Blame the games 3253: The return of the scapegoat

[Scarlett.]

Why does the Media always blame games for everything, half of them dont understand games, and the storys the have, Some like Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill are'nt just games they are storys, its not about "getting a high score" no more, neither is it about "getting to the next level" Hollywood films are 10 times more influencial, yet they are never slated.

Whats your opinion?

[Retroman]

"My child commited crimes because he played the game Manhunt!"

Lol it's just ridiculous...
Even if the person played the game, and was inspired/intreagued by it, it's the person who decided to take it to a further level because of desires inside of them.

Violence and indecent material is displayed in books, films and all forms of media. The most it could do is make a person act upon instincts already inside of them, which some people could argue is the games fault due to it triggering the events that resulted in something bad happening.

People don't commit crimes or do bad things unless they want to, or they're forced to. It's as simple as that.
A game can't brainwash you into thinking something is a good idea, unless you're extremely gullible, simple and weak willed.

Walking around with a "OMG THE WAY HE KILLED THAT MAN WITH A KATANA BY SLICING OFF HIS HEAD WAS WAY COOOOL! IM GOING TO DO IT MYSELF" attitude practically means you could copy anything, and deserve to be locked up instantly for being slightly insane.

[Mutya]

my favorite game is GTA but after playing it i dont fell like going out and steeling cars

[cujo-man]

What are you on about?

You say Hollywood films don't get the blame: They get blamed all the bloody time for chrissakes!

Anyway, I think the reasons games get blamed more is probably because it gives you a sense of what is like to kill a person, but it makes it satisfying as by killing someone or bashing someone's skull in, you've just completed a level. So you want to carry on killing more. And of course it gives kids a feeling that they've actually killed someone before in a game, so why won't they be able to do it in real life?

Both films and games are very influential, but games get blamed more because they influence kids more easily.

[Ann]

yes chewy i saw about this on the news today and to me it sounds daft as you say it does because to me theres more worse than that on the net isnt there really

[Retroman]

Originally posted by Mutya
my favorite game is GTA but after playing it i dont fell like going out and steeling cars

I wish you'd edit your sig!
Instead of insisting on stretching every single topic you post in.

[Scarlett.]

Even GTA:SA has a good storyline

[Retroman]

I don't see where you're coming from with the storyline situation...
You're saying that if a game has a storyline it's impossible for it to influence people into doing bad things?

I agree with the topic, but there's no logic in saying games with stories influence people less than one's with no stories.

If anything a story would influence you more, due to it making you feel involved with the game and care about the goings on in it/the characters etc.

[cujo-man]

Originally posted by Ann
yes chewy i saw about this on the news today and to me it sounds daft as you say it does because to me theres more worse than that on the net isnt there really

I agree. You're on the bloody net! Children shouldn't be near you!

This shouldn't be allowed!

(kidding!:hugesmile:)

[Scarlett.]

CJ was trying his best to drive drugs out of his gang, he was trying to get his brother out of prison while looking after his sister, the nicest GTA character so far

apart from the whole mass murdering part

Plus the game is for 18 year olds, its the parents fault for buying it for the kid

[Scarlett.]

Originally posted by Ann
yes chewy i saw about this on the news today and to me it sounds daft as you say it does because to me theres more worse than that on the net isnt there really there is a lot of worse things on the net

[001steven]

It made me sick when i heard that a parent of a murderer blamed Manhunt for the crime he commited..how pathetic was that its just like going to court for shoplifting and saying 'GTA sandreas made me do it'

Got a message for YOU the parents and PMs that blame video games
GET A LIFE if a person goes and kills someone it isnt the games fault its either themselfs or the enviromenet they are brought up in.

[Scarlett.]

exactly!!!:thumbs:

[XxShortyxX]

People tend to blame TV, Computer games, the man down the road whenever a kid kills another kid or whatever, instead of blameing the parents or the kid.

[Dr43%er]

001,

It made me sick when i heard that a parent of a murderer blamed Manhunt for the crime he commited


It was the parents of the murdered son, rather than the parents of the murderer that blamed the game. What the media forgot was that the murderer was playing the game round the lad he murdered house. And it was the murdered under 18's game. But of course the parents don't like to mention that. So you were about there. It happened about 2 miles from me.

[spacebandit]

Easy headline grabbing politics - and thats all it is.

Happened in the early 80's with videos, the end result of that was the Video Recordings Act 1984 which made Britain the most censored country in the world for film.

They use games, and movies to grab cheap headlines, which invariably leads to bad laws.

[Dr43%er]

The man above talks scene. And I blame people like Keith Vaz "mp" for jumping on stuff like this just so he can get his face in the paper. He will have never seen manhunt before he called for it to be banned. I still say the parents have to answer sometimes. What are their kids doing playing of watching 18 films/games? That is just negligence.

[001steven]

and why is some so-called doctor 'dont know who she is but she was on the news' that she wants to know why under age kids play 18 games... i got the answer...... because we want to and i dont want you to know what i play its up to me what i play not some silly doctor like i said before ITS NOT THE GAMES FAULT the way kids are today

[Scarlett.]

It really irritates me when games are blamed, its not the games fault, its the mentally disturbed kids fault, and the parents for not noticing their kid is disturbed

[Shaun]

Whilst I don't think that playing violent games perhaps encourages youths to become more violent - you can't just say that it's a coincedence that youth crime has been more prominent with the rise of violent computer games, films, musical lyrics...

In general I think popular culture, and games such as Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt, has made way for a harsher environment; nothing shocks people any more. It's no longer seen as horrifying if there's a swear word said on TV, or a breast flashed, or someone to have a fistfight... I think that society has just changed over time to become more adapted and used to violence and violence in the media.

