Comments on "The Violent Side of Video Games"

"The Violent Side of Video Games" (Jan. 14, 2004)
"Video Game Violence" (Jan. 24, 2007)

It doesn't matter if video games are violent or how addictive they are, they are a part of life. They can't be gotten rid of . . . it is your choice whether or not the people play them. And I want video games to take over my life. They are my life, and they will be forever.—Tanner, 14

I disagree with everything you have just said. Only kids with weak minds actually act out the violence that they see on video games. (I haven't seen anybody do it.) For instance, for a shooting game, how many kids do you actually see going around shooting each other?!?!?!?! Nobody does that stuff.—Anonymous, 12:

I agree both ways. I play Grand Theft Auto 3 with my Dad and I don't notice any changes in my behavior, but I have known violent kids who play games like Grand Theft Auto.—Kevin, 12

I do think that kids can get some pretty crazy ideas from video games that they may have otherwise not come up with on their own. However, that's where the parents come into play. The parents are supposed to be there to differentiate real from game for their kids. I know I have to do that for my son. Very frequently we've had conversations about this very subject.—Heather, 27

People say that violence in video games can affect children (& teens) and influence their actions. I believe that it is not the games. Parents need to make sure that children have a break from gaming and remember that it is only a game. Show them Cops or something so that they can see what happens to people who commit crimes in real life. I have played the most violent games available on the market today, on both PC and on consoles. . . . I believe that the issue is with the parents to find a rating suitable to the child (or teen) and not let them play games that are not suitable. I don't have my parents permission 2 buy 18+ games. In conclusion, I would like to say that video games are not responsible. It is the responsibility of the parents to decide whether the child should play the game, and make sure that the child understands that the things they do in games have more serious consequences in real life.—Matteo, 15

Violent video games are good in a way cuz they take out aggression and they let u feel what it's like to kill something without u doing it.—Jamie, 12

I really liked this article on the videogame violence. . . . It gives the actual game players a chance to see "the inside" story of what could be going on in their brains. You also talk about how you felt playing videogames. I get the same way, but I don't think video games are the reason there is violence. Like they say, games don't kill people, people kill people.—Lauren, 16

I do not believe that violent video games directly affect children or teens. When they play Grand Theft Auto, they control a character . . . the character does not control them. They are still themselves when they play the video game. On the other hand, when kids watch a TV show or movie and see their favorite super hero or villain (who has a violent manner) I believe that they will be more likely to be violent because kids tend to act like the character on TV or in the movie. Overall, I believe that kids who are violent live in an environment with violent people. Such as a violent community, or abusive parents. Take myself as an example. I always had played violent video games ever since I was s6 years old. I was a very good kid, and rarely got into trouble. I also lived in a well-developed community. Violent video games have never affected me in any way. Now I know not everyone is like me, and everyone is different, but all my friends have similar tastes in video games. (Most of them are violent.) They are no different from me. They are all good kids with great parents.About the accelerated blood pressure and heart rate. Just about anything will increase the heart rate. At my high school, for our psychology class, we conducted an experiment on increased heart rate. We found that carrying on a normal conversation with other people will increase the heart rate of a person. The reason why I believe the right side of the brain was active when the person was playing the violent game, was the fact that the person had to be creative to get the task completed. The right brain is what gives us our creativity and imagination. Without it, we would still be living like cave men. I also believe that violent video games can relieve stress. I know when I get angry or frustrated with my parents or about what happened in the day, I can always count on coming home to play a video game and kicking someone else's butt without getting in trouble.—Kevin, 18

The goal in Grand Theft Auto 3 is not to kill as many people as possible to get points. I suggest you learn more about the game, or play it before writing an article like that.—Ryan, 17

People need to realize that it's just a game, and a game is a form of entertainment. Its only existence is to get you wrapped up into it. So when you bring up this "research" saying how violent video games activate the "flight or fight" response, well I got news for you. That's what it's supposed to do. It's meant to get your juices flowing . . . it's like watching a scary movie and expecting it NOT to be scary.—Art, 19

