surf dtoid with 
Rising (10+)
People you follow
send message
follow
followers
I played Grand Theft Auto 2, 3 & Vice City religiously, and my parents never stopped me, my parents were incredibly strict too, I'm happy they let me play these games they were a way of venting for me.
Now that I'm older I actually mostly stay away from violent games, unless it's highly stylized and unrealistic like No More Heroes, where I can separate myself because it's fantasy. It just bothers me to senselessly kill in a virtual world, that's one of the reason I couldn't play GTA 4, now that the pedestrians aren't low polygon models with blurry textures and stiff animations, and they actually resemble people I can't go on a killing spree without feeling terrible guilty, I know it's fake, but I just feel like crap.
My opinion on the videogames causing violent behavior is that the person was mentally unstable to begin with, I remember hearing once about this couple that met through an online dating site, and after they had been together for years the girl decided to kill the man because she saw a picture of puppies, it's the person's decision, the trigger can be anything, a bad day at work, getting evicted, discrimination, it doesn't matter what the "trigger" was because if someone decides to commit a crime it's built from an amalgamation of frustrating things in their life, video games and movies are generally refereed to as stress relievers so I think chances of them being "triggers" are minimal to begin with.
I watched this documentary a year or two ago it's pretty good. It described that instead of people mimicking violent behavior it actually causes them to be more afraid, because of the way T.V news emphasis on criminal behavior. Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ8iE8bvLVg
Now that I'm older I actually mostly stay away from violent games, unless it's highly stylized and unrealistic like No More Heroes, where I can separate myself because it's fantasy. It just bothers me to senselessly kill in a virtual world, that's one of the reason I couldn't play GTA 4, now that the pedestrians aren't low polygon models with blurry textures and stiff animations, and they actually resemble people I can't go on a killing spree without feeling terrible guilty, I know it's fake, but I just feel like crap.
My opinion on the videogames causing violent behavior is that the person was mentally unstable to begin with, I remember hearing once about this couple that met through an online dating site, and after they had been together for years the girl decided to kill the man because she saw a picture of puppies, it's the person's decision, the trigger can be anything, a bad day at work, getting evicted, discrimination, it doesn't matter what the "trigger" was because if someone decides to commit a crime it's built from an amalgamation of frustrating things in their life, video games and movies are generally refereed to as stress relievers so I think chances of them being "triggers" are minimal to begin with.
I watched this documentary a year or two ago it's pretty good. It described that instead of people mimicking violent behavior it actually causes them to be more afraid, because of the way T.V news emphasis on criminal behavior. Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ8iE8bvLVg
Great blog.
I honestly probably played more videogames than anyone in my school, and yet the more I played, the less violent and aggressive I became. And I played all the most "violent" of videogames, including Manhunt, all the GTAs and Metal Gear Solids. And yet, I was probably the least violent person in the entire school. Funny how that works, eh?
In addition to that, my father would sometimes claim that I play so many videogames, that I'm unable to differentiate between the real world and the virtual one. But my response has always been that the opposite should be true. If anything, from my menus experience with games, I am able to explicitly detail everything and anything that's different between the real and virtual worlds.
I honestly probably played more videogames than anyone in my school, and yet the more I played, the less violent and aggressive I became. And I played all the most "violent" of videogames, including Manhunt, all the GTAs and Metal Gear Solids. And yet, I was probably the least violent person in the entire school. Funny how that works, eh?
In addition to that, my father would sometimes claim that I play so many videogames, that I'm unable to differentiate between the real world and the virtual one. But my response has always been that the opposite should be true. If anything, from my menus experience with games, I am able to explicitly detail everything and anything that's different between the real and virtual worlds.
It's true look at me, my parents never let me play violent video games when I was a kid, now I'm a big fat pussy with legs!
I think this is one of those 'on a case-by-case basis' sort of deal; there are kids who can handle it and those who can't.
Plus, everyone's got different philosophies on parenting and frankly, nobody is really 'right.' I mean, gaming in of itself has more questions to it than 'do I expose my kid to violence or not'; some parents would rather their kids not dabble in tech-related things in early childhood...some don't feel that way. Neither is going to produce a 'bad' kid in of itself.
Plus, everyone's got different philosophies on parenting and frankly, nobody is really 'right.' I mean, gaming in of itself has more questions to it than 'do I expose my kid to violence or not'; some parents would rather their kids not dabble in tech-related things in early childhood...some don't feel that way. Neither is going to produce a 'bad' kid in of itself.
I think some sports do a more to promote violence than almost any video game. Football and hockey alone do far more damage than the entirety of all violent games created so far. Yet nobody ever suggests that they will irreparably harm your kids.
Also i first learned about sex from the dictionary. Lets ban that sick filth!
Also i first learned about sex from the dictionary. Lets ban that sick filth!
Good post. My parents and I played Barbarian on the Amstrad when I was about 4 or 5, which I guess was probably the Mortal Kombat of its day? My folks seem to have quite a relaxed attitude to violence and even nudity in games, but they definitely don't approve when the characters on screen use bad language.
