So I just read this article on cnn.com this morning (yeah, this is where my work time sometimes goes) and I thought I'd share it with everyone. @Goosecheka: This article actually made me think of you because I know you have your "gaming for science" project going on right now.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/tech/gami ... pt=hp_bn11

So anyways I'm curious to what people think. I'm with the person quoted in the story as saying, listen the games have millions of subscribers and we're managing to not going crazy. To me, it's like blaming music (aka Eminem or Marilyn Manson) or violent movies/tv for how people react. However, what it DOES seem to make me think is that it helps people become desensitized to violence and death. Just my two cents.

The argument about violence in video games has always been ridiculous. It's just been an easy way for people to try and pass the blame along for their own actions by saying I'm not a monster it was all because of GTA or nuts who want to try and push video games out and will try and link acts of violence with it in a desperate bid to find a connection. There is no proof like there isn't any with music, television or films. Maybe if they get some we'll listen but until them go play some Grifball and chill out cretins

LOL I can only imagine the outrage if they heard my reasoning last night for wanting to play Grifball w/ my group: "But I need to smash things! And punch them in their faces!"

It really depends on who is playing the game. I love playing Halo which is rather violent. Would I let my 10 year old kid play? Absolutely not. The game is rated for 17+ because that is what is developmentally appropriate (on average). If you let your kid go watch porn, or eat all the candy they wanted, that would probably have a negative effect, too.

One of the best logical arguments I've heard regards the crime rate. If games were so dangerous and made people so much more violent, then you would logically expect the crime rate in the US to go up, especially in the adolescent area. However, crime in the US has been on a downward trend for several years, inversely relational to the rise in video games.

It comes down, really, to two things: 1) Is the game developmentally appropriate? and 2) Moderation. Anything used in excess is bad for you - drinking too much water can kill you.

Hmmm, so are we getting our criminal-ness out in video games?

Seriously though, it's an interesting thought. I worked for 9 years in criminal prosecutions here in town and never ONCE did we see a defendant blame their actions on video games, music, movies, etc. Some people just do bad things. And it's not like we can understand it. We can attempt to rationalize in our heads, but, as my favorite attorney always said "We'll never understand the why, only the how."

This is one of my peeves because you always see the media so quick to jump on the "blame media" bandwagon when it's the responsibility of the person and, in the case of kids, the parents. It seems like so many parents now-a-days don't want to regulate what their child is doing. I remember playing SNES with my little bro back in the day and my parents would limit us to 30 minutes. We would set the egg timer in the kitchen and when it went off we either a) switched turns or b) shut it off. And if we didn't, we lost the power cord. So like you said, Goose, moderation. I just find the whole subject fascinating honestly.

In the 20's, it was that evil Jazz music. Then it was radio, then TV, then rap music and now video games. Something else will come along shortly that's even more evil.

Dubstep

HA awesomeness. And yet so true...

I read this and wrote a paper over this study for my intro Psychology class about violent video games.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cpb6666/ ... assaro.pdf

I agree to what has been said already in this thread.