Still Think Video Games Are Completely Harmless?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Not to mention VIRTUAL REALITY games, and if you've never tried VR, then you have no idea how real the experience is.

But video games, are they harmless, or NOT? Maybe you should watch this...

Game Over

Independent filmmaker Christopher Garetano questions the future of gaming -- and the nature of reality itself -- as he investigates if society's love affair with video games is being used to reprogram our minds.

https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/strange-world/episodes/game-over

[Elessar]

Not to mention VIRTUAL REALITY games, and if you've never tried VR, then you have no idea how real the experience is.

But video games, are they harmless, or NOT? Maybe you should watch this...

Game Over

Independent filmmaker Christopher Garetano questions the future of gaming -- and the nature of reality itself -- as he investigates if society's love affair with video games is being used to reprogram our minds.

https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/strange-world/episodes/game-over

I am way against that kind of media and production. It instills a mentality in socially-challenged
youth to mimic and act out what they see in these productions. Absorbing that trash makes those
people feel like they are bullet-proof super humans. Very damaging as far as I am concerned.

[Kathianne]

I am against kids wasting hours on video games or watching TV or listening to music in their room alone. Actually I'm against kids spending hours and hours of time alone.

They need interaction from peers, parents, siblings. They need to be outdoors and moving. While sports work for many, for others it might be more 'parallel play,' as in swimming, walking, skating, running, climbing, or any of tens of activities.

I don't think in and of themselves video games cause violence, just look at countries with more violent games and youths that spend considerable time playing said games-China and Japan come to mind. The difference is that kids are rarely at home in those cultures. Grandparents, if not parents are often part and parcel of the child's life.

I'd take a look at our culture of loneliness much more closely than games or movies.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

If anyone does watch that episode, it brings up the point I've made, but goes one step further. The thing is, that after hours, days, weeks, months, even years of this intense gaming where you KILL people, and if anyone here has ever experienced VIRTUAL REALITY, IN HIGH DEFINITION, in 3D, it's so close to REALITY it's SCARY. What happens to a person's brain is that they get to a point where the line between killing people in their 3D virtual reality game or in REAL LIFE is blurred. That's what makes it so EASY for them to do something like that. And take me for an example, I have a mean streak in me, but no way in hell would I ever just walk about in public somewhere mowing people down with an assault rifle, but then, I've never played these games. But these people that have, HAVE walked around cutting people down in three dimensional virtual reality with blood spurting everywhere in such realism that, pfft, when they decide to do it for real, it's not a big shocker, they've already been shooting people for years in virtual reality. Keep in mind, we're not talking some hooky looking little game with stick 2D cartoon characters in it. We're talking games in 3D, high definition, with a level of realism that would blow your mind, and evidently, it does blow minds.

Yes, I think there's DEFINITELY a correlation between these bloody, 3D, virtual reality games and all these mass shootings we've seen. Maybe it's not the ENTIRE reason for it, but I don't think we can deny it does play a part.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

And just let me get a little wild here with a conspiracy theory... what if the government WANTS kids to play these games so they'll be influenced and desensitized to go out and shoot a bunch of innocent people so that they can USE those tragedies to attack the 2nd amendment and DISARM THE PEOPLE?

Sound crazy? Well... maybe... I don't think we know the HALF of how devious our government can be.

[pete311]

Japan and South Korea have mass shooting problems? Video games are like a national sport for them.

[pete311]

And just let me get a little wild here with a conspiracy theory... what if the government WANTS kids to play these games so they'll be influenced and desensitized to go out and shoot a bunch of innocent people so that they can USE those tragedies to attack the 2nd amendment and DISARM THE PEOPLE?

Sound crazy? Well... maybe... I don't think we know the HALF of how devious our government can be.

Yes it's crazy. Get help.

[Elessar]

Japan and South Korea have mass shooting problems? Video games are like a national sport for them.

Firearms restrictions are very stringent in both countries.

Try researching sometime.

