Posted on 12/17/2012 9:12:44 PM PST by WilliamIII
Shareholders of Call of Duty video game maker Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and other video game makers are nervous Monday related to fears about a potential backlash from Friday's horrible Sandy Hook school shootings, which left 26 dead, including 20 children.
There have been reports from the Hartford Courant that alleged gunman Adam Lanza played "violent video game in which life-like characters engage in graphic battle scenes."
(Excerpt) Read more at streetinsider.com ...
I have every Call Of Duty series and Halo 4..never wanted to kill anyone. Liberals just can’t help themselves..I haven’t heard ONE lib blame the KILLER..nah can’t blame him, have to blame video games, guns, anything else except the KILLER..the video game didn’t shoot anyone and the gun didn’t go off by itself
I have every Call Of Duty series and Halo 4..never wanted to kill anyone.
Right, because you’re not psychotic. But to say categorically that these games can’t trigger aggression in psychotics doesn’t jibe with common sense.
“My point is pretty simple and straightforward, and that is blaming video games as a root cause for the actions of individuals is an unrealistic exercise. “
I’m not suggesting they be banned. However an effort needs to be made to shield susceptible people from them.
Anything might trigger violence in psychotic people.
Blaming games is foolish.
I did the exact thing last night. ToysRUs had buy two 59.00 games, get 50.00 off. I got the new Black Ops game for 9.99 :)
You cannot blame video games entirely, but I can tell you, they do have a stimulating effect on those who have mental illnesses.
I for one, can attest to this. I have 2 adopted boys who came from a very bad background prior to adoption (abuse, neglect, violence) The birth family has a history of bi-polar, schizophrenia, etc. One of my sons has also been diagnosed with post traumatic stress from his abusive background and manic depression.schizophrenia.
30 days ago, he went crazy in the home and attacked the whole family. He currently is in a mental health hospital.
What drove him to go crazy in the house was that he was told he could not play video games. I took them away from him because I saw how aggressive he becomes after paying video games, even sports type games.
When you have a child on anti-depressant drugs, there is an effect with the additional stimuli of video games.
Video games have been around a long time, and although the quality of the graphics has improved significantly over the years, we're still talking about "fake" reality that is easily understood by even children, and I don't buy any argument that a "disturbed mind" may simply be driven by said games into a murderous rage, or even become detached to the point that it makes such urges more likely. At this point in video game technology, the realism is still not there. That brings me back to my previous question:
Let's go back to my belief that Hollywood garbage is much more influential to a “disturbed mind”, as you put it. Why not start at that level? Movies are many more levels above video games as far as realism is concerned. That would be a logical place to start, wouldn't you think?
Blaming games is foolish.
Really? The latest news outlet to report that this mentally disturbed guy watched a LOT of violent video games, is the LA Times, tonight: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shooter-profile-20121218,0,7751800.story
Now, his killing spree at the elementary school was like a real-life violent video game. To rule out, categorically , any connection between the two — THAT’S foolish.
Efforts have been made to shield minors from violent video games, but with what criteria can you define a person as “susceptible”? Susceptible to what?
Again, I do not see a cause and effect connection between a person who snaps and video games.
Watched video games, or played video games? Kind of a loose statement there.
Establishing a connection without providing a factual basis to back that connection is idle speculation with nothing to stand on.
Again, violent movies coming out of Hollywood are much more likely to influence such an individual, IMO, due to the realism factor. Why has that not been pointed at as a possible “connection”?
You probably do not live with someone who has a mental illness, someone who already has a skewed perception of reality.
Violent video games DO have an effect on these people. Of course, it is our parental responsibility to intercede in these instances.
my other son, when told he would be limited in his xbox play time, got very aggressive and took the xbox system and ran out of the house with it.
It becomes their comfortability factor and gives them a sense of false reality and almost an addiction.
They become conditioned to violence with some games..
Given that, not all people are identical, of course, and neither do people all react the same way to the same stimuli.
Once again, the realistic depictions of violence in movies are much more of a likely culprit than video games, wouldn't you think?
Again, I do not see a cause and effect connection between a person who snaps and video games.
Let’s see, he spent his time watching video games in which he was shooting up masses of people with high-powered weaponry. Then he goes out and does the same thing in real life. I think it’s much more unrealistic to insist there’s no connection, than to suggest there might be one.
And other killers (maybe him too?) no doubt watched a lot of movies, watched a lot of porn, watched a lot of sports, watched a lot of news/politics...
You can’t make a case for cause and effect based on that.
But really the point is that a nutcase can start killing because of song lyrics, books, his neighbour’s dog or any other insane reason. We can’t put the blame on whatever hobby/interests the killers have and start trying to adjust society to fit crazy people.
If you want to blame anything medication seems a more likely culprit. Asperger’s doesn’t need medicine.
Take away a toy of any type from most young people, mentally ill or not, and you will get a negative reaction.
Becoming conditioned to violence due to the content of the games I say is unrealistic as even my mentally ill brother could understand the difference between a video game and reality.
But, again, different people can react to stimuli in different ways. Allowing my brother to watch a movie like Natural Born Killers would be a very bad thing, and we knew better.
I think both have an affect. However, movies are not as much of an addiction for kids as video games.
I am not blaming video games, just like I dont blame guns. It is definitely “the person”
I am just telling you that I have one son who currently is facing “assault” charges and is at this time in a mental health hospital.
The trigger for him was getting upset after being told he could not play his video games which he was becoming addicted to. Didnt want to do anything else. I had 7 police cars, ambulance, etc. at the house for the incident.
The average person may not react this way, but my 2 adopted kids both have mental health issues and they are affected in a much different way to video stimulus.
It feels like 1968 redux!
After the killing of Bobby Kennedy blame was placed on TV shows, comic books, pulp fiction, movies, toy guns.
Toy guns disappeared for a while.
Pulp fiction cleaned up their covers.
TV shows dumbed down their shows to kiddie shows.
Comic books got rid of their heavy dramas.
But Movies? They said they would police themselves with a rating system. G M R X!
Hot D*mn boys, the Hays Code is dead! Produce ‘em if you got ‘em! Mark them R and market them to preteens!
And the most vile sex and blood drenched films oozed out of Hollywood.
I think both have an affect. However, movies are not as much of an addiction for kids as video games.
I am not blaming video games, just like I dont blame guns. It is definitely “the person”
I am just telling you that I have one son who currently is facing “assault” charges and is at this time in a mental health hospital.
The trigger for him was getting upset after being told he could not play his video games which he was becoming addicted to. Didnt want to do anything else. I had 7 police cars, ambulance, etc. at the house for the incident.
The average person may not react this way, but my 2 adopted kids both have mental health issues and they are affected in a much different way to video stimulus.
And do you know what movies he watched? Violent TV shows? What other possible stimuli could have affected his perception of reality?
There are a lot of possible factors, yet to cherry pick video games as the “obvious” culprit is absurd, IMO.
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