* I apologize that this websites formatting squishes all my writing together and does not allow paragraphing.*
I'd like to call everyones attention to this article: http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/violence_and_videogames
In the article, the author explains that the current time we live in, the early years of this century and now, has seen a DECREASE in violence among youth, in fact there was a sharp rise in violence after the release of the NES, and a decrease in violence after the release of the Playstation, which was home to misinformed mothers' favorite scapegoat, Grand Theft Auto. So if we take violence in correlation with video games, what we need to do is get Mario off our children's game consoles.
In 1985 violence among people aged 18-24 years began to rise significantly. What happened in 1985?
- May 15 – An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley.July 10
- The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents.
in 1991 violence among people aged 18-24 was at it's highest. What happened in 1991?
- Video games in their current form -DO NOT EXIST-
- March 3 – An amateur video captures the beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles, California police officers.
- Jully 22 – Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee, Wisconsin, apartment.
- August 17 – Strathfield Massacre: In Sydney, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots 7 people and injures 6 others before turning the gun on himself.
- August 23 – The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or "Super Nintendo") is released in the United States. The most popular games on this console include various Mario titles. If we call Mario violent, we should keep children far away from Tom & Jerry!
In 1994 violence among people aged 18-24 years began to decrease. What happened in 1994?
*- December – The Playstation video game console was released.
- January 14 – U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets.
- September 19 – American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
In 1997 violence among people aged 18-24 continued to decrease. What happened in 1997?
!!!*** GRAND THEFT AUTO WAS RELEASED!
-- 1994 theft of automobiles in California - 308,205
-- 1997 theft of automobiles in California - 228,722
-- 1998 theft of automobiles in California - 195,517
- A similar decrease in those numbers were seen in New York, Illinois, and Texas.
Despite the name, the game also features gun violence.
-- 1994 murder and aggravated assault in California - 3,703/191,548
-- 1997 murder and aggravated assault in California - 2,579/81,468
-- 1998 murder and aggravated assault in California - 2,171/68,782
- A similar decrease in those numbers were seen in New York, Illinois, and Texas.
Documents as of 2009 shows that we are seeing continually decreasing numbers of violent crimes including murder and aggravated assault. The lowest we have seen since 1967! Now obviously, these numbers have gone up along with the population, the era of violent video games has caused us to break this correlation, and despite the increasing population, we are decreasing violence.
(http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/cacrime.htm)
These numbers explain how, if any correlation exists, video games actually cause our people to be LESS violent. Let's put a warning label on video games that says this: "PARENTS: Allowing your child to play video games may cause them to take out their aggression via the game instead of in the real world."
Slashdot Mirror
* I apologize that this websites formatting squishes all my writing together and does not allow paragraphing.* I'd like to call everyones attention to this article: http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/violence_and_videogames In the article, the author explains that the current time we live in, the early years of this century and now, has seen a DECREASE in violence among youth, in fact there was a sharp rise in violence after the release of the NES, and a decrease in violence after the release of the Playstation, which was home to misinformed mothers' favorite scapegoat, Grand Theft Auto. So if we take violence in correlation with video games, what we need to do is get Mario off our children's game consoles. In 1985 violence among people aged 18-24 years began to rise significantly. What happened in 1985? - May 15 – An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley.July 10 - The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents. in 1991 violence among people aged 18-24 was at it's highest. What happened in 1991? - Video games in their current form -DO NOT EXIST- - March 3 – An amateur video captures the beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles, California police officers. - Jully 22 – Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee, Wisconsin, apartment. - August 17 – Strathfield Massacre: In Sydney, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots 7 people and injures 6 others before turning the gun on himself. - August 23 – The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or "Super Nintendo") is released in the United States. The most popular games on this console include various Mario titles. If we call Mario violent, we should keep children far away from Tom & Jerry! In 1994 violence among people aged 18-24 years began to decrease. What happened in 1994? *- December – The Playstation video game console was released. - January 14 – U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets. - September 19 – American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power. In 1997 violence among people aged 18-24 continued to decrease. What happened in 1997? !!!*** GRAND THEFT AUTO WAS RELEASED! -- 1994 theft of automobiles in California - 308,205 -- 1997 theft of automobiles in California - 228,722 -- 1998 theft of automobiles in California - 195,517 - A similar decrease in those numbers were seen in New York, Illinois, and Texas. Despite the name, the game also features gun violence. -- 1994 murder and aggravated assault in California - 3,703/191,548 -- 1997 murder and aggravated assault in California - 2,579/81,468 -- 1998 murder and aggravated assault in California - 2,171/68,782 - A similar decrease in those numbers were seen in New York, Illinois, and Texas. Documents as of 2009 shows that we are seeing continually decreasing numbers of violent crimes including murder and aggravated assault. The lowest we have seen since 1967! Now obviously, these numbers have gone up along with the population, the era of violent video games has caused us to break this correlation, and despite the increasing population, we are decreasing violence. (http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/cacrime.htm) These numbers explain how, if any correlation exists, video games actually cause our people to be LESS violent. Let's put a warning label on video games that says this: "PARENTS: Allowing your child to play video games may cause them to take out their aggression via the game instead of in the real world."