Are Video Games Killing Our Kids?

[frodo82801]

I'm listening to Truth Talk Live. The topic is video games and how they harm kids. The guest was a game designer and former police officer.

http://truthtalklive.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/how-can-we-avoid-the-darkside-of-video-games/

I read a report at least 10 years ago on the effect of video games. In real life combat training for cops an soldiers, they have to train away the natural instinct to kill another human being. The author of the report stated that the video games reward the player in the same way that soldiers and cops get in their training. Interesting.

[RememberTheName]

As a regular player of games pretty much my entire life, I could NEVER feel 'right' about taking another person's life, regardless of whether or not they're my 'enemy' or not.

I also grew up in Church. My grandfather is a pastor and my mother and father made sure I was disciplined properly when I misbehaved. I think THAT'S where the problem lies. Most parents these days are afraid to properly discipline their kids when they do something wrong. I'll tell you now that my kids will be getting spankings when they misbehave on a high level, simple as that.

Now that I'm twenty, games are simply a way for me to have fun with my friends. I see it like this: I have no intent to kill any of my friends and none of the 'people' in games have a soul nor can they freely make decisions like a human being can. Other players in a multiplayer game simply get right back up after 'dying' and can 'kill' me just as easily as I 'kill' them. Considering that video games will ALWAYS look and feel MUCH less than real life, I think it's safe to say that it just takes proper parenting to ensure that our children aren't subjected to things we don't want them to be, and if they are we should teach them what is right and wrong.

I work at Gamestop part time, and I'm constantly giving advice to parents on games for their children. While I haven't played every game out there, I can tell you that the ESRB ratings are the truth, regardless of what anyone else will tell you. I have NEVER suggested an M rated game to a parent asking for a gift for a young child, and I check the ID of all people that look below 25 to make sure they're older than the rating suggests.

[frodo82801]

As a regular player of games pretty much my entire life, I could NEVER feel 'right' about taking another person's life, regardless of whether or not they're my 'enemy' or not.

I also grew up in Church. My grandfather is a pastor and my mother and father made sure I was disciplined properly when I misbehaved. I think THAT'S where the problem lies. Most parents these days are afraid to properly discipline their kids when they do something wrong. I'll tell you now that my kids will be getting spankings when they misbehave on a high level, simple as that.

Now that I'm twenty, games are simply a way for me to have fun with my friends. I see it like this: I have no intent to kill any of my friends and none of the 'people' in games have a soul nor can they freely make decisions like a human being can. Other players in a multiplayer game simply get right back up after 'dying' and can 'kill' me just as easily as I 'kill' them. Considering that video games will ALWAYS look and feel MUCH less than real life, I think it's safe to say that it just takes proper parenting to ensure that our children aren't subjected to things we don't want them to be, and if they are we should teach them what is right and wrong.

I work at Gamestop part time, and I'm constantly giving advice to parents on games for their children. While I haven't played every game out there, I can tell you that the ESRB ratings are the truth, regardless of what anyone else will tell you. I have NEVER suggested an M rated game to a parent asking for a gift for a young child, and I check the ID of all people that look below 25 to make sure they're older than the rating suggests.

For those who don't concern themselves with the content of video games, what's the risk? The man being interviewed last night said that in his opinion, the violence, porn, and other stuff in video games eats away your Christianity.

[Chuck Taylorz]

...well I Don't Know..
if in a game I'm suppose to have sum1 murked or killed to progress..i get it over and down with, without too much thought into it.

it's A Game and i can separate it from reality and I'm in control so it does not bother me at all!!

[kc5ift458]

I think that some games or just fine. I play simple games on my computer. I do believe that parents should watch and see what games children play. Just as I feel that if you have children the computer should be in a public place. Are the parents should be able to check the computers of there children. i don't have children but thats what i would do.

[RememberTheName]

For those who don't concern themselves with the content of video games, what's the risk? The man being interviewed last night said that in his opinion, the violence, porn, and other stuff in video games eats away your Christianity.


Many games ARE violent. Some games, like the grand theft auto series, make random violence their staple. Others, like Gears of War, are more into it for the 'realism'. Still other games, like the Halo series, aren't nearly as bad (little to no blood, etc.) but still involve shooting others.

Many games have a very perverted view on female characters. Many development studios are strictly men, so most of these men agree that they'd rather see an attractive woman with large 'assets'. Others, like vALVE, see women as any other character. Take their latest game 'Portal' for example. The main character is a decidedly average looking woman with average features; a rarity. Others like the GTA series I mentioned earlier degrade women in just about every way imaginable.

All games are going to be different. Many development studious use their creative talents to create something that's epic, much greater than a movie. Others use their freedom to put whatever they think they can get away with in a game. Bioware, the developers of the excellent 'Mass Effect' game, built it with morals in mind. You can play the game as a total jerk, or be an awesomely nice guy. There's even a section in the game where one of the characters asks you if you believe in God. The 'good' response is yes, the 'bad' response is no.

I say to anyone out there that doesn't care to see what content is in a game, you should start caring. If you feel comfortable with certain things and KNOW that none of it is real, then by all means play whatever you feel like you can handle. If you feel like you don't want certain things in the house or near the kids, pay more attention to ratings and reviews.


In summary, yes, there is a danger to kids that have parents that don't care about the ratings. But once again, therein lies the problem: It's the parents.

