Group Cites Video Games for Violence, Sex

[Moloch]

WASHINGTON - Video games that have players shoot rival gang members, watch bare-breasted women and recreate the assassination of President Kennedy were criticized Tuesday by advocacy groups that said, at the least, they should be kept away from children.

In issuing its annual report card on video games, the National Institute on Media and the Family urged the industry to educate parents better about ratings and asked retailers not to sell such games to younger teenagers.

....
(and of course, Holy Joe put in his 2¢)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites), D-Conn., credited the industry for creating many good games but said the small percentage of games with extremely violent or pornographic content is "worse than ever."

....

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041123/ap_en_ot/video_game_violence

[rpannier]

1. That's What Parents are For (n/t)

[Mace]

6. For real!

Parents buy these games for their kids without even bothering to look at the rating that the game has.

All the grand theft auto games have a M rating which is supposed to restrict all kids under 17 from buying the game, but parents just seem to ignore that to make their kid happy.

[livinginphotographs]

18. Regardless of the "M" rating...

With a game called "Grand Theft Auto," it shouldn't be too hard to figure out that this game just might not be appropriate for young children.

Myself, as a 25 year old male, I like playing GTA. My parents raised me to be a responsible adult, and as a responsible adult, I should be free to choose my own entertainment without having to run it by Holy Joe first.

[SemperEadem]

29. I just bought GTA San Andreas for my 21 yr old

she plays it and I watch... she's gangsta, s0n! It's too rough for young children though.

[Old and In the Way]

2. I cite Violence and Sex for video games.....

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I have 2 kids and I am sick of the child-proofing this goverment is laying on us in their name. I have a novel idea! Let the parents do their job and stay out of the nanny business.

Joe, you're support of this immoral Iraqi War is creating real pornography....why not focus your moral outrage on reality instead of games?

[jayfish]

25. Thank-You For Making That Link.

Joementums' support for Iraqi violence v. his crusade against video game violence ... it totally escaped me. I'm so glad this guy didn't get to be VP. Sorry Al.

Jay

[Carolina]

42. Touche

"Joe, you're support of this immoral Iraqi War is creating real pornography....why not focus your moral outrage on reality instead of games?"

'Art' imitating life.

[Baclava]

3. I don't get it...

Logic says sex and violence video games would keep the kids at home on the couch, eating chips, and off the streets...

[mrbassman03]

35. Yeah, that's a great point...

When I am playing Halo 2, I am USUALLY not shooting other things is real life... Jeez, I see people working in cubicles on TV, doesn't want to make me go do that... sorry if this is a tad disjointed, it was a crazy night and I am not thinking clearly.

[Old Mouse]

4. I've worked in the video game industry for over 15 years

There are a score of studies that indicate there is a connection between video games and violence in children.

I personally think the relationship between concentrated repetitive activity and cognitive function is more complex than our current ability to monitor. Maybe they do cause violence, maybe they don't; I don't know. But I do know we are not as evolved a species as we think we are.

What bothers me is no one in the video game industry will even broach the subject... it's taboo. In the face of international data, including one Japanese study that claims all games, not just violent ones, cause brain damage, the stock replies of "freedom of speech" and "parent's responsibility" by those who are producing the product are irresponsible.

Sony has enough money. Let them equal the research to prove there isn't a relationship between games and violence.

http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp784772.html
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life
Craig A. Anderson
Department of Psychology
University of Missouri–Columbia
Karen E. Dill
Department of Psychology
Lenoir-Rhyne College
Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables. Study 1 found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games. In Study 2, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than did women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both the short term (e.g., laboratory aggression) and the long term (e.g., delinquency).

[UL_Approved]

5. Does it cause violence, or bring it out?

Do these circumstances create violent individuals, or do they simply bring violent tendencies to the surface? Shouldn't every teenager who plays violent video games become a bully or a murderer? And in addition, where are the studies that show the people who blow off steam by playing video games?