Thanks for the feedback guys! Now let's see what we've got here...
@Scissors I still feel no remorse when I kill virtual people, or extremely fuck them over in some way. In reality though, I'm incredibly thoughtful and I would never, ever cause harm to another person. I'll also be sure to check out the documentary, it sounds incredibly interesting.
I also completely agree with them being stress relievers. It's like when music was subject, people thought Judas Priest caused people to commit suicide. But if you ask the fans themselves they'll tell you music helped them out of that spot in their lives. I think video games do the same thing. Instead of me killing my boss or something crazy like that, I can go beat up virtual hookers to blow off steam. It's an alternative.
@Wolfy-Boey I was the exact same way. I never brought out my anger in a physical manner. I think video games helped me keep my cool in some weird way.
@Pdawgy I don't think video games had anything to do with that...
@Patricia You're incredibly right. I think it was not my place to assume anyone should bring up their own child however I wanted them to, I just feel it's a little unfair to shelter a human being from something. It just doesn't seem right to me.
@jjjenigma Not only sports, just look at prime-time television or even some cartoons. Hell, Trnasformers and TMNT is pretty damn violent.
@Melz You know, my parents were actually that way too. Huh. Actually I take that back, they weren't to fond of the characters in DOA4.
@Scissors I still feel no remorse when I kill virtual people, or extremely fuck them over in some way. In reality though, I'm incredibly thoughtful and I would never, ever cause harm to another person. I'll also be sure to check out the documentary, it sounds incredibly interesting.
I also completely agree with them being stress relievers. It's like when music was subject, people thought Judas Priest caused people to commit suicide. But if you ask the fans themselves they'll tell you music helped them out of that spot in their lives. I think video games do the same thing. Instead of me killing my boss or something crazy like that, I can go beat up virtual hookers to blow off steam. It's an alternative.
@Wolfy-Boey I was the exact same way. I never brought out my anger in a physical manner. I think video games helped me keep my cool in some weird way.
@Pdawgy I don't think video games had anything to do with that...
@Patricia You're incredibly right. I think it was not my place to assume anyone should bring up their own child however I wanted them to, I just feel it's a little unfair to shelter a human being from something. It just doesn't seem right to me.
@jjjenigma Not only sports, just look at prime-time television or even some cartoons. Hell, Trnasformers and TMNT is pretty damn violent.
@Melz You know, my parents were actually that way too. Huh. Actually I take that back, they weren't to fond of the characters in DOA4.
I often compare violent video games to education.
Violent video games allow the player to look at and recognise violence and death. I've played 18-rated (M) games since the age of nine and, while I doubt I would remain completely calm in a violent situation, I know that I could handle myself in such an event.
If a child does not play violent video games then education allows teenagers such as myself to study and recognise violence and death. I have recently been studying WWI and Communist-era Russia and it is certainly true that some awful things happened in both periods. At some point, I always say, we have to face reality. Bad things happen.
Violent video games allow the player to look at and recognise violence and death. I've played 18-rated (M) games since the age of nine and, while I doubt I would remain completely calm in a violent situation, I know that I could handle myself in such an event.
If a child does not play violent video games then education allows teenagers such as myself to study and recognise violence and death. I have recently been studying WWI and Communist-era Russia and it is certainly true that some awful things happened in both periods. At some point, I always say, we have to face reality. Bad things happen.
My first mature entertainment experience was Robocop, which I watched with my parents in '88. I remember hiding behind the couch when Murphy got shot up.
If that didn't just make me feel old enough, the very notion that some people are too young to know what Mortal Kombat is did...
If that didn't just make me feel old enough, the very notion that some people are too young to know what Mortal Kombat is did...
Manhunt, GTA series, Fable, R rated movies, yet I am a pacifist. I realize that the people I am mowing down are not real people. They have no emotion, no thought, no soul. I can't see myself attacking someone without extreme provocation. Funny how I love swords and guns and bombs and all sorts of lethal things yet I am disgusted by actual wars.
A great read, but I do really think it comes down to the parents and the child in question, if the kid is able to handle the content of the games and understands it, then let them, but one thing that pisses me off more than anything is the whiny little brat in line for the gears midnight shouting about how he plans to curbstomp everyone if he can't be first in line, while the mother is off on a cellphone not paying a lick of attention.
when I was younger, I wasn't allowed to play some violent games, of course my brothers let me play with them anyways so it didn't really matter, my parents used the ratings as a rough guide, but would talk to me and my brothers about what was in it, they took things on a game by game basis.
It really is a two way street between the kids and the parents, the parents need to know what is really in a game, and they should talk with their child to see if it is really right for them.
when I was younger, I wasn't allowed to play some violent games, of course my brothers let me play with them anyways so it didn't really matter, my parents used the ratings as a rough guide, but would talk to me and my brothers about what was in it, they took things on a game by game basis.
It really is a two way street between the kids and the parents, the parents need to know what is really in a game, and they should talk with their child to see if it is really right for them.
