Do you think that aggression and violence in children are the result of playing video games? Do you think that when children do play video games, it makes them want to act out the characters in them? Or is the media just blaming video games for children's violent actions? Should parents be buying their young children these video games? Please voice your opinion. Thanks.Alyssa Surber (9:00)
25 comments:
Yes and no. I think violence has always been around. Media just brings the statistics forward. On PBS there was a documentary about differences of young boys and girls, there seemed to be this idea that: there is this inherent male need to "rescue". This is why boys have violent fantasies so young, even w/out the aid of television. Do I think kids need to be playing HALO? NO! There is no need to encourage violence.
Renee Hart
I think that the violent video games that children play fuel their violence and aggression, especially in young children. When you are young, you believe just about anything that you see. If a child is playing a video game and he shoots someone in the head and gets points for it, he is going to think that it must be OK to shoot someone in the head. Also, when these kids are killing all these people on the video games, it makes the kid feel powerful. It makes them want to do it more, sometimes to the point where they want to do it in real life. My high school had a guy come in from the U.S Army to talk to us about bullying. He had been on all of the investigating teams on all of the school shootings that had happened since Columbine, which was the first one he had investigated. One thing that all of the shooters had in common was that they all played very violent video games and computer games. Another thing they had in common was that they were all bullied at school. This made them angry so they wanted to act out their anger in real life just as they had done it on the video game. I don't think that the media should blame just the video games for the violence. There are more factors than just video games such as, bad parenting, that would also contribute to the violence. The parents need to regulate the playing of the games and limit it to a certain amount of time every week.
Kirby Reifsteck (9:00)
well I don't know I think violence has always been around. But maybe its the younger you start playing violent video games the more the violent tendencies will become habit? i do know that boys will always be boys and have the tendencies to be more violent than girls. Although I don't think 7 and 8 year olds should be playing Grand Theft Auto and HALO.
Kristin Knowles 9:00
I think that it is just an excuse to kill somebody. I've played violent video games and have never felt the desire to end somebody's life. I think it is a total cop-out. I think that teen violence has more to do with a persons social, economic, and family background--not some harmless video game. If everybody that played a violent video game went on killing sprees, then I think there would be a school shooting every minute, so I don't think there is any connection really.
Dustin Piercy (9:00)
I think video games, TV, movies, etc all fuel kid's imagination. Not necessarily all kids, but definitely ones with not the best of home lifes. Which, by the way, parents should not be buying or encouraging, much less not careing, if their kids play these games. It goes back to parenting and how much love was shown to them. Yeah, I think playing Mario Kart and stuff like that is fine, but electronics need to be regulated by the parents for a reasonable amount of time and not for hours on end. Television and movies don't help the cause of less violence either. Even kid movies have potty humor in them and parents just don't seem to care any more about what their kids do or watch. Just think, this is the next generation...
Elizabeth Kerns
I think that in part the aggression and violence in video games could be playing a part in children becoming more agressive. I mean most children spend their time in front of the television playing video games or watching some movie that has violence. I mean it is so hard to get away from violence in the media. Even on the news their is violence. I think it may also be in part to the way that the children were raised by the parents. I mean parents have a lot of influence on their children in those early stages and the children could have developed the agression from them.
Frankie Gaskill (9:00)
I think it all depends on the person.
A family friend, Josiah Ivy, loved reading murder mysteries. He would read them all the time. As of 2-3 years ago, he is now in prison with two life-sentences plus twenty-four years for breaking and entering, murdering to people in cold blood, and stealing their car (among other items). They asked him why he killed them (he didn't even know them) and he said it was because he wanted to know what it felt like. He was sixteen when he murdered them and nineteen when he was sentenced.
Personally I find murder mysteries really boring and that would have no effect on me whatsoever. I'd be more likely to burn the book than to have this craving for blood at the end of it.
Video games are the same way. People think HALO is really violent and people shouldn't play it. If you think about it, you're fighting and killing aliens. And aliens are quite obviously not real. Battlefront or any other Star Wars game: killing robots, not real. Silent Hill: killing zombies, also not real.
Yes, video games could have an effect on some people out there who have a sick mind, but for the most part, I highly, highly doubt video games are the main reason people are violent.
