13 year old father attempts murder over a video game

[Grave_n_idle]

I think that these sorts of games are not things that young children should be playing, personally. Just like I don't think parents should be buying pornography for their children.

It's naturally, age-dependent. But 13 and 14 year olds are too young, imho.

I think it's up to the parents. Most kids by age 13 and 14 are mature enough to understand fact from fiction.

I don't think that's a claim you can even support for most adults, let alone most kids.

[Tyriece]

Ban parents!

[Saint Jade IV]

Because becoming a homicidal maniac is the only possible negative outcome from allowing small children to play video games like COD. And of course, the violence and context of Mortal Combat is as entirely realistic as some of these games.

I don't personally think there is anything wrong with a parent preventing their children from interacting with realistic violence at the ages of the boys in this article.

Of course, because I have some sort of negative outcome, never mind the fact my dad actually bought them and I played them without any negative outcomes and I grew up as a happy kid.

Come on, your arguments have some validity for gamers who turned out to have negative outcomes, but you fail to neglect the vast population that didn't turn out bad.

Negative outcomes can run a whole spectrum. Some people don't even realise it's happened to them. Some people grow out of the problems.

Negative outcomes also don't mean that one is a bad person, you know.

You really think it makes someone a bad parent to not allow a 13 year old to pretend to kill people in realistic ways?

You really think that parents shouldn't inform themselves about the nature of the games their children are playing, and consider whether they are age appropriate or not?

I know plenty of parents who won't let their kids watch movies like "Saving Private Ryan" or "Three Kings" for example, but have no issue with them playing video games which are just as violent, because they are unaware of the content, the improvements in graphics over the last 20 or so years, and the level of interaction that players are now capable of. Their argument is, "They're just games."

[Esparmuran]

Ban parents!

Goddamn it, why didn't I think of that?

[Gauthier]

Because becoming a homicidal maniac is the only possible negative outcome from allowing small children to play video games like COD. And of course, the violence and context of Mortal Combat is as entirely realistic as some of these games.

I don't personally think there is anything wrong with a parent preventing their children from interacting with realistic violence at the ages of the boys in this article.

I kinda agree with the Roman view of violence, which is get it out of your system so you really don't kill people. This is why they had gladitator games/public executions.

The gladiator games were just a quick fix to cover up how the whole empire was rotting. The term "bread and circuses" comes from the habit of giving away bread and having gladiator games to keep the public distracted.

[Ifreann]

Because becoming a homicidal maniac is the only possible negative outcome from allowing small children to play video games like COD. And of course, the violence and context of Mortal Combat is as entirely realistic as some of these games.

I don't personally think there is anything wrong with a parent preventing their children from interacting with realistic violence at the ages of the boys in this article.

Of course, because I have some sort of negative outcome, never mind the fact my dad actually bought them and I played them without any negative outcomes and I grew up as a happy kid.

Come on, your arguments have some validity for gamers who turned out to have negative outcomes, but you fail to neglect the vast population that didn't turn out bad.

Whereas you generalise your own personal experiences to this "vast population", a wholly legit line of reasoning, right?

[Saint Jade IV]

I kinda agree with the Roman view of violence, which is get it out of your system so you really don't kill people. This is why they had gladitator games/public executions.

The gladiator games were just a quick fix to cover up how the whole empire was rotting. The term "bread and circuses" comes from the habit of giving away bread and having gladiator games to keep the public distracted.

You would think people would actually know their history before posting "facts".

[Saint Jade IV]

Of course, because I have some sort of negative outcome, never mind the fact my dad actually bought them and I played them without any negative outcomes and I grew up as a happy kid.

Come on, your arguments have some validity for gamers who turned out to have negative outcomes, but you fail to neglect the vast population that didn't turn out bad.

Whereas you generalise your own personal experiences to this "vast population", a wholly legit line of reasoning, right?

I also love how he assumes that he a perfect human being. No negative impacts, nothing he could possibly improve on.

I think people forget that being a productive member of society, doesn't mean that nothing that happened to you before was bad. Sometimes, your past can have a negative impact, the effects of which can be mitigated by other factors. Were it not for the bad influences, your skills/abilities in certain areas might be amplified even more than they currently are.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Of course, because I have some sort of negative outcome, never mind the fact my dad actually bought them and I played them without any negative outcomes and I grew up as a happy kid.

Come on, your arguments have some validity for gamers who turned out to have negative outcomes, but you fail to neglect the vast population that didn't turn out bad.

Negative outcomes can run a whole spectrum. Some people don't even realise it's happened to them. Some people grow out of the problems.

Negative outcomes also don't mean that one is a bad person, you know.

