Do Video Games Make You a Bad Person?

I'd be pretty skeptical. Terms like 'negative results' and 'socially constructive attitudes' are pretty slippery. I can't seem to find the article for free, and I'm not ready to pay for it. Some of the more violent games seem to almost require a 'team' effort (two or more players fighting a common enemy). Is cooperation a 'socially constructive attitude',even if the purpose of the cooperation is a hefty virtual body count?

Can't say for sure because I can't find the article for free and I definitely won't pay for it but my guess is this is another example of mis-diagnosed causality studies.

Did the Romans love their gladiator battles because they played too much Resident Evil 5 or Halo 3? No it was a spectacle to distract them from what was really going on.

Will a person with all the social/mental disturbances of a Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer grow up and be a caring kindergarten teacher if they don't play any of the Grand Theft Auto Games? This is likely more junk science.

you could say I am skeptical about it...

I'm with Hooker on this one. I keep racking up the dead orcs and trolls and that lets the managers and politicians in my real life live.

GA to you Hooker,

Human beings have been and always will be capable of violence and throughout known history forms of violence have served as a form of entertainment.

Instead of labeling video games, violent movies, pro-wrestling as evil because they are violent maybe people should look at it from a different perspective. We are more civilized because this violence is in a fantasy world. Better for it to be outside of reality than in the real world, IMO that is progress.

too add on to that movies give us an outlet for violence. just look at which movies are popular saw, saw2 ,saw3 etc.. made my point?

I can't comment on the Saw series of movies, have never seen them. But from what I have heard they have to do with torture and self inflicted violence to save ones own life. That's not my cup of tea so I choose to not watch them.

if that outlet is never used then that pent up aggression is not going to be beneficial to that person or society as a whole. I am sure everyone knows a very polite and quiet person who on a rare occasion has exploded at what appears to be nothing because they are the type of person that keeps all their feelings, thoughts and aggression pent up until they go off like a tea kettle.

Violent video games just like comedy movies, food, alcohol, and (insert every imaginable product or activity here) are all about moderation in use. Every thing/person a person interacts with will contribute to that person's life in a negative or positive way. How much they choose to allow it to affect them is up to that person and no one else.

Good Answer to ya Hooker.

I would love to live in a perfect world where we can achieve harmony with each other. My choice in video games will not make this a reality.

Living a well balanced, mature and uplifting life will. The media I use to relax is my choice.

Please don't push your 'enlightened views' upon me. One must find their own way. Lead by example, not legislation.

TRex,

"I would love to live in a perfect world where we can achieve harmony with each other."

You've touched on my number 1 pet peeve in this touchy-feely world (or nation) we lately find ourselves in. It ain't gonna happen.

I'm so sick of these elitist idealists who claim that all our woes can be resolved simply by sitting down and talking with those who disagree with us. This is so much BS and so much against the reality of those personality types who would control as much as they can without qualm or care about those they victimize.

We see it everyday, from the local convenience store robber, to the corrupt politician at any level, to the unscrupulous religious leader, to the dictator. It's never going to go away permanently. It's just the nature of the beast (or human).

The best we can do is to be aware and be prepared to defend ourselves, our families, and our communities when the need arises. Unfortunately, now it seems we need to defend ourselves from these so-called idealists, so we can work on the true threats without distraction.

Makes me wonder where Saddam Hussein and Kim Il Jong went wrong? They obviously weren't corrupted by video games.

Hooker

I personally would just like to thank you for your service to our country. I know a lot of you guys got a bad rap, but war is doing what is necessary to get the job done. Sometimes we may not like it. All the media really needs to stay out of it.

I know that there were a lot of misconceptions about previous wars that have been fought and there are even more about the current conflict.

I again thank you, for you service, in the defense of our country.

Jeff

Hooker:

I think that you are on to something in your comments as I see it, growing up in the 1950s we watched Westerns & Combat Movies, the county jails were empty during the week & Barney Fife was the norm as far as Law Enforcement went in a small town, now due to a society of "Care Bears", known criminals walk the streets & law abiding citizens must try in their routines of life to not become a victim, as far as video games are concerned, I think that this depends on the individual as other factors such as peer groups will influence character beyond the games.

Our elite, the ones making decisions that the rest of us must bear are making policies that are unreasonable & @ some point will invade the Gated Communities that these folks hide in @ night while the rest of us, for fear of legal prosecution are afraid to protect ourselves due to the fantasy world that these people live in.

Well, the Roman gladiators (not always Roman) fought to the death, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure I'd lump that in with video games, violent movies, etc. We know they aren't real. The gladiators, on the other hand were real and their injuries and deaths were real. How many here have ever witnessed a real murder? A violent one? People who have served in wars have. Some of the people who have have been in school shootings have. (And is it just a coincidence that some of these kids have played a lot of violent video games?)