If you start banning video games, you're going to have to ban music, movies, and books, too. Music: talks about drugs, sex, violence, and drinking. Books: murder mysteries, sex fantasies, alcoholics and druggies. Movies: FREAKING EVERYTHING. (aka, too much)
Let the kids, highschoolers, college boys play their video games.
Megan Mercier (9:00)
I think video games somewhat contributes to violence, but not really. Even if video games were banned, we would still have violence. So, either way it's going to continue with or without video games. Younger children should play games directed towards their age group, not HALO and Grand Theft Auto. Some say that those who kill people in video games are going to become more violent and want to kill people in real life. I don't think this is true in all cases. It's a video game, and it shouldn't be related to real life scenarios, but I guess some people think it is.
Chelse Lindenbaum (9:00)
I know that after I get done playing video games, as often as that is, I don't feel the need to go out and shoot people as I did in the game. But that's me. I think it could really depend on the person playing the video game. Some people who aren't all there in the head can think that it's alright to go out and be violent as they were in the video games. But I don't really think that's the case for the majority of the people. I think that with most people though, the video games don't really have an effect on them. With Columbine and such, I think people just wanted to blame something other than that the kids weren't all there. I actually think it's dumb to blame games. I think it really has something to do with out the child was raised and his/her environment. I really don't care if children play violent games or if they don't. I do think though, that parents should only buy the game if the child is of age to play the game. I don't think 6 and 7 year old should be playing games that are rated "M." And that is me voicing my opinion. Thank YOU Alyssa :)
Morgan MacFarlane (9:00)
I do believe that kids these days are violent from video games because the kids are to young to even understand what the game is about. That's probably one of the rreasons why children are so violent. If the kids had some type of understanding of the bad games then maybe they wouldn't try to reanact so of the material that is in the games. When I was younger the only games I played were killing games, but I didn't try to copy any of the material because I knew it was just a video game. I knew the difference between reality and video games.
Jaime Carpenter
I believe that video games do play a part in many of the influences on children. I believe that t.v. and music also play in this part. I don't believe that video games alone affect a child enough for a school shooting though. I would think that it would be multiple influences on this child for a tragedy like this to happen--family, home environment, classmates, etc. I have to admit that when I worked at a videostore years ago, I did judge parents that rented their young children games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto, etc. I personally saw a difference in how the kids acted that rented those types of video games as opposed to the children who rented games rated for their age. I don't know what to do about it, except I believe some parents need put more restrictions on what their children are watching and doing.
Bobbi (9:00)
I agree and disagree with this topic. It seems to have different effects of different children. Some kids play agressive and violent video games and then try it in real life, and then others know the difference between real life and their game. I think the media does try to blame some of their problems on video games, but I'm not sure that's the full cause.
Abby (9:00)
I think that violent video games do encourage children to act violently. In the game, there is no actual physical contact...but then they fill their minds with handling matters violently and it carries into their life. I think young children especially should not be playing those games. Once the child matures, around high school years, they should be able to play these. If you start too young, this is how you are going to handle situations--with agression. But after you have matured you will be more calm and can handle yourself better. Kids used to be able to have a fight in school and it was ok...but now they can't punch eachother or anything. They didn't have video games back then so I don't know what to blame for this. In a way I think that was okay. It made people tough and they weren't so soft. They stood up to people and didn't back down to who thought they were better. My best friend plays halo all the time. He can sit and play it until 5 in the morning sometimes but it hasn't affected him outside of the game. He is old enough and mature enough to know how to handle himself.
Hannah Dodd (9:00)
No. Video games do not make children more violent, if they did every body in the U.S. would be dead from children acting their games out.
Aggression and violence has always been around. It is how we and other living things survive, its in our nature. Without aggression there would be no drives to hunt/gather food, procreate, explore, or defend ourselves and offspring. We would die out rather quickly. Aggression drives us to further our understanding of the world and universe, better enabling us to survive.
The people that act out, and go on a "rampage," are usually ones that have reached a breaking point. They don't fight back for some reason or another, and they bottle their anger up. Instead of fighting the bully, and being an American about it, they roll over and take it like a wuss, gradually growing resentment, anger, and self-pity. They have theirselves to blame, not video games.