[Noir]

I am against kids wasting hours on video games or watching TV or listening to music in their room alone. Actually I'm against kids spending hours and hours of time alone.

They need interaction from peers, parents, siblings. They need to be outdoors and moving. While sports work for many, for others it might be more 'parallel play,' as in swimming, walking, skating, running, climbing, or any of tens of activities.

I don't think in and of themselves video games cause violence, just look at countries with more violent games and youths that spend considerable time playing said games-China and Japan come to mind. The difference is that kids are rarely at home in those cultures. Grandparents, if not parents are often part and parcel of the child's life.

I'd take a look at our culture of loneliness much more closely than games or movies.

Sitting down to read a book is a much more solitary and sedentary activity than playing video games - ofcourse as with all things excess can lead to problems, but few activities are as mentally intense, socially rewarding, and safe as video games.

[Kathianne]

Sitting down to read a book is a much more solitary and sedentary activity than playing video games - ofcourse as with all things excess can lead to problems, but few activities are as mentally intense, socially rewarding, and safe as video games.

I agree with the reading activity for hours, it's not something one would want to dominate the life of a child. Like all the other choices, an average of a couple hours a day for any shouldn't be a problem for most. Like anything else in life, it's balance. American kids are spending too much time alone.

[pete311]

Firearms restrictions are very stringent in both countries.

Try researching sometime.

My job here is done. You've made my point. Thank you.

[Elessar]

My job here is done. You've made my point. Thank you.

I did not make your point at all. I refuted it, meaning if someone really wants a firearm
they will find one illegally.

[pete311]

I did not make your point at all. I refuted it, meaning if someone really wants a firearm
they will find one illegally.

Guess it's so difficult, it's not worth the effort. Either way, video games are not the cause. It's such a lame scapegoat and so predicable that republicans would use that card. Trump mentions it and like zombie drones you guys all are nodding your heads.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Guess it's so difficult, it's not worth the effort. Either way, video games are not the cause. It's such a lame scapegoat and so predicable that republicans would use that card. Trump mentions it and like zombie drones you guys all are nodding your heads.
If you had watched the program, you wouldn't be here spewing the same "OLD" lame leftist bull shit talking points.

There is actually MORE evidence NOW that "VIOLENT" video games that are VIRTUALLY REALISTIC 3D DO effect the brain than NOT, so once again, you're just here talking out your ass, same as Noir, the pair of little leftist bubble heads spewing crap with NO proof to back up ANYTHING you're saying.

Go pound sand

[pete311]

If you had watched the program, you wouldn't be here spewing the same "OLD" lame leftist bull shit talking points.

There is actually MORE evidence NOW that "VIOLENT" video games that are VIRTUALLY REALISTIC 3D DO effect the brain than NOT, so once again, you're just here talking out your ass, same as Noir, the pair of little leftist bubble heads spewing crap with NO proof to back up ANYTHING you're saying.

Go pound sand

So where is you data that these mass shooters were avid VR gamers? Or are you just making shit up again? VR gaming is not that widespread yet. It's expensive.

[Kathianne]

Since there really has been quite a lot of studies on video games, music, and movies and lack of correlation to rampages; seems the broad idea just doesn't work.

VR may well be something else, there are lots of warnings. So, limit sales until testing has been done. Can do it by age or keep off the private market.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

So where is you data that these mass shooters were avid VR gamers? Or are you just making shit up again? VR gaming is not that widespread yet. It's expensive.
And where is your data that shows they're NOT?

Let's play a DEMOCRAT game, like GUILTY until proven INNOCENT.

I posted a link to an hour long documentary show that I know damn well you did NOT watch, and you're IGNORING that, otherwise you wouldn't here talking like an idiot. You have no damn clue what the hell you're talking about, that's obvious. VR 3D gaming is VERY prevalent and GROWING, and not, it is NOT that expensive. You can get an Oculus Gear VR for your smart phone on ebay brand new for $35, so don't tell me expensive either, I have one, and the 3D realism is beyond what ANYONE ever expects to see. Throw in a game where you're killing people and it's almost like BEING THERE doing it for REAL.

