All the while the actual research and money should be focused towards mental health, and people should look towards the media if they want to find someone in the entertainment industry who directly influences real world violence.

Also, I agree that the ESRB should exist, just as most entertainment has a rating system. Some things are simply not appropriate for children. However, I think that it is the parents decision to allow their child to play M rated video games and it is their responsibility to be sure they understand where the line is in the real world. If they believe that the child can handle M rated games, than I see no problem with allowing them access to said games. i know that I was playing M rated games before I turned 17.

I wish it wasn't such a bipolar decision for the parenting population. From what I've seen (yep more anecdotal evidence) it's a lot of either completely avoid the game because the devil made it, or don't even look at the game when you buy it because your kid owns you. Parents that consider the decision more closely and have sitdowns with their kids are few and far between in my community

Didn't someone try to pin violence on rock and roll? How about movies? Now's it's video games to take the spot light.

yes, no, maybe? there isnt a good way to find it out... BUT we know that it would be a problem with fiction vs reality in a young mind, so banning religion would help more than banning video games( we have a very well made study that shows that religion is giving children problems with figuring out what real and whats fiction...)

Online gaming can definitely have an affect on a person just as any social interaction can. I doubt singleplayer games can have much of an affect on someone who has perfect mental health though. It's less the game more the people and certain games can be more attractive to certain types of people.

agree with u, that's why family or the closest person one to the kid is  the one responsible to determine where the kid will become, either let it the media dictate it or the neighborhood influenced or his/her friend influenced. The media is there but family can control it, because TV, games, music doesn't just play by them self, unless the family allow it.

another replica, sorry

Mod what happen with this site, is slow and i repost the same thing again and again?

There hasn't been any conclusive evidence that violent video games cause violent behavior in the long-term. Quite the opposite, in fact. Violent Crime Rates have been on a general decrease since the 1990's. Since games can offer an outlet, people would rather go on a killing spree in GTA than they would in real life, because you don't have consequences in a video game.

The media too frequently makes the mistake of "correlation = causation" when it comes to video games and violent crimes. Just because a mass-murderer played Call of Duty, that does not mean Call of Duty was a factor in becoming a mass-murderer. By that logic, we should ban Water, since 100% of people who commit crimes also drink water.