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Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

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Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#131

Post by borepop »

pansa2 wrote: post #98

I must admit, I don't understand the appeal of the most violent video games. I recently read "The Last of Us Part II" described as being "about [...] the awful things that humans can do to each other" [0]. Why would I want to spend my leisure time experiencing that? How is that entertaining? [0] https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/23/the-15-best-vi...

>Why would I want to spend my leisure time experiencing that? How is that entertaining?

As another commenter above noted, it's a form of wish fulfillment and imaginary transgression, which is particularly appealing to teenage boys, since virtually all forms of actual aggression are off limits. Sports are the only arena where boys are allowed to be physically aggressive in real. Other than that, we have an entire group of young people who once would have been learning to hunt and kill and defend their clan but who now have to sit around and do very little besides read, write, and stare at computers. Arguably it's a positive thing to have less violence, but it leads many young men to wonder why the hell their bodies are strong and powerful. In video games, they at least get to pretend that there is some utility to being able to be forceful.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#132

Post by zeku »

giantg2 wrote: post #112
Ensorceled wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think kids have more ability to self regulate than we typically treat them as having. This "kids need adult supervision" is a relatively new thing, we used to be sent out to play as kids for HOURS (be home by dinner) and ran the woods and parks or played murderball (soccer with tackling) and other forms of roughhousing, all without serious mayhem. Parents would let us "work it out" if there was a fight.

'Parents would let us "work it out" if there was a fight.' And now days the school calls the police for minor fights and kids end up with records that can drastically alter their lives in a negative way. I almost wonder if this zero tolerance mindset creates an all-or-nothing mentality in kids when they realize they aren't allowed to defend themselves. And if this mentality (equivocating criminal record and expulsion…

It does lead to issues. I'm a young enough to have gone through school with zero tolerance policies and heavy use of police calls. I got a record with my school for cursing in the 8th grade. That's right. I got suspended from a public school for 2 weeks and kicked off the football team and out of the school play for saying, "What the fuck?!" in shock after a kid poured something down the back of my shirt.

This lead to me being punished more than normal for the rest of my public schooling. Once you have a "record" if you so much as dare to be 5minutes late to a class they just send you to "in school suspension" as a bad kid for the entire day. There I met kids doing much worse things than me, and almost all of it was escalated by administration getting police involved. Police would hang around these kids to arrest them again and again, never teaching them anything.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#133

Post by sharkweek »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #62
Waterluvian wrote: post #14

Somewhat Tangential: Without any instruction my 2 and 4 year olds know how to turn things into weapons to beat each other with. Like puppies they seem to be testing limits to rough play. What surprised me is what happened when I didn't intervene: a few times the older one completely dominated and got his way. But more often than not the older one displayed empathy and tried to apologize and give kisses and give the y…

I think it depends on the kid. You just have to rely on the parents judgement. When our oldest was 4 our twins were 1 and she was very abusive towards them. She was trying to make them hurt and upset. At 5, now they mostly get along fine. Unless they get in her toys. Then it's bodyslam time.

Thank you for saying this, because I’m the parent of a toddler and an infant right now and I swear my only job is trying to keep the older one from hurting the younger one.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#134

Post by watwut »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #97
umvi wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, growing up my parents banned Super Smash Bros., because the outcomes of matches would sometimes enrage us so much that we would get into fights in real life. But that's true for more than just multiplayer video games. Sports come to mind. Basically anything involving intense competition and taunting is going to cause a temporary increase in aggressive behavior.

>Indeed, growing up my parents banned Super Smash Bros., because the outcomes of matches would sometimes enrage us so much that we would get into fights in real life. Personally, my take on this is you were seeing and effect; not a cause. As a kid you MAY have had a common issue expressing loss or disappointment. The game MAY have brought this up, there was always a loser every match. So, your parents MAY have consid…

> So, your parents MAY have considered this the cause of your inability to properly handle it.

1.) You underestimate how uncomfortable and annoying resulting environment is for everyone in the household.

2.) "My brother and me fought" typically have consistent aggressor and removal of game is often action design to protect the consistent victim.

