General / Off-Topic This grinds my gears (videogames blamed for crime)

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
1st off this is a terrible tragedy and I am in no way downplaying that

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...uspect-enjoyed-ultra-violent-video-games.html

but really.................... Another example of the media blaming videogames when Children playing adult videogames go off the rails


1) The lad was unstable anyway. I am pretty confident it was not video games which caused this.
2) Isnt it about time, with all the parental locks in place on consoles etc that they took some responsibility for what their kids do.

If my 15 year old child gets drunk and steals a car and gets involved in a crash, is the alcohol at fault?

This really gets me mad, taking a really sad situation and trying to put an agenda on it imo. Typical Daily Mail!
 

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
Yaffle
They forget that correlation does not necessarily infer causation:

139092366_ce5b410228_o.jpg


Standard journalism logic - lack of pirates causes global warming.
 

Mazhurg

Mazhurg
Unfortunately, the (mostly) average person can't discern well between the two. One would expect that at least journalists would know better and be more critical?
 

Frank

Frank
The Daily Mail know their readership. I'm expecting a headline any day saying that Videogames give you cancer.
 

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
Yaffle
Mazhurg said:
Unfortunately, the (mostly) average person can't discern well between the two. One would expect that at least journalists would know better and be more critical?
Click to expand...

Indeed, and on to one more thing that grinds my gears.

Why does the BBC not do journalism? Every time I read an article it tells me what some random person has put on Twitter. Why not just go and hail a cab, ask the driver for his/her opinion and report that? It's just as valid.

Back to the topic in hand.

I think the video games cause violence is basically "truthiness" it feels as if it should be correct, even though it isn't. If it was correct then every FPS player would have murdered their families by now, but violent crime is stubbornly low despite the increased penetration of violent video games.

What does my playing "Train Simulator" do to me? Inquiring minds want to know.
 

Cosmo Bozo

Cosmo Bozo
Violent crime has been falling for a few years now...
Meanwhile gaming is as popular and violent as it's ever been

Video games prevent crime? Not quite as sensational is it?

RIP to the poor teacher.
 

cassius

cassius
Typical Daily Mail... i hate that rag with a passion. This isn't the first article like this they've printed. I recall one blaming COD for the London bombings. In fact, just a quick google brings up the following:

***warning don't read if you're easily angered by the Daily Mail's repeated stupidity***

Call of Duty Glorifying the London Bombings

Videogames Cause Racism

Videogames Cause Infanticide

Videogames Make Teenagers More Agressive

And of course, the old chestnut of Destroying our Childrens Health

I'm sure there are more but simply find those few makes me depressed. I despair :(
 

insanephoton

insanephoton
Part of the trouble is a tendency in the media for sensationalist headlines and lazy journalism. Perhaps the Mail are looking to do another round of 'ban this sick filth' campaigning. Maybe in a few years time, when the old guard that are unlikely to have been gamers has retired, we might get past this urge to blame video games.

There was a case a few years ago where an older teenager murdered a younger teen and much was made of a link to the game Manhunt. It later turned out that the victim was the one with the game.
 

Meutra

M
Not long after i heard of this tragic event i wondered how long it would be that it was linked to violent computer games, not long then.
If a person truly has been influenced by a video game then i personally believe is that they have trouble separating fantasy from reality.
This inability to separate the two is not limited to games , i have heard of actors getting verbal abuse because the character they play is a bad/nasty person.
So the trigger for such a behavior could come from anywhere and video games are a convenient target as there can be and there is a lot of violent ones out there (i know i've played a few)
All that and it seems some people are just predisposed to violence and killing other humans , history is littered with such stories.

Now where did i put my +5 Broadsword of the Avenging Angel, feel like going for a stroll.
 

Paulo_B27

P
The bloody Daily Mail. I wouldn't eat my chips out of it!

Agree, correlation does not mean causation.

We have all played games since very young and I've never stabbed anybody.

