Forums → WEPR → Are violent things making us more violent?

seriously, people need to stop blaming every other media they arn't into and calling it evil, violent, when they have never heard it, played it, and do virtually no research at all

seriously, people need to stop blaming every other media they arn't into and calling it evil, violent, when they have never heard it, played it, and do virtually no research at all

i mean god people you don't run the world!

it could be kind of hard to get that message through some people's minds

ya, for me (ive posted this like so many times now) i live in the bible belt and am an athiest...so i get stuck with all day people preaching that i need to convert, teachers,peers,parents, churches on every corner (i know i got off topic, just an example)

well i gotta go for the night see ya later

ya, for me (ive posted this like so many times now) i live in the bible belt and am an athiest...so i get stuck with all day people preaching that i need to convert, teachers,peers,parents, churches on every corner (i know i got off topic, just an example)

I think that it has a lot to do with parenting. I grew up on horror movies and 'violent' video games. I might be a bit desensitized to seeing things in movies, but when I see actual violence around me, it still bothers me. I know the difference between reality and fantasy, and I have a strong sense of what is right and wrong.

If parents are not careful of how children are introduced to things, yes, there can be dire consequences. As long as morals and a strong boundary between reality and fantasy are instilled early in childhood, I think that for the most part the child will be fine.

Well...from the first page of discussion, I think we need to beware of words like cause- they can be very iffy.

At best, violent videogames and violence in media generally desensitises us to violence, but I would not go so far as to say that it can be generally associated with an actual increase in violence. Like darkroot said earlier- psychological studies suggest that cases where we could argue that the violent media was the source/mediator of violent actions are relatively constrained. People who don't have so much of a propensity to violence will react differently.

Personally, I'm a pacifist, and when playing things like GTA etc. (strange as it may seem), I am also relatively pacifistic, i.e. I will not purposely harm those not relevant to my objective, and I play the game as a series of objectives, not for the purpose of exercising a killing intent. Others still use it to vent, and others...you get the idea.

I think that it depends on how much you play it, how mature you are when you play it, and who you are in company with when you play it. Some people are not changed by things even if they see it numerous times. But other people will be changed because it grows in their head and eventually it doesn't seem as bad any more. Others are changed only when they have someone around them who doesn't think that something that is bad is bad. That is my spiel on this issue.

ha video games have nothing to do with it has anyone ever stopped and think about i play mortal kombat but you won't see me throwing daggers at people.

haha i saw a show on TV about this. well, if u want my opinion on it here it is: it depends on the player. if you begin to believe that these video games are like reality, then theres a problem. if u can understand that its just a simulation, and that u can be some renegade person and go out into the world and kill people, then its alright. so, in a way, it depends on the maturity of the player.

This is touching on what Strop and Darkroot say.

I think this goes both ways. An individual in today's society is definitely more sensitized to violence then someone 30 years ago (for instance). Be that as it may, certain acts that they might have labeled as violent are not violent in today's terms. So, society as a whole we are more violent people.

The flip side, I believe, is that people that enjoy violence (given that personality traits do really exist), are more attracted to violent video games/movies. I'm not huge on violence, and I only find some parts of GTA series entertaining. It gets boring to me after a while. Though, Joe Blow over here who loves to blow stuff up is GOING to get that next copy of GTA the day it comes out.

See what I mean?

Then there are the predilections that have other aspects as contingencies.

For example: Like the Mythbusters duo, I do enjoy a fancy explosion, massive rippling shockwaves of energy so great they appear to distort space itself.

However, need this necessarily be defined as a "destructive" interest? Often, scenarios that involve such things would also involve various collateral, be it objects, the environment, or living things, real or pixellated.

to be honest i dont think media and games and other things have much to do with it, personally i play alot of very violent video games and i see alot of things on TV, as well as things like WW1 & 2 that i like to study, an i have only ever been in one fight in my entire life, and even that was minor, i just prefer to settle things a different way, i like to run around blowing up things and killing people ect. on VIDEO games but i think thats the place for it, and i realise that life isnt like a video game and that you only have one live not infinite (like GTA which i have), i like to belive i'm in the game, roleplaying, yet i would never bring it into the real world...

Hm, I think one of the concerns is that videogames are becoming "more realistic a simulation"- it's like somehow increased realism means bridging a gap that allows fictional violence to magically commute to a desire to perform acts of real violence.