From a recent Wired article:
Defense lawyers had partly blamed Moore's actions on the hours he spent playing video games from the Grand Theft Auto series, in which players shoot police officers and steal cars. While the judge barred jurors from hearing testimony linking the 2003 shootings to the game, defense lawyer Jim Standridge reminded them that Moore, after his arrest, told police "Life is a video game; everybody has to die sometime."So, of course, the only solution for people like president-to-be Hillary Clinton will be to ban video games of this nature, instead of realizing that the cause-and-effect are probably reversed.
A person with a tendency to go blow a cop's head off will probably also play video games that do that. Not the other way around.
It's odd that the same people that try to argue us out of "Pot is a gateway drug" can mutter with the same breath "Games lead to violence". Do none of these people understand real logic? Of course, the other side of the aisle is guilty of the same mislogic, just in reverse. Oh well.
ObPoliticalDisclaimer: Libertarians are too extreme, but the path to go is somewhere in that direction.
Re:pot as a gateway drug
merlyn on 2005-08-11T22:45:31
I think we're both violently agreeing on that. I'm just saying it's odd that the left and the right can see those two statements in opposite ways even though a neutral interpretation of both leads to the conclusion that you and I both seem to have.Re:pot as a gateway drug
TeeJay on 2005-08-12T08:06:42
Quite:)
The thing about computer games is that, as with films, there are a small number of people who are vulnerable to such influences, but those same people are likely to seek violence in films or games or other ways regardless.
It seems very reasonable that violence in entertainment could reinforce the violent tendancies of a small set of people, but I imagine that in the absence of said games or films they would find the reinforcement and violence they seek in the news, or in day to day life or worse still act in a violent manner to fill the gap themselves.
Some people are just violent sociopaths or psychopaths and will behave in a violent way unless in a secure clinical environment.Re:pot as a gateway drug
schwern on 2005-08-12T22:43:06
It seems very reasonable that violence in entertainment could reinforce the violent tendancies of a small set of people, but I imagine that in the absence of said games or films they would find the reinforcement and violence they seek in the news, or in day to day life or worse still act in a violent manner to fill the gap themselves.Back in the Good Ol Days, serial killers cited Satan, their dog (possibly speaking for Satan, possibly not), their neighbor's dog, heavy metal or Jodie Foster as their influences. Nobody started a campaign to ban Jodie Foster or dogs.
Unfortunately, people have already drawn their conclusions and they search for connections to reinforce them.
Re:pot as a gateway drug
djberg96 on 2005-08-14T22:13:25
Unfortunately, people have already drawn their conclusions and they search for connections to reinforce them.I find it hilarious that a bunch of computer geeks with no expertise in psychology, psychiatry or pathology claim to *know* that it's *totally illogical* for there to be any connection whatsoever between repeated exposure to violent video games and violence in humans.
Just because there isn't any direct causal link doesn't mean there's no link at all. Look at porn and violence. It's a slow, warping process, that affects different people differently, and may not affect you at all. Then again, it just might.
Re:pot as a gateway drug
TeeJay on 2005-08-16T08:12:11
Nothing wrong with applying common sense and the basic rules of logic and statistics that every IT freshman learns at (any decent) university.
Also I guess this shows the register knows it's audience well when it publishes articles about research backing our wild and crazy amateur conclusions : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/15/video_games_and_aggression/
Of course they simply say there is lack of evidence of a causal link, but in the abscence of science - better to apply common sense then pull theories out of our ass like http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/12/lawyer_videogame_murder_link/ and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/14/uk_culture_minister_attacks_videogames/ and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/23/washington_state_to_ban_sale/Re:pot as a gateway drug
djberg96 on 2005-08-16T15:50:34
You've got to be kidding me. 56 hours of a MMORPG over the course of a month by teenagers or older? That study is garbage.How about hundreds of hours of a truly violent video game played over the course of a year or more by 8-10 year olds?
No one is ever going to risk performing a study like this. It simply can never be proven because no one is willing to take the risk of warping a bunch of prepubescent kids for the sake of a psychology experiment. Can you imagine the consequences? I can, and so can everyone else.
So, that leaves both sides falling back on their version of "common sense". And you'll forgive me if my version says that repeated, long term exposure to violent video games is probably detrimental to your psychological well being.
Re:pot as a gateway drug
TeeJay on 2005-08-17T19:03:05
Hasn't done me any harm or anybody I know.Re:pot as a gateway drug
runrig on 2005-08-17T21:29:40
How about hundreds of hours of a truly violent video game played over the course of a year or more by 8-10 year olds?I'm curious as to what parents let their 8 year olds play those games...none that I know...I must not be in the kewl crowd.
Only the extreme ones
