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The question “Are video games responsible for gun violence?” arises every few years normally triggered by a gun tragedy or when an extremely violent video game is released to the general public but whether or not they are responsible for the rise of gun crimes is a matter of serious debate. Recent figures show that crime as a whole has risen over the past few years and that gun crimes have doubled since they were banned! Britain may be the most unlikely country in Europe for you to be shot but as long as that risk is there we have to deal with gun crime, however should video games be targeted as the reason for these figures? Or are we just looking for something to blame?
Many people would argue that games such as “Grand Theft Auto III” are so realistic that it is hard for some people to draw the line between fiction and the reality. For example in many video games the Police are your enemy and you see Policemen and women doing things that would never happen in real life. These scenes may not influence older players but for younger age groups who may have only seen a Policeman walk up a street it can be very influencing indeed. Children take what they see as fact with out question so if you show them something as realistic as a video game they will believe it and so will most people until they start to mature and learn things for themselves. As 13-year-old Lawrence Jones says in New York “It is as close as you can get to killing someone without being arrested or really killing someone.” And if a young teenager finds a game so realistic that the next step towards reality is to murder someone it is understandable that people think that video games are a bit too realistic for store shelves.
Story lines in many video games are also regarded, as the cause for increasing gun crime is the games storylines. In many video games you not only HAVE to kill someone to progress to the next stage but you gain extra points for shooting people in different places, in different ways, with different weapons, at different times. For example in Grand Theft Auto III you earn yourself extra points by first sleeping with a prostitute and then shooting her to get your money back. In the end it comes down to the fact that when you are made to do all these tasks and challenges over and over it becomes second nature to people and even an addiction and when someone can’t get enough of shooting another human being it is hard for people to accept it as “just a video game”.
The most obvious reason why people think that video games are responsible for gun violence is celebrity influence. Whenever a blockbuster film is released it is a safe bet that a video game based on it will appear sooner or later and when you are playing a fictional super hero portrayed by a world famous actor you can very easily be influenced by the video game. Some games such as first person shooters involve you controlling what a character on the screen does in every way and some people would argue that if you are learning how to fire real weapons used by your favourite actors then you are very likely to take notice of what is being done and you are more likely to act upon what you have learned.
I will now progress to why I think that video games aren’t responsible for gun violence. Obviously murdering someone is not something many people do at all but we have to ask ourselves why not? If you argue that video games influence people to shoot one another you must ask why everyone who plays a violent video game doesn’t go out and shoot someone? The answer to this is obvious; video games aren’t the cause of gun crime the people who take it upon themselves to fire a gun are. Most of these people already have mental problems or have had something traumatic happen in their life. It is not the video games that are to blame; it is the people who play them.
We must remember that video games are only a small part of the media and can’t be totally to blame. Music, News, TV, Movies all of these are just as or more violent than video games however they are deemed acceptable too society. If one form of media is the cause of gun violence then surely all these other forms of media must incite gun violence as well? However if other forms of media are just as violent as a video game or more violent than a video game then logically they are either all to blame or all acceptable and as the majority are accepted by society they must all be acceptable.
If you think about how long violence has been around for then you will see that it is nothing new to society. Since the beginning of time man has fought and over the thousands of years it has through time had phases of being better and worse. If we go back in time as long ago as the time of the Roman Empire we will find out that people actually engaged in savage fights on a regular basis! Some times to the death. In many ways we have evolved from that and some would argue that video games are actually a safe way to release all our violent tensions in a safe environment without hurting anyone else. I agree with this argument one hundred percent and like most other people I am not going to take a gun and shoot anyone. It is not the video games industry that’s the problem it is the people who fire the guns.
In conclusion the answer to “Are video games responsible for gun violence?” is no. I have reviewed the evidence and studied the facts and I believe that if you banned all video games tomorrow gun violence would most certainly not go down. Video games such a Grand Theft Auto III have been banned in countries before and as 13-year-old Robert Crawford says “ I just think it makes it more exciting ‘cause you’re not supposed to have it” this is undeniable evidence that if you banned violent video games that people would just want them more. It happened when guns were banned and it will happen again if you do it to video games. When you actually consider all the possibilities the root of the problem is something very different and quite unrelated to video games.
Many people would argue that games such as “Grand Theft Auto III” are so realistic that it is hard for some people to draw the line between fiction and the reality. For example in many video games the Police are your enemy and you see Policemen and women doing things that would never happen in real life. These scenes may not influence older players but for younger age groups who may have only seen a Policeman walk up a street it can be very influencing indeed. Children take what they see as fact with out question so if you show them something as realistic as a video game they will believe it and so will most people until they start to mature and learn things for themselves. As 13-year-old Lawrence Jones says in New York “It is as close as you can get to killing someone without being arrested or really killing someone.” And if a young teenager finds a game so realistic that the next step towards reality is to murder someone it is understandable that people think that video games are a bit too realistic for store shelves.