[pete311]

And where is your data that shows they're NOT?


:lol: Proving a negative lol

You just lost and you keep digging. Figures, you hate dealing with evidence.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Since there really has been quite a lot of studies on video games, music, and movies and lack of correlation to rampages; seems the broad idea just doesn't work.

VR may well be something else, there are lots of warnings. So, limit sales until testing has been done. Can do it by age or keep off the private market.
Saying "video games" as a generic blanket statement isn't what I'm talking about. I am specifically singling out violent games where you KILL people. No, playing Mario Carts isn't going to warp your brain to the point where you go out and shoot people.

However, I wish one of you would actually watch the program I linked to. They interview "video game addicts," and they admit they've been effected, and there's tentative proof that these games have things written into them that will cause addiction to them. Then get someone hooked on a 3D virtual reality game where they're killing people and have them play it virtually NON STOP, because they can't quit.

You just can NOT totally dismiss what nefarious things people, the government, whoever might be up to. Greed drives much of it. Chase the dollar at all cost, or if it also furthers your agenda, and in the governments case, disarming people is certainly an admitted agenda, so what better way to do that then cause mass shootings?

We didn't have mass shootings 50 years ago. We didn't have them 30 years ago. What's different? What changed? What is turning YOUNG PEOPLE into KILLERS? Well, for one, we didn't have ultra realistic, 3D, virtual reality or even 4K, 2D games where you went around wholesale KILLING people.

[STTAB]

Not to mention VIRTUAL REALITY games, and if you've never tried VR, then you have no idea how real the experience is.

But video games, are they harmless, or NOT? Maybe you should watch this...

Game Over

Independent filmmaker Christopher Garetano questions the future of gaming -- and the nature of reality itself -- as he investigates if society's love affair with video games is being used to reprogram our minds.

https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/strange-world/episodes/game-over


So, your stance is that guns aren't responsible, people are, well and video games? LOL

[High_Plains_Drifter]

:lol: Proving a negative lol

You just lost and you keep digging. Figures, you hate dealing with evidence.
What are you laughing at, dumbass? That's the way you people have conducted your witch hunt against the PRESIDENT.

Get a clue.

[STTAB]

Saying "video games" as a generic blanket statement isn't what I'm talking about. I am specifically singling out violent games where you KILL people. No, playing Mario Carts isn't going to warp your brain to the point where you go out and shoot people.

However, I wish one of you would actually watch the program I linked to. They interview "video game addicts," and they admit they've been effected, and there's tentative proof that these games have things written into them that will cause addiction to them. Then get someone hooked on a 3D virtual reality game where they're killing people and have them play it virtually NON STOP, because they can't quit.

You just can NOT totally dismiss what nefarious things people, the government, whoever might be up to. Greed drives much of it. Chase the dollar at all cost, or if it also furthers your agenda, and in the governments case, disarming people is certainly an admitted agenda, so what better way to do that then cause mass shootings?

We didn't have mass shootings 50 years ago. We didn't have them 30 years ago. What's different? What changed? What is turning YOUNG PEOPLE into KILLERS? Well, for one, we didn't have ultra realistic, 3D, virtual reality or even 4K, 2D games where you went around wholesale KILLING people.


We didn't ?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Evidently someone still doesn't know I have them on ignore.

[STTAB]

Guess it's so difficult, it's not worth the effort. Either way, video games are not the cause. It's such a lame scapegoat and so predicable that republicans would use that card. Trump mentions it and like zombie drones you guys all are nodding your heads.

Now hold up.

While I don't agree with video games being the bogeyman here , Trump was referring to unstable people when he said perhaps violent video games are part of the problem, and that is entirely true.

Underdeveloped minds, whether through mental illness or through just age can not process video games or movies and such as what they are. This is why violent movies and games have ratings. Ratings that are entirely ignored by so many parents.

