I still think that the game has very little to do with younger crimes but i do agree with this point. I'm 16 ( 17 in 12 days ) and when i was about 14 i was doing great in school, passing my tests with high marks, then when i started to eally play games i got so caught up on them that i forgot to study and so my grades did decline. But it you put gaming into moderating then there should be no trouble in getting good gradaes at school and being able to play games.
Violence has existed FAR longer than video games have. If someone allows themselves to be influenced by a game then they've got some problems already. The games do not put the ideas into their heads, it's there already.
Uhh, no. Nothing makes you do anything. It's time people take responsibility for their actions and not blame it on something else.
Not at all. Let me ask you this, if I go and kill a hooker in GTA:SA with a flamethrower, does that mean that I'm going to go do the same thing in real life? Another example, if I go and play SOCOM3 and I use a Gun with a laser pointer to signal to my men that it needs to be destroyed with a rocket launcher, well that ever happen in real life? Of course not, contrary to popular belief, most games don't really break that barrier between virtural and real life. Also, while the statistics do agree that men do play more video games than gamers (in fact the great percentage do play at least 100 hours a day) Absolutely no concrete evidence shows that video games can lead to killing/violence. Sure, some studies do say that intense gaming could lead to minor fits of rage, but tell me one study that says that mild rage automatically leads to killing. All in all, it's the same thing that happens with every kind of media, from gaming to movies to music. Two things always occurs. A death happens in a family, and the parents NEVER want to believe that their child was simply depressed or had girl problems or just have parents who didn't love them, they go and search their room to find the thing they last did before they died, be it a video game or CD, and then through court analysis they find a very tiny piece played backwards that says in jumbled words something that sounds like "Do it" (Citing one case with a band called Judas Priest) Another thing that happens is simply parents in this day and age are too lazy to actually moderate their kids. They go and let them do whatever they want, and when something happens they blame everyone but themselves. "Little Billy would never shoot someone with a shotgun, he's a good boy!" And so they blame videogames, no one cares about the simple fact that Billy's parents had a shotgun in the house where he could easily grasp it. Even the original poster said that many parents don't even know what the ESRB is. And because of that they think that all games are super violent, not that the Videogame industry has a full rating system which is strictly enforced at stores (Don't listen to those undercover news reports where they ask a kid to go and buy GTA, they usually only target either a large chain that has a small video game section or a small chain of stores that doesn't even give a crap about ratings) So, basic summary: If you want to go blame video games, first blame the parents or friends that he/she is with, they have a lot more effect on a kid rather than some 128 pixel gameplay set in a sci-fi world
some kids are evil and even if they didn't play video games they would still be evil and blow things up and burn stuff and rob stuff and mess there life up with drugs. Video games dont do nothin except give the evil kids ideas what to do next.
I HAVE to agree with this statement... ive played video games all my life, very extreme ERSB ratings ... i was playing M when i was 8 and 9... but I had a good up bringing also... The game itself never influenced my mood what so ever... sure it made me mad from time to time but what normal/sane person doesnt get aggrivated at games from time to time... But if anything I believe that the "violent" games actually helped me to calm my serious temper and help me to stay out of trouble... If i had a bad day... i would cut on my n64... or playstation and shoot ---- up... instead of going of and fighting some one... i would pop in tekken or somthing to take my mind off the situtation.. or just take all my anger out on the game... then i was happy... but i dont think the video games have anything to do with the violence in the younger age groups today... A child by the age of 7 or 8 atleast should know the difference from right and wrong... they should know its wrong to blurt out profanities,write graphitti, start fights for no apperent reason, You get the idea... i dont think its the games fault at all... if the kid lives in a good house hold or cumminty chances are he/she wont be affected nearly at all... but say a kid who is verbaly abused my picked on all the time or happens to live in a bad neighborhood is definatly going to have a violent streak... now... this is rediculous to blame to gaming franchise... thats my 2 cents
It all depends on the kids attitude and how far they take it. As i said before children have wild imagainations and the crime cant be just put onto the games alone. They have to take responsibility for there own decline and crimes. As someone said games are jsut a break away from reality and if i kid decides to make it into that then they have a serious problem.
Wow, I'm glad that this topic has sparked so much discussion. Maybe I'll start posting more topics like this. Thanks for all the great responses so far....
i say, Its nothing to do with video games, Nor is it the parents fault, They dont know who there kids hang around with once they leave the house, Underage crime is a stupid law, they should be treated like adults regardless of there age and be inprisioned or Have there belonging taken (Not there parents) I Know alot of kids that hardly Play game yet are stupid and act violently, mostly chav's and a few Skaters (Prob only like that here since the main groups are Chav Skaters and Norms) The main reason is not the Parents (Could be though) The Games but just that things arent Disaplined enough (In School, Policing, Otherstuff), If you catch a kid kicking in your fence, u chase, and then what? when u catch, u can only call police, You cant hurt them, Infact, you could even get in trouble for catching them in some places, So kids feel pretty much Above the law now... Remember thats comming from a 14 year old.....