Story lines in many video games are also regarded, as the cause for increasing gun crime is the games storylines. In many video games you not only HAVE to kill someone to progress to the next stage but you gain extra points for shooting people in different places, in different ways, with different weapons, at different times. For example in Grand Theft Auto III you earn yourself extra points by first sleeping with a prostitute and then shooting her to get your money back. In the end it comes down to the fact that when you are made to do all these tasks and challenges over and over it becomes second nature to people and even an addiction and when someone can’t get enough of shooting another human being it is hard for people to accept it as “just a video game”.
The most obvious reason why people think that video games are responsible for gun violence is celebrity influence. Whenever a blockbuster film is released it is a safe bet that a video game based on it will appear sooner or later and when you are playing a fictional super hero portrayed by a world famous actor you can very easily be influenced by the video game. Some games such as first person shooters involve you controlling what a character on the screen does in every way and some people would argue that if you are learning how to fire real weapons used by your favourite actors then you are very likely to take notice of what is being done and you are more likely to act upon what you have learned.
I will now progress to why I think that video games aren’t responsible for gun violence. Obviously murdering someone is not something many people do at all but we have to ask ourselves why not? If you argue that video games influence people to shoot one another you must ask why everyone who plays a violent video game doesn’t go out and shoot someone? The answer to this is obvious; video games aren’t the cause of gun crime the people who take it upon themselves to fire a gun are. Most of these people already have mental problems or have had something traumatic happen in their life. It is not the video games that are to blame; it is the people who play them.
We must remember that video games are only a small part of the media and can’t be totally to blame. Music, News, TV, Movies all of these are just as or more violent than video games however they are deemed acceptable too society. If one form of media is the cause of gun violence then surely all these other forms of media must incite gun violence as well? However if other forms of media are just as violent as a video game or more violent than a video game then logically they are either all to blame or all acceptable and as the majority are accepted by society they must all be acceptable.
If you think about how long violence has been around for then you will see that it is nothing new to society. Since the beginning of time man has fought and over the thousands of years it has through time had phases of being better and worse. If we go back in time as long ago as the time of the Roman Empire we will find out that people actually engaged in savage fights on a regular basis! Some times to the death. In many ways we have evolved from that and some would argue that video games are actually a safe way to release all our violent tensions in a safe environment without hurting anyone else. I agree with this argument one hundred percent and like most other people I am not going to take a gun and shoot anyone. It is not the video games industry that’s the problem it is the people who fire the guns.
In conclusion the answer to “Are video games responsible for gun violence?” is no. I have reviewed the evidence and studied the facts and I believe that if you banned all video games tomorrow gun violence would most certainly not go down. Video games such a Grand Theft Auto III have been banned in countries before and as 13-year-old Robert Crawford says “ I just think it makes it more exciting ‘cause you’re not supposed to have it” this is undeniable evidence that if you banned violent video games that people would just want them more. It happened when guns were banned and it will happen again if you do it to video games. When you actually consider all the possibilities the root of the problem is something very different and quite unrelated to video games.
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Grrrr stupid JAT ohwell he'll be banned soon enough.
Some little JAT's just copied and pasted this into the VC Forum.
What a fool.
Congrats anywho.
What a fool.
Congrats anywho.
I just read in NGC that Honduras in Central America are going to ban violent videogames. Including TurokEvolution. If it weren't for those damn video games then we could still talk to the dinosaurs!
Cubist wrote:
> Drunk Cow wrote:
> Congrats on your first win dude.:-D
>
> I knew you would one day.
>
> Thanks DC! I honestly thought you or Totoro was going to win :D
Acutally I did win today. Look at GAD2:-D
> Drunk Cow wrote:
> Congrats on your first win dude.:-D
>
> I knew you would one day.
>
> Thanks DC! I honestly thought you or Totoro was going to win :D
Acutally I did win today. Look at GAD2:-D
Drunk Cow wrote:
> Congrats on your first win dude.:-D
>
> I knew you would one day.
Thanks DC! I honestly thought you or Totoro was going to win :D
> Congrats on your first win dude.:-D
>
> I knew you would one day.
Thanks DC! I honestly thought you or Totoro was going to win :D
Congrats on your first win dude.:-D
I knew you would one day.
I knew you would one day.
gerrid wrote:
> No more guns in games.
> Let's all go play Madden.
> YeY
Lol A girl I was talking too while writing this said "Why don't you all just play Rayman?"...I slapped her back to the real world though. Anyway thanks for all the good comments:D
> No more guns in games.
> Let's all go play Madden.
> YeY
Lol A girl I was talking too while writing this said "Why don't you all just play Rayman?"...I slapped her back to the real world though. Anyway thanks for all the good comments:D
No more guns in games.
Let's all go play Madden.
YeY
Let's all go play Madden.
YeY
Great post Cubist!
We are in total agreement, videogames aren't to blame for gun violence...
..but maybe the old fisty cuff.
:)
We are in total agreement, videogames aren't to blame for gun violence...
..but maybe the old fisty cuff.
:)
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