Here come the copycats, wannabes, pranksters and the unwitting victims of mass paranoia...

[pedroh 21]

I really don't see how video games could be blamed for how 5th graders are reacting to this story. I think it's just general ignorance and immaturity. I remember being in high school and overhearing some other students talking about "how cool" it was that someone from their school got into a motor vehicle accident and died. Truly a sick comment, but the point is that children rarely stop to think about what they are saying. They tend to lack the ability to sympathize and empathize.

One thing that always annoyed me was the kneejerk reaction to blame video games whenever there is a violent action taken by a member of society. If one were to listen to the anti-gaming pundits (such as Lt. Colonel David Grossman), they would say that video games are "murder simulators that train children to become killers." I find this idea ridiculous.

First of all, the average gamer is not a child -- it is a 30 year-old male. Second, games don't train you for anything, except perhaps better eye-to-hand coordination. They certainly don't train you how to use a firearm, or do anything else in real life. If such were the case, I could play baseball or football professionally. Third, there are ratings on video games which serve as warnings to parents. If a game is named "Grand Theft Auto" and is labeled "M" or "AO" then that should be a fairly good indication that it's not for your eight year-old child. If the parents do buy this sort of game for their kid, then the developer and publisher cannot be held accountable; there was a warning in the form of a rating and title. Fourth, of the children who do play video games, only a small minority go crazy and strike out. There are literally thousands upon thousands of people, young and old, playing video games in the United States today and only a small handful actually attempt to kill anyone. These people have psychological problems and that is the root cause, not video games.

So really, video games are just a convienent scapegoat right now. Before video games, there was movies, television, comic books, etc. In the future, I'm sure there will be something else as well. Unfortunately, society has this knack for ignoring the obvious (there might be something the matter with your child!) and instead, shifts the blame to something else entirely.

true.. usually those new 'violent' fancy games are marketed towards the new gamer age 22-30 years old.. u see all those cool games in ESPN, in G4, in Spike TV.. i've never seen God of War in nick toons channel or Fox Kids.. and again, if you're a parent and buy Grand Theft Auto to ur 8 year old, it's ur darn fault, not the developer..

[Sinergy 3]

I really don't see how video games could be blamed for how 5th graders are reacting to this story. I think it's just general ignorance and immaturity. I remember being in high school and overhearing some other students talking about "how cool" it was that someone from their school got into a motor vehicle accident and died. Truly a sick comment, but the point is that children rarely stop to think about what they are saying. They tend to lack the ability to sympathize and empathize.

One thing that always annoyed me was the kneejerk reaction to blame video games whenever there is a violent action taken by a member of society. If one were to listen to the anti-gaming pundits (such as Lt. Colonel David Grossman), they would say that video games are "murder simulators that train children to become killers." I find this idea ridiculous.

First of all, the average gamer is not a child -- it is a 30 year-old male. Second, games don't train you for anything, except perhaps better eye-to-hand coordination. They certainly don't train you how to use a firearm, or do anything else in real life. If such were the case, I could play baseball or football professionally. Third, there are ratings on video games which serve as warnings to parents. If a game is named "Grand Theft Auto" and is labeled "M" or "AO" then that should be a fairly good indication that it's not for your eight year-old child. If the parents do buy this sort of game for their kid, then the developer and publisher cannot be held accountable; there was a warning in the form of a rating and title. Fourth, of the children who do play video games, only a small minority go crazy and strike out. There are literally thousands upon thousands of people, young and old, playing video games in the United States today and only a small handful actually attempt to kill anyone. These people have psychological problems and that is the root cause, not video games.

So really, video games are just a convienent scapegoat right now. Before video games, there was movies, television, comic books, etc. In the future, I'm sure there will be something else as well. Unfortunately, society has this knack for ignoring the obvious (there might be something the matter with your child!) and instead, shifts the blame to something else entirely.

90% of school aged boys play video games whenever they are not sleeping, eating or in class. So no the average gamer is not a 30 yr old male. a majority of them are at work or raising families.

Yes i do believe games the violent ones, are to blame for alot of school kids thinking violence is cool. they see it on the game, they shoot ppl or things on the game, and when they win, they are cool. so yes IMO it has alot to do with games.

