Violence and Video Games

There’s a general misconception that seems to be on the rise with the general public in regards to violence and video games. Let me clarify this: I believe it’s a misconception, but I have no actual proof besides some thought experiments and some violence statistics. Well, actually no links to speak of, but I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that violence is in a decline over the past decade, something around 13%. That’s pretty significant if you think of them as numbers and not just a percentage. Say there were something like 10 million violent crimes in 1993, and in 2003 there were 8.7 million – 1.3 million less instances of needless pain, anger and sorrow. Yet if a kid picks up a rifle and starts picking off people in a manner that’s characteristic of a video game, suddenly video games are causing violence in children.
Something’s not right here.


I suppose if we are to examine this issue, we should have a better understanding of what violence really is, and why it occurs in our society. There are all kinds of violence – domestic violence, pyschopathic violence, religious violence, patriotic violence, bar fights, road rage to name a few. There is a common thread throughout all these forms: they are predominately initiated by men. Sure there are instances of violence from women but statistically the vast majority comes from the male half of the population. Why is this?
I believe that violence is a genetic leftover from our animalistic evolution, pure and simple. There is a case for nurtured violence – abuse by parents, teachers, clergy, etc. However the common theme of male tendancies towards violence is what I consider unifying evidence of a genetic predisposition. Women are abused probably as much as men yet that does not seem to carry over (as much) to new generations violent women.
The evolutionary path that humanity has taken was wrought with the need for hunters, protectors and warriors. In order for us to have gotten to this point in time now our tribal nature and hostility towards strangers was a powerful evolutionary tool – it allowed dominate genes to reproduce, it contributed to the tribal society which allowed specialization of tasks by different people, it created a sense of safety and security in a wild and dangerous world. So there’s no arguing that we as people would be where we are today if we hadn’t used the violence inherint in the male half of humanity to allow us to grow, evolve, learn and provide us enough spare time to contemplate ourselves, our surroundings and our place in the world.
That violence that helped us so in the past has become a hindrence in the present. We are living in an increasingly smaller society where our scope of tolerance and understanding of the rest of the world is ever decreasing with it. As more and more people are crowded into smaller and smaller areas friction from close quarter living can be a frustrating experience for many men. Violence is the natural result of these conditions, but violence is not tolerated in our society. Violent people become ostracized further feeding their anger and hostility towards the world and the people around them. They see people who are different and automatically create antipathy towards them. They see their girlfriend being chatted up and they automatically bring up the defences and muscle the would be suitor away in the only way they know how: violence.
So if violence is genetic and inherint in the male half of humanity, how do we get rid of it in order to meet the standards of the society that we live in? Well I believe it’s already taking place, the violent agression that has dominated many male’s for the entirety of human civilization is slowly being siphoned away into a harmless, digital domain: video games.
Surely violent men aren’t a seething, unending cauldron of potential violence? If a man is violent does that mean he is violent from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to sleep? I believe that men have a figurative bucket of violence in their genetic makeup that can be emptied by violent actions. Why not dump it into a video game console? Can you substitute a visceral, real violent act for a harmless digital one? I believe you can.
I think back at how many times I’ve killed someone in a video game. How many times has a head exploded in the goriest detail in the sight of my digitized assault rifle? At least 6447 times. Do I ever have an inclination to witness that event in real life? Absolutely not. Today I was playing a game called Black and White where you are god, you have people worship you and you also have a servant creature that you train to do your bidding. I was feeling a bit put out so I started slapping it around, and you know what? I felt better afterwards. I cannot speak for everyone else though, but I believe that I’m not alone. I figure that there are a lot of people out there who ordinarily (ie pre-video game era) would have had violent tendancies but have since substituted the actual act of violence itself for virtual killing, goring, slaying of hundreds of different people, races, nationalities, animals and various fictional creatures.
Some video games are non violent, but most video games have some element of violence, whether it be the graphic depiction of gunshot wounds to fender benders in a racing game. All of these events siphon off that inate violent nature in men and make them more docile, less willing to actually extert real violence. I think that although you may have some school shootings influenced by video games (and even that’s a stretch – I’d say the easy access to actual firearms is a much more likely culprit), the 1.3 million (in our theoretical example) less violent acts by far makes up for it.
So to all you lawmakers, you congressmen and MPs, you parental associations and religious groups, please leave video games alone. They’re helping us males vent our frustrations and our angers in a fashion that leaves nothing but a few thumbs hurt.

