jonathanc Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Hi all, I am currently in the process of writing an essay on gaming and how it impacts the society. As you may be aware, there are some negative news that links gaming to various crimes and tragedies. Do you think violent games or games that depict violent acts will corrupt society? Do such games somehow drive certain gamers to do something they wouldn't have done otherwise? I am just interested to know people's general opinion on this matter. Even though you are a casual or non gamer I would still like to hear your vote on this matter. This is not an strict statistical poll but rather an attempt at gathering people's general opinions using the internet as a medium. Thanks for all votes offered link : http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/459189 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 voted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Sh*t! I didn't get past the first question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Sh*t! I didn't get past the first question. Rofl Thanks for all the votes guys. Please do correct me if I made any mistakes in the poll as its the first time I'm doing this. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Bullitt Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Voted What impacts on society are you looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Too much of a varied question to get any focused answers. Do games make folk stab other folk - No Do games have a bearing on society - Yes, everyone sits in the house on their computers and when they go outside they don't know how to be sociable. Thats a problem with the internet & gaming though. Everyone on this forum is very vocal on here, try going to a meet though. Very clicky and shy with very few people being outgoing, never mind as "outgoing" as they appear to be on the web. Internet + Gaming = absolute carnage. Look at the behaviour changes with the folks playing WOW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Voted What impacts on society are you looking at? There are some on the list at the moment such as : 1) Growing anti social behaviour 2) Health related problems 3) Addiction 4) Provoking violent behaviour Those are the main points but I am still researching at the moment. It will branch out a little more according on the data to be gathered. I know that internet polls could be totally off skew and inaccurate but I am not using the results as a definitive source but rather as an experiment to gather people's view on this matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Too much of a varied question to get any focused answers. Do games make folk stab other folk - No Do games have a bearing on society - Yes, everyone sits in the house on their computers and when they go outside they don't know how to be sociable. Thats a problem with the internet & gaming though. Everyone on this forum is very vocal on here, try going to a meet though. Very clicky and shy with very few people being outgoing, never mind as "outgoing" as they appear to be on the web. Internet + Gaming = absolute carnage. Look at the behaviour changes with the folks playing WOW. Good point mate. I'm still in the early stages so I'm just taking this as an experiment rather than a serious statistical representation for a model answer. It's easier for people to click on one vote instead of filling up a few pages of a questionnaire Reason why I post in this forum is because : 1) I know the age group will range from 18+ to beyond. I rather have a mature opinion rather than a possibly biased opinion from a teenager. 2) People here achieves an open intellectual discussion (well most of the time lol) and I would appreciate their input. Plus, seems to be a lot of gamers here too. 3) Large subcriber/community base. I even know there's active female members too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 i play a lot of BF2 and it doesnt make me want to go out and kill people and anyone who says they do usually have underlying mental issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 i play a lot of BF2 and it doesnt make me want to go out and kill people and anyone who says they do usually always have underlying mental issues Same with the folks that think violent movies make kids violent. They don't, they are fecked in the head. The movies just give them ideas of sick things to do... not the will to do them (Jamie Bulger). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Same with the folks that think violent movies make kids violent. They don't, they are fecked in the head. The movies just give them ideas of sick things to do... not the will to do them (Jamie Bulger). Agreed. However, sometimes games can indirectly cause harm. For example, these two who killed their 7 year old sis by executing a Mortal Kombat move. I am pretty sure they have no intention of killing her. It happened by accident. But this accidently wouldn't have happened if they are not exposed to the game in the first place. Perhaps they played MK a lot of times and got familiar with the routine. Perhaps they found it fun and perhaps they thought their sis could simple "respawn" again like in the game or that maybe their sis has 2 lives left. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/dec/20/teens-held-girls-mortal-kombat-death/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Agreed. However, sometimes games can indirectly cause harm. For example, these two who killed their 7 year old sis by executing a Mortal Kombat move. I am pretty sure they have no intention of killing her. It happened by accident. But this accidently wouldn't have happened if they are not exposed to the game in the first place. Perhaps they played MK a lot of times and got familiar with the routine. Perhaps they found it fun and perhaps they thought their sis could simple "respawn" again like in the game or that maybe their sis has 2 lives left. