[July Discussion] Video game addiction + Do video games lead to violence?

[Xamol Na]

So, here is a topic I'm really passionate about!

 

Can you get addicted to video games?

 

My personal view here; yes! Why? Well, some video games can be exciting to the point where you're so engaged that your body starts to release endorphins and thus you become addicted. Well...that's how I would answer if I wanted to sound scientific.

 

Personally, I say you can become addicted to video games because I was but I was addicted in a particular way. I used video games for escapism into a "better" world.

 

Does Playing Violent Video Games Lead To Actual Violence?

 

This one is tricky as it would all depend on the individual involved.

 

Anyway, enough of me! What do you guys think?

 

Remember, keep it clean and no personal attacks. Online or offline!

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

humans are violent. they haven['t become more so.

 

though the thing where kids smack someone for taking away their video games is sort of related, those kids would smack someone for taking away their stone hand axe, too.

[ruairidh7]

You can get addicted to practically anything, people give video games a hard time for it but the way I see it better a shot on the xbox than a shot of something harder

 

I don't think they lead to violence apart from perhaps in people already a bit unhinged, and there's not much you can do about them

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

it's definitely psychologically addictive. the way the term is defined now, yeah, of course. and they do things to your brain, like when you;re trying to fall asleep the images and music will keep playing in your head. and the visuals can poke the brain enough to cause seizures in some ppl. so... yeah, i'd say there's definitely a pretty heavy effect on the mind.

 

but the specific issue of violence... it would be hard to find any statistical correlation there. if anything, i'd think the tendency to keep people isolated reduces the potential for violence.

[Arez Al'Loke]

Can you get addicted to video games?

 

Oh yes, I believe you can get just as addicted to games as you can to drugs/cigaretts/alcohol...

 

Does Playing Violent Video Games Lead To Actual Violence?

 

No.. I believe that video games is the opposite. It's an outlet for anger and frustration. Instead of punching someone who irritates you, kill someone in a game.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i don't think psychological addiction is the same as physical addiction. watch a heroin addict go through withdrawal and you'll see what i mean. it can be painful, very painful, and traumatic, to be separated from something to which you're psychologically addicted... but it generally can't kill you. you don;t need medical care while you detox. you don't need to be slapped full of BZDs to keep you from seizing. you don't need agonist therapy to .... well, it's not the same thing, that's all.

[Arez Al'Loke]

Well, I don't mean litteraly xD

 

But computer addicted people can get lethaly violant when being prevented to use the computer. It's quite nasty actually.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i think the kind of people that get lethally violent when deprived of computer access... would be as likely to get lethally violent when deprived of anything they really wanted. lethally violent... it's rarely just a one off deal, to have that kind of rage, and the willingness to act on it.

[Arez Al'Loke]

Well, some people get so stuck in the fantasy world that they feel someone is "taking their life away".. That justifies any kind of response, as long as they get their computer back..

[ruairidh7]

When you say 'lethally violent' are you being serious? That would be quite an eye opener for me if true

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

but those people, i'd think, have personality disorders or even axis I diagnoses that would lead them to similar behavior even without, as you say, the justification, of the computer addiction.

 

i'm not saying people don;t wig out over this. i'm just saying, people wig out over a lot of things. and people who wig out with murder in their souls... well, they've always been around. and always will.

[Xamol Na]

i think the kind of people that get lethally violent when deprived of computer access... would be as likely to get lethally violent when deprived of anything they really wanted. lethally violent... it's rarely just a one off deal, to have that kind of rage, and the willingness to act on it.

 

Disagree. I was seriously addicted to video games not long ago as they were my escapism and the only way I could "live". I was seriously that unhinged. When it was taken away I was violent, never lethally, over it but not over being refused other things.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

When you say 'lethally violent' are you being serious? That would be quite an eye opener for me if true

 

i think that there may have been a handful of times this has happened, and like anything else, it would be sensationalized, and there would be fictional TV plots based on it, until it seemed like it was a common thing.

 

i've heard of kids who popped their parents over such things, but kids have been doing that for one reason or another for millions of years.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i think the kind of people that get lethally violent when deprived of computer access... would be as likely to get lethally violent when deprived of anything they really wanted. lethally violent... it's rarely just a one off deal, to have that kind of rage, and the willingness to act on it.

 

Disagree. I was seriously addicted to video games not long ago as they were my escapism and the only way I could "live". I was seriously that unhinged. When it was taken away I was violent, never lethally, over it but not over being refused other things.

 

could it be that in another lifetime, in another world, in another... that without video games you might have escaped some other way, and might have reacted violently to the loss of something else?

 

i don't know, i don't know if anyone can know, but... i'm not looking at the question anecdotally, but generally. and i don't mean that dismissively, i'm just thinking in terms of overall effect on the human race, and not a specific individual.

[ruairidh7]

Cindy's making a lot of sense to me

[Xamol Na]

i think the kind of people that get lethally violent when deprived of computer access... would be as likely to get lethally violent when deprived of anything they really wanted. lethally violent... it's rarely just a one off deal, to have that kind of rage, and the willingness to act on it.