Then that it is your opinion; however, it is not backed up by recent studies and data proving to the contrary.

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my distinction: The average age of a male gamer on the PC is 30 years-old; it usually (but not always) is younger for console gaming. As I said before, recent data supports these findings. Believe it or not, it's your call. However, there are many, many gamers who are even in their 50's and 60's.

There is far more to gaming that "run, jump, shoot." Take, for instance, the game "World of Warcraft" which is a Massively-Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. It has violence, but it also supports vast social networks and teamwork. People have made real life friends on there, and even met future spouses.

Unfortunately, it appears you've been bombarded with the anti-gaming propaganda perpetuated by the media and the anti-gaming pundits, none of whom understand the gaming culture or who is really a gamer. They tend to have this ignorant view that all gamers are either young boys or lonely losers living in their parents' basement. Fortunately, nothing could further from the truth.

The bottom line is you'll find gamers in all walks of life, of all ages, in all careers.

even PC's, you are not trying to tell me that kids are only addicted to games on PS2 and XBOX are you?? HA, then youd be mistaken, kids these days are just as crazy over the games online. I have not been bombarded wth anti-gaming. My husband is a gamer, i know alot about gaming just by watching him, listening to him. but i still stand by my statement

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

games are not to blame, is the parents that don't check the game ratings when the kids buy'em.. supposedly, some stores do not sell M games to 17- yrs old.. I play all those 'violent' games, and I don't feel like killing someone..

I don't think you can blame games, TV or movies directly without taking responsibility away from the guy who committed the deed, but I do think you can comment on a society that general celebrates the least appealing aspects of human nature.

Ever read American Psycho? explains the point fairly well.

[Dwarf_Ogress 0]

There were some copycat threats here in Arizona yesterday. One of the colleges received a threat email of a shooting so everyone was evacuated and it went into lock-down. Thankfully nothing happened. One of the high schools had a graffiti incident involving threats but again thankfully nothing came of that.

Edited April 18, 2007 by FutureMrs

[Robor007 0]

People, games and movies are *not* the problem. I think I'm now at the age were I have outgrown games but I used to play games *a lot*. I've played pretty much every popular FPS (First Person Shooter) since Wolfenstein 3D. Yes modern games are getting very realistic but it should be noted that in most of those games you are playing as the 'good guy' against criminals, terrorists, zombies, aliens, etc. I even played a few games in the 'OMG EVIL!' Grand Theft Auto series but I found them boring and pointless so I deleted them. Believe it or not I never felt the urge to transform my virtual killing from the game to real life.

As far as games and movies making us more receptive to death, I think not. Games and fictional movies (not something like Hotel Rwanda) are not real life and it's easy to separate the difference. If anything has made me less sensitive to death it's the daily reports of 'X' number of soldiers killed in Iraq. It's so frequent that it's become routine and that's a damned tragedy.

[Caladan 19]

After Columbine everyone was sure it was video games and school bullying; in the final FBI report, neither were cited as a serious contributing factor. One was a psychopath; the other went along. I imagine we'll eventually find something similar here.

Would that it were as simple as 'if we ban video games, no one will ever go nuts and shoot people!' But it just isn't.

And statistically, a mass murder every decade or so is pretty rare, compared to the rest of violent crime. This gets more attention, but I'm more worried generally about gang violence in schools than the kid snapping at a prep school or a university.

[mybackpages 0]

A long time ago, when the US has less rules regarding immigration in the early 1900s, the large amount of sweatshops, and immigrants living in tenement buildings there were less disorderly families. Most immigrant never thought about how hard and unsanitary their lives were because all they thought about was 'I must work hard.' It's the outsiders that consider it to be hard. To these people, they think it's normal. The parents within these small room filled with 10 people disciplined their children very harsh. When they grew up, they turned into teachers and University professors. They were given very high standards. Now, with the lack of disciplinary action except for staying afterschool, or suspension geometry, algebra, is taught at a higher grade level than a lower grade level. For example, algebra used to be taught in the sixth grade, now it's moved to the eight grade.