56 thoughts on “Violence and Video Games”

  1. video games are probably good for the ‘soul’ in releasing hostile thoughts……in my “drugs, sex and rock and roll” days, we also played games (with rubber tipped dart guns, squirt guns, etc)
    to “portray” acts of violence again each other…………………………….How bad is my post looking? Did you count the days?………………..off line for a day or 2…will be self training on my eMac.

  2. comparing what violent vieo games offer you, a 20 something man, and applying that to an entire demographic of 5-18 year olds may be a bit of a stretch.
    Are video games to blame for violent tendencies in kids? somewhat. but what about that plastic cap gun that’s been around long before the nintendo showed up, or the pellet gun boys have been playing with for years?
    Playing is learning, that’s a fact. kids learn how to be adults through playing. if their playing invovles large amounts of violence, chances are violent tendencies will be learned. Which suggests that rather than those tendencies being inhereted – is there such a thing as the ‘violent gene?’ – they’re taught.
    Whatever happened to the human race 1,000, 100, 50 years ago has nothing to do with violent tendencies today. Kids are violent because they’ve learned to be violent, and some video games do teach that, to be fair so do many other toys.
    We just gotta relax, watch a little WWE, stomp some goombas and let the violnce wash over us.
    fantastic

  3. I respectfully disagree. Think about the actions of a boy abandoned in the wilderness. Logic tells us that this child will have an inate set of instincts, for example fight or flight that will drive his behaviour. This child wouldn’t sit in the forest and sing kumbaya, he would use whatever tools he has at his disposal to survive, including violence. Violence is an instinct, thus a ‘violence gene’. Playing video games allows a venting of these natural instincts in a harmless environment.
    As for comparing me to a youth of today, well I think that it’s a valid comparison. I am a child of the digital revolution, I was playing atari at 5 and haven’t stopped since. The graphics may have changed but the content was the same. Why wouldn’t it be valid?

  4. so we’ve narrowed the demographics to 5 year old boys, and the proposed assumption is that a 5 year old boy would use fight or flight instincts to survive in the wilderness. I agree 100% with that, yes, anyone abandoned, of any age, anywhere, devoid of a helpful guide would resort to fight or flight instincts.
    But that’s not the point of debate here, specifically we’re looking at:
    ‘I believe that violence is a genetic leftover from our animalistic evolution, pure and simple.’ which suggests no outside factors will influence our behaviours, or more specifically, a 5 year old boy. Seeing as how human children probably can’t safely leave their parent’s protective grasp until they are about 12 (whatever the age, it’s older than 5), this suggests that what instincts we do have, are very limited. Limited instincts require that the human child learn a larger amount about social interaction and what’s right and what’s wrong before heading off on their own. so, being aware of our limited instincts, it should come as no surprise that children who watch wrestling are more likely to be hurt in wrestling accidents; whereas a child who knows nothing of wrestling probably won’t hurt himself or others performing a ‘cross-face-chicken-wing.’
    ‘Violence is an instinct…’ haha, let’s hope not. Fight or flight is the instinct I’m sure you’re basing this assumption on. Fight or Flight is a reaction, it is a method of saving oneself. Violence, as defined by dictionary.com is “Physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing”… doesn’t sound reactionary to me. Violence is a creation of humans, not an instinct. As proof, look at animals who use tools. does any animal, anywhere, use a tool for the sole purpose of ‘violating, damaging or abusing’ another animal? no, that’s just us.
    Looks like this debate centres more on a choice of words and their associated meanings rather than the claim that shooting people with semi-automatic handguns is instinctual (cause you know, ducks would shoot us if they could only get those greasy wings on some smiff & wesson, yo). But that’s getting into the finer details, and anyone who is willing to assert their mental capacities are on par with that of a 5 year old, is in no place debate.

  5. Although I do agree that channeling violence into fantasy could be benificial to our society, I wonder if there is perhaps a better way.
    How much video game time would be needed to illiminate these violent urges? Would you consider this to be time well spent? Wait! Let me rephrase that, because I know you love video games. What benefit would men get from playing video games other than the channeling of their inner violent urges? I ask this because time is at a premium for most people.
    I also wonder if there are other ways to channel out these urges that don’t re-enforce the same violence they are suppose to help eliminate. Try this analogy on for size: Does the availability of pornography help to eliminate sexual urges?