Parents should allow their children to play these games and continue to instill responsibility and respect into them. Parents and schools need to also teach children to fight back and protect theirselves.
Daniel Hooker (7:00)
Video games help, but not necessarily cause violence. I think that kids like to act out anything. I've seen boys pretending to kill people after playing games. That's when you throw away their Play Station. However, video games can't take all of the blame. There are many other factors which cause violence, but the media has to blame only one thing. You don't hear the media blaming the parents for buying them. I think that kids today show a lack of discipline. Kids are spoiled rotten. Parents can say no, but I don't think that has crossed their minds. I believe that parents should not buy video games at all. It's just encouraging their kid to stay inside and become a couch potatoe.
Liz Doty
video game violence...its all fun and games...you just have to a good parent and not let your children get ahold of such games at a young age...i mean seriously...if your gonna bitch about these games...DONT BUY THEM FOR YOUR KIDS!!! plain and simple...
april 9am class
I think that this all goes back to the parents. The bottom line is that society is not responsible for raising children. It is the sole responsibility of the parents. Parents need to supervise their children and take an active and positive role in their life.Children should not be playing these violent video games. Parents should not be buying them for their children. It is the duty of the parent to research the products they buy for their children. Video games even have a rating system. I have a real crazy idea-- don't buy your children a video game system, buy them a book.
To answer the question at hand, I do agree that violent video games could make children violent. This is obviously not a direct outcome of just video games, but it could be a negative influence in a child's life. A child that has a tendacy towards violence most likely has some problems at home. The video games would be just an ancillary factor. We just need to evaluate how we deal with our children so we can solve these problems.
Scott Kimball (9:00
I think that aggression and violence in children could be the result of many things, one being violent video games. As parents, we need to protect our children’s innocence for as long as possible. There is enough craziness in this world, so we don’t need to contribute to the negative things our children see. Most kids do act out what they see. If kids grow up seeing people get their heads blown off like it’s normal, I’m sure they will be desensitized to that kind of behavior. I feel that parents need to buy age appropriate video games for their children.
Jennifer Wilson
No, i have been palying video games my whole life and not once have i thought of doing something violent to anybody. I think in some cases it makes want to act out the characters in the games. But, the games aren't usually the problem, its usually a bad enviroment they grew up in or having a poor childhood and the video games just triggers all of that stuff put together. I think the media use the blame on video games because they understand why a kid would come to a school and just start killing people. I think these kids who do this have some sort of mental problem that people ignore until its to late.
demaris winston(7:00)
Violence and aggression in children are not the work of video games. Children have most likely learned a lot of their behavior from somewhere else. Sure the games show violence, and you can run around killing people in them, but that doesn't mean that the kids will try to imitate it. When kids screw up, the parents just try to take the blame off of themselves. They do this by blaming the video game companies. Parents should let their kids play the games because the games are not causing the problems.
Zach Burnett
No, I don't think that violence in video games leads to children acting violently in public. Children have always acted a little violent at times, that is just they way they are and always will be. If a child doesn't know any better than to go out and shoot somebody just because he sees it being done in a video game, then they obviously shouldn't be playing that particular game in the first place. So even though some of these games portray violent activities, I feel that by the time that children should be allowed to play these games, they should already have strong enough morals to know what really is right or wrong.
Chris Bohnhoff (Noon)
I dont really think that video game violence is a huge problem. I think its the parents that dont tell their kids that killing and being violent is wrong. If more parents would talk to their kids then maybe kids wouldnt be so violent and mean.
--Jill Reinhart (noon)
yes I think video games encourage violence. Kids do not need to playing games that have violence. It gets into their heads...
Brianna Bugbee
I play video games all the time and i have since i was little and i dont think that it causes people to be violent at all. Thats just the excuse people use to cover their own ass. Its about how parents raise their kids. If they are taught to do the right thing and they know whats right and wrong then they will be able to play video games and understand that its fake and its just a game so they shouldnt try to do stuff in real life that they do in the game if its not right.
Jimmy Gourdier (12:00 Class)
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