On the Subject of Violence in Video Games

[Dannflower Reguba]

       And when the problem is the morality of an individual, you can't "fix" it, you can only provide the chance to recover. I know this is basically my last post in different wording, but I feel a reiteration is appropriate here.

[Wylder Treejumper]

Really, you can't fix mental conditions either- only contain them.

[Dannflower Reguba]

       Actually, that's not always true (well, you can't fix it, but it isn't immune to recovery [Miracles DO happen]), but I see what you're saying.

[Jetthebinturong]

It's not exactly recovery because you have to "get" something to recover from it and most mental conditions are always there (The only ones I can think of that aren't are PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and some personality disorders)

[Wylder Treejumper]

Really, the only way a mental condition leaves is on its own...

[Rusvul]

Let's just say that the root cause of all school shootings is bullying.

Rather than try to suppress shootings, wouldn't the logical thing be to direct more energy at trying to stop bullying?

Of course, that's oversimplified, and I still don't claim knowledge of the topic. But it seems logical for me.

[Dannflower Reguba]

       Because not enough effort is being put to stopping bullying as it is? A lot of effort goes into... by all the wrong people. If Bullying is going to stop, then it's the students that need to step up. Teachers, Principals, Staff, Wards, etc. can only do something if there's a known issue. We're a generation of cowards, used to hiding behind the many facades that exist today.

       So much for the subject of violence in VG's 

[Wylder Treejumper]

What, did you actually expect us to stay on topic? That's a bit much, Dan.

[SandyB]

Been reading some of these replies and some very good discussions are starting to emerge. The one about "Video Games causing mental deviancy" was a bit weird. I'm gonna go out on a limb here, gamers can tell the difference between pretend violence and violence in the real world. That's where we have some pretty strong mental barriers put up. Anyway, most of my "mental deviancy" came from the usual mediums of TV and movies!

Getting back to my original point, anyone can look up Call of Duty flaming vids on YouTube and can pretty much say "there's the proof right there. COD is a violent game ergo it's fans are violent people." Even I find those videos hard to watch and especially excruciating to listen to. Young people who are so "into" the game that they start screaming the most hateful, upsetting abuse into their headsets. Believe me, I have been on the receiving end of some of it and is why I will NEVER play another COD game online and why I play Battlefield these days.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I doubt that VG violence is the cause of this. It's game compulsion which is a completely different topic. I will end this post by saying that, believe it or not, there are WORSE games out there than GTA, COD or Manhunt. Games that are designed to offend. I've even played a game that has made me physically sick. I will not mention the title because this game had to be the most vile example of misdirected hate I had ever seen in my life and it - in my opinion - shouldn't even exist at all.