[Scarlett.]

but then again, Crime is at its lowest its ever been

[001steven]

exactly.....this is why video games get bad publicity

[Jack]

It's just used as a scapegoat by the government so they can skirt the real issue and root cause of the problem.

[Scarlett.]

Exactly! 100% agreed

[XxShortyxX]

Originally posted by Jack
It's just used as a scapegoat by the government so they can skirt the real issue and root cause of the problem.


I so agree. It's so annoying :mad:

[~Kizwiz~]

I've been playing violent video games for years and years, I have also been viewing gory horror films too.

They havent effected me in the slightest. I find playing such games is cathartic and takes my frustrations away.

To blame violent games for crimes is ridiculous, its not the game, its the person doing the crime thats the problem

[001steven]

exactly.....so have i played violent video games for years the goverment just likes to blame the games because us the younger generation take more notice of video games then crappy politics....

[bananarama]

Originally posted by spacebandit
Easy headline grabbing politics - and thats all it is.

Happened in the early 80's with videos, the end result of that was the Video Recordings Act 1984 which made Britain the most censored country in the world for film.

They use games, and movies to grab cheap headlines, which invariably leads to bad laws.

Indeed and of course while other nations have moved on the UK is still one of the most censored countries.

Our news broadcasts are highly sanitised so as not to offend the more sensitive amongst us which of course means reality is suppressed for everyone.

Government are sending troups to fight the Taliban while at home the Government is becoming the taliban with their addiction to control individual lives.

Political correctness attempts to control how we think and what we should think according to our masters. We are being told what to eat instead of being advised what we should eat..

Games films will always be targeted by control freak regimes like our governments and religious institutions...UK governments are not as bad as some countries but sadly we are catching up with dictatorship mentality rulers at a frighting pace. The nation is sleep walking into political disaster that will kill freedom as we should know it.....

[001steven]

they use games to blame because they have nothing else to blame 'cough' but at the end of the day they are actually advertising the game even more the goverment are TO***RS they ruin evrything and so do these so-called Experts

[Scarlett.]

The Government need to realise, there was plenty more murders before games, and less after they where invented

[001steven]

exactly.... GAMING is the FUTURE FACT!!

[Scarlett.]

agreed, it will one day take over TV

[Shaun]

Originally posted by Chewy
The Government need to realise, there was plenty more murders before games, and less after they where invented

Where exactly can you prove that? :rolleyes:

[Scarlett.]

Originally posted by Shaun
Originally posted by Chewy
The Government need to realise, there was plenty more murders before games, and less after they where invented

Where exactly can you prove that? :rolleyes: Well on the news it says Crime levels are at the lowest they have ever been, so, its safe to assume that murder is at its lowest (excluding terrorism):rolleyes:

[Retroman]

Originally posted by Chewy
The Government need to realise, there was plenty more murders before games, and less after they where invented

That's most likely true, but more to do with a better law system.
Not the best law system in some people's eyes, but much better than that of one many years ago. Also, you're almost suggesting games = less murders lol.

I personally dont think playing games comes into the equation.
You have to understand that why would a game influence one person to commit murder, and not another?

It's purely because that person was always capable of murdering someone, and always had a desire/ability to do so. They weren't tricked into it, or persuaded to do it because of 3D characters..otherwise EVERYONE who plays the game would kill in real life.

However, I do believe a person with deep intensions to kill, could be inspired by a book/computer game/film etc. Eg. if that book/computer game/film showed the work and genius of a man who killed and how he got away with it, it could influence some people to aspire to be as good as they were.

But again, it'd be down to the person and the willingness to kill within them, not the computer game.

[Scarlett.]

Originally posted by Retroman
Originally posted by Chewy
The Government need to realise, there was plenty more murders before games, and less after they where invented

That's most likely true, but more to do with a better law system.
Not the best law system in some people's eyes, but much better than that of one many years ago. Also, you're almost suggesting games = less murders lol.

I personally dont think playing games comes into the equation.
You have to understand that why would a game influence one person to commit murder, and not another?

It's purely because that person was always capable of murdering someone, and always had a desire/ability to do so. They weren't tricked into it, or persuaded to do it because of 3D characters..otherwise EVERYONE who plays the game would kill in real life.

However, I do believe a person with deep intensions to kill, could be inspired by a book/computer game/film etc. Eg. if that book/computer game/film showed the work and genius of a man who killed and how he got away with it, it could influence some people to aspire to be as good as they were.

But again, it'd be down to the person and the willingness to kill within them, not the computer game. agree 100% you put it better than ever could

[001steven]

and i cant stand it when they blame video games for kids obesity... yeah ofcourse if they never go out and just sit around yeah they do gain wait but it IS the parents fault

[Dizzy]

Blame the games? Um. Seems kind of stupid. If the game is an 18 for instance, then say like a 14 year old can't buy it for themselves, so really it is the parents fault if they buy some violent 18 year olds game for a younger kid, right? There is an age on games for a reason. I'm not going to say I'm perfect because I often play on Grand Theft Auto which is an 18, but I gradually grew bored of it, but I'm no insane killer, so you're all safe xD. But some kids might be led on to think all these guns etc. are cool, which of course they aren't. But they can't blame it all the games, it's really down to the parents at the end of the day and it's down to them what their kids watch or play on.

[001steven]

yeah exactly

[Ruth]

I think Kiz made a good point - such games can actually be ways to release aggression or pent up feelings.

It's pointless blaming video games, or horror movies - or Marilyn Manson - when people commit horrible acts. Nobody is going to suddenly decide that they want to commit murder because of a game, film or song. It is something that it already in them.