The Impact of Violent Gaming 421
An anonymous reader writes "IGN has an article up looking at the impact of violent videogames. It discusses some of the rationale on the gaming industry side for having violent images in their games, and the reactions from politics and lawmakers to these games." From the article: "Despite the large body of evidence that supports a link between playing violent videogames and aggression, lawmakers still have a difficult time convincing the courts that they should be removed from children's hands. One of the reasons for this is that most of the work done is correlational studies which look for a link between two factors. That is, if we see an increase in violent videogame play, is there also an increase in violent behavior?"
Unfortunately (Score:3, Interesting)
Is the experience of many violent games a contributing factor to violence in later years? Does it predispose a person to violence? Does it make a person more tolerant of violence? More apathetic regarding violence? more accepting of violence?
Does it contribute to the idea that violent solutions are more acceptable and viable than other solutions. Does it promote a violent sense of politics?
Does it contribute to an ability to confront and handle violence, and the artifacts of violence, such as guns, weapons, and social consequences of violence? Does it create an independent citizen, bane of ditators everywhere?
Do these factor effect people equally? Or does it "merely enhance" these bad characteristics in people who are already predisposed to them because of other factors, social, enviromental, and genetic? Does it only enhance the "bad seeds?
I imagine that it has each of the above effects, and many more, depending on the particular individual, and the factors that they find themselves in as they grow and develop. It is a specific application of the "nature vs nuture" debate, as applied to a specific element in the experience of the person as they grow up. Of course, other things, such as television, also apply. The fact of whole generations growing up in an environment where nuclear weapons are the rage (1950s and 60s, etc) is likely enough to throw a wrench in the works.
This actually can be traced back to WWI, which has been said to have had an incredible traumatic effect on the culture. The innocent sense of civilization they had before the war was fairly well shattered with the death of millions of men in modern warfare, each side proudly proclaiming "God is with us". The cascading effects and reactions to this have been with us ever since.
People are still acting this out in the games they play, with the echoes of other wars. But without resolving the actual source of the issue, they might only unknowingly reinforce the very elements that they say they object to.
Re:Logical fallacy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Logical fallacy (Score:3, Interesting)
There was an interview with a Marine Drill Sgt. who was commenting on how video games have affected his recruits. He said that one of the hardest things to teach was target to target movement. The act of killing a human is a traumatic experience and the most common reaction is to freeze on the spot. This is not a desireable trait to have on a battlefeild.
He then went on to say that the kids he has come into training who play alot of video games don't have this issue. They move from target to target like it was natural, the effects of all the shooting and killing don't manifest until AFTER the scenario at hand is over.
That says alot to me. The dehumanization part isn't there, but the ability to temporarily pause your natural response because you are relaxed with the concept of target to target movement is.