  6. djmose:
    Ok, let’s get this straight, there are no black and white answers when it comes to human behavior. It is never just nature, it is never just nurture. Always some combination of the two results in the actions and reactions of people. As for the survival abilities of a 5 year old, I bring forward the example of various ‘wolf children’ that have been abandoned since a very
    early childhood but have managed to survive quite well enough, relatively speaking. Survival instincts are some of the strongest tools we have to fall back on in dire times of need. This suggests to me at least that our instincts are in fact incredibly strong when the time for instincts is needed – say for example in a hostile situation, in a time of rage or anger for whatever reason it may come about. Thus violence.
    I think also that you may have been watching too many disney movies; nature is just as if not more violent and vicious than our own society. Those cute cuddly deer that look so docile are in fact quite violent in certain circumstances, specifically around mating, not altogether unlike us. Just because we choose to exert our violence using modern weaponry for example doesn’t mean that the root of violence isn’t in fact genetic, specifically in the male species. Why aren’t women more violent, if it’s not instinctual? Are not instincts based on genetics? How else does one pass on instincts from one generation to another?
    Wally:
    Time may be a premium for some but I do not believe that everyone treasures it as much as you or I. Let’s be frank here, ok? There is a large percentage of the world that will probably end up contributing nothing towards the betterment of humanity. Instead of having these people sitting around causing trouble for others what’s wrong with allowing them to vent their frustration, anger and inate violence in a harmless environment? If they don’t want to better themselves and in turn society, at least they’re not causing any harm.
    As for porn, well I lost my sex drive long ago.. 😉
    Both of you guys seem to be forgetting that we have been, as a society, more violent in the past. 300 years ago we burned witches at the stake, an approved form of violence that is completely unacceptable today. Before that was barbarianism – endless slaughter and rape of village after village. Before that was tribal warfare, vicious destruction of neighbouring tribes. Before that we were apes, loosely banded together but with violence as the sole means of order, survival of the fittest, the alpha male dominating the pack. Remember our violent roots and see that violence is not something unique to our modern society, concocted out of easy access to guns and knives.
    We’ve come a long way but we still have a long way to go. Religious and nationalistic intolerance will be the next step, who knows what it’ll be after that. Yet I believe that a key step in that process is the elimination of individual acts of violence through harmless vetting of instincts into a digital arena. Sure there will always be that small but vocal percentage that goes to far, that see violence on their computer and wants a taste of the real deal, but I believe the majority take away from video games a lack of need for violence. To go back to your sex example, how many men feel the need to have sex again once they’ve had their first orgasm?

  7. Yes these games do get way to much heat in the media , the common thing to do in this era is to shovel blame away to everything else but on yourself.
    You have your idea’s about de-escalation of animalistic evolution in males and there’s no doubt to me that people change with time however I think this is not the main problem ,what is the real problem is this underlying push in society to abandon personal accountability for one’s actions.
    I bet if you did a study of the last 30 or 40 years and compared accountability for one’s actions and violent behaviour you would find that being held responsible for your own actions has decreased directly in per potion to the increase in violent behaviour along with many other atrocities of this day and age.
    Too many times today violent games, Marilyn Manson, and movies are to blame for some kid bringing a gun to school and mowing down his class. 30 years ago kids did not bring guns to school cause if they attempted anything like that they would have got there ass kicked by there parents but today it’s “time out’s” and “no X-box for the afternoon”.
    I believe this is the real problem, and by the way guns were more accessible back then than they are today so that is hardly the problem.
    Video game violence is fun but there really is nothing like runnin down a rabbit or coyote with the snowmobile or beating some rodent to death with a shovel. Mmmm pure pleasureJ.
    And you spelled God with a small g. You don’t see me spelling Hippi with a small h do you? Get it right dumbass.

