Violence In Games

[binary solo]

Esiar said:

Does anyone here think violence in games has any affect on the person playing? For me, I think it does, but not to the extent some media-people say. For example, just because someone plays games with violence, they're not going to shoot up a school because of the game exclusively. There's larger factors that cause the shootings rather than the games. But I think that someone might be more prone to wanting to be violent in some way.

But I want to know what the people here think, so explain your thoughts!

The immediate effect of adrenaline rushes, frustrations and oth3er emotional hromonal responses from playing games can certainly lead to immediate violent outbusts or acts (verbal or physical). Throwing controllers across the room, yelling at your Mum / wife / girlfriend / husband / boyfriend / otherkinfriend when she/he/it tells you to stop playing and set the table for dinner, yelling at the screen, smacking your fists on the table / couch. All that is directly linked to the act of playing a video game. However it is not connected to video game violence. Any game that has sufficient intensity and capacity to frustrate will lead to the same outcomes no matter what level of violence in the game. When emotional hormones are high and nerves are freyed then there is a lingering effect for a while after finishing play, but it abates after a few hours, so long as your attention is on other lower stimulating things.

In terms of sociaological effect, I think it is unlikely that violence in video games will make you a generally more violent person in social situations. People who are violent and emotionally unstable are likely to be as bad with or without exposure to video games. It is a well known phenomenon to use images and music to pump people up and motivate them to do violence. You listen to the music soldiers play on their music devices before they go out to face the enemy and there is a common thread, even if the styles are very different. They are not calming mood music, romantic balads or sad songs of heatbreak and loss. Video games of a certain type can be used to similar effect, to get people hyped up to do violent things they might not normally do. If this exposure and association to fighting and violence carries on long enough, then conditioning can occur which might increase the risk of violence as an inappropriate response in a civilian setting. But that's not the fault of video games, it is the fault of the people who use video games as a pre-battle hyping tool.