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Violent Games Good for Kids
fjordboy writes "Scholars from MIT, the University of California in LA, and the University of London have worked together to oppose laws restricting children from playing violent video games. The battle is currently taking place in the US Court of Appeals and the case seems to hold a decent amount of merit. From Vnunet:"Experts on childhood and adolescence have long recognised the importance of violent fantasy play in overcoming anxieties, processing anger, and providing outlets for aggression." Similar article from Reuters as well."
I knew I should have spent more time playing video games and less time studying.
Feeling better aren't you?
Good for kids and adults!
When I was a kid I released my agression by chopping wood and mowing lawns. Nothing like violently chopping the heads off of 1 million blades of grass to relieve stress.
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The problem is that Mommy and Daddy need someone to blame when little Johnny (or Eric or Dylan) goes on a shooting rampage.
Now, it's probably not Mom and Dad's fault either. Little Johnny is plenty old enough to know right from wrong and that killing his schoolmates is WRONG.
But there is a very human need to find a "reason", and video games are a convenient scapegoat. Besides, then some politician can call for banning them in order to be seen "DOING SOMETHING!!! ANYTHING!!!". After all, he has to think of the children(tm).
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
When I used to play chess, I would often find myself getting very angry. I'm generally a fairly passive person, but when playing chess, I would just plain get mad. In fact, I would sometimes get so mad that I felt like hitting someone, but I never did.
Anyway, that's somewhat beside the point. "Violent" implies that you are doing something to someone. Nobody gets hurt when I sit down and play "Return to Wolfenstein" on my computer. No real Nazis die. My health doesn't deteriorate, and I generally don't even eat any real chicken dinners while playing. When I play a videogame that simulates violence, I often find myself relieved of lots of stress built up over the workday. When I play chess, I get really stressed and want to hurt people.
Obviously, chess is bad, and games with simulated violence are good.
Parents making a decision, you just need to know one thing:
Does your child easily descriminate between fantasy and reality?
If he/she can, then games aren't going to have a detrimental effect.
If he/she can't, start the conselling early. Maybe you can make a difference if you start now.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Personally, I see some games making people more angry and edgy. Take, for example, Counter-Strike. I've been at lan parties where people have gotten seriously pissed off while playing this game, even to the point of violence more than once. And almost everytime it's the same thing: Someone says the way in which they died doesn't count because of any number of complete bullshit reasons(awp shot, camping, even accusations of cheating).
Even I'm guilty of this. I get midly pissed off if I own someone and they go "luck" or "won't happen again". I've seen people that shout "BS" after every single death, it's pretty fucking sad.
Not every game is going to relieve stress. If you're serious about the game, and you're not playing up to your usual standard for whatever reason, you're very quick to anger. It's not very theraputic if cs is giving you a pissed-off anxiety attack.
P.S. Camping with the awp=sniping(fair, and expected). Camping with the mp5=camping(cheap).
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Actually the lions share of the market is over 18.
RTCW and GTA3 arent designed for little kids. If they were targetting my 9 year old, they'd be doing a piss-poor job.
He couldn't care less about the titles I enjoy.
I mean, how much money does the average 5-10 year old have in his/her pocket? Richie-Rich aside, its not enough to buy a new game every week.
New as in full MSRP on release day, they dont make money when you pick up Warcraft II BattleChest for 4.99 at babbages.
The video game industry didn't surpass the movie industry in gross sales on little Billy's allowance.
That's the reason there are so many 'Mature' games.
All this "good/bad for your kids" debate does is misdirect the public.
Video games aren't "kids entertainment", any more than all movies are "kids entertainment".
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
People ARE violent. Games are not going to mitigate or ameliorate that. You know why we are violent? Because for 2 million years we've killed, eaten and dominated all comers.
Our ONLY evolutionary advantage is not big brains or stereoscopic vision or opposable thumbs. It's aggression. It's our unquenchable lust to be the last one standing, dripping with someone else's blood.
NO!
One should only supress emotions such as anger and hatred, so they can stoke a fire inside you, rather than making you look angry, until you destroy the world in a fit of rage! DEATH TO INFIDELS!!! DEATH TO NON INFIDELS!!! Oh. I feel better now. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Supression, not control, is the answer!
Ask me, three time serial-killer killcount award winner SJ Zero!
It's been a long time.
I would really like to know who these "experts" are. This notion of "playing out fantasies" or "venting of aggression" in the psychological literature is known as catharsis. Any first year psychology student SINCE the time of Freud is taught that the notion of catharsis is false.
Note: I am not saying that the group is wrong in what it is doing; only that the reporter is claiming results that have been demonstrated to be false for quite some time.
You mean like this?
o me tech.html
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/newsreleases/1999/h
I wont bother you with actually reading it, here's the opening paragraph.
NEW YORK, MAY 13, 1999 - Young teens are the biggest users of video game systems - right? Not according to a new survey of home technology from Nielsen Media Research which shows nearly 75% of the 63 million people using video game systems in the U.S. are 18 years old or older (18+). The most recent data show that 25% of video game system users - 15.6 million persons - are teens (persons 12-17), 40% of users - 25.2 million persons - are in the 18 - 34 age bracket, and 34% - 21.4 million persons - are 35+.
Of course NIELSEN wouldnt know anything about entertainment demographics, would they?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Video Games may not cause cancer, but anything to excess is bad. Most gaming time can easily be spent doing something else, something better for you than the games are.
I know of several young children that have picked up the finer aspects of violent video games such as cursing, bad hand gestures, rude comments. Yes it is true that there are other sources to obtain these skills, but why add to the list?
Get a free ipod.