Violent music and violent games make kids violent. (2 Viewers)

[Scissors]

Agree or Disagree? Maybe we shouldn't limit it specifically to games and movies, but also books, magazine, and other media items.

Personally I think if we instill proper values in our kids at a young age, games and music don't really have any effect, no matter how violent they may be. I think parents sometimes blame media items for their kids misbehaviour in order to remove the blame from themselves.

So, do you agree or disagree? Discuss.

 

[achowdhury]

disagree.

 

[Scissors]

Do you guys wanna explain why you disagree?

 

[veloc1ty]

I think it can aggravate someone who is already prone to violence, but only in the short-term, and not by a large degree.

 

[Absolutezero]

Personally I think if we instill proper values in our kids at a young age, games and music doesn't really have any effect, no matter how violent they may be. I think parents sometimes blame media items for their kids misbehaviour in order to remove the blame off themselves.

I won't say that it has no effect, but I am partial to agree with you. Just because a child has seen to many horror movies, and listened to one too many cannibal corpse songs, does not mean that they will grow up to be violent people. However, it is up to the parent to find the line in what they agree to be suitable viewing/listening material for the child.

 

[Fr33Lanc3r]

I don't think playing video games makes people violent.
http://pvp.com has a few interesting storylines about it, as does http://www.penny-arcade.com/

The only thing that i'd like to see is a better and clearer rating system. Also, when something gets censored when it comes in, tell us (I'm talking to you, people who censored GTA4) - when you just say it's censored, people just go for an overseas copy, even if the only thing cut is one bashing scene (you should have told us). I see older people come in and show the guy at the desk an MA rated game (violence, swearing, etc), and then ask if it's ok for their 8 year old grandchild to play.

We need to educate the masses!!

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

You can disagree all you want, but I do recall several studies being presented to me in first year education at UNSW saying the exact opposite.

Iuno. Mebbe they have a point.

 

[Gay Captain]

violent video games are good becasue they keep my kids occupied so i don't have to watch them

but if they ever see a nipple on TV there'll be hell to pay >=[

 

[squeenie]

Slashdot and Ars Techina beg to differ here:

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/01/222235
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070301-8959.html

These articles seem to suggest that people make this conclusion (that "violent music and violent games make kids violent") to account for the levels of violence in society.

But either way, correlation is not causation. "Violent music and violent games make kids violent" is a blatant generalisation.

 

[Epistemophobia]

fuck no. thats ridiculous.

 

[chicky_pie]

Maybe in some other countries, but not in Australia.

 

[Lentern]

No I don't think so, I think they're more likely to attract violent people not the other way round. It may have been lady Thatcher but I'd have to check who said that power doesn't corrupt, it attracts the corruptible. This is much of a muchness.

 

[PrettyOddProlix]

Disagree.

 

[Riet]

disagree and that's why we need an R18+ rating.

 

[Iron]

I'd agree that violence begetts violence.
It's all part of a whole culture of death. Life is supressed, denied or devalued wherever we turn.

 

[Graney]

Despite media hysteria that might make you think contrary, levels of violence in Australia keep declining in every way. With video games now a major, mainstream media source, there hasn't been the rise in violence in the last ten years you would expect if this hypothesis were true.

 

[Iron]

I read a study last year that said that on some gta-type game, the graphics were so good that those surveyed actually registered something like guilt when they pummelled some hooker's ass with a baseball bat

 

[PrettyOddProlix]

LOL.

And Marilyn Manson's to blame for Columbine.

 

[Fr33Lanc3r]

I play vilolent Games all the time. I'm no more or less of a vilolent person for having played them.
I agree that we need an R18+ rating, but we also need an international standard of rating (not just games BTW, movies as well). For example, when the censorship in games people announced that they were cutting content from GTA-4, about 90% of people cancelled their preorder with Australian stores to buy an uncensored game from overseas. It later turns out that the only cut content was a rape and a particulary violent bashing. No actual playing content was cut.

We need beter monitored, international standards for games and movies.

 

[Fr33Lanc3r]

Another example.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
In Australia it has a M rating for moderate vilolence. I think the ratings people only played the intro tutorial (with very little violence and crude language).
The actual game, beyond the intro, is a gory world, where swearing occurs every second word, and most of the violence involves repeatedly stabbing people with makeshift shivs.
Personally, I have no problem with playing the game, I'm a fan of the series, and i loved the experiance. The point is, this game was not rated properly by the people in charge of such things. it's not enough to put more restrictive ratings on games, we must put much more strict guidelines on the rating system.