Violent games "good for kids"

vnunet.com ^ | 27 Sept. 2002 | Nick Farrell

[sparkydragon]

Academics defend children's right to play video game nasties

A group of academics is urging a US appeals court to strike down a law restricting children's access to violent video games. The 33 scholars, from institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of London, have described the law as misguided.

"Most studies and experiments on video games containing violent content have not found adverse effects," a brief lodged with the court said.

"Researchers who do report positive results have generally relied on small statistical differences and used dubious 'proxies' for aggression, such as recognising 'aggressive words' on a computer screen.

"Experts on childhood and adolescence have long recognised the importance of violent fantasy play in overcoming anxieties, processing anger and providing outlets for aggression."

The brief follows a decision by a federal court in Missouri to uphold an ordinance requiring parental consent for minors to purchase video games depicting graphic violence.

[sparkydragon]

ping

[Billthedrill]

Well, violent video games haven't affected me any, and I'll spray the brains of anyone who says otherwise on yonder wall with my BFG9000...

[finnman69]

Playing Counter Strike does not make people kill others.

[LS]

Hahah. As a born-again, Spirit-Filled Christian who grew up listening to Led Zepplin (whom I still like), I have always thought these kinds of links were vastly overstated.

One thing they have proven: kids who play video games of all types are more likely to be better surgeons and pilots than those who don't due to the familiarity with operating in different spatial dimensions.

[HIDEK6]

Yeah, OK. But what about dodge ball?

[That Subliminal Kid]

Ever heard of Urban Terror? It's a TC for Quake 3. www.urbanterror.net. I haven't played regular quake once since I downloaded it.

[Billthedrill]

Well, the nature of most of the anti-videogame campaigns is strictly post hoc ergo propter hoc, that is, Serial Killer X played video game Y as a kid and look how he turned out. Just because I played Doom a few years ago and turned out to be a rabid, gun-toting rightwinger with an antisocial attitude and a sexual fetish for pool toys, doesn't mean that everyone who does so will become a rabid, gun-toting rightwinger with an antisocial attitude and a sexual fetish for pool toys. That happy outcome is restricted to the lucky few.

[Bella_Bru]

I love Grand Theft Auto 3, yet I have never felt the urge to actully hit someone with a baseball bat and steal their car.

[Dimensio]

In other news, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City will be out just in time for Christmas!

[WyldKard]

It's Captain Obvious to the rescue!!

I know one thing...I come home from work, filled with rage after yet another crummy day, and nothing channels out that agression faster than a game of UT2K3. I actually seem to play better when I'm wound up, easily hit the number one slot after a particular bad day last week *heh*

And you know what, I can be a mean, sadistic bastard in GTA3, but there is NO WAY IN HELL, this game make me think this sort of behavior is proper in real life.

Banning video games is yet another example of the Socialist-Liberal "Blame everything except for your own actions" mindset.

[sparkydragon]

Actually, when I play UT2K3 I'm too busy looking at all the prettiness to care about agression any more.

---

"Freedom is not the natural state of man, merely the perfect one."

[sparkydragon]

I'm not sure you reassure me. :-)

---

Freedom is not the natural state of man, merely the perfect one."

[gcruse]

Banning video games is yet another example of the Socialist-Liberal
"Blame everything except for your own actions" mindset.

Uhmm, no.  Banning things because they might
lead someone to do something bad comes from
your starboard-side, politically.  If refer you
to the WOsD,  attempts to censor music
lyrics, voting towns dry, etc etc.

[joebuck]

For those first person shooter fans out there, you have to try out Battlefield 1942. There's no real gore and the violence is pretty minimal war violence type stuff. But this game is addicting as all get out. It's a multiplayer game where you get dropped into the middle of one of the big battles of WWII. Everyone playing is either on the Axis or Allied side. A good game will have at least 10 players on each side. You pick a weapon and fight the battle with your comrades. The battlefield is littered with tanks, APC's, fighter planes, B-17's and all kinds of war vehicles. You can enter any vehicle and drive it, fly it or in the case of artillary, just shoot it. For those who like the navy, you can Captian an aircraft carrier or Battleship in the Island scenarios like Midway or Wake Island. But watch out for some sneaky player flying a Zero to drop a torpedo bomb at you.

The graphics are great, especially the terrain of the immense outdoor landscapes you play on. You do need a pretty powerful computer to play this though, and I also wouldn't want to play on anything other than a broadband internet connection. It is a great game, best shooter since Halflife.

[hchutch]

I agree.

It's just a video game, just as it's just music. There's worse things to deal with, IMHO.

[HamiltonJay]

Sorry guys first person shooters do indeed have psychological impact... just look at the studies the armies did back in the 30s and 40s... the more lifelike the targets they used for training were the less likely in combat it was that the soldier would hesitate to kill. I don't want my 8 year old indoctrinated into involuntary shooting. If he is ever faced in his life where he must kill, I want him to have the moral ability to do distinguish what he is doing before he does it.. not merely react as though it was a game of doom, and have to deal with the consequences later.

[Tiemieshooz]

If you like that game, you gotta play Flash Point. That is the most realistic war game I ever played. It has a 9.6 rating out of 10.

[goodieD]

I agree with the researchers here...if you play a violent fantasy "game", you will get your aggressions out in a way that isn't hurting anyone. And before someone brings up the youths who played "bad" video and then shot up schools, we must also remember that these kids were already screwed up on legalized drugs. The games neither caused nor furthered their dementia.