This study is utterly meaningless though; it says absolutely nothing at all about whether or not there is any impact on the experience of guilt / empathy in real life scenarios. Why would one feel guilt when committing an immoral or criminal act in a game? There is no real victim, no one is being harmed, it's a piece of code. Just like most people don't leave the cinema with trauma after seeing a "Scream" movie. I'm pretty sure they would be scarred for life if they walked into a cinema and someone was dragged to the front and decapitated with a knife. To use a more realistic example; no one walked out of "Black Hawk Down" with PTSD... because it isn't real and human beings are pretty good at knowing the difference.

In theory; the more or the longer you play video games, the more attuned you become to this fact? You know that no one is really hurt or dying, you know that if you reload a save that guy you just saw being killed is magically "alive" again, therefore, why WOULD anyone feel genuine guilt over video game actions? I'd be more worried if people DID feel guilty because that, to me, would suggest a troublesome disconnection from reality.

Case in point: I could drive around GTA running people down all day and I'd be nothing more than bored. Yet a couple of years ago, I *thought* I saw a cat being hit by a car (it turned out to be fine) and yet I swear the shock / upset of it messed me up for over a week.

Until someone does a study of gaming that shows playing games with criminal / violent content decreases sensitivity and guilt related to REAL WORLD violence and criminal activity... I'd take this with a massive pinch of salt. As things stand now, I think The News and modern politics does a much better job of desensitizing people.

It's a story about an AIs gaining sentience, thats like saying why would someone watch the film AI to see a robot kid trying to kill another kid.

What do you call seeking out scientific theory on the topic if it's not research? :/

Thank you for you opinion, you have chosen to ignore the findings of the studies I posted then? That's fine you're entitled to draw your own conclusions....As am I.

The finding of the study was that the more one plays video games, the less they are affected emotionally by that video game or other similar video games. That's it. That was the entire scope of the study. It says absolutely nothing about the effect of video games on real-life violence or empathy.

Why? Because no study has EVER shown a link between video games and increased real-life violence, or reduced real-life empathy. There have been HUNDREDS that have tried to show this link and yet, there are none that have ever demonstrated it and - in fact - several studies have "accidentally" shown links between video gaming and reduced real-life violence.

Do you think you are the first person who has assumed this link and wanted to prove it? People have been making this claim for years. It's not under-researched, the world is not lacking for people trying to prove this entirely baseless "games make people bad!" hypothesis, and yet no one has managed to drop that "bomb shell" study, because the facts and the statistical results just do not back up the prejudiced assumption. :shrug:

Like TS said though and like I've said, your findings don't really prove your point.

Seems like some people care more about people potentially seeing some pixels than they do actually tackling the problem. Feels like faux concern.

But what is abuse///violence etc...like a kid playing a game gets angry at losing and throws the controller smashing the telly screen with it....is that the video game changing how this kid reacts, does that come under this studys findings?

thats just the kid being a brat though, the video game isnt teaching him to thow his controller and smash the tv

People have been trying to prove a link between video games and violence for years to no avail.

Nor do they disprove them, it's simply a theory that is under review isn't it?

I'm not looking to propose my opinion as fact, all I'm wanting at the moment is the right to have one without being insulted.

I would be interested to see those.
I don't think I'm the first person to pose this theory no, what a strange question.

Could you tell me why you think the assumption is prejudiced... do you consider gamers a marginalised group?

Of course it's a form of prejudice; you aren't seeing statistics or figures that show an increase in certain behaviours associated with video games... You've heard "people say" that there is a link and then trying to find stats and figures to back up that opinion after its formed.

And no, at this point, I would say that gamers (people who video game to at least some degree) are actually fairly mainstream - however - 15 / 20 years ago gamers certainly WERE a marginalised - and occasionally mocked - group. And there was a period of time where the (unproven, and still unproven / debunked) claims about violence and video games were constant tabloid fodder. We seemed to have moved on from that in the last decade and even to be "getting there" in terms of gaming being considered as legitimate a form of adult cultural expression as film / music / television so yes... It's exceptionally frustrating when people - usually older people who had no experience of gaming then and have no more now - start hauling out those same old dusty arguments for another whirl.

If Esther wants to conduct a study and DEMONSTRATE to me that there are problematic psychological effects stemming from video games then I'm more than willing to examine those claims and think about what might be going on. While her evidence remains "because I just think it probably does..." it's nothing more than, in my eyes, an outdated and unfounded opinion.

More ageism from you then? nothing to substantiate your claims of reduced real life violence..

There is nothing that you've shown me that suggests it's on outdated and unfounded opinion except your opinion... You stood on your soapbox due to your young white male opinion that she is not entitled to one.
There isn't a topic on this forum you haven't had an input on, again, what gives your views credence on those?

The game triggers the behaviour though.

I don't really care if you believe that it reduces violence Kizzy - I'm on the fence on that one personally, I doubt it has an effect either way... because violent people are violent for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with video games.

As for the rest of it; the onus is not on me to "prove that games don't increase violence". That's not how this works and you know it. The burden of proof lies with the person making the claim, in this case, Esther and... Well... You.

If someone has anger issues, there's many things that will trigger it.

The trigger isn't the problem, the anger issue is.

If they have anger issues!

What if the kid or adult hadnt shown any anger issues before hand? They then hurl a controller through the tv....bad day at school? Or the frustration at losing some pointless one on one.

If they've never shown anger issues in the past you think a video game is going to create one out of thin air?

If they hurl a controller through the TV because they lost some pointless one on one then they have some issue with temper and violence anyway.

A perfectly normal person without those issues isn't going to over react so extremely and violently to a trivial game.

I disagree, maybe ask all the parents replying about hearing clattering and banging and foul mouthed expletives from upstairs, if the kids had shown previous examples of this behaviour before playing the game...

Then if they say that they did, you may want to explain to them how you think their child is abnormal.:nono:

Their child has an anger issue. If they want to blame it on a PlayStation instead of actually addressing that problem, that's their own issue. And it'll be a much bigger issue later on.

Throwing solid objects around the room because you're losing a game IS abnormal, as in, most kids DON'T do that.

Why does a child start having anger issues?

Abuse, fear. .gaming.......etc etc



A normal child could easily turn into an abusive little angry **** within 3 months of gaming with their mic turned on....it cant be denied games and gaming changes kids.

Why don't you ask them? Considering it's you who first made the ridiculous assertion that video games create temperamental and violent kids.

If a trivial game causes them to kick off, you can bet that even without a video game, something would cause them to kick off. Again, it's not the trigger to blame but the anger issue itself.

:rolleyes:

Well, the vast majority of kids don't throw controllers at the TV.

Could? Where is your source for this?

There's no evidence that this has happened.

I think maybe the lines are blurring between growing teenagers who are going through extreme hormonal changes and gaming. If they're not erupting because they lost a game, they'll erupt at something else.

If a fully adjusted adult is getting violent, then that says more about them as a person than the video game.

I dont need a source...it cant be denied.

Yes, you're making quite a large claim. So, yes, you're going to need proof of it.

But you have none.