  8. maybe excessive words make for excessive tangents. so let’s get to the point. we’re all familiar with the phrase, ‘monkey see, monkey do.’ If you teach a kid to hurt people (fictional or not) as a means to venting frustration, when they feel the need to vent, they will do just that, hurt. An aggressive feeling need not be taken out solely in the form of killing, rape, murder or pillaging; one of the ‘violent’ trends you failed to mention from our human past is competitive sport. Sport allows for the release of aggression through controlled – for lack of a better word – combat. The difference is, no one is dead, real or imagined (with the exception of accidents of course).
    Has violence been around for as long as humans have been alive? yes. you know what else has been around for a long time? racism. pretty much forever as far as i know. according to your argument, because it’s been around forever, this is not something that is taught, rather, it is something innate, we all posses it, we’re born with it, whites hate blacks, blacks hates yellows, and yellows hate reds. It’s the law of genetic heredity! So, instead of trying to repress this natural hate we all have for differing colours, we should go and join virtual lynch mobs. And although we won’t actually kill anyone, it will be a great release for the natural urge we all have to kill those who are different. Sorta like placating our inner-hitlers. and since it’s virtual, it’s all good. Kids aren’t known for having trouble distinguishing between reality and fantasy after all, that’s just adults, and even then, only the ones on drugs.
    Do we naturally posses aggressive tendencies? yes. do we naturally posses a desire to exert physical force for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing another human for no reason other than acting on a feeling? certainly not. in other words, we will naturally become angry or agitated, even furious, but how we react to those tendencies is what’s taught, and what is conditioned through the virtual violence of video games and other such inputs.

  9. …got the new eMAC up & running………………then of course there is all the REAL violence
    displayed on the 6 o’clock news EVERY night! A problem with “violence” is the methodology evolves…….from the caveman throwing rocks >>>>>>>>> to the bombing of Hiroshima! In high school, I FOUGHT WITH FISTS now high schoolers fight with
    Smith & Wesson. I suspect (not in my lifetime, but my granddaughters….and it
    pisses me off) WE (the world) WILL IN FACT CREATE A DOOMS DAY WEAPON……
    SO, EXPOSING A 5 YEAR OLD TO VIOLENCE MAY PREPARE HIM FOR HIS FUTURE.
    Be real…………….

  10. be real…
    ok, since your granddaughters are going to one day have sex, why don’t we get them used to that now too. EXPOSING A 5 YEAR OLD TO SEX MAY PREPARE THEM FOR THEIR FUTURE. yeah, that makes sense.
    maybe shove their heads in their asses too, if the chef is right about genetics, sounds like that’s where their heads will be most of the time.

  11. djmose:
    we’re all familiar with the phrase, ‘monkey see, monkey do.’ If you teach a kid to hurt people (fictional or not) as a means to venting frustration, when they feel the need to vent, they will do just that, hurt.
    See that’s just the thing, sir, we’re not monkeys. We have the intelligence to fight most of our instincts by thinking things through, given half the chance. The teenager who plays Grand Theft Auto: Vice City gets the opportunity to play the pimp, the thug, the thief. Perhaps if the simulation is immersive enough they might take away from that a loathing for such a lifestyle, or maybe the feeling of enjoyment, peace and competition that one get’s out of playing video games makes that teenager more at ease with himself and the world around him.
    See I think people fear video games because they assume that children will make an association between fun and enjoyment with activities that in the real world would be hostile and dangerous. They believe creating an association between the happiness of playing video games and violent distruction will brainwash legions of young boys into savage, blood thirsty beasts. The thing is that the association isn’t made between happiness and violence, it’s made between happiness and video games. Video games reinforce how fun video games are, not how fun whatever the theme of the video game is.
    As for your racism example, well you can’t deny the violence in nature (and I’m assuming you agree we have evolved from animals), but please show me the racism in nature. Racism is a primitive human fear born out of tribal wariness and hostility to change and new ‘strange’ people. They’re different, therefore inferior, therefore not worthy of being treated as equals. Really it just comes down to ignorance, which can be remedied by communication. It’s hard to identify a person’s race when they’re a digital avatar on your screen or a line of text conversing with you.
    I’m really not sure how it’s done. I thought video games might be an outlet for a primal drive, or maybe they show violence in such detail as to make it upalatable in real life, or maybe even focusing on doing something you love (like playing games) naturally brings about a more moderate mentality, but whatever the explanation I believe that video games have been incredibly influential in decreasing the amount of violence over the last decade.
    btw, excessive wording? I’m just trying to find the right word or words to describe exactly what I’m thinking.
    McP:
    I think you’ve been biased by the explosion of news service in our generation. You have the impression that children showing up in class with a gun is somehow a new, modern problem. The reality of the situation is that these random acts of violence in school have been going on for some time before the news started reporting them, and by some time I mean at least 30 years.
    I do agree with you that personal accountability is something that has been slipping – more and more people are willing to take the easy road, blame someone or something else, whatever it takes to avoid owning up to personal responsibility. There is a fine line though between corporal punishment and abuse and it seems that too many unfit parents have crossed it.
    As for
    but there really is nothing like runnin down a rabbit or coyote with the snowmobile or beating some rodent to death with a shovel. Mmmm pure pleasureJ.
    I can only hope you’re kidding. In the cosmic lottery you won the jackpot but does that mean you have to rub it in the losers face by disrespecting their right to life? All the organisms on this planet have come a long way from a common heritage and although we are at the top we should still believe that we could have just as easily been the rabbit or the coyote until some jackass came barreling along and ended it.
    Perhaps you should be playing more video games.
    oldcatman:
    Really it should be about teaching children about violence and where it comes from at an early age. Perhaps not in such gruesome ways but obviously violence comes out, just watch the children at recess. I mean we were all there, there’s always that one bully, etc etc.
    Anyways, once again I’m up far too late. I look forward to some response. 😉