Also, a "bad person" is what? How do you define that for this discussion? As allluded to in a post above, the aphorism, "As you think, so you become" does have merit. How do any of us become proficient at any activity? Thought precedes the actions leading to developing a skill or personality trait. To think that thoughts and impressions (images from video games, movies, UFC, etc.) do not have an effect on participants is pretty naive. True, most participants in these activities don't go out and try to emulate the video game in real life. But the more you do ANY activity, the more your thoughts will trend to that activity even when not doing it. I remember as a kid fishing for hours. Sitting there staring at a floating "cork" in the water. And when trying to go to sleep at night, seeing that image after closing my eyes.

A little self-introspection in this regard would prevent most people from disagreeing that there is some effect. You can argue how much but I don't think you can argue there is NONE.

GA. Thank you Guest. I am a Vietnam vet, Chu Lai, 1967-68. Tet was about as much violence as needed to fill a lifetime. In my duties as an ammo bearer (81 mm), infantry, and finally SB operator and RTO at TOC, "being there" when the s..t hit the fan was an almost daily occurrence. I no longer hunt, though I still have my guns, know how, and will use them, as 'weapons' if need be. I have also found an inverse proportion between those who got closest to the killing and the desire for such idiotic games that shred some stereotypical opponent. Splatter games, Camouflage wear, chains and headbands, and all other such perceived accoutrement's of the warrior are most often affected by those who were never there, or at best clerk typists, promptly on time at the chow line.

That said, I will still play the old 'Alien Invasion' type game, shooting spaceships out of a black background with an increasing threat level as I become more proficient. But instead of wasting my time at games, I can waste it here, trying to 'enlighten' some of these troglodytes.

I thank you for your service to our country as well.

I love irony, and the irony in Hooker's answer has me rolling on the floor.

He proclaims: Don't be a sheep, I've been in the service, grab your gun and protect what is yours, there's aggressors everywhere, and there is no reasoning with them. Such thoughts don't lead to negative behaviours.

But where did this get him an his compatriots?...The president said we need to attack somebody...Who are we to question the logic? Let's grab our guns, protect what we believe is ours, we must be the aggressor to take the battle to them, there is no time for reasoning...Baaah, baaah, baaah...Who was the sheep?

You become what you despise when you treat others with despite. That is how despite works. Our American friend is unwittingly playing out the endgame of a fifty year long social experiment of militaristic industrialism. It will end badly, when lacking sufficient wolves, the sheep turn on each other.

Irony? Absolutely no irony.

You fail to distinguish between the (American) politician who declares the war and the (American) serviceman who carries out the orders of our civilian leaders. The US military does not go to war on its own volition.

If you don't understand the system, you have no basis for valid critique.

Yes, some servicemen salivate at the opportunity to go kill people and break things, but most of us abhor the need to do such things even in our own defense. Nobody hates war more than the patriot warrior.

Personally, I would love nothing more than for the US to isolate itself from all the crap that goes on outside our borders and only react (with all the force we can bare) when we are threatened. Oh, and close our borders, as well.

Hooker

As we continue to veer further and further off topic........

"close your borders"?? To what? Imported oil? Imported natural gas? Imported fresh water? Imported electricity? It would be a long dark cold winter. Maybe you just want to close those borders to certain things the you personally don't use or like?

My original thought on closing borders was in relation to immigration.

On second thought, though, the US, with a little short term sacrifice here and there, is quite capable of self-sufficiency.

The real question should be; Can the rest of the world survive (peacefully or otherwise) without the food and monetary aid we so lavishly provide?

Hooker <-- straying, forever straying

Have any of you gone to a movie where there was allot of car racing or drag racing?

I have noticed that after the movie was over, you could hear all kinds of tires screaming and racing going on in the streets where their were allot of them testing their driving skills from the movie. If you get caught you are only going to pay a fine.

This might not compare to say shooting someone or murder because our conscience may not allow us to go to this extreme but for a small percentage I beleive that some people do take it to that extreme.

There's also some "small percentage" that don't need encouragement from a movie or a video game to perform their nefarious acts. I suspect these are likely the same people for the large part (ignoring highly impressionable youth ).

I detest this trend in society the need to find external causes for somebody acting badly. It's invariably a personal decision to do something anti-social. That decision may be somewhat mitigated by environment or physiological/psychological events but it's still a personal decision.

A large part of our individual growth is learning from poor decisions, paying a penalty and moving on, hopefully not making the same mistake twice. Abrogating that penalty by denying self-responsibility does not do anyone any favors, especially the one who needs to learn the lesson the most, the perpetrator.

Hooker

Bad people are bad before they are introduced to video games. Studies in experimental social psychology rarely have statistical significance, meaning that they tend to make errors due to the inability to establish what is "normal".

Certain types of videos, movies, and other violent activities attract those who share a common interest. Does that make some part of them "normal"? Hardly!

One of the biggest social fallacy I have ever seen is the idea that every one is equal or the same in some social way. Or that "normal" can take more abuse than "unusual" people. These tags are, of course, judgemental and ridiculous.

There is a lot more bad science out there than there is bad videos.