 

Disagree. I was seriously addicted to video games not long ago as they were my escapism and the only way I could "live". I was seriously that unhinged. When it was taken away I was violent, never lethally, over it but not over being refused other things.

 

could it be that in another lifetime, in another world, in another... that without video games you might have escaped some other way, and might have reacted violently to the loss of something else?

 

i don't know, i don't know if anyone can know, but... i'm not looking at the question anecdotally, but generally. and i don't mean that dismissively, i'm just thinking in terms of overall effect on the human race, and not a specific individual.

 

I don't know. I doubt it as I also use reading as escapism but never flipped out over losing a book. The thing with video games is that you CONTROL the character, something which many people (in the situation I was in) don't have over their own lives.

[Arez Al'Loke]

Well, I'm not talking about computer addicts killing people because they're in the way.. But I do think that they could enter some kind of "blind rage" trance..

 

I mean, if you take away drugs from addicts, they're probably not going to kill you intentionally because of it, but who knows how they might hurt you by mistake.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i think the kind of people that get lethally violent when deprived of computer access... would be as likely to get lethally violent when deprived of anything they really wanted. lethally violent... it's rarely just a one off deal, to have that kind of rage, and the willingness to act on it.

 

Disagree. I was seriously addicted to video games not long ago as they were my escapism and the only way I could "live". I was seriously that unhinged. When it was taken away I was violent, never lethally, over it but not over being refused other things.

 

could it be that in another lifetime, in another world, in another... that without video games you might have escaped some other way, and might have reacted violently to the loss of something else?

 

i don't know, i don't know if anyone can know, but... i'm not looking at the question anecdotally, but generally. and i don't mean that dismissively, i'm just thinking in terms of overall effect on the human race, and not a specific individual.

 

I don't know. I doubt it as I also use reading as escapism but never flipped out over losing a book. The thing with video games is that you CONTROL the character, something which many people (in the situation I was in) don't have over their own lives.

 

i'll agree that there is something about the kind of direct control over these potent visual stimuli that can affect the mind in unexpected ways. they changed the way i dream when i played a lot.

 

perhaps we're not using the same definition of violence, though?

 

because no matter how strong the effect is on the mind, millions of people play these games, and have for decades. and if they caused a statistical increase in actual violent behavior, it would be impossible to hide.

 

i'm comparing this in my mind to things like the crusades, like the holocaust, like genocide in rwanda, no video games required to cause homonids to crush, kill, destroy, en masse.

[Xamol Na]

Oh, fair enough =)

 

What about children who, generally, have more impressionable minds when they see violence in a game they're playing? Are they more likely to copy it? Not to the point of lethality, just violence.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Well, I'm not talking about computer addicts killing people because they're in the way.. But I do think that they could enter some kind of "blind rage" trance..

 

I mean, if you take away drugs from addicts, they're probably not going to kill you intentionally because of it, but who knows how they might hurt you by mistake.

 

here's where the real difference between physical and psychological addiction enters the equation, though.

 

a heroin addict may well rob you blind, or do violence to get the drug that their body has come to require to continue functioning. though tbh, when i've employed junkies, they've only robbed, and usually sneakily, but that's anecdotal. still, not such a common thing.... and are we saying the removal of the video games, or drugs, leads to violence, or are we saying that playing the games, or taking the drugs, leads to violence?

 

cause you make someone into a drug addict and keep them supplied... they pretty much sit quiet and don't bother you.

 

and i think in general... people tend to veg out on games, withdraw from life.

 

so there's maybe two different issues here?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Oh, fair enough =)

 

What about children who, generally, have more impressionable minds when they see violence in a game they're playing? Are they more likely to copy it? Not to the point of lethality, just violence.

 

i can't know, without doing the forbidden experiment.

 

i think it can change, and even harm, the mind in many ways. but i don't know if witnessing violence in a game, even participating in it... can have anywhere near the effect of the much more common occurrence of witnessing violence irl.

 

but just guessing, conjecturing. don't know.

[ruairidh7]

Oh, fair enough =)

 

What about children who, generally, have more impressionable minds when they see violence in a game they're playing? Are they more likely to copy it? Not to the point of lethality, just violence.

 

only if the parents have completely and utterly failed in their duties to teach them right from wrong and reality from fantasy

[Arez Al'Loke]

Ahhh, I don't think the games by themselves actually cause you to be violent ^^ As I said, I actually use it as an outlet of my anger or frustration.

 

I'm thinking, when the game gets to the point that it's an serious addiction, that's where the problem is.

[Arez Al'Loke]

Well, I dont USE it as an outlet for anger xD but I mean, it does help to play a game when you're angry. Unless it goes really bad, then you just get more angry -.-

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i think we can agree that addiction is usually a bad thing.

 

i think we can agree that kids shouldn't be playing these games without limits and supervision.

 

i think we can agree .... i've typed too many words here, sorry.