I can't tell you how many times I hear "Why can't I watch that movie/play that game/go to that concert, all my friends do"

I'm a HUGE Grand Theft Auto fan, I've bought every game since the first one, and I will buy VI when it comes out, but it is not appropriate for children, and I don't let mine play or even see me playing. And in my particular case we're talking about children who are well versed in gun safety. Doesn't matter though.

[Kathianne]

Evidently someone still doesn't know I have them on ignore.

yeah, mass shootings have been around for longer than video games and way before VR, which IS NOT widely available due to costs.

Either the shooter is responsible or any other factor, including weapon availability is.

Nutters are nutters.

[STTAB]

Evidently someone still doesn't know I have them on ignore.

Unless you re put me on ignore since last week you are lying.

[STTAB]

yeah, mass shootings have been around for longer than video games and way before VR, which IS NOT widely available due to costs.

Either the shooter is responsible or any other factor, including weapon availability is.

Nutters are nutters.

I don't even know how you could possibly with a straight face say one inanimate object could not possibly be responsible because it's an inanimate object, and then turn around in the same sentence and blame some other inanimate object LOL

[High_Plains_Drifter]

yeah, mass shootings have been around for longer than video games and way before VR, which IS NOT widely available due to costs.

Either the shooter is responsible or any other factor, including weapon availability is.

Nutters are nutters.
Not mass shootings like we have now. Kids walking through a walmart and such. We did not have that, and not near as frequent.

I should have been a cop. I'm the type of person that doesn't dismiss any possibility, and I look at all the evidence. Most people just say, no, that can't be, and won't even consider the possibility even when shown proof.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

YEAR IN REVIEW: 14 Mass Murders Linked to Violent Video Games

"I've been waiting to do this for years." Those were the words of Chris Harper-Mercer before he killed 10 people, including himself, and left seven more injured in the massacre that took place on the Umpqua campus.

It seems that almost every week the airwaves are flooded with mass shootings at the hand of violent, enraged gunmen. Violence and shootings affect hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people every year as well as our nation's stability as a whole. Through research, reports often indicate many mass killers were addicted to violent video games. Harper-Mercer was no exception to this trend.

Harper-Mercer was known as a recluse who was obsessed with violent gaming and the digital world, even finding supporters on those sites. On an anonymous chat room website called 4chan, there are messages that talk about what he was planning to do.

------

Here's a list of the mass murders linked with video games:


1. Adam Lanza, Sandy Hook Elementary, was a frequent player of violent first-person shooter video games. It was said his existence largely involved playing violent computer video games in a bedroom.

2. James Holmes, went on a rampage in a movie theater showing The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado in July 2012, He was a frequent player of violent video games including World of Warcraft, an infamously addictive role-playing game.

3 Jared Lee Loughner, Tucson, who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others in Tucson in January 2011, was both mentally ill and a video gamer.

4. Eric Harris, based on his journal, a panel of psychologists, psychiatrists and FBI agents point to Harris' contempt for others and his total lack of empathy and conscience as evidence of his psychopathic tendencies. He also enjoyed violent video games.

5. Elliot Rodger, killed seven young men and women, including himself. He was hooked on violent video games from a young age from his own admission, hiding himself in World of Warcraft, where he felt comfortable and secure.

6. Nehemiah Griego, killed five, including his mother, father and his three younger siblings. He loved playing violent video games and even enjoyed talking about them to crime investigators.

7. Jacob Tyler Roberts, played violent video games (his rampage enacted a violent scene in Grand Theft Auto)

8. Anders Behring Breivik shot 68 people dead at a youth camp of the Norwegian Labor party, another nine in a bombing of government buildings According to the judgment rendered against him, he liked playing violent games. He actually used the video game Call of Duty to train for his shooting massacre.

9. Michael Carneal shot girls as they prayed in a prayer group. Carneal never moved his feet during his shootings, and never fired far to the left or right, but instead fired only once at each target that appeared, just as a player of video games maximizes his game score by shooting only once at each victim, in order to hit as many targets as possible.