You really think it makes someone a bad parent to not allow a 13 year old to pretend to kill people in realistic ways?

You really think that parents shouldn't inform themselves about the nature of the games their children are playing, and consider whether they are age appropriate or not?

I know plenty of parents who won't let their kids watch movies like "Saving Private Ryan" or "Three Kings" for example, but have no issue with them playing video games which are just as violent, because they are unaware of the content, the improvements in graphics over the last 20 or so years, and the level of interaction that players are now capable of. Their argument is, "They're just games."

I think my parents would have been aware of any negative consequences videogames would have brought to my lifestyle.

And negative outcomes, in all cases, it usually means it has warped a person's mind in a negative way. So would you kindly explain how that isn't a bad outcome? And how wouldn't that be discernible?

No, I just think it's stupid to think videogame violence = real life violence. It doesn't work like that if the parents educate the child about the games. I would let my children play any kind of games, but I would have a talk with them to not be idiots and attempt these things out of videogames, which is what a parent should be doing anyways, fucking educating their children instead of thinking their children can do nothing wrong.

I have watched and played violent videogames and movies since I was a child, and there is still not that correlation, so I don't see what the point is of saying "oh no! We should ban all games from children's consumption!" Please, like children are stupid.

Also, as for your snarky comments, I know I am not very social. Do you really think I care? Absolutely not, but I don't blame my lack of social skills to playing videogames, I correlate them to my bad experiences with people. And I am not so shallow as to think I am perfect, which is of course, another thing you should be teaching your children anyways. I am humble enough to not think I am perfect unlike some people in here. However, I can't think of a single negative correlation between videogames and IRL violence in my case, and I have asked the same thing to other gamers who say the same thing, therefore it isn't just a group of us who turned out to be fine.

As for the "life" inference, you may think that, however nobody is entitled to have life just handed to them. No way in the history of the world has it been that way that we can be efficient at everything we can possibly do. We are just better at certain things and we suck at others but that's life. We don't live in this fairy-tale world where candy canes and blankets are there for us whenever we need them. Life is cruel, and we just have to work around the bad things and move on.

[Ifreann]

Whereas you generalise your own personal experiences to this "vast population", a wholly legit line of reasoning, right?

I also love how he assumes that he a perfect human being. No negative impacts, nothing he could possibly improve on.

I think people forget that being a productive member of society, doesn't mean that nothing that happened to you before was bad. Sometimes, your past can have a negative impact, the effects of which can be mitigated by other factors. Were it not for the bad influences, your skills/abilities in certain areas might be amplified even more than they currently are.

Really, people need to be a less sensitive about suggestions that the content of games can be bad for younger kids instead of jumping right to "Oh, well I didn't turn into a homicidal maniac!" shtick, as though someone somewhere was actually saying something that absurd.

[Gauthier]

I also love how he assumes that he a perfect human being. No negative impacts, nothing he could possibly improve on.

I think people forget that being a productive member of society, doesn't mean that nothing that happened to you before was bad. Sometimes, your past can have a negative impact, the effects of which can be mitigated by other factors. Were it not for the bad influences, your skills/abilities in certain areas might be amplified even more than they currently are.

Really, people need to be a less sensitive about suggestions that the content of games can be bad for younger kids instead of jumping right to "Oh, well I didn't turn into a homicidal maniac!" shtick, as though someone somewhere was actually saying something that absurd.

It's like someone complaining about showing porn to kids and then someone else jumping in with "I watched porn when I was a kid and *I* didn't turn into a rapist!"

[Densaner]

I say ban all video games. They're obviously to blame.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Really, people need to be a less sensitive about suggestions that the content of games can be bad for younger kids instead of jumping right to "Oh, well I didn't turn into a homicidal maniac!" shtick, as though someone somewhere was actually saying something that absurd.

It's like someone complaining about showing porn to kids and then someone else jumping in with "I watched porn when I was a kid and *I* didn't turn into a rapist!"

The problem is not whether or not showing porn or playing violent videogames are bad to children. It is this stupid assumption that everything you think is wrong with something applies to all children ever conceived.

It just doesn't. It's cute you want to protect your children from such things, but really, children are not going to pick up bad habits if parents are on top of them. It is just stupid to assume parents are bad just because they don't really censor their children. Some of us have better shit to deal with than whether or not a violent videogame is going to warp our children into anti-social morons who curse like a sailor, and if they start to turn into that, at that moment it is our responsibility as parents to stop their habits then, not assume that videogames caused it, but stop it altogether.

[Ifreann]

It's like someone complaining about showing porn to kids and then someone else jumping in with "I watched porn when I was a kid and *I* didn't turn into a rapist!"

