trains you how to handle a machine gun. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Back yet? What did you find? Nothing? I’m shocked!
Pressing F1 to select your weapon is nowhere near anything remotely approaching the training required to adequately use a gun. Clicking on a picture of a magazine to reload doesn’t so it either. It might possibly have realistic pictures of real weapons, but so far I haven’t ever seen one that realistically models the way automatic weapons act in real life. The games always make them far, far too accurate, and leave out the niceties like frequent jamming (M-16 anyway) and the tendency of the barrel to lift during anything more than a 3 shot burst. I have fired the real things, and I have played a lot of the games, and I can tell you there is a world of difference.
It is true that there have been stories about the military adapting games like Doom and Quake to use as training aids, but they do not train them on how to be killers, or to desensitize marines to violence. What they are used for is simulating a combat environment so that the players learn to fight as a team, with tactics designed to make effective use of their members. Sure, there are things in run of the mill games like the concept of cover and concealment, but these are usually simplistic and unreal. In games, you can usually hide behind anything you want and be safe from the enemy’s bullets. IRL, when you duck behind an oil drum you run the risk of getting just as ventilated as it will be when the bullets fly. As far as “where to aim to insure a kill” goes, Duh! Always shoot for center of mass unless you are an ultra-accurate sniper, in which case a good head shot is the rule. Chest equals heart/lungs and head equals brain. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t already know this?
When you have gangs of kids out there pulling commando-style attacks using advanced combat tactics, then maybe you will have something. Until then, the idea that sitting at a keyboard playing Unreal amounts to any kind of training for a real world scenario is just ludicrous.
I don’t know about the machine gun handling, but I read a short entry in “All in a Day’s Work” from The Reader’s Digest a year or so ago. I can’t cite the exact quote or issue, but it had to do with a young woman and an somewhat older surgeon working together during an operation. He admired a technique she used, and asked her how she had figured it out. She replied “Nintendo.”
I think that you can probably gain some small muscle coordination skills by playing those games. I am of the opinion, previously stated, that people are not turned to violence by video games.
I’m 25. I fondly still have my Atar1 2600, Commmodore 64, Nes and a bunch more. I love Doom and Mortal Kombat. The last fight I was involved in was in high school. The principal decided that I was not at fault. I catch spiders and insects in my appartment and release them outside.
I literally don’t hurt a fly. Have violent games affected me? I doubt it.
Something else to consider, Japan has the most violent media (televison, video games, manga[Japanese comic books that are often made for an adult audience]) in the world. It also has the lowest rate of violent crime in the world.
Any child can be taught the difference between violent video games and real violence in two steps. Play a violent game with them. Have them skin, fillet and bread chicken. The exploding zombies of House of The Dead don’t compare to the revulsion of handling raw chicken for the first time