3.) Removal of game is logical consequence. If parent simply tolerates asshole behavior in that situation, the kid has no motivation to even try self control. It amounts to enabling where parents see issue, but tolerate it and the issue grows and grows.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#135

Post by scotty79 »

abfan1127 wrote: post #49
Ensorceled wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think kids have more ability to self regulate than we typically treat them as having. This "kids need adult supervision" is a relatively new thing, we used to be sent out to play as kids for HOURS (be home by dinner) and ran the woods and parks or played murderball (soccer with tackling) and other forms of roughhousing, all without serious mayhem. Parents would let us "work it out" if there was a fight.

I emphasize "work it out" so often with our kids. Funny story. my 4yo was playing with the neighborkids around the same age. the neighbor girl came to me to tattle, saying they weren't sharing. I told her you need to work it out with them, use your words and manners. Clearly not the result she was looking for, she turned and yelled "He said you have to share!" I clarified with the other kids "that's not what I said!…

So when she used words as you advised, you immediately destroyed her strat because she used them in a way different than what you had in mind. :-)

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#136

Post by vlunkr »

afandian wrote: post #117

I'm one of those people who is entirely bemused by violent videogames and films (I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be bemused by my pastimes too). I'm not trying to argue to stop anyone doing it, but I would really like to understand it better. Many video games are essentially simulators of things that we're prevented from doing in reality, because of the laws of nature or society. Whether that's dropping…

I would argue that in most games, the violence is not the goal, just the mechanics. You're either competing with other players, trying to fulfill a quest, surviving the zombie apocalypse, etc. Very few games are really "murder simulators" and when they do come along, even if they are meant to be satirical or something, they are usually controversial.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#137

Post by watwut »

opan wrote: post #127
Dirlewanger wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love video games, but I agree. You also have nothing to show for the time (I don't buy the "if you had fun, it was worth the time" argument). Hobbies where you can learn/hone new skills are more valuable. With video games, there's nothing to show for it. The only scenarios where I think they're beneficial is when they're enjoyed with friends (preferably in-person), or for the elderly to help with hand-eye coordinat…

I find that basically any video game is educational. From the most basic form of just teaching you new vocab to things like seeing into a job you haven't or wouldn't do in real life. Games are basically virtual work that's been made a bit more safe/easy/fun. You can grow digital vegetables and walk away knowing a bit more about that process than before playing. A game's dialogue and story may present philosophical th…

My friend history teacher hates games in historical settings for that reason - kids think random stuff they learned from it are history and most of what they learned is complete nonsense.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#138

Post by wwtrv »

raztogt21 wrote: post #85
elboru wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a Mexican city near to the border with the US, the violence got really bad 10 years ago (some cartels were fighting for the border, now it is a lot calmer). Anyways “Narco culture” has influenced a lot of people (mostly on poor neighborhoods) and therefore it has influenced kids, it’s really sad to see boys playing with guns pretending to be narcos. The government has tried to ban those kinds of toys, I don…

I'm from Mexico too. Kids (males mostly) playing with toys guns or swords is normal. Almost all games/sports are microcosms for wars, football, basketball, tag, hide n seek. Both kids and adults love these microcosms of war. They don't pretend to be narcos because they like toy guns. They do it because they aspire to a quality of life they will never get via a normal working job.

The third paragraph kind of contradicts the second one one. I mean why don’t they pretend to be businessmen, politicians or investment bankers then?

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#139

Post by dx87 »

afandian wrote: post #117

I'm one of those people who is entirely bemused by violent videogames and films (I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be bemused by my pastimes too). I'm not trying to argue to stop anyone doing it, but I would really like to understand it better. Many video games are essentially simulators of things that we're prevented from doing in reality, because of the laws of nature or society. Whether that's dropping…

I think the difference between acceptance of violent and sexual depictions in media is based on how likely it is to affect people's lives. Almost nobody has a natural tendency to act on violent thoughts, so playing a violent video game is unlikely to cause issues in real life. Most people will have sexual encounters at some point in their life though, so getting an unrealistic expectation of them can cause serious issues in the person's life. For example, women who think men should always cater to their demands because that's what's shown in movies, or men who think that women want to be treated the way they are in porn.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#140

Post by slothtrop »

Lots of talk about desensitization. Personally I can't watch any gruesome "beheading" videos or anything of that nature, and to the best of my knowledge it would sicken most others as well so I'm not sure the idea holds water.

I think cartoon violence desensitizes you to cartoon violence, and real violence desensitizes you to real violence.

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