[Moloch]

7. I think Michael Moore said it best in 'Bowling For Columbine'

Most of the violent video games come from Japan and some of the anime that comes from there is the most violent entertainment I have ever seen, yet they have a much lower rate of crime than we do.

I think poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth here in the U.S. is one of the root causes of violence. Serial killers and people who are psychotic and have mental illness are found in countries all over the world but no other country comes close to us in terms of violent crime.

[democracyindanger]

38. I think David Cross said it best as a standup bit

"Video games cause violence? Yeah, like, you know, what was the video game the Nazis played before they invaded Poland?"

[Old Mouse]

40. I lived in Japan

and that is an oversimplification of a social system where particular types of violence are endemic.

[Old Mouse]

39. thats my point

There are no credentialed studies that say otherwise. There is just an overwhelming faith that our consciousness is more resilient than the potential effect. Why do people get so upset at the concept of video games having an effect on free will?

I worked briefly with a group of neuroscientists who had developed a computer game that - just by playing - would reorder the synapses of the human brain.

[Aunt Anti-bush]

10. My son is gentle as can be.

I just bought him another Grand Theft Auto for his birthday. It's the San Andreas or whatever that the media is bitching about. We play TOGETHER, too. We laugh for hours on end when we play it because it is so out of character for us both. Neither of us is going to go out the door and beat up somebody (or worse) because of a game. If my son was a little on the violent side to begin with I wouldn't let him play these, but he's perfectly well adjusted and games don't affect him in any way but to be able to blow off steam.

[jayfish]

14. I Have Been Playing Video Games For 25 Years...

and I say that's a load of bunk. Brain damage? Gimme a break, sounds like marijuana paranoia to me. "Junk Science" at best.

Jay

[Occulus]

17. *snort*

Those studies are piles of shite. I've been a gamer from the age of ten. I've played lots of the most violent video games ever made. I've seen some of the most violent television and movies ever made. I saw spot nudity in Fatal Attraction.

I, however, was brought up to have a very healthy knowledge of the difference between fantasy and reality. Therein lies the key.

[TrogL]

27. What am I missing here?

men had a more hostile view of the world than did women

That was one of the conclusions reached in a course I took in sex-role stereotypes.

In 1979.

Video games more advanced than Pong weren't even a gleam in the inventors' eyes.

video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency

In which direction? Can you say "logical fallacy"?

[SemperEadem]

30. people were violent before video games were even invented

before movies, before theatre, before the printing press, before monks in a monastery doing caligraphy on parchment. Violence is a human trait.

[progdonkey]

8. two rants...

First of all, a PS2 and one copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas cost $200. Where do we suppose kids could get such money? Why can't parents just say "no" to their children? These "Violence Police" criticize the game makers for making the game and the game sellers for selling it, but do they criticize parents for giving their kids the money to buy it? No, they say they're just "trying to help parents make good decisions." God, call a bad parent a bad parent!

My second rant is a bit more light-hearted. I saw the press conference this article is talking about on C-SPAN. Part of the presentation was a video montage of scenes from different violent and sexual games: GTA, Halo 2, Doom 3 (because demon killing should be restricted to the churches), the Guy Game, and Leisure Suit Larry. Because the point of this presentation was to show the violence and sex in these games, they showed the subjects in their full glory, and, C-SPAN being C-SPAN, the broadcast wasn't censored. My sister and I couldn't stop laughing when we saw a naked animated woman scream "Fuck me, Twiggy" to a tree and proceede to do just that in various low-resolution positions. All in glorious color on your neighborhood C-SPAN!

The more serious part of this second rant is my disgust at the hypocrisy of these morality police. I had never even heard of "the Guy Game," which was basically a topless beach video, and had only read about LSL. Yet here we have these people claiming to be shocked at this footage, yet giving me my first exposure to it! This footage was relegated to the dustbin of shitty adult games, yet thanks to the Joementum, we get to see it during primetime! Also, I hated how they tried to lump this new disgusting game called "JFK Reloaded" that has players trying to do the best LH Oswald impression. They say "this shows the horrible depths to which game developers have gone to make a buck." No, it's shows the horrible depths to which an idiot with a modicum of programming talent tries to make a buck on a shitty game that goes for 10 bucks a pop.