  12. What about the real underlying issue here.. the view that “nowadays” people do not have to be responsible for their own actions, they can pick and choose, at will, any medium for the reasons behind violence, or any other controversy (i.e. people suing Mc Donalds because they stuffed their face one too many times).
    The issue here is simple… there IS a reason for every action, however, there is also a personal responsibility assumed with every choice a person makes.

  13. Very true, there is a general lack of personal responsibility these days which could be considered a cancer on our society. What can you do? How can you enforce personal responsibilty in our society?

  14. Video games do not cause violence. People who “act out” video games have this behavior embedded in them already. More later. The boss is back!

  15. This article is all about making connections between things that aren’t necessarily connected. I do agree though that it would not hurt the situation if there were more stringent ratings because a parent should have to make this decision, not a newspaper.

  16. I think violence in video games is great 100% and that no one would by the games if there was no violence, besidesviolence cant effect how we think becausethe consaquince for our actions is just as bad as the thing we would do.

  17. foodablababladeedle dee dee watata dodododododo DO i think i made smelly…uh oh! yaya violence…….poopy….NO CARL (the ant i new for 5 seconds) is DEAD!!!!!

  18. once i went to this place and i got a candy.

  19. There’s a general than the ! In high school, I FOUGHT WITH FISTS now high schoolers Really it should child learn and than i makes that teenager more at e See I think hurt people ok, since your granddaughters EXPOSING A 5 YEAR OLD

  20. yo dude sorry i am using this site for information in school it’s very helpful thnx my friends were being gay i’ am trully sorry.

  21. Hey by ‘using this site’ I hope you don’t mean plagiarizing.. 😉 You can quote all you want, but it’s all conjecture. There’s no solid facts, it’s just a theory of mine.

  22. k dont worry i dont plagorize, by the way i might join in these postings aswell but for now i am working on my project thanks 😉

  23. yo i just was reading about the youth using fight and flight in situations like being stuck in a forest but djmose had to argue back with using 5 year olds witch in most cases wouldn’t hapin and i think there is an issue he needs to get rid of about 5 year olds but i respectfully disagree with fight and flight right away, they could be scared and do somthing stupid before thinking about the fight and flight, dont take this the wrong way i absolutly love the violence in video games but we need some cold hard facts to keep this arguement going.

  24. I would have an interview with anyone who is a professional in the field of video games, they could help answer my questions concerning the relation between video games and violent behaviors.
    ~Aaron

  25. Umm…, IU would also like an interview for a school project on violence in video games and whether or nor it may cause violence in real life. I love your site, and i find it enlightening to read some of your posts. Thank you.

  26. I would like to agree with dog. I think that in the case of a five-year old, they would most likely not be thinking of fight or flight right away, and they might go and do something stupid. also, i found a nice link for you guys. http://www.violenceinterventionproject.com/issuefrm.htm look for the topic Do Vidoe games make you violent? Also, I would like to join these discussions. They’re real deep.

