Connecticut Lawmakers Seek to Regulate Video Games - Polidicks

[QUOTE]In response to the horrific Newtown massacre, state and federal lawmakers have proposed at least four bills to study and regulate the impact of violent video games on children's behavior. The bills all come in reaction to published reports that Adam Lanza, the gunman who shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, appears to have spent hours playing violent video games on his computer before the shooting. But research on video games is conflicting and inconclusive so far, partly because the impact of these games is difficult to measure. Many researchers believe there is a tendency for those who play violent video games to become more aggressive and less empathetic, particularly if they play excessively. But that's a long way from becoming a school shooter. Other researchers dispute those studies, saying they are flawed and that there is no causal link at all between the games and violence. They caution that the media, including these games, are often blamed after shooting tragedies like Newtown as leaders look to do something to address the problem. [B]A direct link to aggression[/B] Douglas A. Gentile, who has studied video games extensively, says there is a clear connection between violent video games and aggressive behavior. "The research here is a no-brainer," said Gentile, an associate professor at Iowa State University's Center for the Study of Violence. "Anything you practice, you get better at. If you practice reading games, you get better at reading. If you play violent games, you get better at aggressive ways of thinking. You become more vigilant for energies. When provoked you retaliate. You become desensitized. You become a little more callous about pain and suffering and see aggression as a more acceptable way to behave. It does have an effect," Gentile said. [/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19297/despite-inconclusive-research-lawmakers-scrutinize-violent-video-games"]Read more here.[/URL] There's going to be an open forum on the topic at a local college in about 3 weeks. I'm going to attend and speak in defense of video games. If anyone cam help me find information to help my case, I'd appreciate it. ARM ME WITH KNOWLEDGE, FACEPUNCH!

Not surprised. It's really sad that they're that stupid and narrow-minded to think that video games have a "direct link to aggression." Fucking tools.

But think of the children!!!! [editline]6th March 2013[/editline] all the children who play cod will go breivik when they're old!!!

Good for them, maybe if there's a big conclusive study it'll satisfy everyone for a while.

More knee-jerk reactionary legislation that will accomplish nothing I see.

about time we stopped having these school shootings

I live in CT and I'm not going to stand for this shit.

[QUOTE=Hidole555;39821856]There's going to be an open forum on the topic at a local college in about 3 weeks. I'm going to attend and speak in defense of video games. If anyone cam help me find information to help my case, I'd appreciate it. ARM ME WITH KNOWLEDGE, FACEPUNCH![/QUOTE] Tell them that you play video games and that you haven't shot up the school yet.

[url]http://www.amazon.com/Banned-Video-Games-ebook/dp/B00BL9FRSE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362600427&sr=8-1&keywords=banned+video+games[/url] This book has some good statistics from the secret service and the surgeon general involving studies about violent videogames having a negligible effect on violence in children in the 1990s following columbine.

[QUOTE=faze;39821869]Not surprised. It's really sad that they're that stupid and narrow-minded to think that video games have a "direct link to aggression." Fucking tools.[/QUOTE] Yeah, to think that video games alone are directly linked to aggression and/or school murders and such, pft! What fools.

ask them to define a violent video game, then show them the various ways the genres can be changed, meld together, etc.

TotalHalibut has some good links in the description of is video game violence video. Things like this graph [img]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2012/12/video-game-chart-no-trendline.jpg[/img] [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/[/url] Or from a study by the Secret service. [quote]Finding Over half of the attackers demonstrated some interest in violence, through movies, video games, books, and other media (59 percent, n=24). However, there was no one common type of interest in violence indicated. Instead, the attackers’ interest in violent themes took various forms. Explanation • Approximately one-quarter of the attackers had exhibited an interest in violent movies (27 percent, n=11). • Approximately one-quarter of the attackers had exhibited an interest in violent books (24 percent, n=10). • One-eighth of the attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games (12 percent, n=5). • The largest group of attackers exhibited an interest in violence in their own writings, such as poems, essays or journal entries (37 percent, n=15).[/quote] [url]http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf[/url]

[QUOTE]The largest group of attackers exhibited an interest in violence in their own writings, such as poems, essays or journal entries (37 percent, n=15).[/QUOTE] Ban writing.

