violence in video games

many people argue that video games cause people to become violent after a while. what i dont understand is why the same amount of blame isnt put on tv and movies. of course i do not beleive that any of these things cause much violence. im sure that there are some people out there who are easily impressionable, but thats there own problem. i started thinking of this when my substitute history teacher said that video games were corrupting american youth and that they were the cause behinds colombine and the virginia tech shooting. i am pretty sure no one on giantbomb hates video games but im wondering your oppinion. does violence in video games affect people

You ever ask me that again and I'LL TRAMPLE YOU WITH MY STAGECOACH!!!

" i started thinking of this when my substitute history teacher said that video games were corrupting american youth and that they were the cause behinds colombine and the virginia tech shooting. "

"what i dont understand is why the same amount of blame isnt put on tv and movies."

Probably affects them about as much as Richard Wagner affected Hitler.

" @kaaaaaaahn said:

" i started thinking of this when my substitute history teacher said that video games were corrupting american youth and that they were the cause behinds colombine and the virginia tech shooting. "

If a teacher made such a bold, sweeping generalisation like that at my school they would have been sacked.  Then again, who gives a shit about subs? "

violence in video games/movies does not cause people to be violent, however  it almost certainly desensitizes people to violence.

Anything can influence a mind if that mind is already on track to kill. But blaming the same thing over and over is just unimaginative and an attempt to at playing it safe because it's been accepted before. I'm pretty certain brutal murders took place before video games, far more than they do now. But people blame what they don't understand, which is why the people who blame video games are rarely gamers, the fear of pacman is a frightening path to stray from...
 

" many people argue that video games cause people to become violent after a while. what i dont understand is why the same amount of blame isnt put on tv and movies. of course i do not beleive that any of these things cause much violence. im sure that there are some people out there who are easily impressionable, but thats there own problem. i started thinking of this when my substitute history teacher said that video games were corrupting american youth and that they were the cause behinds colombine and the virginia tech shooting. i am pretty sure no one on giantbomb hates video games but im wondering your oppinion. does violence in video games affect people "

It doesn't cause somebody to be violent. It can influence it, but it alone doesn't cause it. I'm sure that if you look at those people's history, you'll see that they had more problems than just video games.
 
Now, I would agree that video games or TV can be a bad influence on a child's mind, which is why I wouldn't let some 8 year old play Grand Theft Auto. But it doesn't cause them to go out on a rampage.

I'm gonna try to not get pissed off and just say: No.

im glad people see it this way. yeah and the sad thing is that sub was my middle school principle 

" Anything can influence a mind if that mind is already on track to kill. But blaming the same thing over and over is just unimaginative and an attempt to at playing it safe because it's been accepted before. I'm pretty certain brutal murders took place before video games, far more than they do now. But people blame what they don't understand, which is why the people who blame video games are rarely gamers, the fear of pacman is a frightening path to stray from...   "

It's just video games turn to be the scape goat for parents who cant bother parenting and uneducated people to blame problems on instead of trying to fix the real cause because that might actually be work. It was books when they where first invented, then movies once books became common place, then comics, then Rock and Roll, then Heavy Metal, then Dungeons and Dragons, then Rap music and now video games. As long as there are small minded people who like to blame the worlds problems on something instead of looking to themselves for the cause of the problem, there will always be an "*insert product/past time* is destroying the world/is the spawn of Satan" for them to blame things on.

" Anything can influence a mind if that mind is already on track to kill. But blaming the same thing over and over is just unimaginative and an attempt to at playing it safe because it's been accepted before. I'm pretty certain brutal murders took place before video games, far more than they do now. But people blame what they don't understand, which is why the people who blame video games are rarely gamers, the fear of pacman is a frightening path to stray from...   "

I only mention it because it's relevant but I'm a tech reporter by trade, so there are a lot of times when those kinds of articles inevitably crop up: Someone went on a shooting or something, and said someone played videogames. The real wildfire probably started after Columbine, and after it anytime a shooting happens reporters will call on what are essentially anti-videogame experts to comment. I have some terrible luck with all this, haha, because not only am I a gamer but I was a creative writing student at the time when Virginia Tech happened, and believe you me they started looking at us differently (and recommending therapy for students who didn't write about flowers and rainbows).
 
@Erzs said:

" Anything can influence a mind if that mind is already on track to kill.

" It's just video games turn to be the scape goat for parents who cant bother parenting

Only stupid retards who let themselves get effected by them. Those people don't deserve to play video-games.

I wrote my Magnum Opus on this subject.  No, they don't cause violence.  They're just the latest scapegoat in a society that always wants something to blame for their problems even with the real causes are staring them in the face.

there is violence and sex in movies. so i dont understand why its a big deal when there in a cutscene in game 

" @kaaaaaaahn said:

" many people argue that video games cause people to become violent after a while. what i dont understand is why the same amount of blame isnt put on tv and movies. of course i do not beleive that any of these things cause much violence. im sure that there are some people out there who are easily impressionable, but thats there own problem. i started thinking of this when my substitute history teacher said that video games were corrupting american youth and that they were the cause behinds colombine and the virginia tech shooting. i am pretty sure no one on giantbomb hates video games but im wondering your oppinion. does violence in video games affect people "

Columbine and VT is not violence in video games Marilyn Manson, or anything in that nature,  wht it is is the way people are raising there children, either the parents are bad influence on their children, dont give a shit what their kids do, or teach their children to do things that are wrong "

" violence in video games/movies does not cause people to be violent, however  it almost certainly desensitizes people to violence. "

People are responsible for their own actions.

your avatar makes this thread even better OP, thanks for that. :D

i don't think it has anymore affect on a persons tendancy of violence any more than tv or movies.
what peoples problem are is that it is new so the people of previous generations don't understand it and also because it is more interactive