[God luvs America]

bump

[hinckley buzzard]

Research data going back decades before videogames explored the effects on children's behavior of watching aggressive behavior by a model. It makes good sense to expect that practising aggressive behavior without being held acccountable for it, indeed finding it intrinsically rewarding, would tend to generalize to other circumstances.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Seems somewhat similar to the theory of “Violentization” by Criminologist Lonnie Athens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Athens

Except by proxy.

[FreeReign]

Screw the video games BS. These quack psychiatrists looking for a reason why this happened need to look in the mirror. What prescribed psychotropic medications was Lanza taking?

[Caipirabob]

Negative effects of living life sans Judeo-Christian morality and faith has devastating effect sooner than later. Listening to the psychologists who think “gay” is not a mental disorder makes it worse faster.

[bravo whiskey]

let’s not confuse first-person-shooter video games with computer strategy (from squad level through corps level)wargames. but the clips instead of magazines crowd won’t understan the distinction anyway.

[Paladin2]

Long (wingspan) Tern:

[Darren McCarty]

I played the ‘evil’ games of Wolfenstein, Doom, and Mortal Kombat back in the day and never had the urge to shoot anything but the computer when it crashed.

[seacapn]

I don’t think it has much of an effect, and here’s why - the Japanese play video games every bit as violent as anywhere else in the world, but their murder rate these days is minuscule. If video games caused violence, how could that possibly be the case?

[Travis McGee]

[RetiredTexasVet]

My observation about most of the recent shooters is that they all display characteristics of anti-social attitude and behavior, depression, immaturity, narcissism, detachment from reality, escapism, and other attributes of stunted mental and emotional growth. Also, look at the ages ... all seem to be in the 20 - 30 age group. Not from poor households, but middle class or better. Additionally, my guess, from Blue states and probably from Obama voter families.

[RetiredTexasVet]

My observation about most of the recent shooters is that they all display characteristics of anti-social attitude and behavior, depression, immaturity, narcissism, detachment from reality, escapism, and other attributes of stunted mental and emotional growth. Also, look at the ages ... all seem to be in the 20 - 30 age group. Not from poor households, but middle class or better. Additionally, my guess, from Blue states and probably from Obama voter families.

[exDemMom]

I don’t buy it at all. When people commit violent acts, it isn’t because of video games. It’s because something isn’t right in their heads.

If video games could cause people to become violent, then we should be suffering an epidemic of violence, with roving gangs armed to the teeth, wandering the countryside and shooting anyone they see. World of Warcraft, with millions of players, is based on what can only be called extreme anti-social behavior. Quests often involve killing and removing items from the corpses; the “dungeons” are designed around a group of players who go into the cave homes of the non-player characters, kill them, and steal all their belongings. Etc. I haven’t seen any evidence that people playing World of Warcraft or other games are any more prone to violent criminality than anyone else.

There have always been attempts to equate violent entertainment with causing violent behavior. I think that’s because people want simple answers to complex problems: it’s easier to control an external factor than it is to study a problem and determine why it is actually happening.