The What If Machine - Violence in Video Games

Enforce the game ratings and be done with this topic.  Parents need to be more educated about what their children are playing.  Also, I agree with the comment that when new media comes out there is always fear of how it affect people.  For example, long time ago there was much outcry about comic books being too violent and affecting the minds of children.  We hear nothing about this now.  Video games will be fine once we utilize the ratings set for it, parents ability to screen and set parameters in gaming consoles to prevent young kids from playing M rated games, and so on.  Forcing a mandatory (additional) law basic on skewed research utilizing bad investigative practices is just plain ridiculous.

If, Fun = creative, then, opposite of fun = destructive

simple math

Why does the media vilify violence in games? Simple.  It makes a good story and brings in viewers/readers/listeners.  That's the only reason media outlets exist: to get people to pay attention.  Doesn't matter if it's the truth or not as long as there's a story.  Remember: if it bleeds  it leads.  Just my two cents.  As far as this show is concerned, I agree 100%.  There is just not enough evidence nor has enough thorough research been done to show any sort of link between violence in games and violent behavior/tendencies.

I'm With Mary Ellen O'Toole video games do not promote violence anymore than slasher movies promote murder. They had to pay for their own survey, so they can show their point of view.  My son plays all the violent games and he does not exhibit violent tendencies. He is a good natured young man that cares about  people and their  well being.  Are we that naive to follow these over zealous people raving about violent video games.  If you are violent person you don't a video game to externalize your violent nature. If you go to Gamestop or Besybuy they ask you for ID  if you look to young  for the games. Get a Life !

The Bible has translated in to real world violence; i.e. the Spanish Inquisition. 

 Its been 40 years since Pong was released. The breadth of subjects and genre addressed by the interactive medium is indicative of its growth.  Every "mature" industry has its trash and nobel laureate. I am sure that the year The Great Gatsby was released, there are hundreds of forgotten novels. 

The Bible has translated in to real world violence; ie the Spanish Inquisition.

  Its been 40 years since Pong was released. The breadth of subjects and genre addressed by the interactive medium is indicative of its growth.  Every "mature" industry has its trash and nobel laureate. I am sure that the year The Great Gatsby was released, there were hundreds of forgotten novels. 

gv

I was born in 1995 and there hasnt been a time where there hasnt been any wars so if you think about most of the gaming society live in a chaotic world where everything is about war and death dont you think that has a an impact on it? Also we had 2 world wars and then Vietnam then the war in Iraq before games came out or even became violent so im pretty sure games arent to blame for killing spree's and shit most people are either fucked in the head or bored of life and want to go out in a bang I bet if all those politicians grew up as we are they'd be saying the same thing as us

 Actually less violence in media would breed more violence in real life. I know Freud is largely outdated. Nevertheless, he stated that society needed an outlet for violence or it would just build up. Victorian society was very proper, so no violence what so ever. Yet, WWI just kept growing and growing. He argued because of an outlet for violence (sports, video games, films now a days) the war kept going. Wars happen but it was the size of it and that it kept going with such horrors. In much the same way we would see an increase if not for our modern outlets. Let me put it this way. Dancing in the urban cities have given a competitive outlet and helped reduce gang violence. Games have done much the same.

Films dont get bad press like they used to when something bad happens because poloticians or people who blame games dont actualy play them themselves but they do watch violent movies or media and wouldnt want to make a comment on it because it would be hypicritical. So they blame something else instead. .

good video and its a shame that the media cant look at this without being so closed minded and open or shut about it. I grew up watching freddy cruger and jason from friday the 13th but it didnt make me feel as though i wanted to go out and cause havoc with a bladed glove or a machette. Should you refrain from letting people watch violence on the internet or the news or films too. I remember when child play came under scrutiny because of a murder in the uk and the film was banned and now its rerun often on the tv. This always comes up in the media at a time when something bad happens and usualy because the person or persons that commited terrible act happend to play a video game hmmmmmm i wonder what else they happend to watch or do just before they did what they did. The media tries to conect the dots somehow rather than looking at the individual who would have had phycilogical problems way before they commit a terrible act and that should of been noticed first. Rather than blame a game he or she happend to play closer to the event and blame that rather than society or that individuals problems which would of set them on that path in the first place.  

people who accuse violent games of causing violence never actually present studies to back their arguments. This, in itself, calls into question how credible such claims are. I think it also speaks volumes about the blind prejudice of people who are so willing to jump on the anti-game bandwagon without any concrete reason to do so. so a mass murderer played COD or WoW. I did too, but I wouldn't dream of doing the same as I'm sure the vast majority of gamers wouldn't either.

