[Kazanne]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

The killers of Jamie Bulger would have committed the act regardless of whether or not they played a game or watched a film. They had the potential for killing long before they apparently watched Chucky.

If gaming truly could make someone violent then we would have seen a noticeable pattern emerge by now given that it's been over twenty years since violent video games came to prominence but not such pattern exists. Games (and anything else in the world) can act as a trigger for a disturbed individual but they don't create them. Blaming a trigger is pointless.

I agree to a certain extent,what I am saying is they CAN have an influence on certain kids, it's not black and white,there are shades of grey here,didn't the killers in Columbine copy something they had seen ? of course normal people can play them with no effect but not everyone is 'normal' I think that is what it alludes to,the similarities in the Bulger case was the train track,the blue paint and the batteries.but I agree in the fact they would have killed video or not in this case.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Nutcracker Sweet

I agree to a certain extent,what I am saying is they CAN have an influence on certain kids, it's not black and white,there are shades of grey here,didn't the killers in Columbine copy something they had seen ? of course normal people can play them with no effect but not everyone is 'normal' I think that is what it alludes to,the similarities in the Bulger case was the train track,the blue paint and the batteries.but I agree in the fact they would have killed video or not in this case.

That's a trigger though, you can't blame a trigger since anything and nothing can be a trigger for violence when it comes to violent people. They could have copied something they saw on TV or read in a book but that doesn't mean we scapegoat books or TV.

The Columbine killers were disturbed individuals that would have done what they did regardless of if they played Doom or not. It wasn't a game that put them on that path.

I remember reading a while back that psychopaths and the like often feel like the world around them isn't real and that's why they do what they do without a conscience because to them, they aren't hurting something that's alive, they're killing something that isn't real. I think any form of media could be dangerous to an individual like that because they can't distinguish between reality and their delusions. That's where things become dangerous, as long as a person understands the difference between reality and fiction then I don't think a game can affect a normal person in a lasting way (obviously like a film, games can be emotional or promote fear but that's VERY short term, just like a film would).

It's more important to look at why killers kill and to learn what the signs and events were that led to them killing then it is to scapegoat their actions. It's why I get quite passionate on this subject. The Helen Lovejoys of the world that think games are a corrupting force are just providing excuses for killers, it doesn't help anyone to blame films, games or music for someone's actions.