OT: Here we go again.......

[trekgeezer]

another friggin' study about the impact of video games on kids.

You know, I'm older than most here and when I was growing up one of my favorite possessions was my Mattel Tommy gun, which was a duplicate of the one Vic Morrow carried on Combat!, one of my favorite shows.  My older brother also bought me one those guns that shoots the rubber pellets and came complete with shoulder holster and silencer (I was into Bond too).

Anyway, my parents yard was full of imaginary dead Germans, Japanese, Indians, outlaws, and commie spies. Almost everything I watched involved guns, swords, hand-to-hand combat, or something violent and guess what I'm not a raving serial killer.

There are always going to be some mentally unstable people who are set off by stuff. The inference is always drawn that they were set off by a violent video game they were obsessed with, without thinking that maybe they were obsessed with it because they were already a wack-o.

My parents gave me grounding in reality, I knew what was real and what wasn't. This is another attempt at relieving inattentive parents from their parental responsibilities.

[daveblackeye15]

ARGH!

Just because I pretended to be Godzilla and destroyed cities doesn't mean I'm going to do it as an adult!

[Mr_Vindictive]

You can thank the following person for this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(attorney)

[BeyondTheGrave]

What gets me is that their is way more important things in the world than to worry about violent video games. All the money and studies whatever will never prove that violent video games cause violence because it doesn't. The same compliants were done with Punk and Metal back in the day and with Rap. Now this is just a new medium to put the blame on.

[odinn7]

Great point Trek. I grew up much the same way. Just about everything we played involved guns. I haven't killed anyone yet (tempted to sometimes but the point is, playing with toy guns didn't make me a killer). Only people that are already unstable will let something like this set them off and if it's not a game or movie or tv show or music that does it, they will find something else.

[Neville]

Reminds me of an interview I read on John Carpenter, when asked if his movies (specially "Halloween") could be a bad influence in society, he said that society is always looking for scapegoats. He even mentioned that when he was younger people would accuse European movies (!) of the same thing, because they had nudity and weird (probably they meant non-happy) endings...

Problem is, the media often like to spread this kind of stuff. A murder is a murder and won't draw much audience, but, hey, if the murderer played "Dungeons and Dragons" we may have a story here...

In my country, like 10-15 years ago some disturbed teenagers killed a man for fun, following a RPG they had designed. RPG players are still claiming, to whoever wants to listen, that they are just a bunch of normal people trying to spend the time. A few years later, one of the most popular TV networks went as far as saying that a kid who killed his parents with a katana replica had done it under the influence of the "Final Fantasy" games. Want to hear what they produced as evidence? The kid wore the same haircut than one of the characters in the series. Luckily, that one was too stupid (even for that channel) and nobody beleived it.

[plan9superfan]

Well, to add my two cents, there are good games, and bad games.

The good games are: Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy...

These are good, decent games that don't feature extreme violence or anything nasty.


The BAD gamnes are: American McGee's Alice, Carmageddon, the last Mortal Kombat videogames, Postal...

These are the games that should be avoided, specially by little kids. They depict horrific, disgusting and sometimes ammoral scenes of violence, carnage and gore, sometimes even ruining classic fairy tales like Alice in Wonderland in Amercian McGee's case.

The good games should be allowed, but the bad games should be restricted or banned.

[The Conqueroo]

I hear you on that un'Chollie!!It's kind of a strange thing:The same Parents who cry and b***h and moan about R Rated Movies are the same ones who when they were Kids back in '69-'70 pleaded with their Big Brother and/or Sister to sneak them in to see "The Wild Bunch"or took their future Spouse/Significant Other/Life Partner to see "Friday the 13th"back in 1980 are the same ones who gripe about Violent Movies like "SAW"and complain about why Hollywood doesn't make Family Oriented Movies,yet stay away from them when they come out figuring "Why spend our Money on it when it'll be out on Video in Three Months!!".America,I have a little suggestion for you:QUIT LISTENING TO ALL THE FEMINIST/FUNDAMENTALIST CLAPTRAP AND USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT FOR A CHANGE!!!But,it'll never work.It's way too simple!!

[plan9superfan]

Hey, don't pick on Cathlic Fundamentalists. My mom was one of them.


And there are some movies that shouldn't be viewed by common, decent people. Movies like "The Acid House", "Hostel", "House of a 1000 Corpses" and John Waters movies that glorify horrific violence and disgusting scenarios.

I mean, they are making a MOVIE about American McGEe's Alice, how sick is that!?

[The Conqueroo]

Banned,No.Restricted,Depends.Yes,I Don't Want Any Of My Neices and Nephews Playing "Bloodbath 5000,Part 4999,Chapter 11,Subparagraph 8,Line Three:If They Move...Kill'Em!!".However,Four of my Nephews are Grown.Two of them are serving in the Armed Forces.One of them I don't know where he's at.The other one is Married and has a Daughter of his own.Same thing with my Nieces.Two of them are Grown Adults.One of them has Daughteers of her own.The other three are Teenagers.So pretty basically,when it comes to my Nephews,they can buy  and play whatever Video Game they want.Same with two of my Neices.Now for my three Grandneices as well as mt three Teenaged Neices,that's up to their Parents as to whether they want them playing certain Video Games or not,that's their perogative.I basically beleive that it's up to the individual about things like that,not the Government or Religions.

[ulthar]

it's up to the individual about things like that,not the Government or Religions.

Skaboi's point, and I agree with it, is that this is not really being driven by Gov't or Religion.  It's being driven by one lawyer, Jack Thompson, and he's probably just in it for the money.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

I did play Pac Man, and Burger Time was one of my favorites AND I do need to diet as an adult.  Maybe we have something there!
-Ed

[Fearless Freep]

Two points just to play Devil's Advocate

1) Do you realize you sound an awful lot like smokers, or drinkers or anyone who has a habit or hobby they like that other people may not be so sure is really a good idea.  Everything from "Fred smoked two packs a day and lived to 80 years old" to "I don't want the government telling me what I can do..."  Very familiar

2) How many murders were comitted in your town last year?  Or rape? or assult?  Do you know?  Do you care?  Do you think it was an 'acceptable' amount?  Maybe the reason you don't know, or don't care, or don't care enough to get outraged enough to stop it, is because violence doesn't means as much, doesn't matter as much to us as it should, because in so many ways it's become cheap entertainment that we fill our lives with.  Vidoe games and movies and TV and what not.  Maybe you haven't killed anyone, but if the next time you flip the channel from the locl news as the coer another story about a college woman getting raped or a gang banger getting caught in a drive by, because it's boring or old news...ask yourself if your honest reaction to he death or assault of another human being should be boredom or indifference...and ask yourself how you got to that point..and what you've filled your life and experience with that would make death seem trivial

[The Conqueroo]

Sounds Like Someone Had Their Eggs "Grumpy Side Up"This Morning!!!

[Mr_Vindictive]

plan9superfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> The good games should be allowed, but the bad
> games should be restricted or banned.


And I suppose that we should start burning books that you deem unsuitable as well?