Thread: Do video game a good psycho make?

Just been reading about the effects of violent video games on players. Seems like some people really see them as the great threat too this lovely friendly society we live in. Thought i would add my 2 pence worth and open a nice fluffy debate on the subject.

As a gamer of some experience not as much as Stu i guess i may be some what biased. I do admit that playing violent games can alter your mood quite heavily but no more than movies or books have. Of course this only relates too a healthy sain person could the impact on someone with a mental illness be greater? I suppose it could but in that case surely the game is not at fault its the carer of said person not the developers.
Of course a large industry is always an easier target than 1 individual. The common thought is games are more immersive than any other medium pulling the gamer literally into the shoes of the character they are playing as and making them directly responsible for that characters actions as opposed too being a passive observer watching events in the 3rd person. This would point too us all being a little mental if we always choose the violent solution but rarely do we have a choice.
If we take Bioshock as an example did you harvest or rescue? those that harvested the cute little sisters are evil swines and if i had children i would demand you stay clear of them.
Its a shame that the media is of course against the industry as seen in the condeming of Manhunt that although refused certification in the UK was painted as being on par with genocide. Fair point its crap but the reaction was scare mongering of the highest order.
Probably the only thing i agree with is young kids playing violent video games. My 11 year old nephew is a gaming nut and only once did i catch a game that slipped through my sisters hands. That game was GOW 2 and fuck did i kick off. The game has a giant 18 on the front of the case and too make matters worse our local Game sold it too him. He is 11, looks 11 and is about 4 foot tall and was probably in school uniform, the guy who sold it is buried under my patio the shit.
Such instances are the direct responsibility of the parents and the parents alone.
Its a lack of understanding thats the problem and i am sure when movies were first being watched on VHS when the rating system was new and unfamiliar there was similar occasions of kids watching movies they shouldn't. I watched IT when i was about 12 and it screwed me up for years.
Its human nature too be violent we are all built too kill and too hunt evolution just hasn't caught up and turned us into grass eating 4 legged man-cows just yet.

The Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health, The Journal of Adolescent Health, and The British Medical Journal have shown no conclusive link between video game usage and violent activity however one study did find an increase in reports of bullying, noting, "Our research found that certain patterns of video game play were much more likely to be associated with these types of behavioral problems than with major violent crime such as school shootings.

Lt. Col. David Grossman, a former West Point psychology professor, has written several books that pertain to the subject of violence in the media, including On Killing and Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill. During heights of video game controversy he has been interviewed on the content of his books, and has repeatedly used the term "murder simulator" to describe first-person shooter games. He argues that video game publishers unethically train children in the use of weapons and, more importantly, harden them emotionally to the act of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single typical video game.
There is a shift going on seeing more games being refused certification than ever before. Manhunt was the first, dead space, GTA, GOW 2 and the racism debate that came with the latest Resi.
Media scare mongering is having a drastic effect and whilst we have a sturdy independant certification board(BBFC) we may soon see games being banned which would be rubbish as i can walk down the road and purchase proper porn.
The simple fact is gaming has only recently become a mainstream pursuit, parents are un sure of the classifications and the media see quick sales of their dross newpaper and magazines by using such headlines as "Halo nut loses the plot and goes on a killing spree".
Games them selves need too grow up Manhunt was shit it's only selling point was the violence where as gears used violence too show the brutality of close combat. Manhunt deserved too be banned and the publisher rightly slapped down.

Do violent games make gamers violent?
No we already violent are as a species

man joe youve got some serious time on your hands to write all that lol
i agree to be honest my boy likes playing halo 3 but is only 9 hes not allowed to chat or join partys etc i think if you were to go and steal a car shoot someone etc its how your brought up not games mind you saying that people kids especially dont go and play outside anymore they just sit playing games all the time indoors like proper no lifers its alright being a general or a top player
but there is a good posibility of turning into a sad lonely nerd who lives at home at 40 has no freinds just imaginary ones to be fare its swings and roundabouts in my opinion

Well Joe, I have been playing video games for over 30 years.... and I can honestly say that I haven't felt the need to murder anyone... well not today at least!

I think this whole concept is just lazy journalism written by guys who either don't understand gaming or at least if they do, they'd rather sell newspapers than report honestly. Sure, in the past bad events have been blamed on the music the perpetrators were listening to, the last movie they'd seen, their political beliefs, etc. People just look for excuses as a need to explain bad stuff that happens.... I reckon the gaming industry turnover will blow away any criticism anyway (oops, did that sound a bit violent?!) as where there is a profit to be made, our leaders have a habit of tuning a blind eye... nuclear weapons, anyone?

Watching Big Brother or X-Factor would drive me to murder.

Wow that was a long article, must have taken you all day to write that up! For those of you who haven’t already read it from my “funny articles” thread THIS article gives a startling insight into the lack of understanding within the mainstream media, and the fear and that they can create by presenting opinion as fact. You only have to look at the Mass Effect SexBox saga HERE to see how sensationalist reporting and misinformed “experts” can cause so much damage to gaming as a whole. Perhaps the most worrying part of that episode was the outfight refusal by Fox to apologise even after EA chiefs threatened to sue them over the blatant lies presented in that article.

A good site for tracking all this sort of thing as GamePolitics HERE. I have seen so many scare stories on here over the years that it’s not even funny. The reports range from the hilarious to some which are downright xenophobic (there have been a few cases of “worried” mothers imagining they hear Islamic passages in their little treasures games recently – Punch-Out and Imagine Babiez).

Whenever a story like the recent shooting in Germany breaks, the journalists involved don’t have the opportunity to wait a few weeks until the police release the full facts of the case and are often all too willing to jump to (what seems to us to be) hasty conclusions but their ratings are paramount and any story will do whether they blame games or movies. An interesting fact though that puts today’s game fears into perspective is that when the first modern fiction novel was released in the UK, the government of the time moved to ban it’s release to the public, believing those who read it would become so enthralled by the text that they would not be able to function normally anymore, living instead within a book induced dream-world. Not quit what happened in the end.

The angriest I ever got playing a game was on Mario Sunshine, after having played the same level over and over for about 3 hours I finally completed what must surely have been one of the most frustrating stage ever created I reached the end, only to have my Mother walk across the front on me and pull out the controller cable sending poor Mario plummeting to yet another death, now that did make me feel like killing.

Give it time and people will accept gaming the same as any other entertainment medium, the Wii has had notable success already with Grannies and Housewives so there may be light at the end of the tunnel...

OMFG that interview is amazing how some jumped up rug muncher can comment on a game without ever playing it, i went through the game 4 times and never had one graphic sexual scene and i rode the blue chick rotten.
She compares it too a boy coming home and watching his dad porn fair point but where is the sex? you get more flesh on scrubs. This is probably how Authors and directors were treated 40 years ago. Sod it i dont care tbh mass effect was brilliant and that hole debate was flawed and biased from the start. What's next Master Chief and Cortana the Anal saga? now that would be sweeeeeeeeeeeeet

Ive still got mass effect in a drawer, ive never got round to playing it.

So its good then?

when i played mass effect i was actually dissapointed you didnt see any nookie
they could have made a thrusting mini game into it

Mass Effect is well worth a play, it takes a little while to get into but once you've got your own ship it really gets going. Personally I killed off that human girl, she was far too racist for my likeing, hmmm blue alien boobies, makes me feel like Kirk lol!

Play as a soldier keep all the women alive alive and play williams and the blue chick off against each other cat fight!