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

gamesage.net

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

#291
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 is…

If you think violent depictions in media won't make people more violent then how can you then think that sexual depictions make people more sexual or not? People don't have violent encounters in life (or any even that could escalate into violence)? Really? Seems like you're making the OP's point, something is special about sex in your mind.

I think his point is that sex is a normal part of living whereas violence is generally not.

For example, the last time I was in a real physical fight was in kindergarten. If I watch/play violent media, it can't affect the way I fight because I do not fight. Sex is something I might actually do though, so overexposure to twisted versions of it could actually color my real world experience.

I still tend to think that most healthy adult minds can easily make the distinction between reality and pretend though.

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

#292
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 assertion that violent video games cause violence is pretty non-sensical to begin with given that violent media already existed before video games. It’s just another way to push censorship. You see a lot less criticism when the same thing is done for pornography and eroticism, even though there is no real hypothesis for why it would be any different.

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

#293

Public hangings, an event where you could go and watch someone be drug out into the town square and hung from the neck until they were dead, used to be an event people would gather to see. People used to fill bags with cats, dose the bag in oil, and then light the bag on fire for the joy of watching the cats die from the fire. During combat sports you are watching two fully grown people destroy their brains and their…

> People used to fill bags with cats, dose the bag in oil, and then light the bag on fire for the joy of watching the cats die from the fire.

damn. that was unexpected

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

#294
post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as it is a reasonable assumption that naturally violent people are more likely to play violent video games. It's also a reasonable assumption that people who naturally want to avoid actual violence play violent video games instead. This paranoia against violent video games was obviously fake from the start, and such a typically American thing - in line with the American puritan view that blowing up people in films…

> a typically American thing Not only. Eg in Germany there's long been an enormous stigma against violent video games. I haven't talked with German gamedevs for some years so maybe this loosened up since. But basically, if you worked in gamedev you preferred to tell your neighbours and acquaintances that you work "in IT". If they would find out you work on video games they'd pretty much fully cut you out of their liv…

FPSes are cool in the US because of how we glorify our victories in WW2 and the Persian Gulf. I'd imagine it might be opposite in Germany for the same reason.

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

#295
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 is…

If you think violent depictions in media won't make people more violent then how can you then think that sexual depictions make people more sexual or not? People don't have violent encounters in life (or any even that could escalate into violence)? Really? Seems like you're making the OP's point, something is special about sex in your mind.

I don't think it makes them more sexual, but it gives them the wrong idea of what a normal sexual encounter is. The same thing happens with violence, but the majority of people aren't going to engage in direct violence against someone else, so it doesn't matter if they think fights look the same way they do in anime or video games. The discussion is about video games making a normal person into a violent person, not about giving people unrealistic expectations about what happens during violent encounters.

You should also try writing with less question marks, it's condescending, especially when you completely missed the point of this whole conversation.

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

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Learning to become dependent on external intervention for all conflict is not a life skill I want to teach my kids. If someone breaks into my house and tries to beat me to death, I'm not going to try to reason it out with them, I'm calling the police.

Hopefully that's not all you do. That'd be a long beating with average police response being around 5 minutes.

[deleted]

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

#297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A week ago I pulled out my warhammer miniatures and my 5 year old picked the leader and started shooting and stabbing people. Then she proudly stated that he was "collecting dead people". I was quite surprised because her normal play involves taking care of her baby dolls.

The morbidity of children never ceases to amaze me. Death, in play at least, doesn't seem to frighten them. I guess its the same among adults, but it's interesting that make-believe and reality are seperable even at a young age. I don't think we adults give kids enough credit for how sophisticated they can be. (Probably because there are a lot of areas where they aren't and it's easier to just bucket them in whole.)

One thing I (thankfully) realized pretty early on when raising my kids is that they're fully-intelligent humans pretty much from the start. They just dont _know_ stuff, but their intelligence is all there from a much younger age than most people seems to think.

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

#298

Public hangings, an event where you could go and watch someone be drug out into the town square and hung from the neck until they were dead, used to be an event people would gather to see. People used to fill bags with cats, dose the bag in oil, and then light the bag on fire for the joy of watching the cats die from the fire. During combat sports you are watching two fully grown people destroy their brains and their…

I recently came across a description of how people reacted to blood sport in arenas. Apparently the moment of death/gore/violence would elicit a gasp in the audience followed almost immediately by raucous cheering. It’s something we just don’t do anymore maybe with the exception of UFC but that’s not even close.

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

#299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully that's not all you do. That'd be a long beating with average police response being around 5 minutes.

How would you approach the situation?

It depends on the specifics. Based on the original comment, if they've already broken into the house, they will be able to break into any room you are hiding in. If they are truly there to beat you to death, you have to be ready to defend yourself with whatever force is necessary to stop that threat. What that level of force is will vary greatly depending on situation, locale, persons involved, etc.

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

#300
post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think violent depictions in media won't make people more violent then how can you then think that sexual depictions make people more sexual or not? People don't have violent encounters in life (or any even that could escalate into violence)? Really? Seems like you're making the OP's point, something is special about sex in your mind.

I think his point is that sex is a normal part of living whereas violence is generally not. For example, the last time I was in a real physical fight was in kindergarten. If I watch/play violent media, it can't affect the way I fight because I do not fight. Sex is something I might actually do though, so overexposure to twisted versions of it could actually color my real world experience. I still tend to think that m…

Yep, that was my point. I agree that most people can make the distinction, but I've been hearing a lot more about people being unable to have healthy sexual relationships because their entire mental model is based on the porn they started watching in their early teens. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say they killed someone because video games made them think it was cool though, it seems like it's always a third-party trying to find an excuse for family/society failing the individual.
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