Do violent video games really cause violence

No. Violence has been with us for like...thousands of years. Video games only like 40 years approximately. There’s no correlation.

The normal person can play video games and know they are only games and not real life. Then there are those that want to experience it in real life. The same argument can be made for any activity be it drink mixed drink doesn't make you an acholic, watching porn doesn't make you a raspiest and so on..

Kind of hard to be violent when you are spending your time staring at a tv screen.

Video games like nearly everything have the potential to "cause" violence, but only in the sense that some people and personalities are predisposed to such tendencies beforehand. Taking any one source of personality, be it a terrible upbringing, violent media, or access to dangerous weaponry as a singular source of violence behavior is a gross oversimplification of human psychology.

Better funding for extensive studies of violent figures, as well as better access to help and wellness improvement, and better availability of social mobility, are the kinds of things we need to make these problems dissolve, not restriction of choice or censorship.

Not anymore than Dungeons & Dragons or rock music.

Not any more than Dungeons & Dragons or rock music.

It's one of many triggers, these clash with ones' disposition.

To extreme amounts. How many TV haven't suffered because of Wii rage?

Those lead to the Devil, not violence.

There's been countless studies done since the days of Doom and no viable connection has ever been found. If there was, movies, television, comic books, etc would all be in the same boat.

Science, psychology, and many many many people far far far smarter than any of us or any politician say "no".

With that said, I do think video games have some negative effects, especially on young (<10 or so) kids. But nothing sinister, I think they just impact things like attention span and the appreciation of simplicity.

@mrbojangles25: Bingo.

Social and psychiatric issues are extremely complex and very difficult to study. There have many numerous conflicting studies on whether violent video games can contribute to an increase in aggressive behavior or desensitize someone to violence. You can find articles that both support and refute any link.

@mrbojangles25: it’s funny. I started playing video games around the age of 9. But it was only Tetris and super Mario bros.

So yeah. I never played too many games before that. My dad has an Atari 2600 I believe but I think there was only Frogger and soccer on it. I still remember the joystick with the one red button. Good times.

Same. Whether or not it was intentional, or maybe just because they were the only games available, my parents let me play puzzle games and mystery games and so forth. Tetris for sure, among others. Smart games, you could say.

Didn't play my first FPS until I was at my neighbors playing Doom and Wolfenstein, and even then I didn't get my first FPS until I bought Dark Forces, which would have put me at about 12 years old I think.

@dozervlogs: No one knows. The mind and influences upon it are complex.

For a mentally stable person, playing Mortal Kombat won’t give you the urge to decapitate someone any more than than the desire to jump on someone’s head after playing Super Mario.

However, for someone who is less mentally stable, violence in video games may very well give that person more ideas to act out violence.

If you say to me, that a flicker of Grand Theft Auto never entered into the mind of some of those, “mass shooters,” in the US or those, “lone wolves,” who drive into crowds then I call BS.

I read somewhere a guy was heavily influenced by the books/TV show of Dexter and carried out a murder of two.

The violence was already there but Dexter simply justified his intentions.

No, everyone knows Marilyn Manson is the cause.

No, but Leisure Suit Larry will cause you to touch yourself.

how is this political?

Discussion of the 34th ammendment. "Thou shall make no law infringing on the rights to play video games, to bear arms in video games, or to curb stomp opponents in game. Thou shall also demand an apology from Nintendo for the Wii U."

2/3 majority easily confirmed

Video Games didn’t exist when WW2 happened and Nukes were dropped on Japan.

The Master says so, everything else is Fake News.

Poor choices. In some people they can and in most people they don't. But you can't say anything is absolute.

They can inspire violent acts but they can't make an individual become violent. Similar how hollywood films would give gangbangers ideas. They didn't create more gangbangers but the gangbaners sure wanted to copy what was shown on TV.

Violence comes from anger, descent, hatred for one another, beliefs, hormones, etc.

There is no study that shows videogames is the cause of violent behaviour in anyone

Is there a correlation, sure but people who have those violent outbursts would find inspiration somewhere else if they didn´t have the games.

They probably reduce violence.

Necro thread...