video games have a negative influence

[Gerianne]

some Video games have guns and are violent [blowing up tiny images].
we, as a society, are teaching our children to be violent.
children absorb a lot in their minds and have many influences.
just because it's out there doesn't mean you have to buy it.
when children are bored, why not send them out to play?

[acurtsinger2]

what a novel ideal...send them out to  play.  when i was a kid we were outside unless it was ten below or a violent storm. we came in to have lunch and dinner and were in by dark to bath for bed. the world is so different now.

[Flackle]

This really infuriates me. Let me start by saying that there is absolutely no credible scientific evidence to suggest violent video games caused children to become violent people. Would you seriously argue that playing Mario wants me to suddenly become a plumber that tries to crawl through pipes and throw walking mushrooms at turtles? Why should we assume the same for games that depict violence?

Just because you don't like the idea of video games, and just because you played outside when you grew up, doesn't mean other people who have a different lifestyle than you should adhere to your lifestyle. Its up to the parents to tell their child what they can and cannot do.

[articx]

...Its up to the parents to tell their child what they can and cannot do.

agreed, and stop trying to blame video games.

[moonangel]

there is a huge difference between mario which is presented on a cartoon type setting and halo which is put in a real type setting just like cartoons and movies these realistic type situations are desensetizing  young children for years who are growing into young adults they dont know how to handle real life situations and have seen so much bad stuff  is it really any surprise i dont blame the nra i blame tv and realisric type video games

[vickysue]

I don't think it is the best for them. The parents need to watch what their kids are playing, We grew up playing cops and robbers and or cowboys and indians, but we knew it was just a game. Our parents would sit and play cards and board games with us. It is called quaility time and now adays the children do not have that. Of course there was not much on what tv we watched. I am so glad that i was able to spend so much qualitiy time with my kids while they were growing up.

[Optiwoman]

As a parent who plays video game - with my son, I have to say that I too am sick and tired of video games being blamed for violence.  Violence has been around FAR longer than video games.  As someone else said, there is no scientific evidence pointing to video games causing violence in children.  Parents have a choice in which ones they allow their children to play, and they have ratings.  If you don't like them - don't buy them, but please don't tell me what to buy my kid - or what to do with my time.

Do you know that there IS evidence to support that children who play video games become better surgeons because of their manual dexterity?   

[melman1]

I used to play video games heavily back in the nineties, but I stopped playing a few years ago because it got boring to me. I've played all kinds of games, some of them extremely violent, but I was never compelled to go out and shootup the local mall.  There have been mass killings for a long time, going back to the 19th century, so to say that video games are to blame for all the violence happening these days doesn't make sense. Some people are just twisted in the brain. By the way, I've never seen a video game that had children as the victims. How does that fit into your theory?

[Warhol04]

While I'll agree that kids should be spending more time outside, I think it is BS to say that video games are to blame for the violent trend in youths today.  Do you not realize that these same video games are in other countries?  Countries that also air movies like Hostel and TV shows like Dexter. 

[marciaenglish]

I believe TV programming has about as much to do with it as the video games.

[Flackle]

there is a huge difference between mario which is presented on a cartoon type setting and halo which is put in a real type setting just like cartoons and movies these realistic type situations are desensetizing  young children for years who are growing into young adults they dont know how to handle real life situations and have seen so much bad stuff  is it really any surprise i dont blame the nra i blame tv and realisric type video games

What are you trying to imply? That becoming Desensitized to video game violence makes someone Desensitized to violence in real life? Do you honestly think this is comparable?

When you watch a movie, and it makes you cry the first time and each time there after it makes you cry less and less, this doesn't mean you become Desensitized to sadness as a whole. You become Desensitized to the sadness of that particular movie. Watch any other sad movie, they'll probably cry as much as they did when they watched the other movie for the first time, perhaps a little less as they become Desensitized to movie's as a whole. They'll defiantly cry a lot more if something bad happens to them in real life. If someone becomes Desensitized to someone's mom dying in a movie, then that doesn't mean they'll become Desensitized to their own mom dying in real life.

Saying that children cannot tell the difference between video game violence to real life violence is an insult to human intelligence as a whole. There is no evidence that becoming Desensitized to video game violence causes violent tendencies in real life.

[Flackle]

I believe TV programming has about as much to do with it as the video games.

TV programming and video games do have comparable effects. That effect being they don't cause real-life violence.

[southernhorizons]

Saying that children cannot tell the difference between video game violence to real life violence is an insult to human intelligence as a whole. There is no evidence that becoming Desensitized to video game violence causes violent tendencies in real life.

No evidence? What about the "coincidence" that most of  the recent mass shooters spent most of their time playing violent video games?
Children are much more impressionable than adults, and they can't always tell the difference between games and real life. Besides, we are talking about young adults with mental problems,  who obviously translate their video games into real life.

[geekbasic]

Video games are not the problem. It is the parent who exposes their child to something without making the child understand what a game is.

[devilroljin]

Don't blame video games, if you're gonna blame video games, you would have to blame movies, tv, news, society, the world, the human beings, for that too.
Flackle put it best. Video games are rated based on ages, if you give an R rated game to a kid whose mind still does not comprehend the level of language, violence and others factors that a particular game has, then it is your fault as a parent or guardian for providing the kids with the wrong games.

And that is not considering human psychic, or behavior. There are kids that are violent and angry in nature, with a tendency to bad things, while others are calm and goodhearted. It is up to the parents to mitigate or encourage either behavior. If the kid is troublesome and has behavioral issues, parents should encourage good behavior, where as if the child is full of kindness and good in nature, parents should motivate and reward such behavior.