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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

#351

Post by a1369209993 »

rgblambda wrote: post #273
abfan1127 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uhh. if someone is in your house with intent to harm you, the police will not arrive in time to prevent it. Police response times are measured in minutes. You're much better off running away or defending yourself with a weapon, the ultimate equalizer being a firearm.

>>the ultimate equalizer being a firearm. Not if you live in a country where firearms are strictly regulated and self defence isn't a justifiable reason for a firearm permit.

> Not if you live in a country where firearms are strictly regulated and self defence isn't a justifiable reason for a firearm permit.

"External intervention is violating my right to defend myself" is not a argument in favor of external intervention.

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

#352

Post by peter_d_sherman »

They already had this debate in the 1980's -- that video games were "taking over teenager's minds", that they were "promoting violence", etc., etc.

What a lunk of crap!

I mean, back then we didn't have 16 Million colors or high-resolution monitors with small fine pixels -- all the games used color palettes of 16 or 8 colors, and they were blocky as hell... like my tank (represented as a block) shot a smaller block (the bullet, use your imagination, work with me here! ) into your tank (represented by yet another block of a different color!) and the "explosion" was that the other tank would turn a series of (lame) colors -- and disappear!

So my question is, WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE ACTUAL GRAPHICAL DEPICTION OF VIOLENCE? -- in these early video games?

This is like saying that "Pong" -- made people violent!

It didn't! (Well, unless they were violent to begin with and lost a game of pong, and were prone to violence when they lost various games! But those people are the exception, not the rule! )

You see, that video games cause violence

was a lie back then,

and

it's still a lie today!

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

#353

Post by adamredwoods »

GTP wrote: post #222
kiliancs wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intuitively, it's hard to believe that witnessing and using violence doesn't have any negative effect on a person, even if in videogames. I think that rather than asking ourselves "does this have a negative impact?" we should ask "what can I do that has a positive impact?". Personally, I would never work on a game with significant violence. From my point of view, there are so many other things a human being can contr…

I rarely play videogames, but when I do, I usually play FPSs. I think that a small dose of virtual violence could help in discharging your stress/anger.

The Columbine murderers played a bit of FPS, I wish it had reduced their anger.

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

#354

Post by jchw »

nindalf wrote: post #315
jchw wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

While I don't think violent video games cause violence, it's not a completely ridiculous premise. Interactive video games require you to take and execute the decision yourself, putting yourself in the shoes of the player character. If you've played the Last of Us 1 or 2, you know what I'm talking about. If you saw it, it would affect you deeply. But actually doing those things hits so much harder. Is it possible that…

Film was scary too at one point. And before that, books. The media became more sophisticated over time, and the moral panics always followed. Yes, this “new” media is interactive and immersive, but there has never been that much compelling evidence that increased immersion actually changes matters that much.

I think VR may be an interesting test case in the near future as it is immersive enough to potentially be more traumatic and more unsettling... but that still doesn’t mean playing GTA or Doom increases your odds of going on a shooting spree.

The fact that you can make potentially more impactful stories using more modern media seems neutral to me. But to be frank, you really desperately do not need modern technology and fancy graphics to make an incredibly emotional, impactful game. Just look at indie games like Undertale and Celeste.

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

#355

Post by szundi »

László Mérő, Math-Psychology prof here told me like 20 years ago that it is simple: if you see others committing violent acts, it increases the violence in you. Even if it is an abstract drawing on screen. If you control it and you do it basically, then it does not.

Just remember: were you agitated more after a Tom&Jerry session or after Call of Duty.

With my brother we always were crying 3 minutes after one VHS of Tom&Jerry ended :)

Never after killing 1000 nacis on screen or similar.

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

#356

Post by verst »

jmchuster wrote: post #294
skrebbel wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Most German PC games seem focused on trade / mercantile or historical themes. There are also some popular simulation and role playing genres.

- Anno Series (I just picked up Anno 1800 yesterday)

- Fugger / The Guild 1-3 / Patrician etc

- The Settlers / Die Siedler

- Games set in the Dark Eye (role playing framework similar to D&D but more popular in Germany) universe.