Playing violent videogames is quite possibly one of the most addicting things in the world. I believe that in a violent game your heart rate increases so much because you have to pretend you are that person and you need to defend yourself. For example, there is a game called Warcraft 3 that has many mini games in it. They have one where you pick a hero and kill for points. In that game, you take the role of a leader. If you lose yourleader, you lose. Now, no one in the world likes losing. So as the time for your hero's life comes to an end, you feel somewhat as if yours is, too, because you’re about to lose. It explains why there is such a dramatic increase in heart rate. It's not surprising that having the illusion that your killing hundreds of little worker dudes makes you feel powerful. When you feel powerful, your hearts kicks into 3rd gear and your breathing becomesfaster. Like when you do something amazing, you feel like you're on the top of the world and your heart rate goes up. These are all things I've noticed in the real world.—Joe, 16

So basically, you're saying that violent video games cause heightened blood pressure and heart rate, but boring, turn-based games don't, therefore violent video games turn us into killing machines? Ooh, killer research there, Sparky. Maybe you should meet up with the guys in the past who said the same things about Marvel comics or rock music. The scapegoat issues will die down with this form of media one day, too, so just stop now.—Kevin

I think this is very true and kids should have different schedules after school, and not spend 5 hours playing games then another 3 hours of watching TV. It should be like 2 hours of watching TV and as much time to do homework, 1 hour for video games and another hour for reading. And one last thing, 1 hour of watching the news so kids know what goes on in the world.—Christina, 13

I play video games. And I notice the rating and what the game contains. I also notice parents and kids getting video games for themselves or kids. And they don't notice the rating. I know as a teen what games I can handle, which most teens don't. Jumping straight into a violent video game is not the best thing to do. People need to work their way up the video game ladder before jumping into a violent one.—Samory, 17

Grand Theft is a complex and violent game, but your description absolutely butchers it.—Chris, 17

If we have all of this proof against them, why don't we take it to court and actually ban violent video games?—Sally

It's not the games' fault. It's the parents. The kids that I know, when they first get violent games, know that if they shoot someone, it is bad. If you're 6, and your parents let you play GTA and you kill someone, it's their fault for (a) letting you play GTA, and (b) putting a weapon where you can get it.—Cody, 13

I think the problem is parents don't even check ratings and that's why children act as they do. When someone over the age 18 buys an AO or M game for a child, then you realize the problem. I have a younger cousin that's only 7 and he has all of the Mortal Kombat games so far. That is sad. I am only 13, and yet more mature than these immature '”adults”' and that is even more sad.—Maria, 13

Is this article addressed to children, because I don't think it's right to sway young impressionable children with half-truths. If I was younger, and not the intelligent girl I have become and I read this article I would've been a mess today. I'm a 9th grader with a 4.5 GPA balancing four honors classes and countless extracurricular activities. Video games have made me who I am today. Video games entranced me from the moment I was born and I intend to go to a great college to design video games. This ambition has carried me through the toughest of times, and isolating children from an experience such as video games is absurd. This article can sway and even scare children into thinking their minds will be warped from playing games, which is completely false. One thing in particular about this article bothered me. When you write, "I still sometimes have trouble falling asleep if I watch the news on TV or read the newspaper right before going to bed." what point are you trying to get across? Are you implying that video games made you have trouble getting to sleep? That statement seemed a little out of place to me. In conclusion, many parents and people who form opinions about video games are highly misinformed. There will always be negative things, but you don't have to ignore the positive. The cases in which children live their lives learning and enjoying video games greatly outweigh the cases in which a child has become violent as a result of video games. Believe it or not, a majority of us gamers aren't corrupt evil beings doomed for failure and a life of horrid memories and terrible dreams.—Robin, 15

