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Original post by TheOddMan *Phew* slightly longer than expected. On a closing note: How come no-one ever moaned about Fallout 2? A game full of swearing, stealing, killing, gambling, sex and not-very-nice-people? Strange that.

You forgot the part about blowing people, creatures and mutants into unrecognizable chunks with fully automatic weapons, that was always my favorite part, I still have yet to feel the urge to actually do it though. :)

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Original post by TheOddMan I always argue that violence in real life causes violence in video games.

So true. Are fat people eat alot because they are fat, or are they fat because they eat alot?

As good as escaping reality might sound to some people, most people these days can't take that measure. Especially the youth.

I have heard of people on the news drive down a highway and start pulling out guns to shoot others driving by. When did this happen? Shortly after the release of San Andreas. In fact, a lot of this happened. A lot of young criminals who were caught also showed to have a large collection of violent videogames.

I've played Grand Theft Auto, sure, it's kind of fun. I never play the storyline mode, I just drive around stealing cars and crashing into stuff for fun. I'm mature and I'd never let that warp my mind, but, many people aren't that mature. Just like rap music, it has a bad effect on a lot of people while others are mature enough to handle it in a positive way.

I hate GTA, myself. I hate all games like that. I honestly hope they are taken off the market.

Edit: About the learning thing. Many gamers gain their smarts from videogames, it's a true fact. Playing games actually increases your coordination, brain processing, health to some benefit (although too much can harm you), vocubulary, and other things. I learned how to play games before I learned to talk and I have extremely good dexterity and coordination as well as a significant imagination. Also, there was an experiment where researchers took real surgeons and a handfull of people who played videogames a lot and sat them down to a game similar to Operation. The ones who played videogames did 10x better than the actual surgeons because of their improved coordination. This doesn't talk about knowledge as much as physical skill but it also effects how people think, believe it or not.

Its not games.

Bad parents produce bad kids.

Then when something goes wrong the parents blame games, movies or whatever other excuse they can find.

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Original post by Cacks Its not games. Bad parents produce bad kids. Then when something goes wrong the parents blame games, movies or whatever other excuse they can find.

That's true to an extent, but games do it too. It's been studied and proved countless times. Not as much as bad relatives, maybe, but it still has an effect.

LOL,

parents should ensure that their children are not playing these violent games. It is their responcibilty. There are age restrictions on the games for a reason.

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Original post by Cacks LOL, parents should ensure that their children are not playing these violent games. It is their responcibilty.

That's correct too. However, these are not 10 year olds going out shooting people. These are 16 year olds and 18 year olds and people around that age. Do you really think a parent can control someone of that age to not play videogames like that?

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Original post by azoundria I always laugh at games like Grand Theft Auto. What do they teach you? You can go around being miserable to everyone around you, bashing signs, cars, off-roading, shooting cops, looting people, and you'll still get away with it! Why should a game teach this? How could this possibly benefit our society? If people want to be all powerful go stomp on ants!

There are loads of other games which "teach" bad things:
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit "teaches" you to break civil speed limits on public roads.
- Playboy Mansion "teaches" you how to "exploit" consenting women in order to turn a profit.
- DopeWars "teaches" you how to traffic illicit substances for profit.

How do these games benefit society? They don't necessarily. But a game does not break speed limits; drivers do. A game does not produce porn magazines; people do. A game does not traffic cocaine; people do.

When presented with opportunity, it's our morality which makes the decisions. Games are simply an outlet for entertainment. Do you think people went on gun-slinging vendettas after watching Rambo, Charles Bronson movies, Pulp Fiction, or Kill Bill? Not likely. Not to mention, more viewers are exposed to these movies than gamers are exposed to the games I mentioned above.

Their parents should have brought them up better before they reached that age.

Eg person A & person B- exactly the same at birth.

Person A was brought up with caring parents with common sense.
Person B was brought up by alchoholics.

By the time they are 14:
Person A is doing well, no problems.
Person B is a disaster.

Person B goes onto shoot 90 people. The police ask his parents, they don't want to admit they were terrible parents so they blame it on the playstation that Person B stole & had GTA with it.

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Original post by Cacks Their parents should have brought them up better before they reached that age. Eg person A & person B- exactly the same at birth. Person A was brought up with caring parents with common sense. Person B was brought up by alchoholics. By the time they are 14: Person A is doing well, no problems. Person B is a disaster. Person B goes onto shoot 90 people. The police ask his parents, they don't want to admit they were terrible parents so they blame it on the playstation that Person B stole & had GTA with it.

You had good points in your last two posts, you don't now. I think that's a very poor example. Of course, someone brought up my alcoholics may have a hard life but that's not always the case. If these children go to school, school can have a great effect on them as well. Everything has an effect, media has a huge effect. Media runs by trends most of the time. I'd go on a huge rant about what things are like here and in other places regarding media but I'm going to hold that option.

Of course, it's the immaturity of people who do these things like MatrixCubed said. He had a few great points. But, things INFLUENCE this immaturity.