Does violence in video games create negative behavior in children and adults?

Yes, just as porn causes rape, black people caused slavery, and food causes starvation.

There was violence before video games and there will be violence after. Why don't people get that. All you need to do is take a peak at our bloody history and you can see that video games add up to nothing.

Not in adults I don't think. Even Children for the most part understand why something is wrong, and that violence in real life leads to pain injury, and sometimes death. Get them to play sports and they will soon understand the concept of pain and injury. As for guns and shooting, well obviously they shouldn't be playing that kind of stuff.

This subject has never been a question of the art. Does it effect kids? Maybe, but the video games aren't the problem. The real question is, do parents know their children well enough, do they know what affects their kids, do they know their kids are getting into violent situations. Most importantly, do they know the crowd of people they hang out with.

I don't think kids will simulate violence because they are stupid, and think real life is a game. Its all a matter of what is 'cool'. I see many many young people becoming violent and joining gangs, I don't think this is a violent video game or movie issue, I think is more of a culture being in gangs and having a disrespect for authority and the law into cool traits to have.

Adults wont really get violant from a video but a child is more likely. It depends on the personality of the child(or adult).

This is a very broad question, to which there is no broad across-the-board answer.

Simply put: It depends on the human.

Violent video games will not illicit violent behavior in all people. The ones that are not well-grounded in the real world are probably more susceptible to the violent influences. These are probably the same type of people that live vicariously through social websites and the like.

I can find no real and true published study that shows that the U.S. Army or any other armed military service uses violent video games to desensitize it's warriors. I find people SAYING that they do, but NONE of the data matches, which leads me to believe that there is embellishment involved.

The only thing I'm aware of that the military did was a fledgling project using First-Person-Shooter games in an attempt to see how well such technology could be used to teach tactics. I believe it was short-lived.

When parents ALLOW a child to LEARN from a video game or television show, it should probably be of the educational variety. It's up to the parents to take responsibility for their child's upbringing and education, instead of attempting to force a gaming company or DVD to take the responsibility.

If you teach children that matches are made to burn down houses, you will probably create an arsonist.

in general NO

Nope. The seeds of negative behavior were there already.

Sometimes, but they make great stress releivers.

Of course it does.

adults not really but children yes.

Violence is bad..K?

"Video games" = "interactive cartoons"...
Humanity is turning into cartoons... It's OK for cartoons in cartoons to do bad... They are being conditioned to be alter-ego cartoons...

An example is the fellow I meet in a group of weirdies in Toronto... We were standing on Young Street uptown, chatting about the thousands of record albums he had for sale for a quarter each... He needed to pee, so he opens his notebook that he robbed from the university library, scrolled to the penthouse apartment program, scrolled to the cyber bathroom, and to the cyber toilet, and pissed his pants on the sidewalk.. then walked home in squishy shoes...

Are video games harmful..?

In his living-room was a mound of shoplifted record albums all out of their covers... The mound being about two-feet deep in the center.. radiating around the whole room to touching the walls.. and a few records stuck in the walls...

Umm.. not worth a quarter each...

As I made my way to my car, his buddies approached, showing me their twenty shoplifted "joe st. louises".. They called it "supper"... When they entered the apartment, a burst of excited chimp sounds filled the air...
I reached down a picked up a little handful of dirt, to reinforce that this truly is planet earth...

yes.100% .

I think it could in small children who's sense of reality or right and wrong hasn't developed yet. In adults though I don't think it has much of an effect. Quite the opposite, in fact. Chances are, the more video games you play the less likely you are to leave your sofa and interact with other people, greatly decreasing your chance of violent acts. Well, if my husband's anything to go by ;)

For the poorly bought up people, the games will have an impact in some respect, to the persons personality.

Several researches have suggested that violent games are responsible for increased violence in children but I don't think so that it is true for adults also. There should also be a check on the video games for children but not for adults.

What is causing violence is the lack of respect and discipline taught at home, the expectation that you can get money without skills and the consequent disapointment and disillusionment when kids can't get jobs, and mothers at work and too exhausted to provide a decent and cosy home and regular meals for their kids. Education keeps kids off the streets and gives them a sense of pride, dignity and achievement and hopefully a life long ambition to work and succeed.