replace gamers with politicians, senators, leaders, and military men.. and this argument is over.... 

they blame Connecticut shooting with gaming, then who is to blame for all the wars, inflations, mismanagement of tax payers dollars, and absurd penalties for people commiting horrific crimes...

the 'people' who criticize games, need to understand its a mode of entertainment and its creating a job market, aswell as brining contribution to the economy... 

just for arguments sake, drinking is legal , yet it has no significant advantages to it, all it does is make people act violently, aggresively, hilariously absurd and commit crimes... i havent seen someone speaking out against drinking..

the incident is just an unfortunate event, and everyone knows mentally disturbed patiened or borderline nut jobs are everywhere, its just a shame that people are blaming games beacuse he enjoyed his xbox or ps3... for arguments sake, he couldve been an avid monopoly player or fanatic religious idealist looking to be the next ras'al gul... rather on focusing on destorying a billion industry that has countless benefits, (not saying it doenst have its drawbacks), like bringing people closer,  making children smarter and increasing thier problem solving abilities... i have been a gamer for more than 10 years now and i have never gotten any urges to be violent or kill people.. its just a matter of everyone mental state... 

thier argument is invalid

Great piece, and great shirt by the way. The only thing I would add is to that last point Cam made, making unsubstantiated claims not only muddies the reputation of video games and causes a moral panic while overlooking the real problems, but it also muddies the integrity of journalism.

well, it does have little bit of effect on human violent tendency in real world, especially when you are angry at something and you wanna fuck something up the epic violent way you do in the video games, yeh?! This is the only case that I know. And if someone is really that angry to lose their mind to conduct extreme violence, the person will be the most to blame, no the video games.

By God! I hear this same bullshit since the time of the Sega Genesis, it is much easier to blame video games, movies, books, anime, music and blah blah blah ... than take responsibility for own human stupidity.

Hopefully, sharing this video oughtta shut up my friends who can't stop blaming video games for violent behaviour.

Games are games...Games a form of entertainment, just like chess or backgammon, poker, snakes and ladders, scrabble, tennis, Final fight, Street fighter 1,2 and 3 they are all just a forms entertainment, folks who say computers games with violence can be bring about real world violence are close minded, and should try opening there minds to the joy of kicking an end of level boss up the in his or her tail feather. Hell after a stressful day in a call centre, I used to de-stress by taking down the hordes of hell in Doom 3, or keeping the peace with my Galaxy class Starship when the borg need a quantum torpedo telling off on star trek online. if it's not 24 drinking, bloomin' smoking in pubs, [just leave Brittney alon...ooops wrong website hehe] it's gaming, all you haters give it a rest, and if you son/ daughter/ person you know seems a little odd, maybe they have a genuine mental health problem, and you should look beyond the Xbox 360/PC/PS3/Wii/WiiU because if there's one thing any person stable or not they will tell you games are form of escapism, I can't tell you I'd love to have Bugatti EB 110, but I don't have the money, so having one on Forza 4 will do just fine...until I win the lottery that is!

 Sure you can get peed off if can't get passed a level on a game or stuck behind a drip on the road. You just don't act on it. But people who do imo have had bad upbringings.    

That T-Shirt is lovely.

http://eyehateeveryone.tumblr.com/post/38188830678/hated-thing-number-four-blaming-video-games-this-is-a

That is why we have age restriction because for the fact that when we get to that age those who set the age restriction expect people to use common sense and take responsibility for ourselves 

Honestly to me movies are alot worse then games. Movies are live action and they look real. Video games, although have very good graphics now that mimic real life, do not. If you showed someone a screenshot of a video game you could no doubt tell it wasnt real. however if you flip that and show a screenshot of a movie, you likely wouldn't know if it was a picture of a movie or real life unless you saw the movie. Look at the Auroa (Forget how to spell it) shooting Colorado. To me the degree of realism movies can portray is more dangerous then video games.

Here is all the evidence you need.  My parents let me watch rated R movies when I was just 4-5 years old.  Sex, violence, all the good stuff.  When Nintendo came out, it wasn't all that violent so I guess that doesn't matter.  Still, around the age of 9 or 10, genesis came out and you could see blood and fatalities in mortal kombat, I was allowed to play it. My parents never held back real world stuff.   Here is the kicker... They spent time with me and told me right from wrong.  They taught me that it was just entertainment and I should never treat others like they do in movies and games. 

Is it any surprise that I have grown up to be an extremely peaceful individual then?  The only chance that games will cause people to do dumb things are if the children are neglected by their parents.  And, guess what?  Neglected kids almost always grow up with issues, so games are not the culprit.  Parents are. 

this show has great music

Hate breeds violence. If we're old enough to play a violent games we should be far past the point of monkey see, monkey do

Very interesting subject of study. This is really, really, good. 