Adults don't understand what kids do! Even though it's violent doesn't mean kids will do the same thing when we are older. If you went to my school and you protested about video games, they would hate you and never even listen to a single word you said, and you said that even TV does the same thing! Then protest about that. Tell every movie director to stop making horror films. . . . OK, so next time think of what you say about video games. It's not completely right!—Jose, 10

I totally agree. Video games are violent and teach kids to do bad. There seriously should be a law about it. My own little brother plays wrestling games, and when my mom finally succeeds to turn it off, he comes out of the room kicking and punching everyone ninja-like. Very bad.—Vanessa, 23

Some of my old friends turned out in juvie because of drug dealing and weapons. I do not know them anymore and mostly because of violent games. So in turn all the parents have to do is step in and actually check that their children are playing something safe instead of Grand Theft Auto and [shooting] games. It's extremely addicting so just step in and talk; don't invade their privacy with cameras. Just look at the games.—Kevin, 14

You guys are morons. This was of course expected from a totally biased web site made by lame adults who think they know what is cool to kids. I've been playing violent video games since I was 7, and I have no desire to hurt and or kill anyone. The kids who do school shootings were either gang [members] or kids who were intensely bullied and they fed their blood lust with video games.—Colin, 15

The first few paragraphs make this more like propaganda than actual news, talking about how video games were "affecting me in ways I didn't even suspect." That is an example of scare tactics. It is fairly obvious to see where the author's loyalties lie. My suggestion: talk more about the flaws in many of these studies and how much of the research put into video games yields inconclusive results. That would make it fairer and more like real news. As it is now, it is unacceptably biased.—Anonymous

The study you have that supposedly supports what you thinks proves nothing. Just because someone's "fight or flight" response is activated, does not mean they are more prone to violence. If you are going to say something is a bad influence, do your research, and don't attempt to slander the names of the people who worked very hard on these titles that you claim are affecting youth.—Rohn, 18

Just because we're kids and teens it doesn't mean we're stupid. I've been playing video games and watching fairly violent movies since I was very young, but the fact is that I have always been able to tell the difference between real life and make believe. . . . I may play video games where I go around killing people but I understand that they're just pixels on a screen and not real. I would never try something just because it was in a game and I would certainly not go and kill someone just because I did it on Grand Theft Auto. Nor would I hurt someone for the same reasons. In short they're for fun. Stop making it seem like everything is evil and out to make the world a bad place.—Jana, 15

Video games are made for entertainment, not to teach kids to kill. Yes, there is killing in games, but that's why those ratings are there. Parents should check the rating before they give it to their kids. My parents don’t care what I play because they know I’m not going to go on a rampage and kill everybody, not to mention that is just an excuse: Oh, I saw it on TV so I had to do it. Oh, I saw it on a game so I tried it. In my opinion, people like that should be locked up in a psychiatric ward.—Tyler, 15

I personally play video games an average of four hours a day during school and on a typical weekend I play about seven to ten hours a day. I agree to some extent with people who don't like video game violence and that younger children should not play violent video games. Where I disagree with parents is when they point fingers trying to blame the game/movie/music industry when it is the parents’ responsibility to regulate what their children are doing . . . When this generation of adults grew up, video games were part of a fledgling industry, so all our parents played was games like Pong and Space Invaders. So, many parents still think of video games just another toy for children to play with because that's what they were when they were young. Today, though, video games are just a powerful medium of media as any and like movies and music they feature things that are very inappropriate for children to be "doing."—Chip, 17

I believe that video games help in the development of the human brain, and childhood is the time when the brain is most prone to learning and development. If the child plays difficult games that take skill and problem solving and eye-hand coordination, even if the game features violent material, I feel that this kind of interaction is almost essential in today’s society. . . . I feel that the children of today, although very impressionable, should be subject to these kinds of games, with adult supervision.—Jerry, 18

I thought this was a great article, but not all video games make me violent. Sometimes, the more calming games like Tetris make me mad. Or even the older games like Super Mario.—Dylan, 14

