But I feel that those sympathetic character situations only affect people who are already on an edge condition. Someone in a rational healthy state of mind is not going to be driven away from that by playing one violent video game or reading about a suicide. But it could be the stray that breaks the camel's back, however all of these actions come back to personal responsibility, why are people so desperate to avoid it? When things or people break in difficult to fix ways it tends to be because several things have gone wrong at once.
And as much as anecdotal evidence is supposed to be flawed I don't understand why our responses to these attacks are so intellectualized. Why don't people ever just tell the hysterical mothers (sorry I know I'm being sexist but my archetypal image for the honestly motivated as opposed to the money driven i.e. Jack Thompson campaigning against violence in video games is and always will be Tipper Gore and Hillary Clinton) that it's just like when they really sad Oprah book, yes reading sad things makes them sad, but because their entire family didn't go through a long bout with terminal illness it's not a permanent or lasting sadness. Yes people walk away from violent movies or video games having been overstimulated, but much like a children's birthday party induced sugar rush this passes within a few hours after the inevitable adrenaline/sugar crash. What I'd like to see is a study of whether or not playing violent video games over the long term increases socially detrimental aggresive behavior. As opposed to socially tolerable aggresive behavior like fighting for that promotion. I'd also like to see the people who go through this process being given periodic psychological reviews along with an entry level interview so that the study doesn't can differentiate between video games making people go crazy, and crazy people seeking out video games like manhunt and postal. Because hey they could be right maybe we should be regulating games the way we regulate drugs and alcohol.
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I know I'm amazed people still try to pull this stuff when wikiScanner has gotten so much play in the news lately or maybe its just on internet news.
But I feel that those sympathetic character situations only affect people who are already on an edge condition. Someone in a rational healthy state of mind is not going to be driven away from that by playing one violent video game or reading about a suicide. But it could be the stray that breaks the camel's back, however all of these actions come back to personal responsibility, why are people so desperate to avoid it? When things or people break in difficult to fix ways it tends to be because several things have gone wrong at once. And as much as anecdotal evidence is supposed to be flawed I don't understand why our responses to these attacks are so intellectualized. Why don't people ever just tell the hysterical mothers (sorry I know I'm being sexist but my archetypal image for the honestly motivated as opposed to the money driven i.e. Jack Thompson campaigning against violence in video games is and always will be Tipper Gore and Hillary Clinton) that it's just like when they really sad Oprah book, yes reading sad things makes them sad, but because their entire family didn't go through a long bout with terminal illness it's not a permanent or lasting sadness. Yes people walk away from violent movies or video games having been overstimulated, but much like a children's birthday party induced sugar rush this passes within a few hours after the inevitable adrenaline/sugar crash. What I'd like to see is a study of whether or not playing violent video games over the long term increases socially detrimental aggresive behavior. As opposed to socially tolerable aggresive behavior like fighting for that promotion. I'd also like to see the people who go through this process being given periodic psychological reviews along with an entry level interview so that the study doesn't can differentiate between video games making people go crazy, and crazy people seeking out video games like manhunt and postal. Because hey they could be right maybe we should be regulating games the way we regulate drugs and alcohol.