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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

#251

Post by simias »

I doubt there's any kind of direct link between video games and people becoming violent, but I do think it reflects poorly on our societies that we seem to be fine with young kids shoot each other in the face with realistic weapons in CS:GO and Call of Duty but if you show one women's nipple it's unacceptable.

While it probably doesn't directly incite violence in well balanced individuals, it does in my opinion trivialize war and glorify armed combat.

I'm reminded of that French soldier who "cosplayed" Ghost from Call of Duty while on duty in Mali.

I guess it's not really new, literature always told stories of war and it's an extension of that, but a book and a game are not the same thing.

I wish that was what the discussion was about, instead of this dumb tabloid-tier "Doom creates serial killers" narrative.

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

#252

Post by friendlybus »

mc32 wrote: post #237
yazboo wrote: post #80

I have noticed that many social science articles posted on Hacker News bring out critical comments about study design, doubts about the strength of the study's conclusions, that kind of thing. This submission, on the other hand, is a link to some kind of gaming news website, which links to an abstract for an article in a Cyberpsychology (?) journal which costs $60 to access, and there is widespread and uncritical agr…

Here’s a test: Design this game with negative stereotypes and see how many people suddenly flip on how they think about the influence of the in-game social and anti-social aspects.

Hatred came out in 2015, and was effectively banned in some regions. A true test on this topic will never happen in the public, Adults Only rated-games only get so far.

"Mike Splechta of GameZone questioned the game's timing and how it could become the "next scapegoat" in a climate that already held video games responsible for school shootings and other violence."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatred_(video_game)#Reception

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

#253

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

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…

There was a story recently about a real-life event that started out a lot like the scenario in Lord of the Flies, i. e. a group of children stranded on an island.

It turns out their society started looking after their weakest and made decisions based on consent.

Meanwhile, the book just confirms everyone's beliefs not only about children but mankind itself, namely of a Hobbesian/Darwinian/Randian rule-of-the-strongest being the natural state of affairs.

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

#254

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

yazboo wrote: post #80

I have noticed that many social science articles posted on Hacker News bring out critical comments about study design, doubts about the strength of the study's conclusions, that kind of thing. This submission, on the other hand, is a link to some kind of gaming news website, which links to an abstract for an article in a Cyberpsychology (?) journal which costs $60 to access, and there is widespread and uncritical agr…

The biases of the tech crowd, and HN specifically, wouldn't be half as bad if they occasionally showed a willingness to investigate them, instead of continually insisting their reasoning is uniquely based on "logic" and "science".

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

#255

Post by ajuc »

yazboo wrote: post #80

I have noticed that many social science articles posted on Hacker News bring out critical comments about study design, doubts about the strength of the study's conclusions, that kind of thing. This submission, on the other hand, is a link to some kind of gaming news website, which links to an abstract for an article in a Cyberpsychology (?) journal which costs $60 to access, and there is widespread and uncritical agr…

It's hard to avoid confirmation bias when it comes to things everybody experience in their everyday lives. Almost everybody games at some point in their lives. Everybody know people who play video games for significant percent of their free time. If the link was significant we would've noticed by now.

It's very hard to argue video games and crime are linked when the curves are:

https://i.imgur.com/hSHDyoH.png

https://cdn.statcdn.com/Statistic/190000/191219-blank-355.pn...

Of course it's possible that the link is small and other factors overpower it. But it's unlikely, and given the everyday experience with people who play games and people who are violent - there's very little evidence of any link.

So indeed we fail to the confirmation bias. Or, said in other words: "ordinary claims require very little evidence".

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

#256

Post by apta »

noobermin wrote: post #248
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…

It's more or less a western culture thing. The overvaluing and focus on sex of being something amazing or interesting. EDIT: sorry, not western culture, American culture, particularly.

> The overvaluing and focus on sex of being something amazing or interesting.

Because there are severe consequences to it, pregnancies and STDs being just the start.

Yes, it is an amazing thing, and it is not overvalued at all. It's one of the strongest drives we have as humans, and it should be controlled, otherwise it will lead to chaos.

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

#257

Post by giantg2 »

kbelder wrote: post #220
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are mixing 2 different topics. Ramping authoritarianism and policing is one problem. > "allowed to defend themselves" > "punching my bully" ...and this is what most bullies would say. No, bullying cannot be solved by the victims, otherwise it would not be a problem in the first place. Bullying needs to be stopped by the school - and without calling in armed bullies to stop the bullies.

The typical victims of bullying are the ones that don't act to stop it. That's why they're being bullied in the first place. I don't want to victim blame, because they are victims... but it's often enabled by their own character traits. They'll be greatly helped throughout life if they acquire the ability to defend themselves.

I generally agree. One thing to point out though, is that under zero tolerance policies, some victims who do have the ability to defend themselves are forced to work within a regulatory framework that would severely punish them for doing so, to the point that being the victim of a bully is less harmful or more tolerable than being a victim of the system. Likewise, those who don't have the ability to defend themselves would be less motivated to learn those skills if they know the system would punish them (why learn it if you're not allowed to use it?).

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

#258

Post by noobermin »

simias wrote: post #251

I doubt there's any kind of direct link between video games and people becoming violent, but I do think it reflects poorly on our societies that we seem to be fine with young kids shoot each other in the face with realistic weapons in CS:GO and Call of Duty but if you show one women's nipple it's unacceptable. While it probably doesn't directly incite violence in well balanced individuals, it does in my opinion trivi…

I believe the US military uses COD and games like that in their recruitment. I definitely think that part is real. I personally always liked quake and doom, disliked Counter Strike and Call of Duty, so this might be my bias, but it seems easier to use the latter to soften people's perspective on war and conquest while the former are just so cartoonish levels of violence that you can easily distinguish it from reality. That might just be my perspective.

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

#259

Post by wussboy »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #253
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…

There was a story recently about a real-life event that started out a lot like the scenario in Lord of the Flies , i. e. a group of children stranded on an island. It turns out their society started looking after their weakest and made decisions based on consent. Meanwhile, the book just confirms everyone's beliefs not only about children but mankind itself, namely of a Hobbesian/Darwinian/Randian rule-of-the-stronge…

I think Hobbes and Darwin would both object to being grouped in with Rand. Hobbes would say the world is violent therefore we should take measures to protect ourselves (with a neutral external force or Leviathan). Darwin would say that ruthless competition has driven genetic change, but would never say that this ruthless competition was intrinsically good or should be encouraged. Rand, on the other hand, showed casual disregard for human suffering and would glorify in winner take all competition (even though that’s not how societies best organize themselves nor how evolution plays out in the real world where cooperation is usually a winning strategy)

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

#260

Post by noobermin »

apta wrote: post #256
noobermin wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more or less a western culture thing. The overvaluing and focus on sex of being something amazing or interesting. EDIT: sorry, not western culture, American culture, particularly.

> The overvaluing and focus on sex of being something amazing or interesting. Because there are severe consequences to it, pregnancies and STDs being just the start. Yes, it is an amazing thing, and it is not overvalued at all. It's one of the strongest drives we have as humans, and it should be controlled, otherwise it will lead to chaos.

There are no consequences to dismembering people and killing scores of them? The point is comparing sex to violence. Violence definitely has terrible consequences, which is why it is socially taboo.
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