It is said that video games create more violence in children and adults. More and more fighting comes out, car racing and negative actions.

http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/videogames.html

Gives a good insight on how people perceive this kind of question.

Children being exposed to this kind of environment, can be altered, with a time limit (as stated in the article above).

Adults on the other hand, should know the difference between a scenario in a video game and reality.

I believe that it can alter ones mind, if it is being played an excessive amount but is not the only factor that leads to negative behavior in children and/or adults.

Growing up on video games and TV I do not believe they increase violent behaviour (unless the child is predisposed via chemical imbalance) to exhibit violent tendencies. What it really does is desensetize the player / viewer to violence. This could be viewed in both a negative and positive light.
Pro: Able to cope with a violent situation more calmly with out going panicking or going into shock.
Cons: Disconnect with the world and unable to "feel" when it comes to viewing terrible scenes of violence.

nope

It can. I don't believe it always does, though.

Food for thought ...

" ... Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and 'clean' versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart's standards of decency - because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you'll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart. My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any 'indecent' material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film 'Scarface' completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?"

-- Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails

I say Yes. I know from personal experiance I tried the same wrestling technics growing up I saw on WF with my brother. Ideas I would not have had otherwise.

no

Video games don't kill people, husbands who come home too early do.

yes most deffinatly

If kids don't copy and use behaviors they see demonstrated, then you might as well shut down every school and university in the world. Of course they copy what they see. We all know they copy what they see. That is precisely why we spend so much time demonstrating for them the behaviors we want them to copy. If any of us thought for even a moment that they didn't, we wouldn't ever tell an older child to set a good example for the younger ones. We wouldn't ever tell parents to set a good example for their kids. Why bother with role-playing how to react in a situation? Practicing good manners? Rehearsing lines? Memorizing poems? If kids don't do what they see, why would they ever use any of those things again? If kids don't do what they see in video games, then why do textbook companies bother to develop learning games and why do schools bother to use them?

But even more insidious is the constant repetition of the bad behavior in a video games. You don't shoot someone just once in a video game. Kids might see an instance of good behavior demonstrated for them once in a day or once in a week. With video games, as soon as you lose you have to go back to the first level and begin again, so you rehearse that violent behavior over and over and over. After a while, all you are thinking about is the game and which bad behavior will get you to the next level.

When the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, everything you see is a nail. When you rehearse bad behavior over and over and over, pretty soon the only tool in your toolbox is bad behavior. If the game has you rehearse anger and violence over and over, how do you think you are most likely to respond when someone steps on your toes?

But the bottom line in all this is that you need to be realistic and follow the money trail. Video game companies don't produce these games out of an altruistic desire to entertain you for free. There is a reason why they give themselves names like "Last Day of Work." They are hoping to get filthy rich and live a life of ease off of your hard earned dollars. They have a vested interest in providing whatever they think will keep you addicted and spending money with them. They have a vested interest in convincing you, and your parents, that it is harmless. It is kind of like Brown Forman. They don't want you to necessarily kill someone, as it is bad publicity for them, but they want to sell you as much Jack Daniels as they can without you killing someone. So they will run all the ads they can telling you to "drink responsibly" or to give the keys to someone else. No firey wrecks that kill a school bus load of kids, please. But if it slowly pickles your liver and you die a miserable death of cirrhosis, well, that's your fault. We told you to drink responsibly. It really doesn't matter that we are selling something that is known to be addictive, known to cause violent behavior, known to be destructive of families, known to destroy your health and expensive. As long as you don't do something that splashes our name across the headlines nationwide, its all on you. Do you really think that video game companies see it any differently?

well answer this question , we have to understand a example.ok when we watch movies we totally involved in it, its a human nature. totally behave like whats gone in a movie. so children mind r not well developed in a fighting games they supposed themselves as a hero and play games. i found that they fighting and actind like a real fight one. no doudt these game develop thinking power activenessbt side by side they effect badly on soft part of mind. so critically say that yes viedeo games make a child violent.

I don't believe that violent video games cause real life violence. In fact, I think violent video games prevent real life violence. Sometimes when I'm feeling angry, I play Grand Theft Auto games and massacre random people in the game. It's much better than taking out my frustrations on a real person or object.

