Then I saw this TV ad for a video game where
some guys in an alley are ganging up on a
guy for no reason and beating him up.

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Your not taking this debate seriously.

How else can one account for increasingly hyper or nervous children ?

If its not Mad Cow disease, it must be something else in the environment.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gorf:
How else can one account for increasingly hyper or nervous children ?

If its not Mad Cow disease, it must be something else in the environment.

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There is a bit of a difference between Space Invaders (shot 'I's at the scruffy pixellated icons that represent hordes of emotionless aliens) and a game like Postal 2 (set fire to the Arab, cut his head off then piss on him).

It's not really computer games we're talking about here but entertainment in general - consider the effect Gangsta Rap has on white middle-class adolescent males - play them some Benny Goodman Orchestra and it's Happy Days! Play them Fuck tha Police and it's "skinny honkey buys a small Chinese handgun and pretends he's a black tough down a the mall".

This is on the wrong part of the VVF forum, isn't it?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Evelyn K Helicopter:
I'm not sure Gorfs hypothosis should be disregarded out of hand, as is one's gut feeling.

There is a bit of a difference between Space Invaders and a game like Postal 2 (set fire to the Arab, cut his head off then piss on him).

This is on the wrong part of the VVF forum, isn't it?

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No this is not political, so its in the right place.

But yes Emelyn, my point EZZACTLY.

I myself don't own a video game, but I played my friends SIPHON FILTER with the
electric zap controller that delivers a
jolt when you get killed.

If it did then I should be one of the UK's worst violent offenders. I've played most of the sickest and most violent games out there but I don't have a criminal record, nor have I committed any violent act except in self defence, and even then using the minimum force necessary to calm the situation.

I think the problem is down to a lack of discipline from the parents. Kids need the guiding hand that only parents can provide for them. You will find in the vast majority of cases that involve extreme violence that the perpetrator has a history of family problems. I would always look here first because acts of domestic violence and abuse towards the wife/husband or the kids themselves have a seismic effect on how they develop.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Knickerzohnonnof:
If it did then I should be one of the UK's worst violent offenders.

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This is a common answer and it's not really good enough - this is assuming the question means "video games WILL make you agro-prone" rather than "video games could make certain cretins predisposed to violence have those tendencies aggrivated by playing fucking Hitman 2 all day".

You see the difference? The feverant anti-sematic press in early 20th Century Austria didn't make EVERY Austrian lad a Nazi, but it can't have helped Gentile-Zionist relations, can it?

Anyway:

quote:

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Originally posted by Knickerzohnonnof:
I think the problem is down to a lack of discipline from the parents.

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Now that is a good point. However, this is leaning towards Nurture rather than Nature, and surely exposure to harsh FPS games comes under the former?

I personally believe that the upbringing, while vitally important, isn't the whole story - there must be some genetic predisposition to violence as well.

Saying that, this isn't really my field.

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Videogames, like music (remember Marilyn Manson and KMFDM getting blamed for Columbine?) might act as stimuli which bring these urges into the forefront - also, if the child is exposed to a lot of these situations from an early age, there's a danger of the line between reality and fiction becoming blurred. The phenomenon of being "inured to violence".

That said, there is more violence in movies and television than there are in videogames and such. Parents potentially also have a tighter control over what their kids play than what they watch, because they have to buy them in the first place.

It's also worth noting that the most violent games, like the most violent films, are usually banned from being sold to non-adults. Kids who are too young simply should not be playing them, same as you wouldn't show them a violent movie. But it's the parent's choice, ultimately.

Kids seem not only to have less of a attention span when it comes to listening
to adults, but seem to lack patience to learn and have less self-control thus leading to 'anti-social' actions like fighting, or mouthing off to teachers and adults, or fighting.

It's us who're are the guinea pig generation testing these things on ourselves. My gut instinct tells me that we probably are wiring in some deep neurological and socialogical changes into the little little skip-rats who play these things endlessly...

but the chances are, most of them will most likely just grow up (wrongly) believing it to be a good choice of career....

bastards.

Sorry.

quote:

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Originally posted by Luna:
Hold on a minute, did you mean to ask, "Do Voivod Playing Games with their Loyal Fanbase Contribute to their Anti-Social Behavior?"

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Their anti-social behaviour or ours??

Ah.. can't wait to see e-force. hope i can smuggle in me camera

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HV, there is a lot of truth in that in my opinion. One thing that has changed massively over the last 20-30 years is food production and the additives put in food. I am firmly of the belief that some of these chemicals are harmful to us - Tartrazine is a classic that was found to cause hyperactivity in children. Monosodium Glutamate has been shown in studies to increase risk of stomach cancer, yet food companies are still allowed to use these ingredients. Processed food is full of things our bodies don't need and I think that we, and especially our children are suffering as a result.

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It was banned from production until Reagan's administration said it was perfectly okay. Most people know it as "NutraSweet", which is a delightfully cynical name.

Children who are all of a sudden hyper and uncontrollable would seem to be more related to a behavioral disorder which might be caused by a classical or operant conditioning.

I mean, society has always had a certain amount of social ills, but the frequency of
ADHD in kids that either stress or an inability to cope might be caused by learned
behavior.

To the person who said" "bad parenting"
might have a point in that parents are too
tired to punish kids physically like we got 20-25 years ago.