i think teres a kind of violence, mostly against animals, that really annoys me like, its not really fun for me to slash animals and cut them in pieces, i find it really offensive because that happens in real life and people shouldnt feel indifferent or happy about it, war games are also getting out of control imo

It is detrimental for young children to play violent games like COD, but is it any worse than watching Rambo? That never did me any harm.

I feel a bit sorry for today's young gamers when so many of the most popular games offer grit and stark realism and violence over escapism.

I believe the effect of recent advances in technology allowing any 12 year old with a brain to get hold of pretty much anything does have a negative effect which is subtle, but nevertheless real. It's worrying to think of the subconscious outlook all this stuff may contribute to over time.

Having said that, a huge fuss was made over Mortal Kombat all those years ago and we laugh about that now.

it's not their are no ratings in my country and i have played M rated games since i started gaming, yet i am too scared of hurting an ant.

Violent games only make a difference if a mentally deranged psychopath is playing it, but such a person shouldn't be exposed to such a medium anyways.

No different to watching violent films. I've been playing violent games from an early age and it had absolutely no effect on me.

The only real danger violent videogames pose is that very young children might emulate it without understanding what they're doing. That certainly isn't specific to games, however, and has more to do with parental supervision than anything.

The truth is, for most people with normal brains, animated violence does not equate to real violence. A kid can "kill" his opponents all day long on a multiplayer game but that won't have the smallest fraction of the effect that seeing their parents hit each other would, or watching a bully beat someone up, or seeing a gang member pull out a gun. It's an entirely different experience. I've lopped off body parts in videogames but I still look away when someone breaks something in sports. I've seen people get mutilated in videogames without batting an eye but graphic stuff on the news will disturb me. It's just simply not the same thing, not even close to the same thing. I think it's insulting to imply that kids can't tell the difference between real and fiction.

As for the father and child playing a violent videogame together, at least they're spending time with one another. I remember a study that basically said that would be a net positive, that having shared fun together is a good thing even if it involves CoD--especially since the parent is there to guide the child and measure their reactions to see if anything is out of whack.

The FBI's profilers don't believe violent videogames create violent people and neither do I.

Edit:  We also shouldn't forget that action-heavy games have a substantially positive effect on eye-sight and several portions of the brain.  A person who plays videogames measures much better across several different cognitive tests than a person who does not.

This point largely sums up my feelings. However, I still don't think videogames make children/anyone violent. Just the fact that a parent doesn't listen to the ESRB system is ridiculous and needs to stop.

OT: So is this thread about what I think it's about or not? Are we supposed to be discussing videogame violence?

I don't think they are that bad when it comes to gore or violence. It just depends on how gullible they are. I have played violent video games since i was 13 and seen violent and sweary movies before then. I watched South Park when i was like 10 and none of this had any effect on me. The only thing i wasn't allowed to watch was horror movies as a kid and that was about it. Sooner or later we have to see the real world for what it is, we can't hide it from them. If they aren't overprotected then they should be fine but i fear most kids either get too much or too little freedom to do what they want but i don't know.

I like the father and son stream though

This really isn't the kind of website to have a breakdown on why concerns over violent videogames are overblown but NOT completely without merit.

Essentially though it is worth noting that culture does GREATLY effect peoples behavior.  This does not extend soley to videogames however.

A frank discussion about if our culture as a whole overly glorifies violence, villians and anti-heroes would not be an inappropriate one to have.

OP seems familiar...

Okay. That's interesting, but I'll take it.