Do violent video games lead to aggression and violence?

Scroll to see replies

Emphatic results so far

No.

I like to believe that I'm not an aggressive and violent person, despite growing up playing games such as Resident Evil and GTA :smile:

Reply 22

Josb

Since I've played to Postal 2, I love to behead people with my shovel and to use cats on my shotgun. Apart from that, I'm not violent.

Reply 23

Josb

@Eternalflames Don't tell me you played that game.

Reply 24

Eternalflames

Original post by Josb

@Eternalflames Don't tell me you played that game.

Hahaha no, I've never heard of it. Your comment looked funny so I repped it :biggrin:

Reply 25

chikane

Original post by Nmys

Thanks for the comment :smile:

What about the view that playing from a young age may lead to an increase in aggressive traits in a person, thus making them more aggressive?

I need to dig out my dissertation and remember what I wrote lol. Got 75 for it i will let you know hopefully in the evening.

Reply 26

ozzyoscy

No. Difficult or unfair games do this.

The idea that violent games lead to violent acts is bemusing, and even more bemusing was seeing some study a few years ago reveal, shock, that it's actually difficult and frustrating games that make people more aggressive.

I hate when people waste time and resources doing extensive studies when they could've just asked a few people who it concerned 10 years earlier and reached the same obvious conclusion.

Reply 27

quasa

Entertainment Forum Helper

Hey, its all circumstantial :lol:

generally they dont cause violence but anger and yelling (signs of aggression) can happen if your heavily in a deathmatch, dogfight etc and some numty interrupts you (especially online as you cant pause the game :|). you have to admit people can get annoyed.

with all these polls on TSR there needs to be more than 2 options tbh. (this one for example, yes for both, yes for each one, it depends on the person and no)

Reply 28

Nmys

Original post by JohnGreek

The games I play have terrible animations and low-quality graphics, so I can't exactly say that they've immersed me into a violent lifestyle.

But when violent games first came out like Death Race (google it, it is just pure pixels) they still caused public uproar, so I guess people believe it isn't really the graphics so much as the content

Reply 29

ozzyoscy

Original post by quasa

Hey, its all circumstantial :lol:

But that's not due to the violence. The same thing happens with any non-violent multiplayer or competitive game, like football games.

Reply 30

quasa

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by ozzyoscy

But that's not due to the violence. The same thing happens with any non-violent multiplayer or competitive game, like football games.

true, videogames are like any hobby in life. people can get peeved / violent if things dont go their way (e.g. football hooligans).

ps I am a gamer and play violent games (that being said, I prefer platformers and racing games and in the case of violent games, I always use tranq/stun rounds and in the case of gta online, i prefer racing people and creating customer circuits, although i have won a few death matches and completed aall game types in gta / have platinum trophy)

Reply 31

Josb

Original post by Eternalflames

Hahaha no, I've never heard of it.

Good, never play to this game. It's terrible.

[video="youtube;XWwxRcnPnlo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWwxRcnPnlo[/video]

Reply 32

chikane

Original post by Nmys

Thanks for the comment :smile:

What about the view that playing from a young age may lead to an increase in aggressive traits in a person, thus making them more aggressive?

Ill leave this but i will have to take this off, let me know when you finished reading :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 33

teenhorrorstory

Throwback to GCSE psychology lol. Shoutout to Anderson and Dill

Reply 34

Nmys

Thank you so much! This was incredibly helpful. I'm done with it now so you can remove it :biggrin:

Reply 35

chikane

Original post by Nmys

Thank you so much! This was incredibly helpful. I'm done with it now so you can remove it :biggrin:

No worries glad it helped :smile:

Reply 36

username2491853

Original post by Nmys

Do you think violent video games can lead to aggressive and violent behaviours and explain crimes in society today?

I want to get opinions for some research I am doing for uni, thanks :smile:

(btw I am fully aware of the research out there, this isn't my view I just need the opinion of the general/youth population on this matter for my work)

^^ Please vote (I need the stats) ^^

I really don't think that video game violence leads to violent behaviour and crime. It's really just to do with the mentality of the individual themselves - video games don't suddenly make you violent unless you already have such tendencies.

Reply 37

paulthompson94

I don't believe so. We need only look to the Grand Theft Auto series to see how the media jumped on this and how some criminals simply used it as a scapegoat to justify their own actions. I've never run someone over in Grand Theft Auto and then suddenly got the urge to get in my car and go on a shooting spree. In my opinion it is a cowards way of justifying his own moral shortcomings to try and lessen the punishment and the medias way to harass an industry that challenges modern society and its flaws. (Grand Theft Auto is hugely satirical after all)

Reply 38

username1921011

The principle is stupid. People say that violent games influence aggression as people try to recreate what they see on the screen or it is normalised to them. If we accept media has this profound effect then we accept it does so outside of just violence. A good example someone gave me is by the same logic people should be trying to inflate their heads to look like wii-me's or jumping off buildings to land without damage (a la every superhero/super villain game). If they recognise a disconnect between this media and reality, it follows they recognise a disconnect in more 'realistic' media.

It improves stimuli more in men - specifically the hunter/gatherer instinct - but in doing so actually reduces manifest violence and aggression as these natural biological instincts are catered to in a safe, sheltered environment. It gets it out of the system so to speak.

The societal problem of violence, particularly with minors, is due to the ridiculous amounts of freedom children are given and a lack of strong parenting. Kids are held up on a pedestal for no adequate reason and - as kids do - they push boundaries. When nobody pushes back they continue to push. This is how children learn. When the law slaps them on the wrist and their parents don't care, are too busy working or are otherwise absentee they have no strong guidance (particularly due to the breakdown of the family unit and prevalence of single parents in the modern era). It is more complex than that but this is a simple summary of the myriad of problems which lead to the outcome of violence, the blame is shifted to video games because its easy to scapegoat and those in power (middle/upper class) dont play games, they rent racetracks, go skiing for a weekend etc. They have no need of them and thus any negative impact on the medium doesnt affect them.