Video games and guns....poll

[Topgun]

Locally, we just had a Columbine style school attack planned for today. It sounded half-assed and dimly thought out, but the intent was to set off bombs (?) in the cafeteria and shoot black students as they ran out. Then the plan was for the perps to kill themselves.

Video games were mentioned peripherally in the text of the article and I am curious.

Do you think video games with shooting of people are OK for kids? The "kids" in the local plot were late teens.

I think I would rather give a kid a .22 than one of those games.

I think it would be interesting to see other opinions on the games where killing is the object.

I have seen my grandkids playing video games and watched them "zone out" on just about any of them.

 

[boofus]

It depends on the game. Stuff like Grand Theft Auto or Hitman that lets you play the part of a criminal where you victimize other innocents should be given to kids that know the difference between fantasy and reality, right and wrong. As long as they know that behavior isn't acceptable outside of the video screen it shouldn't be a problem.

Something like Rainbow Six where you play the part of a counterterrorist operator really shouldn't cause any problems, unless the juvenile sicko is running around shooting the hostages instead of the tangos.

'Zoning out' is the intended purpose of lots of different forms of entertainment media. If you couldn't zone out during a movie you'd never be able to enjoy it because you simply would not believe any of the story. The problem is when people forget to zone back in after the movie, game, book or whatever is over.

 

[Blain]

Video games introduced me to and got me interested in guns. No one else in my family or extended family owned or was into guns in anyway.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Do you let your kids go see rated "R" movies ? Should kids be allowed into bars ? Should children be given scissors and told to "run" ? Exactly ! There are only guidlelines for parents and ratings systems clearly marked on the game. Even the most stringent of rules and or regulations can never replace good parenting skills. Everything else is just an excuse. I actually got in trouble with my sis' one christmas because I bought my nephew the game "Wolfenstien" for PC and loaded it to his computer for him. If you've seen the game it's killing nazi zombies and blowin' stuff up etc. etc. As sister was rippin' me a new hindend, little Will said to his mom, " I don't know why your so mad at Uncle "C" Mom, it's just a GAME ! That got me off the hook somewhat. He already displays above average maturity level for a 6yo. He has his own "crickett" .22lr and shoots damn near anything you'll allow him to try. He knows the four rules by heart and can easily distinguish right from wrong on a juvenile level.

 

[Kobun]

Bringing up kids isn't an eighter or thing.
Kids can have much fun with videogames, but they should also have a normal relationship with their parents.
Normal meaning getting a proper upbringing and parents caring about their behaviour.
Too many kids are left to run their own lives and to fend for themselves.

Kids that learn the basic difference between right and wrong are those you can trust to handle themselves even when alone.

 

[jamz]

There are two "right" answers on that poll.

Video games can "blur" reality for some kids. These kids would also be blurred by TV, moves, and books.

Video Games are beneficial to Kids. I voted on this one, becasue I see it as "more correct", as they can lead to advanced problem solving, hand eye coordination, enhanced short and long term memory, etc.

My boy plays video games a lot- mostly car racing games. (He's 4). When we are in a real car though, he often tells me to "slow down and drive safe". Even 4 year olds can grasp the big difference between real life and what they do with a joystick or keyboard.

-James

 

[PawDaddy]

I voted for the "blur" answer. But, I do not think that it only applies to kids. Some adults also get blurred as well.

I also agree that SOME video games CAN be good for kids, or people in general. But only if they do not become so engulfed in them that they spend too much time playing. People need a balanced life and should not spend all their time on any one hobby or activity.

I think that the question should have been worded differently so as to include adults too. Listen folks, if something is not good for children, then it is probably not good for anyone. Someone mentioned the Grand Theft Auto game as being bad for kids. Please, someone tell me what benefit would this garbage have for ANYONE?

I am really not sure that any of the "killing" games benefit anyone. (I am not talking about hunting games, but games in which people are killed.) They may offer some benefit as training tools, but not just for entertainment.

 

[ctdonath]

Can someone name ONE game which resembles the scenario which prompted this question?

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

GTAIII does have missions in which you are told to "go kill the haitians" and "do a drive by on the gang members" . It's a pretty twisted game and I wouldn't allow anyone in my household under 17 play it.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

videogames and their connection to crime are just another tool for the media to use to make teenage males who aren't dumb jocks look like evil homicidal serial killers.

there is no tangible connection between videogames and crime in non mentally ill people.

 

[RLadd21]

Blaming video games on people's behavior is absolutely insane. I say this because I grew up playing lots of the same games that are talked about. Video games have ratings just like movies do and these kids are much more a product on the time and effort their parents put into raising them (or not raising them as the case may be) than from the moral and value system from a video game. This is just another example that people can't take responsibility for theirselves and look for someone or something to blame everything on nowdays.

 

[grnzbra]

non mentally ill people.

Ah, well, there's the meat of the problem. Perhaps the bar has been set too high (too low) and excludes people who should be included in this group.

If it's not the video games and not the popular lyrics and not the movies and not the television and not the ... and not the ... and not the ..., well, it must be the guns.

 

[Ktulu]

All the kids (good and bad) play video games these days. I'm not so sure that the bad ones can be blamed on the video games or even that it pushed them over the edge.

It's the same old crutch. I as a parent I couldn't possibly be responsible for my child actions. It must have been the video games or Janet Jackson's boob. Video games and TV's are easy babysitters. It's easier to blame the content providers then it is to take the pacifier away from the kid.

 

[Justin]

If it's not the video games and not the popular lyrics and not the movies and not the television and not the ... and not the ... and not the ..., well, it must be the guns.

