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So how are half of the children, who play violent video-games all day long, not imitating the behavior they see and do in those games? We should be at least ov

So how are half of the children, who play violent video-games all day long, not imitating the behavior they see and do in those games? We should be at least overrun by car-jackings at this point thanks to Grand Theft Auto.

stcredzero 12y ago
So how are half of the children, who play violent video-games all day long, not imitating the behavior they see and do in those games? A lot of those games involve hardware the children do not have access to. The games also often portray consequences in a way which the kids still know to be very bad. (As much as children play "war," they know viscerally that being in pain and bleeding is generally not fun. We should be at least overrun by car-jackings at this point thanks to Grand Theft Auto. There was one young man who enacted a GTA scenario and shot his way out of a police station with a gun he stole from a police officer. However, he is very much the exception. What the orange advert did was to portray an activity with bad consequences as a trivial and harmless one, in a way that specifically worked around the built in understanding that otherwise deters kids from doing things like that. (Unless they mean harm. That's also within the possible range of behaviors of children. However, it's not so common in many places for children to want to really harm their playmates.)
- CamperBob2 12y ago
  A lot of those games involve hardware the children do not have access to. I guess that's one theory.
- Cthulhu_ 12y ago
  > A lot of those games involve hardware the children do not have access to. You mean things like fists, feet, pipes, kitchen knives, crowbars, hammers, that kinda thing? Like others said, if video games made normal people violent you'd see a lot more violence. That anecdote about the 'enacting a GTA scenario' would also have happened just like that without the GTA link. Then it becomes a guy with a gun in a police station.
  - stcredzero 12y ago
    You mean things like fists, feet, pipes, kitchen knives, crowbars, hammers, that kinda thing? Yes. Actually, there was an incident I was personally witness to involving someone's 8 year old son and an ordinary clawhammer. There is clearly such a thing as "desensitization," and opposition to the notion is usually the kind of unconscious bias one generally sees in politics. < http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/ > Note that my position is not so simpleminded as to be simply placed on one side or another of the typical Internet argument. If you believe that widespread gun ownership generally increases the incidence of gun injuries, then you are subscribing to the same general theory, that availability increases likelihood. Do I believe that's a justification for banning things? No, but we should be honest about the existence of such effects. (Also, fists and feet are an entirely different category, as they are naturally part of your body. And while I said it wasn't common in some places, in others kids do use those to enact violence.) Like others said, if video games made normal people violent you'd see a lot more violence. I would put good odds on your repeating what lots of people angrily repeat on the Internet in defense of their hobby. In the grand scheme of things, people are violent! We are extraordinarily violent as animals. In particular, we have an ability to band together in groups and murder each other in a coordinated fashion, one that probably predates our getting language! We also accomplish fantastic things living together, so we also have fantastic mechanisms for coexisting. Seeing things in media does have the effect of reinforcing the portrayed actions and scenarios in our minds. However, human minds are very complex and robust. We have mental defenses, much as we have homeostatic mechanisms. That anecdote about the 'enacting a GTA scenario' would also have happened just like that without the GTA link. Then it becomes a guy with a gun in a police station. Read up on the incident and honestly tell me that GTA had nothing to do with putting the idea into his head. Of course, one could also find other pieces of media he was exposed to conveying much the same message. The systemic problems resulting in his violence are probably more serious and of greater import to society than the content of some video game.

stcredzero 12y ago

So how are half of the children, who play violent video-games all day long, not imitating the behavior they see and do in those games? A lot of those games involve hardware the children do not have access to. The games also often portray consequences in a way which the kids still know to be very bad. (As much as children play "war," they know viscerally that being in pain and bleeding is generally not fun. We should be at least overrun by car-jackings at this point thanks to Grand Theft Auto. There was one young man who enacted a GTA scenario and shot his way out of a police station with a gun he stole from a police officer. However, he is very much the exception. What the orange advert did was to portray an activity with bad consequences as a trivial and harmless one, in a way that specifically worked around the built in understanding that otherwise deters kids from doing things like that. (Unless they mean harm. That's also within the possible range of behaviors of children. However, it's not so common in many places for children to want to really harm their playmates.)

CamperBob2 12y ago
A lot of those games involve hardware the children do not have access to. I guess that's one theory.
Cthulhu_ 12y ago
> A lot of those games involve hardware the children do not have access to. You mean things like fists, feet, pipes, kitchen knives, crowbars, hammers, that kinda thing? Like others said, if video games made normal people violent you'd see a lot more violence. That anecdote about the 'enacting a GTA scenario' would also have happened just like that without the GTA link. Then it becomes a guy with a gun in a police station.
- stcredzero 12y ago
  You mean things like fists, feet, pipes, kitchen knives, crowbars, hammers, that kinda thing? Yes. Actually, there was an incident I was personally witness to involving someone's 8 year old son and an ordinary clawhammer. There is clearly such a thing as "desensitization," and opposition to the notion is usually the kind of unconscious bias one generally sees in politics. < http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/ > Note that my position is not so simpleminded as to be simply placed on one side or another of the typical Internet argument. If you believe that widespread gun ownership generally increases the incidence of gun injuries, then you are subscribing to the same general theory, that availability increases likelihood. Do I believe that's a justification for banning things? No, but we should be honest about the existence of such effects. (Also, fists and feet are an entirely different category, as they are naturally part of your body. And while I said it wasn't common in some places, in others kids do use those to enact violence.) Like others said, if video games made normal people violent you'd see a lot more violence. I would put good odds on your repeating what lots of people angrily repeat on the Internet in defense of their hobby. In the grand scheme of things, people are violent! We are extraordinarily violent as animals. In particular, we have an ability to band together in groups and murder each other in a coordinated fashion, one that probably predates our getting language! We also accomplish fantastic things living together, so we also have fantastic mechanisms for coexisting. Seeing things in media does have the effect of reinforcing the portrayed actions and scenarios in our minds. However, human minds are very complex and robust. We have mental defenses, much as we have homeostatic mechanisms. That anecdote about the 'enacting a GTA scenario' would also have happened just like that without the GTA link. Then it becomes a guy with a gun in a police station. Read up on the incident and honestly tell me that GTA had nothing to do with putting the idea into his head. Of course, one could also find other pieces of media he was exposed to conveying much the same message. The systemic problems resulting in his violence are probably more serious and of greater import to society than the content of some video game.