Does video game violence actually affect children? A recent study conducted by Iowa State University psychologists says yes. Their study shows that "brief exposure to violent video games can cause a reduction in normal physiological reactivity to images of real violence." This process is the same desensitization process that is used to help people get over fears of spiders or flying. Dr. Craig Anderson, one of the researchers involved in the study, says, "Basically, we introduce young children to very playful, fun, cartoonish forms of violence, with little or no blood, no real consequences to the victim or friends and family of the victim." As children grow "more realistic and more threatening elements" are added. Eventually we have adults "accustomed to and comfortable with seeing lots of blood and gore, with an exaggerated view of how much violence exists or is "normal" in modern society, and with belief systems that are supportive of use of aggression or violence."

NOT NESSESERALY! I THINK IT DEPENDS MOSTLY ON HOW THEY ARE RAISED! IF THEY HAVE GOOD PARENTS WHO ARE THERE FOR THEM WHEN THEY HAVE PROBLEMS, AND WHO DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH MURDER OR SPOIL THEM TOO MUCH, AND SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH THEM 'THROWING A BASEBALL' 'SHOOTING HOOPS' EVEN 'PLAYING A VIDEO GAME ROUND' WITH THEM HELPS BUILD THEIR SELFWORTH AND MAKES THEM ALOT LESS LIKELY TO WANT TO HURT OTHERS OR THEMSELVES! bUT I KNOW THAT SOME HOUSEHOLDS ARE ONLY HEADED BY ONE PARENT WHICH IS UNFORTUNATE BUT IN THAT CASE I WOULD RECOMMEND THE CHILDREN BE SIGNED UP FOR BIG BROTHER OR BIG SISTER PROGRAM DEPENDING ON WHICH PARENT IS ABSENT FROM THEIR LIFE! ONE OF MY CO- WORKERS HAS AN 8 YEAR OLD SON WHO LOST HIS FATHER WHEN HE WAS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD, AND SHE SIGNED HIM UP FOR THE BIG BROTHER PROGRAM AND I MUST SAY THEY ARE WONDERFUL.

probably not adults as much as children. But I think it has a big affect on how children behave, I would never let my child play war, fighting, or grand theft auto games, because those games condone bad behavior.

sure for child and adult

First of all, you have to know your kid; most people know the difference between right and wrong; true and false; fake and real, if your child doesn't then there is an underlying problem and video games shouldn't be the ones to blame for it. There are people who have sick minds, they've always been around and they've been around pre-video game violence times. Look at all these directors or writers of horror movies; then let's think about how long horror movies have been around....as long as any other movie? The answer would be yes. If you're going to blame video games for your child's violence then you also need to blame the movie industry, TV, books ... the entertainment indusrty all togther. If you think the video game made your child violent you're either in denial that something is wrong with your child or missing something. Long answer short: If your child is violent to begin with they probably shouldn't be playing violent video games that may give them more ideas.

I can't imagine how what happens in a video game would effect the way you see real life. Anybody knows that a video game is not real, its like saying that a violent cartoon is bad for children. It doesn't make sense to say that aggressive games make people aggressive, because I played aggressive games with my brothers and sisters as a kid, and we had fun together playing them. Why weren't we aggressive to each other? I do, however, think that it can be a way for many people who have social difficulties to escape from the world and focus on something else, thus further demotivating them from trying to connect with the world. If you play a video game with friends and brothers and sisters then I would think it wouldn't be harmful in any way because you are connecting with the world while playing the video game. I do believe, however, that certain games are just ridiculous and demote social wellbeing, such as Halo 3. That game is simply a jumble of extremely fast reflexes, and people constantly obsess over having the fastest reflexes with their fingers and getting "No-Scopes". Pretty much, drink a bunch of energy drinks and then run around like crazy and constantly practice and you will get good at Halo 3, over an extremely long time period. Another example of a negative game is World of Warcraft, where you constantly obsess over getting better gear. It is a perfect example. The entire game revolves around that idea. Almost Nobody actually finds that game fun, but they simply play it as an obsession over getting progressively better. More and more game companies are making their games this way it seems to me: They do whatever gets people to obsess over playing it, rather than what is a better balance, and can be played with friends. I played halo 1 as a kid and i found that game to be much more balanced and less obsessive. Sure there was a level of expertice, but it came from strategy and teamwork, not obsession over super fast moving of fingers and jumping around like an idiot. It seems like strategy games that use teamwork that can be played with the family that are also agressive can be okay, but games such as Halo 3 and World of Warcraft teach you to obsess over being the best. Halo 3 is not a fun game unless you discover every little trick in the book with super fast reflexes, and there is just about zero strategy. So really, if parents want to introduce games to their kids they should only introduce games that require teamwork or family games, and absolutely NEVER introduce Halo 3 or World of Warcraft to any of your kids who like being good at video games, it will ruin their lives. I am saying this from experience, because I was obsessed with Halo 3 and every little detail of getting better at the game, along with World of Warcraft for a time. Also, parents should pay attention to if their kid has something like asburgers, that prevents the kid from connecting to the world and they focus in on a small thing. Those types of kids should be watched more carefully and constantly be tought to connect with the world. I think those kids should not play video games, probably. Also, I think that if there is at any time something else to do that could be of interest to the kid, for example if a friend invites the person over, then kids should not be playing video games by themselves. This is a sign that they are prioritizing video games over the world, which is no good.