  27. Well here’s the thing, can we ever really know whether the things we see affect our behaviour? If a teenager who is unstable gets a gun and starts killing people like in a video game, should the blame be on the video game that he emulated or the society that allowed his instability to go as far as it did without treatment?

  28. I’m Baaaack. ANyway, here are a few questions I would like to ask you. First, how long have you been playing violent games, secondly how old are you, thirdly,do you think that certain types of games might actual instill violent feeling in those who play them? i.e. Doom, GTA, REsident Evil, etc.. More to come… btw, here’s an interesting book that I completely disagree on the “facts” that they claim they have. http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp784772.html

  29. uyou people suck because video games are cool. what is the matter with you.ghklhdaaqwrerttyuyioplhjhggfdddqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbbnm,..abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

  30. Jay – I’ve been playing video games since I was 5 (21 years), so that makes me 26. As for video games instilling violence, well the only argument for that is by imprinting a new idea (say that of the classic paying for a prostitute, screwing her, then killing her and taking the money back as in GTA) could possibily give an unstable person with no moral ground the idea to actually go and do this violent act. Myself, I believe that the vast majority of video game players have enough common sense to know ‘right’ from ‘wrong’ as to the scenarios in a video game.
    I’ll leave you with this quote:
    “The sum of evil would be much diminished if men could only learn to sit quietly in their rooms.”
    -Pascal

  31. I Don’t think that some video games are violent but they should have a rating of mature so that people won’t start a killing killing frenzy.

  32. hi my name is nic. i am 13 and i have been playing video games for 5or6 years, at school we have to do a I.S.U on violence in video games. Is it true does violent video games brings more agression?

  33. The stuff about violent games causing violence in kids is total ****. Violent kids are often violent beforehand. In one case, an 18 year old kid was arrested for attacking his grandparents with a mallet and his dad immediatly blamed Resident Evil. It turns out the kid was off his medication and was mentally ill. He even said his stepmom was trying to sap his energy through a hole in the back of his head. I’m 12 and I play Grand Theft Auto and The House of the Dead, among other games, and have not gone nutso with a .45 in my life. I never even went crazy at all!

  34. Well I hope none of you guys are taking to fact what are just theories of mine. I haven’t done any tests, I just looked at the trends. The current statistics suggest that youth violence is on a downward trend. The only thing that is changing in any similar fashion is an upward trend of violence in video games. It makes sense, but it’s untested so it can only remain a theory.

  35. Ok, so let me ask … how many children (5-10?) are actually playing titles like GTA vice city? I would think that a child of 5-10 would have difficulty mastering the complex contols enough to get to a mission start point (if they would even know what it looked like). For the most part my 8yr old bro isn’t skilled enough to play GTA, and so it isn’t fun for him. but if he is playing it : if he is shot at he runs, he doesn’t understand why the gals on the street want to “take him for a ride”, he pulls over for the cops, and stops at the trafic lights when they are red =P
    As for the Violence (prostituton, murder, ect.) I find that the gore TV provides is much more realistic than any 3d rendered goo, but then you don’t actually MAKE the person on tv do such horrible acts… Oh wait! no one MAKES you do those things in GTA… you could be a fireman… or a paramedic, or a police officer, or a piza delivery boy… mabey a cab driver. are all of them at diffent times… you could go boating… mabey fly a plane…. just stay out of the troubled places, and don’t pick up prostitutes.
    The thing is that Tomy is as bad as YOU want him to be, and controlled by YOU. The main story does suggest you help the mafi out…ect. but at any time you can give up your life of crime.
    I guess if we catch our kids with violent video games… we take them away, and tell them why we disaprove….. you know… like when you catch them with porn, or drugs.

  36. ok,to the point.
    if you see violence in a game, and want to act it out, you, my friend, are disturbed. get help, you stupid bastard. you give gamers a bad name. second, little kids that play games need guidence and explanations as to what they’re seeing. they need…get this…
    parenting! where are the freakin’ parents?! they neglect their kids, and when they do something wrong, they blame the world. They don’t want to accept responsibility for their actions…am i seeing a pattern here?

  37. ah, so i see.
    “hey, anyone know anything about tha killing of jfk?”
    “GO TO THIS SIT AND YOUR PENIS WILL BE BIGGER IN WEEKS!”
    “…”
    i can see it now…must get annoying.