I agree that I tend to get a bit hyper after playing a video game. Maybe even aggressive. But it's not just violent video games. It's all of them. Sometimes I just get too into them.—Ray, 16

Grand Theft Auto has a storyline . . . it is not about just killing. This article is bogus. And if playing video games 5 hours a day gives my mind a break, good for it. Playing video games more fun now than ever, and you should start playing again.—Brandon, 21

Dude, I don't think violent video games make you act violently. I've never acted violently at school and I play violent games about 4 hours in 1 day.—Nic, 13

I read the entire article about how people think violence in video games affect people, but this only proves on a study for kids in general between ages 8-12. I am one of the gamers across the world and I play games whenever I can, mostly violent and RPGs. I also play competitive games with my friends and we still act and feel the same about everything.—Anonymous, 17

I believe that video games only affect minds with an increased amount of imagination. However 99% of the world's children and teens understand the reality of the real world to a game. Violent games only bring out thoughts from a child's mind, they are not implemented there. Violent games help create this boundary between the two worlds, however, due to the 1% of children in this world who do not understand this boundary, the entire population is labeled. To conclude, I believe games do not create violence in children. They only bring out the subconscious emotions that were already there.—Carwyn, 15

I've played violent video games for most of my life and I have never done anything violent in 20 years just because I saw it on a video game.—Eric, 20

This is soooooo stupid. I play Halo 2, yet I don't thrust a sword into a dude's gut and shove a grenade in his mouth and run off leaving him to explode. I mean like one out of every 100,000,000,000 that play violent video games kill or hurt a guy, and video games help with hand-eye coordination.—Christian, 13

I have played just about every first person shooter game put on the market and some of the most violent games including such titles as Doom 3, Counter Strike Source, Medal of Honor, Battlefield Vietnam and others. The thought of actually holding a firearm and shooting someone scares the heck out of me. I know that I physically could not kill someone with a firearm unless it was in self-defense or in the protection of my family. Something as harmless as a nail gun makes me uncomfortable. Don't you think that parenting is the real culprit?—Alex, 17

I play my definite share of violent games and your heart does get pumping faster but those kinds of things also happen when you are concentrating on a hard test. It is just tension because video games are getting a lot harder and you just are trying to concentrate so you can win. . . . Overall I think that these things may have some effect as to how kids may think but not enough to be used as a plausible excuse for violent behavior because as humans we . . . [can] distinguish between "good" and "evil."—Chris, 16

When people debate the issue of violent games, I can go either side. There are many variables that can affect violence in kids. In my opinion, kids (meaning under the age of 11) CAN be affected by violent video games due to the fact they are young and imitate many things they deem as "cool." BUT, there are these things called parents. They RAISE the children, so it is their duty to protect them from things that might negatively affect their emotions and actions. I believe that the parents should stand up and start taking action, but not only blindly blocking these issues out of their children’s lives, but talking it over and making sure they know the difference between virtual reality and reality.—Mark, 14

Yea, I just so happened to be doing a report on this very topic (How Violent Video Games Affect Us). I will fully agree that they do physically affect you with your heart beat and blood pressure, but if you think about it, so does a horror movie, or witnessing any form of violence for that matter. I will also say that I have been desensitized by playing such games, though I do not view this as a bad thing at all, I'm actually glad I am. The blame that gets me is with society making violent video games the scapegoat of problems like school shootings and aggressive teens. Studies mean nothing, as two scholars reviewed all such on this topic, finding over 29, ALL of which the results were too inconsistent to even consider. In a few it even found that teenagers and young adults, who were angered, aggressive prior to playing a violent game, ended out calm and settled down. I can fully relate to that. As long as you have some common sense, video games aren't going to make you do anything you weren't already thinking of doing.—Paul, 16

I believe that video games teach nothing but violence. All you see is them killing and shooting like there is nothing wrong with that.—Rachaelle, 15