The problem is not whether or not showing porn or playing violent videogames are bad to children. It is this stupid assumption that everything you think is wrong with something applies to all children ever conceived.

No one thinks that, though. You're arguing against a position that no one holds.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

The problem is not whether or not showing porn or playing violent videogames are bad to children. It is this stupid assumption that everything you think is wrong with something applies to all children ever conceived.

No one thinks that, though. You're arguing against a position that no one holds.

And yet that is the default position implied by many people with almost everything to defend their positions. That there cannot be no exceptions to the rule.

I am not saying everyone who plays a videogame is going to come out unscathed out of the experience, of course. However, it is my personal experience that you can't be warped by a videogame that easy, it takes a certain level of intellect to be warped in such a way and a certain gullibility to get carried away by a videogame like that. However, in general, not all video gamers are these antisocial fellows who can't distinguish right from wrong because we played videogames since we were like 5.

Then again, our parents didn't just let us on our own and they actually gave a shit about raising us as well, which is what we should really be questioning here, not the child playing videogames, but how much did the parents gave a shit about raising their child properly.

[Costa Alegria]

It's not necessarily the fact from fiction. I just think it's somewhat unnecessary to expose them to the ultra-realistic violence in these video games so young.

Oh please. You've got kids going around stabbing other people and pretending to be gangsters at that age without the help of video games. Violence is something kids will inevitably see and experience at any time of their life and sometimes commit it themselves.

[Meryuma]

Ban children from playing video games. No, really. They have better things to do.

Video games are a form of art (generally not "high art" but still).

Why? Do you think all children will turn into bloodthirsty murderers if their parents do?

I think that these sorts of games are not things that young children should be playing, personally. Just like I don't think parents should be buying pornography for their children.

It's naturally, age-dependent. But 13 and 14 year olds are too young, imho.

What if 13 and 14 year olds buy them themselves?

I was playing Mortal Kombat when I was 6-7

I didn't turn into a homicidal maniac who cracked people's skulls open out in the street.

Can we move on from this now?

Because becoming a homicidal maniac is the only possible negative outcome from allowing small children to play video games like COD. And of course, the violence and context of Mortal Combat is as entirely realistic as some of these games.

I don't personally think there is anything wrong with a parent preventing their children from interacting with realistic violence at the ages of the boys in this article.

I'd take issue with the jingoism in the COD series more than anything.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Ban children from playing video games. No, really. They have better things to do.

Video games are a form of art (generally not "high art" but still).

I think that these sorts of games are not things that young children should be playing, personally. Just like I don't think parents should be buying pornography for their children.

It's naturally, age-dependent. But 13 and 14 year olds are too young, imho.

What if 13 and 14 year olds buy them themselves?

Because becoming a homicidal maniac is the only possible negative outcome from allowing small children to play video games like COD. And of course, the violence and context of Mortal Combat is as entirely realistic as some of these games.

I don't personally think there is anything wrong with a parent preventing their children from interacting with realistic violence at the ages of the boys in this article.

I'd take issue with the jingoism in the COD series more than anything.

Some games have really detailed art though

And with COD? I would take more issue with the fact that it teaches nothing of value to the child. Then again, since my teenage years I have been more attracted to videogames with more philosophical and aesthetic value than Mario Bros.

[Ifreann]

No one thinks that, though. You're arguing against a position that no one holds.

And yet that is the default position implied by many people

Talking heads on FOX, maybe. People who have actually thought about it? Nah, doubt it.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

And yet that is the default position implied by many people

Talking heads on FOX, maybe. People who have actually thought about it? Nah, doubt it.

Ah, but media sells so they have to be sensationalistic, which is why is there this whole videogame debate in the first place.

[Gauthier]

Talking heads on FOX, maybe. People who have actually thought about it? Nah, doubt it.

Ah, but media sells so they have to be sensationalistic, which is why is there this whole videogame debate in the first place.

The same FOXNews that considered Mass Effect nothing but a smutfest, media? Ahhh ha ha ha ha...

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Ah, but media sells so they have to be sensationalistic, which is why is there this whole videogame debate in the first place.

The same FOXNews that considered Mass Effect nothing but a smutfest, media? Ahhh ha ha ha ha...

XD! Alright, FOX News is a mockery for media. Then again I don't even watch the news myself for the same reason biases.

[Jerusalemian]

What a Fucked up kid.

[Ridann]

Probably expected his friend victim to respawn.

[The Mighty Warrior Horse]

I say ban all video games. They're obviously to blame.

Obviously.
The parents aren't to blame at all.