End of rants....

[Sin]

9. Notice that

The US army game the one that was made by the army to basically recruit young people to join.( 3D shooter squad based) that came out this year wasn't on the list and hell you didn't even need to buy this one. They gave it away for free just some crappy fill out forms on the web and a mailing address and bingo instant killing for your young ones on the comp.
So yea lists violence sure.

[durablend]

11. No, that's GOOOOOOOOOD violence

Gotta prepare those yung'uns for the "Freedumb Fighters Initiative" ya'know!

Can't have none of that sex stuff though...no no no

[stlsaxman]

12. I want an action video game called "Passions of Christ"...

You got it- fashioned after that lovely movie by Mel Gibson!

[derbstyron]

16. LOL.

Hee...Hee
Good One :)

[KingChicken]

13. I enjoy killing things in video games

Keeps me from killing real people, if I hadn’t gotten out some aggression during that during the last election I would of probably drove my car into the lobby of my office building.

[jayfish]

15. Halo 2 Has Really Helped Pass The Time. -NT-

Jay

[Occulus]

20. How bout Half-Life 2?

Best. PC. Game. Ever.

If Joementum decides to diss that one, he'll find himself being sent a HL2 map someday with his digital effigy being burned. Lotta stuff can be done with that Havok physics engine, huh?

In my HL2 map, you'll be able to throw exploding fire extinguishers at the entire * team, and play target practice with Joementum's digital model. Perhaps I'll make a giant Joementum Pachinko machine!

OOOoooh, they'll just hate HL2 when they discover it. The realism is simply unbelieveable....

[jayfish]

21. Two $50.00 Games In One Month Is A No-No.

Or else I would love to play it.:freak: ;(

[Occulus]

24. If you have a Xbox for Halo2, you may not be able to play HL2.

Half-Life 2 is far too intensive on the hardware for any console on the market. There are rumors that it will be out for the PS3 or the Xbox2, though. (edit: apparently, this isn't necessarily so. Read my other post below. NOTE: VALVe is known for confusion.)

PC games will always be more intense from a hardware standpoint than console games will.

[jayfish]

28. Actually Half-Life 2 Is Slated For Release...

on XBOX. At least as of June 2003. Also from what I have read HL2's system requirements are rather tame compared to what has been released for the PC as of late and The XBOX is just a Pentium III with a GeForce3. The porting itself should not be that difficult. Optimization will be the key and they have been working on it forever. DOOM 3 is also scheduled for XBOX and that has much higher sys. reqs. than HL2.

Jay

[Occulus]

31. That's some very old information.

From http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/18/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/ :

"Interestingly, Lombardi refused to say whether the console version would be available for the current generation Xbox or the upcoming Xbox 2 (which analysts and publishers expect to hit retail during the 2005 holiday season) when asked. Along with the recently released "Doom 3," "Half-Life 2" is one of the most graphically intensive games to ever come out for the PC -- and the game would look dramatically different on a next gen console."

However, I could be wrong:

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/games/news/2004/06/01/halflife2isrunningonxbox.html

"Despite the fact that Valve is running so far behind schedule with Half Life 2 that the Romans had to invent a new calendar to deal with the date swapping, Gabe Newell has announced that the FPS is up and running on the Xbox already! Talking to C+VG magazine he explained that it's not too far off ready to roll.

'We have it running on Xbox right now, but a decision on how and when we'll release it is reliant on our ongoing conversations with Microsoft,' Newell told the mag.