I think that this is stupid. Video games cannot pick up a gun, load it, cock it, and shoot into someone's head.—Scott, 16

Hi I am writing my senior thesis on the effect of violent video games on the people that play them. . . . . I would also like to point out that I feel the appeal of [Grand Theft Auto] is not the violence, but in its "free world" that allows you to do anything you want. Want to ramp a car off a building, do it. Want to kill people? You can do that too, but remember it's against the law and you will have the police after you. So yes, while you can slaughter innocent people and steal cars, you won't go unpunished. Heck, in its sequel, you can even get rewarded for stopping criminals that purse-snatch from old women.—Matt, 18

I have been a gamer since I was 9 yrs old. I played from my Nintendo all the way to the Gamecube. I used to be addicted way back and couldn't control myself, but after a few years I was able to keep playing video games at a minimum.—Juan, 18

I always play violent video games. It does not have any effect on my day-to-day life. I've been playing games such as Grand Theft Auto and The Getaway all the time. I kill people and take cars, but I know what to do in video games and what to do in real life. All this crap about video games are bad for kids is making me mad. Kids can tell the difference between reality and video games.—Chuck, 14

You have a lot of good points in this article and I agree with most of what you say. I'm a big gamer and I love all types of genre. My favorites are sports and action. I think playing games can enhance your skills in puzzle [solving] and long-term attention. Some of the levels in games are challenging, and it takes time to figure it out, but I feel good after doing it. So I think it also lets you improve your self-esteem and confidence.—J-man, 14

I think you should always check for ratings on boxes (video games and movies) and ask your parents if they are appropriate for you to get. I always do. That's why my mom gives me rope. I'm responsible, respectable and trustworthy.—Shana, 13

I really appreciate this article. As a junior in high school, I can testify of how many people are addicted to video games. I know of people who play at least 14 hours of video games a week. Most of it they play on the weekends. It does have an effect on you, whether or not you want to admit it.—Sage, 17

GTA3 is NOT about killing as many people as possible. Have you even played the game?!? The overall goal of the game is to become socially acceptable after you are released from jail and the only people you know are criminals. My main point is that I hate it when people use things for examples when they don't even know what said things are, or when it doesn't actually help their case.—Geno, 16

I just read this article and what I think you say is true. Unfortunately, I am one of those people but I am not violent at all. In fact, I do have about 6 games rated M for mature, and only 3 are rated T for teen. I also have one game rated E for everyone. As you can see, since I have an Xbox, I have more violent games than I do friendly. Although I haven't had one fight in a while (physically), I have controlled my anger and violent nature. Although you are correct with the pulse being higher and same with my blood temperature, without violence in our everyday life, 43% of the U.S. population would be out of work so as you can see, we in some dumb way need violence.—Stephan, 15

Look, there is nothing wrong with video games. You cannot blame the video game for its effect of making violent children. The parents need to monitor their child's game themselves. They cannot blame the game for their own laziness in not taking action and letting their child play violent games. Secondly, it's just a game. It's not real, and a lot of people don't understand that. If your child is not mature enough to handle fake violence, then they do not need to be playing video games in the first place.—Matthew, 12

I used to play video games all the time. They are very time consuming. I used to come home and go straight to it. It got to the point that if the game wasn't completed, I wasn't completed, and I would stay up or sneak to the living room until I finished the game. It became a part of me. I also gained a lot of weight because I wasn't going outside much. Therefore, I believe video games are like trash. Throw them away before they stink you up!—Lindsay, 15

Well, after reading this article, I most certainly agree that playing computer games will have effect on people or even the whole world. Now, technology is so advanced. Almost in everyone's house, there will be a computer. This causes some people to become computer games addicts. . . . Hence, parents should control their children properly. Do not allow them to play games that are too violent, as it would affect their lifestyle. Control the time that they play computer games, too.—Pen, 15

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