It's a terrible tragedy for the teacher, her family, and the school. The kid needs to be locked up for a long time!
 

Calico Jack

C
insanephoton said:
Perhaps the Mail are looking to do another round of 'ban this sick filth' campaigning. Maybe in a few years time, when the old guard that are unlikely to have been gamers has retired, we might get past this urge to blame video games.
Click to expand...

I work in broadcast news, and there are a lot of people who are gamers. However, I think you are right that those in positions to set the news agenda know very little about games, and don't want to know anything about games, apart from the fact that bashing them sells.

I once raised the fact that games might have story lines a functioning adult could enjoy. That they might be considered more than a simplistic toy for young children, when that was the story, and was rebuked with a sharp, "there is always a princess, end of."

Furious, I went home and played Zelda. :mad:
 

Darren Grey

Darren Grey
Yaffle said:
Why does the BBC not do journalism? Every time I read an article it tells me what some random person has put on Twitter. Why not just go and hail a cab, ask the driver for his/her opinion and report that? It's just as valid.
Click to expand...

BBC has to remain impartial, so can't give anything not backed up by fact or being in any way opinionated. Thus when it wants to give an opinion the only way to do it is through quoting someone, essentially reporting on a fact that is convenient to the article.

For instance check out this article on the hunt for the Boston bomber on Reddit:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22214511

Note a certain "DarrenGrey" being quoted saying "Unreliable crowd-sourced material plus the media's ravenous desire for fresh information has proved a disgusting mix." The BBC could never get away with criticising other news media like, but they can quote a member of the public saying it ;)

Back on topic, I think these articles pop up all the time but have little effect on people's opinions. Daily Mail readers like to hear about this as much as they like to hear about immigrants and benefit spongers - articles that confirm their existing beliefs instead of telling them anything new. Like Terry Pratchett said in The Truth, the public doesn't want new's from the news.
 

Cosmos

C
I'm not sure whats worse, the Daily Mail or the people who buy it. Its a right wing hate rag :(

When it comes to blaming video games it seems to me there is an agenda going on in the media. If its not Tarantino movies its the evil of violent games... :rolleyes:

Millions of people play games and don't go about murdering others. The kid was clearly deranged and that is obvious the heart of this particular horrible event. :(
 

Darren Grey

Darren Grey
MrShadowfax said:
As previously mentioned, the Guardian is no better. Others, too.
Click to expand...

Just because the Guardian is not perfect doesn't make it quite as bad as the Daily Mail!

Mind you, some of these sorts of articles are deliberate clickbaits. The Mail knows that geeks will go round posting the link, huffing and puffing and driving up their traffic and ad revenue.
 

JeffRyan

JeffRyan
This can all be traced back... tv causes violence in the 70s and 80s, comic books caused violence in the 50s... there were probably more things blamed prior to that.
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
Darren Grey said:
Mind you, some of these sorts of articles are deliberate clickbaits. The Mail knows that geeks will go round posting the link, huffing and puffing and driving up their traffic and ad revenue.
Click to expand...

you make a very good point, I never even considered that!!!.
Damn I have helped fund the DM! :(

I was actually chatting about this offline last night and 1 friend did say that, whilst not a root cause I could see why, esp with the dawn of the rift, maybe VR killing could be seen as an enabler to make an already deranged person go off piste. Whilst I suppose he MAY have a point, I counter with the following....

1) This is possible, but I dont think you can make that assumption without some sort of proof conducted by an impartial study as to whether people are more prone to anger/violence issues after gaming. I could just as easily make the case that violence in videogames could be seen as a pressure release valve, or a conduit if you will, and people who have anger issues can fire up a game and take out their angst on the game instead of acting up in real life. With out some sort of evidence to the contrary that is as valid a notion imo.

BUT even if he was 100% correct then even so............

2) I would say that is an argument for tightening up the age restrictions on videogames, not censoring them imo. Take alcohol. I am 100% certain more crimes are directly due to alcohol than videogames and yet people dont talk about banning alcohol.
 
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