And that's not all. He reckons that the Xbox version will be identical to the PC version, only lacking a little graphical polish. That means the PC version's facial animation, physics and musculature systems will be running, making it surely the best looking game Bill's Big Box will ever see. Who knows when we'll see it, but boy we're excited."

Straight from the horse's mouth, the horse being Gabe Newell.

I guess we'll have to wait. I can say that if it's released on the Xbox instead of the Xbox2 there will be a noticable difference in quality. You can only do so much on a console.

[jayfish]

34. Occasionally...

I wish I had bought HL-2 and waited on Halo 2. I just never thought valve would release the damn thing and the Halo 2 hype swallowed me whole. Hell next thing ya know Duke Nukem Forever will be released. Halo 2 is a superb game in it's own right though and it's seriously cutting into my DCF time.

Jay

[Monte Carlo]

19. You can't read E, T, or M!?

How much more simple can it get? If the game has an "M" rating and large-breasted video game women in bikinis on the cover, it's not for little Johnny!!

[durablend]

23. Freepers CAN'T READ

You know, we're (Dems) going to KEEP losing until we finally figure this out.

The game industry is definitely going to have to fix the rating system...letters aren't going to cut it...PICTURES are where it's at (some breasteses for nudity, some guy getting his head blown off for violence, etc.)

[DerekG]

22. I'll go that wretch Lieberman one better

I hold an unpopular position on the DU, namely that the spate of FPS games and war simulations (WWII, Vietnam, Gulf War)--in blurring the line between reality and fantasy--are wonderful government tools (whether it be intentional or not) in turning our children into more efficient killers.

*I don't believe in censorship*, but I'm wary of these games, no matter how accomplished (HALO) or insipid (Postal). Just read all the "it's like a video game" comments coming in from our soldiers in Fallujah.

With that said, Lieberman--complicit in authorizing this bloodbath in Iraq--is a hypocritical POS.

[Occulus]

26. and yet, in spite of that position

there is only one game that I know of put out by a branch of our government, that being America's Army. Some games, like Half-Life 2, have a plotline that is decidedly anti-fascist (the fascism in question in HL2 being an alien invasion).

Aside from that, it's hard to teach someone to be a more efficient killer when they're using godmode and noclip mode, so they don't die and can walk through walls. That kind of thing sort of dilutes the realism. Imagine, however, how unpopular these games would be if they only gave you one "life" to get through the game and no save points.

Oy!

[Old Mouse]

41. Not unpopular with me

The most difficult thing about holding a war is the built in instinct against self-annihilation.

IIRC, As recently as WWII some academics project numbers as high as 50% of those who purposefully miss the target in combat. Improvements in basic training reduced this number to 10% or less by Viet Nam. The improvement was gained by making the target dummies as human as possible to slowly erode the inherent hesitation we have to killing our own species.

[whosinpower]

32. Sadly - it is a reflection on human nature

If sex and violence weren't popular - they would not be used to sell a variety of products.

My son said it perfectly the other night - "In a perfect world, there would be no crime, no wars, no violence.....but it would be soooooo boring!!!!!"

Sad, but true.

[progressivebydesign]

33. Why it sucks to be a moderate female parent on DU sometimes..

I think that people who find shooting and killing other people, killing prostitutes, virtually, are ill. THAT'S entertaining? I fail to see the thrill of killing people... I wish being an aggressive, chauvanistic, violent, inhumane, asshole wasn't such an accomplishment in America, now.

[Jack_DeLeon]

36. Fuck you Joe....

and the fuckers who agree with you.

Shit if he had the government take away our games then people would really get violent.

[Voltaire99]

37. Fuck Lieberman! Worse than a Repuke.

As usual, the sanctimonious prune is quick to add his mewling to the reactionary choir.

When are we going to find someone to run for his seat?

[Retrograde]

43. My favorites made the top 2!

When I used to get frustrated at work I'd come home and play DOOM. I found it very cathartic.

I agree that teen-aged boys shouldn't play Grand Theft Auto, though: most of them already drive badly enough...

linda