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

#357

Post by OOPMan »

kiliancs wrote: post #270
diarmuid wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

headshot === positive impact they are just games and most (non crazy) people understand that like hansel and gretel when they push the witch in the oven - its fiction and not intended to be a guide to life

I think you might be underestimating the fragility of the human being in so many aspects (2020 might be trying to teach us something in that regard). Consider how alcohol has a very negative (often disastrous) effect in so many lives, even though most people start drinking thinking they understand how alcohol is going to affect them and that they can keep it under control.

Missing the point.

Alcohol is real.

Games are not.

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

#358

Post by giantg2 »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #343
giantg2 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"No, bullying cannot be solved by the victims, otherwise it would not be a problem in the first place." How do you think that works if zero tolerance policies punish the aggressor and victim equally, essentially preventing the victim from defending themself? And by your reasoning, then bullying shouldn't exist today because the school policies should prevent it, yet it's more rampant than ever. I was bullied once. Ev…

> if zero tolerance policies punish the aggressor and victim equally I never said that. Please don't make up strawmans. > And by your reasoning, then bullying shouldn't exist today because the school policies should prevent it, yet it's more rampant than ever. I never said that. > I was bullied once. Eventually I fought back and gave the kid a bloody nose. Guess what - he was nicer to me and to other kids too. Prior…

"I never said that. Please don't make up strawmans."

That's not a strawman, that's the definition of zero tolerance policies in schools - both parties in a fight get punished the same.

"And by your reasoning, then bullying shouldn't exist today because the school policies should prevent it, yet it's more rampant than ever."

'I never said that.'

What you did say is that victims can't solve bullying and that school policies should. What we clearly see is that bullying is a growing issue under zero tolerance policies because the victim is given disincentive to defend themselves - it becomes a vicious cycle that protects bullies. It also is at odds with my personal experiences.

If the zero tolerance policy isn't the school policy you were speaking about, then what is? You imply that school policies should prevent bullying, but we clearly don't see that.

"Funny how I only hear the 'stood up to bullies succesfully' story and never the other ones. See my other comment."

You do hear of the other stories - kids committing suicide or shooting up a school because they are trapped in a failed zero tolerance system that leaves them with seemingly all-or-nothing options. You also witness kids just "taking it" if you are observant enough.

So far you seem to be just trolling - offering neither arguments nor facts that support zero tolerance systems or refute the facts that I, and many other on here, have presented against those systems.

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

#359

Post by scpedicini »

kiliancs wrote: post #205
mywittyname wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, part of this is probably also some degree of us intuitively knowing the answer. If you have a friend group of 10 people, 4 of which regularly work out. You will probably notice that those 4 friends have less body fat and are more toned than the other 6. At that point, if a study came out saying that working out had no impact on body physique, you'd reflexively question the results. That might sound ridiculous…

Intuitively, it's hard to believe that witnessing and using violence doesn't have any negative effect on a person, even if in videogames. I think that rather than asking ourselves "does this have a negative impact?" we should ask "what can I do that has a positive impact?". Personally, I would never work on a game with significant violence. From my point of view, there are so many other things a human being can contr…

I'm not sure I agree with your comment. While I would be willing to concede that witnessing the visualization of violence might have some kind of affect towards increased desensitization, that's not necessarily a negative.

In some situations being able to keep a cool head in a crisis or in an area where something like this might occur could actually prove to be a benefit, as you are less likely to enter a panicked state (such as working in an environment where you may witness excessive amounts of blood/gore, eg paramedic)

I think that the vast majority of people (teenagers included) are more robust than we give them credit for, and can distinguish fantasy from reality.

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

#360

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

nindalf wrote: post #315
jchw wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

While I don't think violent video games cause violence, it's not a completely ridiculous premise. Interactive video games require you to take and execute the decision yourself, putting yourself in the shoes of the player character. If you've played the Last of Us 1 or 2, you know what I'm talking about. If you saw it, it would affect you deeply. But actually doing those things hits so much harder. Is it possible that…

It also depends on the person. We are all individuals with millions of different variables contributing to our behavior, some genetic and some environmental.

Some of us may be driven to violence by video games. And maybe those people aren’t included in these studies.

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