  38. Ok, first off I dont play the game my brother does but I just reading these and it came to my attention the the game is rating M. So, this means the parents of the little kids are buying it. Ummm … if I was a parent which I am old enough to be then I wouldn’t buy a M rated game for my kids without first renting it. For all you parents who are complainin they have this thing called Blockbuster … and I’m sure that whatever place your from has their own little video rental places aside from that one. Rent the game and watch the kid play it or play it yourself. I am an adult and I still do that when I buy games for myself and if I’m buyin for my brother I ask him if he’s played it first. No point in wasting money on a game the kids won’t like anyways.

  39. I think the blame that becomes partly of games is the fact that parents see a child become rather frustrated with themselves for not being able to beat a game. Not angry at the world besides the fact that studies cant find any actual aggression acted out from tested children (yes they actually tested small children) the only aggresion they could find was simulated aggresion. The child only acted out the scenes they had gained from seeing earlier. This of course begs the question “If it is indeed that way, then how do we prevent a child from picking up and gun and running around like Tommy Verceti (GTA 3)” Well, there are two obvious ways one has been picked up on. The ESRB was granted for this reason they put the ratings there for a reason. And yes sometimes the retailers just dont care. The second way to prevent this (and the best) parenting, your child will act the way he is raised some things in the childhood will turn him the other way sometimes yes. But ultimatly a child will listen to his parents and obey at a young age (the age most easily influenced). And that is where most of the blame should take place, games are blamed because yes of course they are the easy target. Anyways, could you see a parent saying “yes its my fault that my child killed yours, i neglected, beat, cursed at my child and now its too late to change that.” No your not going to ever hear that so naturally the media is taking the blame for the parents. And yes i do blame the parents of all people who feel the need to kill someone. I guess its a learn by expierance thing. Do you think the parents of the Columbine shooters ever sat down with their children? Asked them how their day went? No i dont believe so. So yes i go back to the source of everything. The home. Yes, i have anger in me, yes i have pent up aggresion, but this was not influenced by games. it was influenced by myself, the way sometimes i just look at life and the way people can be so ignorant to a subject such as this. And no my anger would never be expressed in a way such as killing a person, i was raised with morals that i keep with me today. I find games to be a release a way to vent to day-to-day aggresion. Its easy to kill a person online because it is indeed fictional and i realize there are people ignorant enough to be somehow influenced by this. Once again this would be blamed on morals (or the mentality of the person, or maybe the age, of course that is why the ESRB was made) well i guess im being a bit of a board hog so ill post again in a couple of days with the rest of this

  40. Some interesting points on the male’s tendency’s for violence but I feel this person completely lacks the sense to view the disposition of people to require protection.
    Male, female, whatever, violence helps when something is attacking us. Whether it be some wild mountain lion looking for his next meal or your neighbor next door, Violence protects vs Violence.
    This person goes so far as to explain the dynamic of violence and how it relates to jealousy of one’s mate, but fails to point out violence’s usefulness when you’re locked in a room, or you’re saving someone in a car accident by miraculously lifting the car up off of them. Some might not call that violence, but a form of compassion. I disagree, when those hormonal acts of saving someone are performed by super-human lifting of the car they’re more likely going to be a result of the person’s anger that this car would crush this human, rather than compassion for the victim. If compassion was the motivating factor the person would be more likely to force the car off of the car crash victim using intelligence such as calling 911 or using a lever to free the crushed soul. And even in the lever example, you still might need a violent disposition to release those much needed hormones that enable the strength to lift the car.
    Violence is useful in situations. I get the feeling this person thinks a perfect society would exist when no violence existed within it’s members, but then what happens when nature’s forces attack? We die off, because our inability to act with violence in a violent world.
    And that my friend, is why violence in games is still not a factor. Because violence, like any other human reaction is partly a choice. Yes, differences exist in people with how much they control the urges, just like the urges an intelligent person has to solve or an artist has to create, but it still has a level of control and usefulness so don’t judge too quickly.

  41. you guys are so stupid and ghetto you need t0o stop with your bull shit fucken dumb asses see ya later you bunch of bitches

  42. Ok totaly agreed on every single word this man said… i am a male with some slight anger problems i vent my frustration on Gta4 and halo and other games its acauly causeing me to be less violent

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