Standards have been lowered. Without strong discipline, it'll be very hard to have high expectation for children. We worry about our children's childhood experiences, but, give them something to think about. Give them the knowledge, share the experience so that they don't take things for granted. Let them learn how to push themselves. Anyway...I agree with Infidel, parents nowadays have the mentality " my child is innocent attitude. "

Where in the world did you come up with this? These workers knew it was hard, they new it was unjust and they knew there were few options for them.

ETA: to Alex. I had not read through the whole thread before responding!

Edited April 18, 2007 by mybackpages

[Alex+R 0]

A long time ago, when the US has less rules regarding immigration in the early 1900s, the large amount of sweatshops, and immigrants living in tenement buildings there were less disorderly families. Most immigrant never thought about how hard and unsanitary their lives were because all they thought about was 'I must work hard.' It's the outsiders that consider it to be hard. To these people, they think it's normal. The parents within these small room filled with 10 people disciplined their children very harsh. When they grew up, they turned into teachers and University professors. They were given very high standards. Now, with the lack of disciplinary action except for staying afterschool, or suspension geometry, algebra, is taught at a higher grade level than a lower grade level. For example, algebra used to be taught in the sixth grade, now it's moved to the eight grade.

Standards have been lowered. Without strong discipline, it'll be very hard to have high expectation for children. We worry about our children's childhood experiences, but, give them something to think about. Give them the knowledge, share the experience so that they don't take things for granted. Let them learn how to push themselves. Anyway...I agree with Infidel, parents nowadays have the mentality " my child is innocent attitude. "

Where in the world did you come up with this? These workers knew it was hard, they new it was unjust and they knew there were few options for them.

He's already told us. He got it from volunteering in a nursing home. Uh huhhhhh

Anyway, I think the problem is with the whole culture. I don't think we can change the whole culture.

[Sinergy 3]

i will revise, its not the GAMES, its the insecure manner children are given when choosing the games they want to play. alot of parents do not monitor the games their kids play.

anyway, this isnt even about games and such we already know he was mentally disturbed not a gamer who took his game too real life. so im off this subject

[pedroh 21]

i will revise, its not the GAMES, its the insecure manner children are given when choosing the games they want to play. alot of parents do not monitor the games their kids play.

anyway, this isnt even about games and such we already know he was mentally disturbed not a gamer who took his game too real life. so im off this subject

agree.. it doesn't even have to be a violent game.. have you heard all the BS the kids say when they play madden'07 online? omg.. if you think think Eddie Murphy was offensive in his 80's standups, u need to hear what the kids say now

[MichelleandCraig 1]

Corey will be 14 soon and I've made him bring back a couple of games that he bought with his own money...slipped 'em past me at the store, but no go when I saw it when we got home! Craig has a few I have him put away too and he's not allowed to touch. Be darned if I care what anyone thinks about it either (some of his friends think that's stupid or whatever because they're allowed to play them.) ....yep, he's sheltered a bit. ..and from some things, I'll shelter him as longgggg as I possibly can! M.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

After Columbine everyone was sure it was video games and school bullying; in the final FBI report, neither were cited as a serious contributing factor. One was a psychopath; the other went along. I imagine we'll eventually find something similar here.

Would that it were as simple as 'if we ban video games, no one will ever go nuts and shoot people!' But it just isn't.

And statistically, a mass murder every decade or so is pretty rare, compared to the rest of violent crime. This gets more attention, but I'm more worried generally about gang violence in schools than the kid snapping at a prep school or a university.

In Columbine the game the kids were obsessed with was actually several software generations (and years) old at the time. Might as well blame Pac-Man - they could at least get their argument straight and pick on more 'realistic' games around at the time. But I agree - that's definitely not the reason, as convenient as it might appear.

In the UK we had the Jamie Bulger case which triggered a backlash against violent 'video-nasties', which actually got certain movies banned all because some 'appropriate samples' were featured on TV. It was never established that the kids who committed the murder had actually watched or were influenced by those movies.

[Heracles 417]

Generally people in charge who have the power to change and help these kids do not want to get their hands dirty by opening up a can of worms. It usually starts during a kids elementary years. What good is learning Algebra and chemistry in the 5th grade when the kids have absolutely no idea what it means to care or help one another.. Schools need to get back to teaching the basics as these kid's parents clearly are not doing their job. That is to teaching them how to be a human being. How to care and respect one another.

Edited April 19, 2007 by Infidel