[QUOTE=Hidole555;39821856][URL="http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19297/despite-inconclusive-research-lawmakers-scrutinize-violent-video-games"]Read more here.[/URL] There's going to be an open forum on the topic at a local college in about 3 weeks. I'm going to attend and speak in defense of video games. If anyone cam help me find information to help my case, I'd appreciate it. ARM ME WITH KNOWLEDGE, FACEPUNCH![/QUOTE] "I've been playing "violent" videogames since they were invented and I still haven't shot up a school." And tell them that one of the [I]actually proven reasons[/I] why school shootings happen is the media coverage and the glorification of school shooters. Not videogames, the shootings themselves. This one totalbiscuit video speaks a LOT about this, and cites a LOT of useful sources. [video=youtube;5uwAo8lcAC4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwAo8lcAC4[/video]

here we go again. a psychopath kills innocent children: Blame video games

Tell them that violent R rated movies don't cause kids to grow up to shoot up schools either. Then when they say "well, we don't allow kids to watch R rated movies", tell them that we don't allow kids to buy M rated games, either. Then there's the whole deal of P -> Q =/= Q -> P. As in, "If P then Q does not mean that if Q then P". Even if we accept the premise of All School Shooters Like Violent Games (if likes murder then likes games), which isn't necessarily true in the first place, that still doesn't prove anything about All Gamers Like Shooting Up Schools (if likes games then likes murder). There are millions upon millions of gamers. Saying "this killer liked games" is like saying "this killer liked movies" or "this killer liked bread". Look at the lists of school shootings and attacks on Wikipedia. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting[/url] versus [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_related_to_primary_schools[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_related_to_secondary_schools[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_related_to_post-secondary_schools[/url] The common thread to the amount of school attacks [I]isn't[/I] video games, but the United States. And if they try to say "well, there have been more school shootings over time, and video games have grown more popular over time", tell them [del]their mother has grown more popular over time too[/del] that correlation isn't causation. Show them the "Pirates & Global Warming" graph.

[QUOTE=Ogopogo;39822421][img]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2012/12/video-game-chart-no-trendline.jpg[/img][/url][/QUOTE] Holy shit, we Dutch spend more on video games than South Korea where it's a freaking national sport?

[quote] "The research here is a no-brainer," said Gentile, an associate professor at Iowa State University's Center for the Study of Violence. [/quote] Yeah, because it takes a lack of a brain to spout what you're spouting.

If they actually passed anything seriously regulating videogames it would be ruled unconstitutional. The only thing they could do would be to regulate if they could be purchased by minors. That would have almost no effect though.

coming up with excuses to not tackle the real problem

Isn't that what the fucking "E - M" ratings are for?

[QUOTE=latin_geek;39822503]"I've been playing "violent" videogames since they were invented and I still haven't shot up a school."[/QUOTE] How can you make that argument with a straight face, when you and everyone else here would go apeshit if a politician said that one school shooter played games, so games make everyone violent? 'I am [x], therefore [y]' is a terrible argument because it is an anecdote. An anecdote is not data. Stick with the charts.

[QUOTE='[sluggo];39822696'][B]If they actually passed anything seriously regulating videogames it would be ruled unconstitutional.[/B] The only thing they could do would be to regulate if they could be purchased by minors. That would have almost no effect though.[/QUOTE] Don't count on it.

[QUOTE=RR_Raptor65;39823309]Don't count on it.[/QUOTE] No way any actual restrictions on content could be accepted, freedom of speech protects that. Distribution is different sadly.

[quote] "Anything you practice, you get better at. If you practice reading games, you get better at reading. If you play violent games, you get better at aggressive ways of thinking. You become more vigilant for energies. When provoked you retaliate. You become desensitized. You become a little more callous about pain and suffering and see aggression as a more acceptable way to behave. It does have an effect," Gentile said.[/quote] Do you have actual peer-reviewed data to support the bullshit you're yanking out of your own ass?

Fucking Connecticut. I hate this state so much.

People are dumb.

[QUOTE]"Anything you practice, you get better at. If you practice reading games, you get better at reading. If you play violent games, you get better at aggressive ways of thinking. You become more vigilant for energies. When provoked you retaliate. You become desensitized. You become a little more callous about pain and suffering and see aggression as a more acceptable way to behave. It does have an effect," Gentile said.[/QUOTE] If you play reading games of course you're gonna get better at it because you're actually reading. Playing violent videogames doesn't make you violent, it just gives you nimble fingers and hand eye coordination. Anybody who is provoked retaliates. If you poke me with a stick, you bet your ass I'm at least going to tell you to stop. Retaliation is not always performing an action. Aggression comes from several other factors, like home life and social interactions, not singularly videogames.

these people really need to learn to understand the difference between the psychology of a game and of the people playing it and the psychology of people in real life situations no one in a game is obligated to act like they would within normal social/moral standards, and that's the concept that none of these people seem to comprehend

[QUOTE=faze;39821869]Not surprised. It's really sad that they're that stupid and narrow-minded to think that video games have a "direct link to aggression." Fucking tools.[/QUOTE] TECHNICALLY, video games do generally cause an aggressive mindset. However, that goes for anything with a competitive atmosphere. And that mindset isn't anything long-term.