All the World's Wrongs: Games At Fault!

[Dogg Thang]

"The affect of video games on children's social skills is often a cause for concern, but the team found links between high game usage and better peer relationships and good social skills."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/video-games-children-learning-intelligence-social-skills-study-a6920961.html

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/trump-movies-games-may-cause-violence/

I'm fairly amazed it took this long for Trump to do the obvious. In his continual search to avoid taking about gun laws he's now steered towards the tired trope of games and movies causing the violence

[QualityChimp]

Nice response from Polygon:

https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/20/17031864/gun-violence-video-games

"Making the issue of school shootings about video games isn’t even a lack of moving forward as much as it’s actively taking a step backward. Those bones were picked clean years ago, and it’s personally hard to believe I’m writing about this issue again after so many of us thought the Supreme Court decision would be enough."

[BigDeadFreak]

Allowing teenagers to by AK-47s = good idea and an essential part of a civilised society.

Allowing teenagers to play Half Life = bad idea because they might shoot someone.


I know Trump is a lunatic but it's hard to fathom how anyone could think like this.

[QualityChimp]

Trump Will Talk with Gaming Industry Figures About Gun Violence

"President Trump plans to have a meeting with videogame industry executives next week, the White House Press Secretary announced on Thursday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a press conference that Trump plans to meet with “members of the videogame industry” in order to discuss what they can do about gun violence.

“This is going to be an ongoing process and something that we don’t expect to happen overnight but something that we’re going to continue being engaged in and continue to look for the best ways possible to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to protect schools across the country,” Sanders said.
In the aftermath of a mass shooting that occurred at a Florida high school last month, Trump has pointed to a variety of reasons as to why that shooting and other instances of gun violence occur. One of those factors, Trump says, is the violence in videogames.

“I’m hearing more and more people saying that the level of violence on videogames is really shaping young people’s thoughts,” Trump said in February. Trump also brought up violent films: “And then you go the further step and that’s the movies. You see these movies, they’re so violent and yet a kid is able to see the movie if sex isn’t involved…but killing is involved and maybe they have to put a rating system for that.”

Trump has also railed against violent videogames in regard to other mass shootings. For example, in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, he tweeted: “Video game violence & glorification must be stopped-it is creating monsters!”

Update (7:04 PM): The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a US trade association for the games industry, said in an email statement to Kotaku that they have not been invited to Trump’s planned meeting next week.

“ESA and our member companies have not received an invitation to meet with President Trump,” the email statement read. The ESA also defended video games by pointing out that the the U.S. plays the same video games as other countries yet gun violence in America is “exponentially higher” when compared to other countries.

“Numerous authorities have examined the scientific record and found there is no link between media content and real-life violence,” the statement argued."

[Neon Ignition]

“Numerous authorities have examined the scientific record and found there is no link between President Trumps comments or decision making and real-life rational common sense or intelligence,” the statement argued."

[QualityChimp]

In happier news, I've just bought this and I look forward to my lucrative new career as a surgeon.

[gIzzE]

“Numerous authorities have examined the scientific record and found there is no link between media content and real-life violence,” the statement argued."

What a crock of ****e.

Of course there is.

Are they saying a kid who has grown up watching and playing violent material will behave in the same way as a kid who has never being exposed to violence at all?

[Dogg Thang]

The research is complicated and the studies hugely varied but the results I have seen point to similar things. One is that content does matter, it all goes towards forming our world view and is especially influential in childhood. However, it is only one of a massive number of factors and what hasn’t ever been shown is a direct cause and effect with certain media consumption leading to violent acts - in studies going back through games, TV and film for more than 60 years this direct link has never been found. So they are right and you are right too. It does influence kids and us but not in any way as direct as ‘I played a violent game and so I will be violent’. As if rightly pointed out, so many other nations play the same games and don’t go shooting up schools.

Media and its part as an overall culture and world view shouldn’t be dismissed completely but most definitely can’t be made the scapegoat - the research doesn’t back it up.

[Asura]

Are they saying a kid who has grown up watching and playing violent material will behave in the same way as a kid who has never being exposed to violence at all?

They are, yes. The question surrounds not whether kids can be affected by violent media, but whether that media only affects people who have a predisposition towards violence anyway.

My personal anecdote about this was how I grew up playing violent videogames, reading violent books and watching violent and scary films - yet despite that, the first time I went to a military base when I was 17, I saw a guard with an MP5 (this was pre-9/11 bear in mind) and I found that harrowing. All that violent media had done nothing to desensitise me to that weapon.

Now I have mixed feelings about this, and I'm not sure children should be exposed to violent media at a young age, for precisely the same reasons as you. However, there have been studies and these do suggest that the effect is minimal at best.

[huxley]

Nope its true games are evil. Had little go on Pac Man and then I felt the urge!

[gIzzE]

OK, I guess the question is "Would subjecting a child with violent tendencies to a life of violent media be a risk?"

Children replicate what they see, what can start out as mocking play can bring out a pleasure towards violence in later life and that is the danger.

[wakka]

RE: games and kids, I think it's a complex issue. Yes, showing kids violent material will affect them. Will make it them go out and do violent stuff? In a tiny percentage it might be an influence. But there are lots of other factors that will decide this.

What isn't complex is that this is a blatant deflection. Games are not the key issue here. If we banned all violent videogames from shelves tomorrow, in 5 or 10 or 15 years time would the shootings have stopped or even lessened? I very much doubt it.

[Family Fry]

I read this story when it was tweeted but just want to share it on here in case anyone missed it, is via twitter of course.
Relevant to videogames inspiring people instead of turning them into monsters.

https://twitter.com/apertureawesome/status/962177170616586241

[Dogg Thang]

And this is relevant because the research backs up that media can be a very positive force. The likes of Sesame Street works. It has been proven in the research. And if you can accept that, it should be easy to accept that the opposite is also true - and that too has been proven in the research. Media does have an affect. That is not in question among researchers. I have posted many positive stories here about video games that have come from research - there have been benefits found over the years. Media matters and the age at which kids are exposed to certain media matters, and that also hugely depends on the individual child. And it’s not always as basic people think. There was a great study maybe a decade or more back about media showing the consequences of violence and how that informed children’s perception of violence and what they found would back up why someone like me can have watched a load of horror films and not come away violent. Because they are designed to horrify us, they revel in the horrendous consequences of violence. And so (this wasn’t in the study, this was my takeaway) a Saw marathon might be better for your kids than a Home Alone marathon because Saw actually shows that violence has negative consequences. Anyway, it’s complicated and there is a lot of research and it’s actually not in question as much as people like to think it is. Media matters and it does have an effect.

But the important thing here, as Wakka says, is that this is simply deflection. The direct media to violence claim is entirely false and is misdirection and scapegoating. Decades of research has shown over and over again that playing a violent game will not cause a kid to shoot up a school. It may not help or be good for them but it is not the culprit here and that is not in doubt whatsoever.