Do (violent) video games contribute to (gun) violence?

[Debater Slayer]

I haven't seen any solid evidence that violent video games contribute to gun violence, and whether they increase aggression seems to me largely separate from the question in the OP: there are different forms of aggression, and the vast majority of aggressive people never engage in gun violence. This has been a debate for decades, and it was especially highlighted when some people claimed that Doom had inspired the Columbine school shooter. There was also some outrage back in the '90s at the graphic killing in Mortal Kombat.

I remember reading about disbarred attorney Jack Thompson, who went on a crusade against violent games, especially GTA, and made various unfounded claims about them. Such things seem to me to share some aspects of the smearing of metal music during the Satanic panic, when all sorts of baseless rumors fed into the moral panic and public outrage.

 

[PureX]

Just plain common sense will tell us that first person shooter games train people how to be a better 'first person shooter' than had they never played the game. It's why the military and police both use those kinds of video enactments to train their personel. So that anyone that might have a desire to engage in a mass shooting could play those games and learn how to be more effective (more deadly) at the real thing.

I have no idea how so many of you can just blindly fail to recognize this simple and obvious fact.

Also, when we grow up in a culture that glorifies deadly violence, mostly by firearms, as a reasonable means of dealing with any "bad guys" we might encounter, we will quite naturally be more inclined to use deadly violence, via a handgun, when we encounter someone we deem to be a "bad guy". And the more we imagine ourselves to be surrounded by bad guys, the more inclined we will be to want to own a firearm, and to then use it to deal with any perceived bad guys we encounter.

The result being that we are a nation drowning is firearms, and a nation who's citizens shoot each other at an alarmingly high rate. We are also a nation with a great many mass shootings because we are effectively teaching unstable people how to do this more effectively, and then selling them the high capacity guns to do it with. And we are telling them that it is a reasonable means of dealing with the "bad guys" in their twisted view of life.

 

[esmith]

Just plain common sense will tell us that first person shooter games train people how to be a better 'first person shooter' than had they never played the game. It's why the military and police both use those kinds of video enactments to train their personel. So that anyone that might have a desire to engage in a mass shooting could play those games and learn how to be more effective (more deadly) at the real thing.

I have no idea how so many of you can just blindly fail to recognize this simple and obvious fact.

Also, when we grow up in a culture that glorifies deadly violence, mostly by firearms, as a reasonable means of dealing with any "bad guys" we might encounter, we will quite naturally be more inclined to use deadly violence, via a handgun, when we encounter someone we deem to be a "bad guy". And the more we imagine ourselves to be surrounded by bad guys, the more inclined we will be to want to own a firearm, and to then use it to deal with any perceived bad guys we encounter.

The result being that we are a nation drowning is firearms, and a nation who's citizens shoot each other at an alarmingly high rate. We are also a nation with a great many mass shootings because we are effectively teaching unstable people how to do this more effectively, and then selling them the high capacity guns to do it with. And we are telling them that it is a reasonable means of dealing with the "bad guys" in their twisted view of life.

Because most of us don't believe what you say is the simple and obvious fact

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Just plain common sense will tell us that first person shooter games train people how to be a better 'first person shooter' than had they never played the game. It's why the military and police both use those kinds of video enactments to train their personel. So that anyone that might have a desire to engage in a mass shooting could play those games and learn how to be more effective (more deadly) at the real thing.

I have no idea how so many of you can just blindly fail to recognize this simple and obvious fact.

Yeah, because pointing and clicking a mouse or smashing buttons on a controller is the same as shooting a gun

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Below is a disturbing video of a video game mission from Call of Duty.

Spoiler: Mass shooter simulator

The mission objective is literally shoot up all the civilians in an airport. And I played this as a kid.

Whenever the question of if video games contribute to a culture of violence is brought up, all of the gamers simultaneously shout down the question.

The Uvalde parents seem to think there is a connection. They are suing the makers of Call of Duty over their perceived connection to inspiring the shooting.

Uvalde families sue Meta and Call of Duty maker on second anniversary of school attack

The families of a group of victims of the Uvalde school shooting have announced new lawsuits against Instagram parent company Meta Platforms, the maker of the video game Call of Duty and the gun company that made the assault rifle used in the shooting.

apnews.com

I wanted to ask your thoughts on the question. I think violent video games obviously desensitize people to overt violence. In games like Grand Theft Auto you can go on mass shooting sprees freely. It is made to be fun.

I think violent video games negatively contribute to a culture of violence.

I'm too tired to properly research and find the links I'd really like to include, but I'd like to summarize what the scientific research has shown over the years.

Basically, the majority of children do not have any unusual inclination to violence, and for these children, violent movies and video games don't seem to have any ill effects. They seem to be able to understand the difference between fact and fiction. Indeed, superhero themes actually are very comforting to children.

However, there is a minority of kids that ARE prone to violence. We don't know all the factors. Some of it is genetics or epigenetics. Some of it is environmental, such as being abused in their homes or bullied at school. But what we have is a group of fragile kids. For these, violent shows and games very much do impact them. They WILL use the ideas from these stories to make decisions how to handle things.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Just plain common sense will tell us that first person shooter games train people how to be a better 'first person shooter' than had they never played the game. It's why the military and police both use those kinds of video enactments to train their personel. So that anyone that might have a desire to engage in a mass shooting could play those games and learn how to be more effective (more deadly) at the real thing.

I'm not really concerned with the learning of shooting skills. What I *am* concerned about is the teaching of values. My rule with my son was that he could shoot all he wanted providing he was shooting bad guys. If he killed a thousand zombie nazis, more power to him.

However, I would not allow him to play any video game where HE was the bad guy. Grand Theft Auto? Not in my home.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm not really concerned with the learning of shooting skills. What I *am* concerned about is the teaching of values. My rule with my son was that he could shoot all he wanted providing he was shooting bad guys. If he killed a thousand zombie nazis, more power to him.

However, I would not allow him to play any video game where HE was the bad guy. Grand Theft Auto? Not in my home.

That's fair because GTA games are rated Mature, which is the equivalent of an R-rated movie and you're not allowed to buy them if you're under 18 or you need a parent to buy them for you, in the US.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

That's fair because GTA games are rated Mature, which is the equivalent of an R-rated movie and you're not allowed to buy them if you're under 18 or you need a parent to buy them for you, in the US.

Well yeah. And do you think this rating has made much of a dent? Every single one of my son's friends had Grand Theft Auto. We're talking junior high.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Well yeah. And do you think this rating has made much of a dent? Every single one of my son's friends had Grand Theft Auto. We're talking junior high.

It depends on the parents. They were probably sharing the game amongst themselves, too.

 

[PureX]

That's fair because GTA games are rated Mature, which is the equivalent of an R-rated movie and you're not allowed to buy them if you're under 18 or you need a parent to buy them for you, in the US.

And yet like pornography, they easily and often do end up in the hands of adolescents and pre-adolescents. In fact, the kids want them all the more because they know they aren't supposed to have them.

The fact that they are meant to be kept away young people is itself proof that they are harmful for them, and that we know this. But as we all also know, when there is a big profit to be had, harming children isn't going to be allowed to get in the way of that.