10. Jose Reyes, a 12-year-old boy who opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun at Sparks Middle School last October, killing a teacher and wounding two students before turning the gun on himself, had watched violent video games for months.

11. Dylann Storm Roof, spent much of his time playing violent video games.

12. Jeff Weise, a 16-year-old, shot dead nine people at and near his high school in Red Lake, Minnesota, had an obsession with violent animation.

13. Chris Harper-Mercer, shot dead nine people and another seven injured in a community college in southern Oregon.

14. Evan Ramsey, snuck a shot gun into his high school and shot a student and the principal and wounded two others. He claims that a video game, Doom, distorted his version of reality: "I did not understand that if I pull out a gun and shoot you ... you're not getting back up. You shoot a guy in Doom, and he gets back up. You have got to shoot the things in Doom eight or nine times before it dies."

Other killers have been hooked on violent video games too and have a warped sense of what's real and what's not, thinking that real life is just like a video game.

Numerous studies have linked violent behavior to consumption of violence in video games.

Recently, researchers at Ohio State University conducted a study and concluded that, "People who have a steady diet of playing these violent video games may come to see the world as a hostile and violent place." Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at OSU, continues, "These results suggest there could be a cumulative effect" in making video game players more aggressive and violent over the long term as well as over the short term.

This is just one of thousands of studies about depictions of violence in the mass media, including video games, that come to similar conclusions.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all children, teenagers and young adults playing video games, even violent video games, will act out violently, but when will people realize that the most dangerous weapon a person yields is their mind? The more minds are corrupted with violence, the more dangerous society becomes.

Read more here: https://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games (https://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games)

[Kathianne]

Not mass shootings like we have now. Kids walking through a walmart and such. We did not have that, and not near as frequent.

I should have been a cop. I'm the type of person that doesn't dismiss any possibility, and I look at all the evidence. Most people just say, no, that can't be, and won't even consider the possibility even when shown proof.

Nutters being copy cats? Nutters wanting to be famous? Nutters wanting suicide by cop and taking lots with them?

Open to any or all.

Mass killings due to VR, much less movies, etc.?

All of these are peripheral to wanting to kill lots of people, a sociopath. A nutter for the more nuanced.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Nutters being copy cats? Nutters wanting to be famous? Nutters wanting suicide by cop and taking lots with them?

Open to any or all.

Mass killings due to VR, much less movies, etc.?

All of these are peripheral to wanting to kill lots of people, a sociopath. A nutter for the more nuanced.
Well ya... nutters for sure, one way or the other.

See my post above though...

[High_Plains_Drifter]

One other point well worth making is, there will be a concerted propaganda campaign launched by video game industry money. They're not going to just sit back and watch their cash cow be attacked. Money rules the day in this and age. They don't give a damn if there is proof that their violent games are the cause of at least SOME of the shootings, their going to spread their propaganda saying otherwise to save their profits.

[Kathianne]

Well ya... nutters for sure, one way or the other.

See my post above though...

I did. The same argument holds though, either the person is responsible or the inanimate 'makes them do it.' I go with the nutter, but that's me.

That list? They all went to school. They all drank water. They all had issues. They all played video games. They all watched tv. They all killed a lot or tried to.

[STTAB]

YEAR IN REVIEW: 14 Mass Murders Linked to Violent Video Games

"I've been waiting to do this for years." Those were the words of Chris Harper-Mercer before he killed 10 people, including himself, and left seven more injured in the massacre that took place on the Umpqua campus.

It seems that almost every week the airwaves are flooded with mass shootings at the hand of violent, enraged gunmen. Violence and shootings affect hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people every year as well as our nation's stability as a whole. Through research, reports often indicate many mass killers were addicted to violent video games. Harper-Mercer was no exception to this trend.

