Are Video Games Harmful to Society?

[Sir Codin]

Think about a world where there is no violent movies, no violent games, no violent music and swearing and glorification of gangsters and drugs.

Jesus Christ, you just made me go into a state of emotional upheaval.

Don't ever tell me to imagine such a boring as f*** world ever again.

 

[Mini Muffins]

Jesus Christ, you just made me go into a state of emotional upheaval.

Don't ever tell me to imagine such a boring as f*** world ever again.

It's sad that you think you need violence and profanity to make your world interesting.

 

[Her]

there are always going to be those who are unstable enough to be influenced by outside factors like video games
whether it comes down to lack of inhibitions or mental fragility or trauma or whatever other reason there is, there are always going to be people that are susceptible to the media that they are surrounded by
it's just that video games & movies and w/e coincide with the massive world population growth of the last 150 years thanks to modernisation
and thus with more people and and ever growing influence of video games + graphics technology on a significantly large & still growing western population, there are going to be more cases like these

whether video games are some catcher in the rye-level maker of violence is not something i can properly debate as i don't believe that they're any more or any less influential than any other facet of modern society
it comes down to the people in question and them hopefully having the mental stability to not be influenced in such a way
and if they do not have that stability, then it comes down to adequate mental health care or whatever is needed to take care of them
that could start a whole other debate of its own however

 

[pokecole]

Many people will criticise gamers for lacking ambition, sorry but not all of us want to or can fulfill high skill roles, secondly why should I not be disillusioned with menial work if I know a machine can do it better than I can and won't be bored out of it's CPU? Not working traditional jobs and instead doing what you like will be the way of the future. There will still be snobs who look down upon gamers because they personally don't enjoy video games but my opinion is that if someone is happy to play games all day good for them, they're happy.

People always criticize others about these little things and give them ridiculous reasons for it. It's the same thing with people blaming obesity on video games as well.

Here's my point I would like to make: People aren't like this because of video games, people like video games because they are like this. I think it is a fairly safe statement to say that the gaming community is built from people who have some social dysfunction or another, and therefore tend to invest their time into hobbies that don't require other people near them or with them as much. You could just shout numbers at me saying that obesity is linked to video games because people playing video games are more likely to be obese yada yada, but it's not that the video games are causing them. These obese people probably feel left out from others because of it, and therefore tend to more anti-social things, such as video games. It's that certain types of people lean towards video games because the allure of a world where people don't judge you on your faults, but on your skill on a certain game is great to people with said faults. I can empathize with this. I'm socially awkward, and I don't really blame it on video games. I take interest because the idea of a community where people don't judge you based on appearances, but rather on skill is almost utopian to me. It's a great solution to many problems people deal with, and can even help treat mental disorders by giving the people with said disorders something to obsessive over or to use to take their mind off things. I'm not saying give someone with war-induced PTSD and violent tendencies a controller and having them play GTA V is the best idea, but it helps.

 

[Kanzler]

Here's my point I would like to make: People aren't like this because of video games, people like video games because they are like this. I think it is a fairly safe statement to say that the gaming community is built from people who have some social dysfunction or another, and therefore tend to invest their time into hobbies that don't require other people near them or with them as much.

What? No... Not wanting or requiring other people near them so much shouldn't be described as social dysfunction. I think this generation is trigger-happy when it comes to labelling differences as dysfunctions and not giving themselves enough credit.

 

[Bauerklos]

Been playing video games for a long time, both violent and non-violent. I have not "harmed" anyone or anything because of it. It all depends on who's playing the game and what their mental state is.

 

[pokecole]

What? No... Not wanting or requiring other people near them so much shouldn't be described as social dysfunction. I think this generation is trigger-happy when it comes to labelling differences as dysfunctions and not giving themselves enough credit.

True, I get what you're saying. While not being able to communicate with other people as well is never a good thing, it's not necessarily a dysfunction.

 

[Pendraflare]

Ha, funny thing is, I actually did an essay on if I felt violent video games affected people seriously negatively or not. In that essay, I mentioned that there were some studies that stated crime numbers have dropped when shooting game sales are at their highest, where one suggested that research shows that these games can simply be a catharsis to people who are attracted to violence and thus tend to be among those who enjoy violent games. But at the same time, it's also that when big games release, fans of fantasy violence are more likely to seat themselves in front of a TV screen and decrease potential for real violence.

Just a snippet of something I wrote about.

 

[«Chuckles»]

Are TV shows and Music harmful society? yes, so are video games, however they're heavily outweighed by the positives that we can pull from it.

 

[Pendraflare]

Well, that is true. In fact, I remember a year and a half ago, in the "final" of one of my final classes in community college one of the students in it did a presentation about why video games are stress relieving and much more beneficial than they appear. They can actually affect the decisions people make - not only that, but more importantly they are capable of increasing a person's focus, which is more than what can be said for music and TV shows. But actually, I don't see how music is harmful to society (unless you're one of those overthinking losers who thinks the state of today's mainstream music makes people dumb for liking it, which I hope you aren't) - there are various ways that music helps people, much moreso than it does bad.

 

[The Hidden Houndoom]

I don't think that by default they do or don't. Sure, they can be a problem for some or could be a massive benefit.
Blaming FPS games for shootings is like blaming food for obesity.
I've played video games throughout my life, I play Pokemon and have played hunting games and other random FPS's but yet I'm a vegan and a bit of a pacifist. Reminds me of when many countries/states banned Balisong knifes and guns.

 

[Evening]

It really just depends on whether how vulnerable the player is, or how much their mentality sucks.
Some people are also just insecure about themselves, my younger brother for instance, who is heavily influenced by video games and is now wanting to kill people (sometimes he brings a knife in school, albeit it is neither seen nor used, it's just there).