Harrison Steier, a pleasant but persistent 14-year-old, has spent the past few months trying, without luck, to persuade his parents to let him buy Assassin’s Creed III, a violent video game about a weapon-wielding half-Mohawk, half-European figure who roams the colonial American frontier. Recently Harrison tried a new tack.
“It’s set during the Revolutionary War,” the Marlborough High School freshman pointed out, “so it’s a history lesson.”
Comments
If violent games *caused* people to be violent and commit murder then millions of game players would be out murdering millions of others.
Just because a mass murderer played video games proves nothing. Maybe he also ate mashed potatoes regularly, or scuffed up his shoes. You could pretty much choose anything he did or ate or wore and claim it was evidence there was a mass murderer inside.
Human beings are innately violent -- especially males. We learn to control those urges as we mature, and as our mothers tell us not to hit our sisters. It could just as easily be speculated that participating in violent games and sports allows the safe expression of violent urges. There's no proof of that either.
It's ridiculous. People always want simple solutions to life's problems. Let's eliminate all the violent games, or violent movies, or whatever, and we'll eliminate violence in our society. Well, it's simple minded alright.
Well said!
There is no evidence that violent video games lead to violence and millions of perfectly decent people play these games, but if a parent finds them objectionable, grow a backbone and just say no The kids will still play the games at their friends homes, but you've made a point and it's a point worth making: "We have standards."
I ask why are these games legal? There are two answers - first is PROFITS and the other is our society is sick sick sick......
Why are these games legal? Really? Were you too busy in schools playing some other games to catch the part about the U.S. Constitution? Oh wait, that is right, this is Massachusetts! The answer to any problem is always another law.
Massachusetts in one the great states and I'm proud to live here. If you don't like it, History, why don't you take you 2-bit vitriol elsewhere.
Wimps. I have two boys. As their mother I set the rules. Period. Three days during the school week are totally electronic-free except for homework. No gadget playing in the morning before school. No violent, war-like games EVER. I don't give a rat's a*s what games their friend's have. If it doesn't pass the "mom test" they aren't getting it too. I also inform the parents of play mates of our house limits on game playing when arranging play dates and they respect and abide by these rules. No fuss. No tears. Books, art, sports, outdoor play are BETTER anyway. Parents need to start acting like parents.
Thanks iCare, as the mother of two very little boys (1 and 3) who get zero screen time in my house, I truly dread all this and am worried about being the only mom on the block who says no to this stuff. Question: when you say you inform the parents of play mates of your house rules, do you tell them you don't want the kids playing those games at their houses? Or just that their kids won't be playing them in yours?
"I also inform the parents of play mates of our house limits on game playing when arranging play dates and they respect and abide by these rules."
I don't know how old your sons are, but as they get older good luck making this work. By the time your sons are in high school they will have friends who play these games and unless the parents constantly hover around them, they will find a way to sneak it in the xbox.
I had a "no video game" policy until I relented and bought Minecraft for my teen son (his only video game -- all his friends at school had it). Boy, was that a mistake (buyingMinecraft)!!! My child was a prolific reader BEFORE I bought him Minecraft. Now, he spends A LOT of his free time playing Minecraft -- which is basically mindless wasted time -- and reads only half as much.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Parents, DO NOT GIVE IN!!! Do not buy these games for your children!
Within minutes of hearing about the shooting I assumed violent video games were involved - how else could someone be so desensitized to violence and disconnected from any care for other people unless they were actually at war. Violent video games hour after hour in a dark basement...a can of coke for breakfast on the way out the door to first grade, a 10 pm bedtime at the age of 7, R rates movies at the age of 9 - we are surrounded by this and parents who do not know how to raise their children, set boundaries, teach hard work and responsibility and most importantly SHOW their children love and compassion. Focus on your children - they don't need toys and games to feel like they have everything!
My, my, my. Did you just write that people who have been at war are desensitized to violence and disconnected from any care for other people? Ahhh, wait, you also like to "assume" things before you actually know.
Soldiers and veterans do some of the kindest most humane things imaginable under terrible circumstances, anything to save a child or woman. Disconnected from any care for other people? Really? Be ashamed of what you wrote about our veterans.
Jsbg100 is talking about children, not veterans. That said, considering how many shootings there have been despite the proliferation of violent video games, it's a incredibly small percentage of children who are desensitized by playing these games and wind up shooting people. If you have a child who's an arsonist it's best not to give them gasoline and matches. If you have a child like Lanza common sense would tell you that you shouldn't give that child violent video games and access to semi-automatic weapons.
Despite that it does say something about our society how well these games sell. We love violence, whether it's in sports (fighting in hockey, brutal hits in football), video games, movies, songs, etc. I'm not calling anyone out as I'm a huge sports fan and enjoy violent movies (I'd highly recommend Django Unchained). It's just what we are. I would agree with jsbg100 that we should spend more time teaching our children love and compassion.
Yup, it has to be someone else's fault. It could not possibly be the perpetrators fault. Nope. The video game manufacturer made them do it! The parents made them do it! How about. . . they are just sick, twisted human beings? You know, like other sick twisted human beings, Charlie Manson, Ted Bundy, the list is endless. Those sickos were killing before video games.
But now parents do not like video games. What better way to get some help in keeping their kids from playing them than by blaming them for murders? Like others have posted here, get some backbone and just tell your kid he is not playing the game because YOU SAID SO. You know, you are not running a democracy in your house, in case you did not know.
>>"How about. . . they are just sick, twisted human beings?"
And that apparently ends the discussion as far you're concerned.
The question is "Why?" Seeking the "why" is what moves society forward. "Why" is what expands human knowledge.
Are you afraid of where "why" might lead?
I'm not a fan of these violent video games and, fortunately, with two daughters, I didn't have to fight my children over whether they could have them. I think it's like anything else. In the wrong hands these games can be dangerous, just like weapons in the wrong hands can lead to killings. If your child is well-adjusted and plays these games with friends as a social activity they're probably all right. Parents of those children who suffer from certain emotional problems should not expose their child to this.
As a libertarian I have a hard time with the concept of "censoring" these games. Millions of kids play them without adverse results. Like anything else as a parent you have to use your judgement. Unfortunately, just as we saw with Nancy Lanza, a parents judgement will not always be sound.
People come home from violent wars and do not turn around and shoot people. When I was a kid everyone had a set of cap pistols in holsters to run around the neighborhood shooting everything. So enough nonsense. If you want to stop gun violence, get active politically, make a call, write a letter, to stop the flood of guns in our society. Background checks that actually happen, including mental health. Caretakers of people with mental health issues should not have guns in the house, much like aome restraining orders confiscate guns of suspected individuals.
Yep, those pistols were fun. We "killed' each other all the time. "You're dead!" was something we said as we were firing caps at a friend.
I agree that we all had play guns. I used 'em too. But we didn't have a culture that surrounded us with so much violence. We weren't inured to violence the way kids can be now.
Parent are naieve if they think they can prevent their sons (and it is almost always sons) from ever playing these games. By the time they are in high school a large number of them will have at least one violent game. Even if you keep it out of your home, they will play it at a friend's house. Remember, we are tallking about high school students. At that point the days of arranging "play dates" and the like is over, so don't expect parents to hover over the kids like we did when they were four. At some point you need to have faith in the way you raised your child and confident that a couple of hours playing Call of Duty won't transform him into a monster.