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Thai Teen Nabbed in 'Grand Theft Auto' Copycat Killing

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Ummon:
There was a certain remove from real violence old games had. It was because they couldn't, and didn't really seek to, emulate reality. Most games now are essentially surrogate realities too close to our own. Of course there's going to be cross-over, and there has been.

saint:
I think one point that's missing is the piling on effect. Growing up I had a variety of balancing influences on me. It's a far different picture for kids today, and they get hit with a lot more violence from an early age than we ever did.


* Yeah, road runner and bugs bunny had violence, but I only got to see them on Saturday mornings if I got up on time. I spent more time playing baseball or tag or whatever with the neighborhood kids than I did watching TV. You can watch cartoons 24/7 now and there's a hell of a lot of violence in many of them.
* My first video games were Donkey Kong and Kangaroo -- not Grand Theft Auto and Crazy Taxi. I scored points by jumping barrels or punching monkeys - not running over people and killing them.
* There is a lot more violence celebrating music now than there was back in the 60's - 80's or so. "I shot the sherrif" is a lot more benign than "Kill the white people; we gonna make them hurt; kill the white people; but buy my record first; ha, ha, ha" or "---stingray---, you think I won't choke no whore til the vocal cords don't work in her throat no more?!... Texas Chainsaw, left his brains all danglin from his neck, while his head barely hangs on Blood, guts, guns, cuts Knives, lives, wives, nuns, sluts"
Video games are violent, tv and movies are violent, online videos are posted of teens beating the crap out of someone, music is violent, etc, and all this is advertized to make the kids want it. Yeah, there's good stuff out there too, but the sheer volume of violent stuff is staggering. To top it off, the violence is celebrated and portrayed as cool -- not portrayed as something to shun or avoid.

Today's kids are inundated. Anyone who thinks this doesn't have an influence on how kids think is fooling themselves. Unless you home school and keep your kids pretty strictly controlled, parents today have a hell of a lot harder time raising their kids than my parents generation did.

I don't allow most violent music or video games in my house, I control television access, monitor their Internet usage, etc, but I'm not naive. I know when they're at school or a friend's house they're being exposed to stuff I don't want them exposed to.

You can't show breasts on TV, but you can show someone getting capped. We've got some screwed up priorities in this country, and it has an effect on our youth.

AtomSmasher:

--- Quote from: saint on August 08, 2008, 09:49:34 pm ---We've got some screwed up priorities in this country, and it has an effect on our youth.

--- End quote ---
Although not the effect most people think since the studies show that kids who play video games are less prone to violence and the violent crime rate among youth has been dropping ever since video games have become more realistic.

AtomSmasher:
I was just reading through some of the info on the site I linked to earlier and theres a lot of interesting stuff there.  Heres a few bits I thought were interesting.


--- Quote ---MYTH: The growth in violent video game sales is linked to the growth in youth violence — especially school violence — throughout the country.

FACT: Video game popularity and real-world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions. Violent juvenile crime in the United States reached a peak in 1993 and has been declining ever since. School violence has also gone down. Between 1994 and 2001, arrests for murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assaults fell 44 percent, resulting in the lowest juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes since 1983. Murder arrests, which reached a high of 3,800 in 1993, plummeted to 1400 by 2001.
--- End quote ---
I'll just add that the crime rates released by the FBI for 2007 show that the rates are still dropping.


--- Quote ---The more M-rated titles on a child’s list of five games he or she “played a lot in the past six months,” the more likely the child was to be involved in these problem behaviors at least once during the past year.  Heavy game play (every day, or more than 15  hours per week) was also linked to increased risk. Even so, most kids who played M-rated games or who played more than 15 hours per week did not have significant problems or get into trouble. The authors emphasize that a one-time survey cannot prove cause-and-effect.

“We can’t say whether games like Grand Theft Auto encourage aggression, whether aggressive kids like GTA, or if other factors affect both of these,” notes Olson. “But parents should definitely keep a closer eye on children who play mostly violent games, or play for many hours per week.” She also recommends limiting violent game use by children with aggressive temperaments, developmental delays or emotional problems, since they may react differently.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---MYTH:School shooters fit a profile that includes a fascination with violent media, especially violent video games.

FACT: The U. S. Secret Service intensely studied each of the 37 non-gang and non-drug-related school shootings and stabbings that were considered “targeted attacks” that took place nationally from 1974 through 2000. (Note how few premeditated school shootings there actually were during that 27-year time period, compared with the public perception of those shootings as relatively common events!) The incidents studied included the most notorious school shootings, such as Columbine, Santee and Paducah, in which the young perpetrators had been linked in the press to violent video games. The Secret Service found that that there was no accurate profile. Only 1 in 8 school shooters showed any interest in violent video games; only 1 in 4 liked violent movies.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---Boys who rarely or never played video or computer games were more likely to get into fights or have problems at school. For some boys, not playing may be a marker of social problems. (This does not mean that not playing video games caused their problems!)
--- End quote ---

I highly recommend anyone who has concerns on one side or the other of this debate read that site as their findings were very interesting.

Ed_McCarron:

--- Quote from: saint on August 08, 2008, 09:49:34 pm ---I don't allow most violent music or video games in my house, I control television access, monitor their Internet usage, etc, but I'm not naive. I know when they're at school or a friend's house they're being exposed to stuff I don't want them exposed to.

--- End quote ---

"Thats it, kids.  Turn that computer off.  No more Oregon Trail for you - you keep giving the natives dysentery!"

;)

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