Harper-Mercer was known as a recluse who was obsessed with violent gaming and the digital world, even finding supporters on those sites. On an anonymous chat room website called 4chan, there are messages that talk about what he was planning to do.

------

Here's a list of the mass murders linked with video games:


1. Adam Lanza, Sandy Hook Elementary, was a frequent player of violent first-person shooter video games. It was said his existence largely involved playing violent computer video games in a bedroom.

2. James Holmes, went on a rampage in a movie theater showing The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado in July 2012, He was a frequent player of violent video games including World of Warcraft, an infamously addictive role-playing game.

3 Jared Lee Loughner, Tucson, who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others in Tucson in January 2011, was both mentally ill and a video gamer.

4. Eric Harris, based on his journal, a panel of psychologists, psychiatrists and FBI agents point to Harris' contempt for others and his total lack of empathy and conscience as evidence of his psychopathic tendencies. He also enjoyed violent video games.

5. Elliot Rodger, killed seven young men and women, including himself. He was hooked on violent video games from a young age from his own admission, hiding himself in World of Warcraft, where he felt comfortable and secure.

6. Nehemiah Griego, killed five, including his mother, father and his three younger siblings. He loved playing violent video games and even enjoyed talking about them to crime investigators.

7. Jacob Tyler Roberts, played violent video games (his rampage enacted a violent scene in Grand Theft Auto)

8. Anders Behring Breivik shot 68 people dead at a youth camp of the Norwegian Labor party, another nine in a bombing of government buildings According to the judgment rendered against him, he liked playing violent games. He actually used the video game Call of Duty to train for his shooting massacre.

9. Michael Carneal shot girls as they prayed in a prayer group. Carneal never moved his feet during his shootings, and never fired far to the left or right, but instead fired only once at each target that appeared, just as a player of video games maximizes his game score by shooting only once at each victim, in order to hit as many targets as possible.

10. Jose Reyes, a 12-year-old boy who opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun at Sparks Middle School last October, killing a teacher and wounding two students before turning the gun on himself, had watched violent video games for months.

11. Dylann Storm Roof, spent much of his time playing violent video games.

12. Jeff Weise, a 16-year-old, shot dead nine people at and near his high school in Red Lake, Minnesota, had an obsession with violent animation.

13. Chris Harper-Mercer, shot dead nine people and another seven injured in a community college in southern Oregon.

14. Evan Ramsey, snuck a shot gun into his high school and shot a student and the principal and wounded two others. He claims that a video game, Doom, distorted his version of reality: "I did not understand that if I pull out a gun and shoot you ... you're not getting back up. You shoot a guy in Doom, and he gets back up. You have got to shoot the things in Doom eight or nine times before it dies."

Other killers have been hooked on violent video games too and have a warped sense of what's real and what's not, thinking that real life is just like a video game.

Numerous studies have linked violent behavior to consumption of violence in video games.

Recently, researchers at Ohio State University conducted a study and concluded that, "People who have a steady diet of playing these violent video games may come to see the world as a hostile and violent place." Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at OSU, continues, "These results suggest there could be a cumulative effect" in making video game players more aggressive and violent over the long term as well as over the short term.

This is just one of thousands of studies about depictions of violence in the mass media, including video games, that come to similar conclusions.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all children, teenagers and young adults playing video games, even violent video games, will act out violently, but when will people realize that the most dangerous weapon a person yields is their mind? The more minds are corrupted with violence, the more dangerous society becomes.

Read more here: https://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games (https://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games)


I actually WAS a cop (MP) and one of the first lessons you learn is correlation =/= causation.

[STTAB]

One other point well worth making is, there will be a concerted propaganda campaign launched by video game industry money. They're not going to just sit back and watch their cash cow be attacked. Money rules the day in this and age. They don't give a damn if there is proof that their violent games are the cause of at least SOME of the shootings, their going to spread their propaganda saying otherwise to save their profits.

Will it be more or less money than the gun industry led by the NRA spends per year on their "propoganda" to convince people that their guns aren't responsible for what people do?