My vote for the guilty party doesn't rest with the games they play, music they listen to, movies they watch, or the weapons they use.

Nope. My vote goes to the perpetrator of the crime. No video game pulled a trigger, no gun jumped out of its case, loaded itself and gunned people down. For that to happen you have to have a person.

It's the person, not what they choose to entertain themselves with, that causes crimes like this.

As to people who claim that kids can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy, I might suggest that age may have blurred their perception of childhood.

Sure, kids play fantasy games, but even as a child when we played army in the backyard we knew it was a game.

Same goes for video games and movies.

It seems to me that it would be a truly dim-witted child that couldn't tell the difference between animated polygons projected on a cathode-ray tube and the real world.

 

[ny32182]

I can go for some "Grand Theft Auto/Vice City" any time.

That doesn't mean I'm going to climb a 6 story building with a Bushmaster and start picking off passing joggers and automobiles like you can in the game.

People that are insane enough to kill people "because of a video game" are just insane. If they didn't get the idea from a game, they would have got it from somewhere else.

Can't blame the game.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

For the record, I have played (and in some cases still play) all of the Grand Theft Auto games and find nothing wrong with them. It is obviously a fantasy/fictional scenerio of becoming the top BG in town by wiping out your competition, bribing and/or killing the police and having "sex" with hookers to restore your health (which has to be ironic given the sexually transmitted diseases going around).

Is it a good idea to have your pre-teen playing this game? Probably not. But IMO, letting them watch Rosanne is much worse. By the time a kid reaches mid-teens, however, they know that random killing, drug smuggling, running from the police and stealing cars are bad activities based on both moral and legal reasons. This is just an extension of playing cowboys & indians, cops & robbers or soldier.

The graphic violence of these games is lame compared to what is shown on broadcast TV.

This entire topic is nothing more than another excuse used by parents and the media to place blame when a minor gets into trouble with the law. They seek to blame anything and everything in an attempt to hide the poor job they did of raising their children.

It's always violent video games, violent movies, the abundance of drugs, the lack of "reasonable" gun control, school overcrowding, poverty, Rap/Rock music, gang influence, race prejudice, the lack of government sponsored after school activities, police brutality, CIA plots to inject drugs/aids into the minorities, lack of free health care, the invasion of Iraq, etc. etc. etc. Everything but the parents and the kid.

 

[Moparmike]

I personally think that very violent video games are inappropriate for kids as a general rule. But this decision is up to one group: That particular child's parents. No government should be making this decision for them.

 

[HankB]

When I was a kid, we didn't have video games, but we had LOTS of realistic-looking guns. In fact, we didn't always play "cops and robbers", we just played "guns."

And though I knew we had real guns, it never occured to me to take a REAL gun and do something evil with it. Toys were for play, guns were for real, and I never confused the two.

The only way a violent video game will influence a kid to do harm is if he's half a bubble off plumb already . . . in which case, if it isn't the video game that sets him off, it will be a TV show, a movie, a comic book, an annoying sibling, the ringing of the school bell, or something else. Let's face it, some people are just plain crazy, and it's ridiculous to impose restrictions on EVERYONE (such as banning non-PC video games) because of the lowest denominator.

 

[stv]

If I were a teacher, I'd apply for a CCW with that as my "good cause" statement, and they'd HAVE to give it to me.

 

[Nightfall]

Someone mentioned the Grand Theft Auto game as being bad for kids. Please, someone tell me what benefit would this garbage have for ANYONE?

Benefit? It's insanely fun! Racing through the streets on a dirt bike on your way to the local Ammu-Nation to pick up an MP5, before you mow down a Haitian gang is just bliss. Personally, I find it to be a great way to chill. It's absurd and not realistic at all, so it's like relaxing with a violent, but hilarious cartoon.

Of course, this is the perspective of a mature adult. It's not a game for kids, to be sure. If parents did their job, nobody would give this any more thought than the latest action flick from Hollywood.

 

[Mizzoutiger]

All kids should be taught the Confucian values of filial piety.

That'll take care of a bunch of our societal issues.

 

[Balog]

Forget video games, what about books?

First time I saw a naked woman = a book on Jack the Ripper. Also the first time I remember seeing a disembowled corpse.
First graphic sexual knowledge I gained = the book Neuromancer by William Gibson.

These games are no different than books, tv, or movies. If it would have a negative impact on your kid don't let 'em see it. It's all about parenting.

 

[grnzbra]

My vote goes to the perpetrator of the crime

We'll have none of that now. You want people to take responsibility for their actions? You really are a horrible person aren't you? Don't you know it takes a village? And that it's all the fault of the vast right wing conspriacy and George Bush and his brother, Jeb, who helped him steal the election? And the religeous right and the NRA and the guns? It can't be anything else because then you're goring the ox of one of my constituants! The Republicans have been dividing the country for so long that we must unify the people by eliminiating anyone to the right of Ted Kennedy. But, for now, we may tolerate hunters as long as the toe the party line.

 

[PawDaddy]

A friend told me a true story about a man who robbed a bank. When the guy was asked how he could have done something like this, he said that he had robbed the bank a thousand times in his mind.

A person may not be what they think they are, but they are what they think!

I am tired of all the ratings baloney. What does age have to do with morality? Shouldn't adults stay away from immoral things as well as children? God says so!

What kind of example is a parent setting by not letting their child watch, listen to, or play something that they themselves watch, listen to, or play?

 

[Balog]

PawDaddy: it's not that the things are mala in se. It's just that some things are not appropriate for all ages. For example, I read a lot of historical books about war. Some things in these books (graphic pictures or descriptions of death) are not good for kids to see/read. But they are not immoral.