[frodo82801]

Teens imitate Mortal Kombat and kill 7 year old.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-20-mortalkombat-death_N.htm?csp=34

[NovaStorm]

Yeah, I heard about the Mortal Combat incident this week, pretty sad. What I recall, a girl was babysitting what I think was her little sister, and she had her boyfriend over. They roughhoused with the child until she passed out, then the babysitter put her to bed which at some point the child died. From what was said, both claimed to have been involved, but most believe that only the boy did this and that the babysitter is covering up and trying to take some of the responsibility for the injury. I know some girls are capable of roughhousing, but when it comes to out right fighting, it’s not very usual. I spent many years training martial arts, and even there it took some doing to encourage the younger girls to get involved. But the fact that the child was rather small, well I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to do serious damage.

Now could MC have been a factor in this? I would think so, this is not something new, lots of kids have died from trying to reenact the moves of their favorite pro wrestler on TV for instance. Same thing with fighting games, it encourages kids to roughhouse a little harder than they probably would. But in such cases, it’s not usually the case of the kid actually trying to inflict serious harm to another, but to reenact a fantasy and to show off to others, and in this case the boy was showing off to his girlfriend and took it too far. MC can be blamed, but so can be movies and TV just the same. I’m not trying to throw out the baby with the bathwater here, I’m saying that there are many things that can contribute to such a thing happening, thus kids should not play many of the violent video games just as they should be restricted from R rated movies. Even wrestling shows should have some common decency to moderate themselves and encourage parents to not let the kids watch such shows without guidance so that the parents can instruct their children with what they can or cant do and especially why.

What it really comes down to is a lack of discipline. Games, TV, movies, they are all about performing an action, but there is no discipline training involved. If you spend time training martial arts, discipline comes FIRST, and you are disciplined into understanding that you just don’t fly off the handle and beat up anyone you please but are to respect the laws and respect life. Every thing taught also comes with the awareness of what can happen and consequences that could befall if misused in a civil society. We spend many hours sitting quietly and visualizing what we have learnt, running over it again and again in the mind, much as happens when you watch/play a video game. They have been doing such things for thousands of years, it is a part of learning and perfecting your studies. But that is under the direction of instructors that drill you with what is right and wrong, and they watch you closely to determine if you are having issues with understanding the difference between right and wrong which could easily result in welts on the back of your legs when they smack you with the bamboo training sword OUCH!

But where were the parents of this boy? Did they not teach him that reenacting such things is not acceptable? What about the school he attended, did they teach that life is precious and violence should only be a last resort to defend oneself? Chances are the parents had no idea how to carry out disciplinary action, knew the difference between right and wrong… or cared, and the school was too evolved experimenting with social engineering while teaching that we are all worthless monkeys that learnt to walk upright and make bombs which will inevitably extinguish every insignificant life on Earth as the Godless human race goes out in a whimper allowing for the glorious existence of nature to once again take its rightful place of world domination.

So it really comes down to a number of factors. One cant blame it on a video game and expect to get off Scot free. Most of the blame comes down to poor parenting, that the parents didn’t bother to train and maintain the moral standing of their offspring. Many parents themselves have serious issues with morality and couldn’t fight their way out of a moral paper bag. Many of these parents where taught in school that we are simply monkeys that learnt to walk upright and make bombs which will inevitably extinguish every insignificant life on Earth as the Godless human race goes out in a whimper allowing for the glorious existence of nature to once again take its rightful place of world domination.

And yes, some games even go to the point of trying to teach antisocial behavior. Players are rewarded with doing wrong. Players become the mouse in the maze that runs to the cheese, learning the path to that cheese. Violence is not necessarily the reward, but to perform violence to be rewarded becomes apparent. Such as the case in point, why was this guy roughhousing in this way? Obviously he was expecting a reward from his girlfriend for being such a cool dude, but after he is tried as an adult as I heard was possibly going to happen, how cool will bubba think he is in prison?

Of course there is always the argument “well it has never effected me” but what of the other guy? What of your Children? Maybe today they seem normal, but tomorrow that may all change. That is if there is not already a change, how does one know it does not effect them if they don’t know how they might have acted if never being involved in it? One could be on death row and say “it has never effected me”, but chances are it did. Does one say, “with or without it I would be just the same“? But since one may have changed to a point already, how do you know what the alternative may have been of never indulging oneself in such thoughts to begin with? Well the guy on death row could say he was just wired that way, but this may not be the case exactly. In a fallen world we are all wired wrong, we must learn how to do right for the most part. But in the same we can learn wrong and follow that path through the maze.

Of course I can go on and on about this (last paragraph), it can apply to many things, such as the saturation of the Occult in games, or the sexual overtones in some games, all contributing to the loss of perspective as to what is right and wrong to the eyes of God. As we read the Word of God, we become conditioned by learning how we should be, but this holds true for any media that teach one thing or another, it’s conditioning that may or may not conflict with ones existing moral founding, depending on the level of contradiction one is exposed to in a given video game. Some games go far and beyond the line of moral behavior while others do not. One may desensitize the player to certain ideas while another is wholly ambivalent or even actually positive in certain matters. This of course is not a random happenstance but the game itself may teach or emphasize one aspect of behavior or another. One game may reward a player for cold blooded murder and dismemberment while another may penalize the player for such a thing if even possible in the game. It’s not by accident such things are present, it is designed by the developer to do such a thing and to reward players for doing what it was envisioned by the developer that players should be doing in their game. And of course, for many developers, they were taught that we are all worthless monkeys that learnt to walk upright and make bombs which will inevitably extinguish every insignificant life on Earth as the Godless human race goes out in a whimper allowing for the glorious existence of nature to once again take its rightful place of world domination.