The subject of violence and its link towards human behaviour is an arguement that has been around since the time of printing press and as such, is nothing new. When researching my dissertation, this is the subject I chose to do. My research found that, just like this programme did, there's is no actual substantial evidence to support claims that violent behaviour is brought about because an individual is simulating an act of violence. My research found that the art of blame, and the need for simplistic answers to controversial questions leads to folk lores and demon hunts in which we have replaced unholy demons and the acts of the devil, with the risk of pedophiles and people becoming socially warped by their increased consumption of violent media.

This is however not to say that the media has no effect on us at all. If the media real didn't affect people then companies would not spend £100,000,000 yearly on advertising. Again my research came to the conclusion that the media does in fact affect us, however only in the way in which we are already inclined. By this i mean that, a car commercial would only affect my decision making on car purchasing, if I was already in the frame of mind to purchase a car. To put it simply, we use media to create and form identities for ourselves so if we are already violently inclined, we would use this violent media to create and learn ways in which we can become violent, although saying this, most people in society tend to be normal, level headed individuals so we tend to create identities which are more commonly present within the normal social sphere.

Just thought I'd add my say to an otherwise well rounded and enjoyable programme. Keep up the good work Cam!

Not unless you're a nut. Did westerns in the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's lead to cowboysin Texas or Kansas shooting native Americans or jerks in saloons? (I Love Gunsmoke)  Did the Thin Man, or any hundreds of detective movies ontv shows cause a vigalanties to shoot bad guys in the streets of NY or the Windy?  How about Dirty Harry?

Get a grip. I walked away from Black OPs II complaining about too much money for a too short SP campaign. Maybe some game producers need to be punished, via the capitalistic  system for producing a great adventure that was only 2 or so hours gone.....heck a good 2 hour movie is only 8 bucks. I won't spend 60.00 on their mini games in the future..take that, bad guy !

Wait....The Walking Dead *did* make me want to behead ZOMBIES. Next time I see one..look out !

Alien face suckers too, I'll kill 'em if I see 'em.

"Does violence in video games lead to real world violence?"

NO. NOt for well adjusted people.

Having to watch commercials all the time....hmmm....

the world needs to come together. while MURRICA is all for guns and blood. eu is all for nude beaches and bewbs.

when they say vidiya cause violence they're just looking for a scapegoat. anything would do if you're looking for an excuse

Australia needs to watch this episode. Their idiot government are all stuck in the early 90's with their facist anti video game agenda. Now if only they had as little tolerance for racist ignorance that they do for video game gore.

Wow Mark had me until his asinine claim that this era is considered one of the most peaceful. That statement , not only terribly false, is an insult to anyone who has eyes and ears. Just as they blame media for overexaggerating it would be good of them to not to do the same. Simply put, AgentA-Mi6 hit the nail on the head.

Bla-bla-bla-bla.  Perole were NEVER violent before the creation of  violent video games.  Everyone ran around in throwing flowers at each other and scouting " Have a nice day, I love you all."

Playing violent video games does not make people violent, stealing my tacos does

I have discovered certain benefits from playing certain types of games that translate into the real world.  When I play games like COD or Team fortress 2, I seem to be able to focus better.  Playing with a highly competitive mindset forces you to focus and really analyze situations in games which ultimately leads to situations that requires problem solving.  If you are in a situation where you and\or your team is losing, you will search for a way to win. My hand eye coordination is average at best, but I have found strength in developing and implementing strategic elements into my game which usually makes me one of the top players in most games matches I play.

Playing with a highly competitive mindset also allows you to  discover your limitations which is important for elevating your game.  You can adjust your strategy to compensate for your weaknesses. Understanding your weaknesses allows you to become more consistent  overall.  If you pwn in certain situations and then all of a sudden a new game starts and you are forced into a situation which places you at a disadvantage, you need to adapt to the current dynamics of the game.  Adapting is difficult at times but can completely swing momentum in your favor if done correctly.  Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses is key.  Once momentum is established, you need to apply maximum pressure to your opponent.  If you opponent tries to regain the advantage, do something completely unexpected.  Camp on a corner, charge straight down the middle, push from a new direction, set a trap. Vary your style until you can regain momentum.  If your team starts dominating in a big way, hit hard and never let up.  Be smart, but be very aggressive.

I play games on and off, I am either 100% committed to a game or not at all.  This is why I notice in the real world effects these games have one me.  When I have a challenging task ahead of me such as new courses for my trade, of troubleshooting a job, I perform better when my off time involves highly focus sessions of high paced strategic games action games.