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No it does not, but a negative thing it can do to kids is make them focused and addicted to video games when they should be focusing on school 100%.

they have done studies on this and video games in no way lead to negativity other then addiction.

I agree that, in general, games do not encourage aggression unless the seed had been planted either genetically or environmentally.

If a child is raised with a conscious, he will typically think and behave with that conscious. Playing a game would be an interaction, not a intimate emotional connection, with the characters and scenario.

Of course, if one is prone emotionally and intellectually to violence or aggression, they may be more connected to it in role/game playing.

No!!! It may make then insensitive to violence, but as far as making a killer or an abuser, there is no known correlation between the two, except for those who use it as an excuse, when they have been caught doing wrong and are looking for something or someone to blame!!!! If it is not video games, it is sexual abuse, or an estranged father, something other then truth, which is that he/she is just a rotten ass individual!!!

Yes because the kid is mad that the parent makes him or her get off and the parent is mad that all their kid does is play video games.But the kid is happy to play it. You a are fucking bitch if you say No. What the fuck are you thinking?!

NO. and what the hell were all the people who said yes thinking, pickup a damn history book people. Did the roman army play grand theft auto before it put an enemies city to the sword ?? Did Ted Bundy play call of duty 4 before he went out and iced somebody? People are violent vicious murderous pricks, and they allways have been. IF ANY THING they provide an outlet for aggression. 300 million people in the U.S. some are BOUND to take some other out so thats not a symptom at all.

THE REASON people go on murder sprees and such is a Lack of LOVE and RESPECT in their lives. They do the logical thing.;.. hurt the people who hurt them, everyone.

in a word, YES. Children, even young adulkts of all kind look up to things that they see, listen too, as well as learn!

my five year old cousin is exposed to grand theft auto... its bad yes. but for living proof, he hits people, he swears an unimaginable amount, and i think the ratings on video games are there for a solid and valid reason

yes, i do believe this. my nephews are children and they imitate what they see and as a result they keep fighting with each other and they refuse to draw or play music, they just love to fight each other and it ends with crying and problems too.

Children....Yes
Adults....I would think if call yourself or is called an"Adult"
You should know better than to let a video game affect your morals and behavior.

No, but they can inspire immature people, like guys who do high-school shootings and stuff.

yep because some people are stupid and will eventually do the stuff that the characters in the game does, like go on a killing spree, or go out and street race! or go drive around picking up hoes!! :) thats not so bad as long as she's new and clean! lol

No it does not if The games are played by the right people. There is a reason that there are ratings on games, so that children who don't understand what is going on in the game won't be taught what those things mean, such as violence, and then decide to go out and practice those things. So what I am saying is that little kids shouldn't be playing games like Halo, or Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto until they are of the age on the box. I will admit that I did play games like this at an earlier age than most but I went to a charter school and as such I was much more learned and mature than most kids my age. Basically if you are mature enough to understand the game, and be able to play the multiplayer then it shouldn't affect who you are. It IS just a game after all.

I would say in general no. Think about it, so many people play violent games, but is society really getting more violent, and before you answer that realise that throughout most of human history death by war was commonplace.