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/dec/20/teens-held-girls-mortal-kombat-death/ If it wasn't mortal kombat getting the blame it would have been the WWE. I agree there will be a lot of indirect accidents due to progression, not games though. Years ago there were no TV's, no internet & no consoles. Were there no accidental tom-foolery deaths before TV? I blame the parents, not the modern day entertainment. Edit: Just read the article Zoe lost consciousness after being hit, kicked and body-slammed to the floor. In an interview later at police headquarters, Trujillo said she tripped Zoe, "punched her in the stomach, karate chopped her lower arms, punched and pinched the victim's thighs, kicked her in the shins, slapped her stomach and buttocks and poked at the victim's chest." The witness said she asked Roberts whether Zoe had asked them to stop. "Yeah, she told me to stop," he said. Asked why he didn't stop, he said, "I don't know; I was drunk." Hardly an accident is it? I remember the buttock slap "finish him" move well. Would you, as a 17 year old, "play" with a 7 year old in that manor? Throw the book at them! I still blame the parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Hardly an accident is it? I remember the buttock slap "finish him" move well. Would you, as a 17 year old, "play" with a 7 year old in that manor? Throw the book at them! I still blame the parents. Well, maybe they want to get a perfect combo finish Seriously though, I get your point. Perhaps the media is trying to portray certain games as evil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Well, maybe they want to get a perfect combo finish Seriously though, I get your point. Perhaps the media is trying to portray certain games as evil? The world is a blame culture. Occams Razor needs to be adopted in these situations. People are getting paid far too much money to come up with these theory's. I completely agree that computer games can have an influence on people. Only when they over play them or become obsessed though. That is not the fault of the game but the fault of the consumer or the parents of the consumer. WOW is a perfect example of this. Kids are spending literally all day on this game, not getting any sleep and having no social interaction with other people/kids. This would mess anyone up. Its not the game that is the cause though, everyone just wants to blame someone/something else. It's all down to parents IMO. Of course you get the odd fruit loop, but most of the time i would blame allowing the child to be in these situations. What part in anyones upbringing should it be ok to kick a 7 year old unconscious? The game made him do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Leeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrooooooy Jeeeeeeeeenkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Leeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrooooooy Jeeeeeeeeenkins WoW or ex WoW player I guess? I agree about the point made about WoW though. I started back in 04 and during the "peak" of my addiction I spent countless hours on the game "grinding" for the High Warlord title in PvP (back when everything is competitive and epics still mean epics). Got a big slap in the face financial wise so I slowly weaned off the game. It was hard at first and I had few relapse(s?) but I finally managed to beat the addiction. I don't know why but WoW certainly is a very very addictive game. It's either you don't get into it or is totally sucked into it. You won't believe this but I have seen few dramas in WoW and its not just the kids that need parental supervision, sometimes its the adults themselves that need help. Btw, I just noticed you can vote repeatedly on the poll site that I linked. Perhaps not so ideal but I guess few people will have the time or intention to F5 and spam votes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 I watched an interesting video the other day on tinterweb about the addiction of gaming.....let me see if I can find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 WoW or ex WoW player I guess? Neither, I'm not a game player in the slightest, in fact I don't even play on the consoles. Having kids means I've got ps2, 360 and wii, but they rarely get played, the kids are booted outside if it is dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 I did my Psychology dissertation on something similar many moons ago but it was more about emotions caused by playing aggressive/none-aggressive games. I looked specifically at people playing the game, and I also had a ‘passive observer’ present, and got both reactions. Basically, it didn't matter what the theme of the game was, the emotions felt at the end of the time were the same (usually aggressive). The only thing I found was that the observers emotions were a little more exaggerated than the player. If I was doing something on gaming now I would probably be looking at classification and how that works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Anyone ever did a study on the effects of alcohol in relation to agressive behaviour? Who do we blame? The people that make and sell the alcohol. Too much tunnel vision in this country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanc Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 I did my Psychology dissertation on something similar many moons ago but it was more about emotions caused by playing aggressive/none-aggressive games. I looked specifically at people playing the game, and I also had a ‘passive observer’ present, and got both reactions. Basically, it didn't matter what the theme of the game was, the emotions felt at the end of the time were the same (usually aggressive). The only thing I found was that the observers emotions were a little more exaggerated than the player. If I was doing something on gaming now I would probably be looking at classification and how that works There's another angle that I am currently looking at as well. You know when you are in the middle of a game, maybe CoD teamplay etc and suddenly someone interupts you, do you feel a rage building up? I know I will be a bit pissed if I'm totally into a game and someone interupts my gaming session. How far can this aggression lead to? Is it temporary? Will it have a passive side effect (meaning it makes you loose your temper easier). Don't know if this is worth looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 There's another angle that I am currently looking at as well. You know when you are in the middle of a game, maybe CoD teamplay etc and suddenly someone interupts you, do you feel a rage building up? I know I will be a bit pissed if I'm totally into a game and someone interupts my gaming session. How far can this aggression lead to? Is it temporary? Will it have a passive side effect (meaning it makes you loose your temper easier). Don't know if this is worth looking at. Happens with anything you are concentrating hard on. Its normal, nothing to do with the game. The reaction comes from the levels of concentration used during a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 i play a lot of BF2 and it doesnt make me want to go out and kill people and anyone who says they do usually have underlying mental issues I don't want to kill people as a result of playing BF2 but I do find myself looking at things and marking them out as good sniping spots now and again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Anyone ever did a study on the effects of alcohol in relation to agressive behaviour? Who do we blame? The people that make and sell the alcohol. Too much tunnel vision in this country. What? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 What? Doesn't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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