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A new UK study indicates that two-thirds of British 12 to 15-year-olds believe playing violent video games makes them more aggressive.
The information is contained in a report on UK childrens' media literacy conducted by "media regulator" Ofcom. While the video game data comprises only one segment of the report, it drew the headlines in UK newspapers the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.
From the report's executive summary:
Children’s views on gaming are particularly interesting. Around two-thirds of older children agree that violence in games affects people’s behaviour outside the game and that violence in games has more impact on people’s behaviour than violence in television or films. There are high levels of agreement for having settings on consoles which can restrict game playing based on age ratings.
Although research to date has failed to prove conclusively a link between violent games and violent behaviour in children, children themselves clearly share the wider public concern around this issue. A possible factor in this is the high ongoing level of media coverage of violent crimes in which game playing is alleged to have been a factor.
Comments
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Interesting that this report about children game out in the same week.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23709886-2,00.html
PANICKY parents are breeding a generation of "cotton wool kids" too afraid to climb trees or ride their bikes, NSW's most senior child guardian has warned.
Mums and dads are so fixated on keeping their children safe that children are growing into nervous adults without acquiring basic survival skills along the way.
Sure, it deals with Australian kids, but I've been saying this for years (I also think this is the reason for the massive 'EMO' culture) and I think it ties in with these kids attitude to videogames. Kids are being raised fearful of everything, so of course when the media points at computer games they're going to believe it.
However, I do like the fact that the media do accept some blame with this line: A possible factor in this is the high ongoing level of media coverage of violent crimes in which game playing is alleged to have been a factor
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Headline should read - "2/3rds of children believe what adults tell them"
-- mostly harmless
$$$$$$$$
Video games are bad. NOW PAY ME!!!!
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
Why should we care?
So they think they get more aggresive, so what? We never listened to kids before why should we start now, no wait we did, but that only ended with alot of women getting burnt at the stakes...
Besides the study seemed a little one sided, maybe they should have asked if they experienced positive/negative effects while playing and not use guiding questions.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
who are these kids? cant imagine any of friends ever agreeing to this when we were that young, more importantly they could have just as easily interviewed kids whose parents support the whole "video games are bad" cause. More importantly if these kids were smart enough to realize in the first place that video games were affecting their behaviour how come they aint smart enought to change their behaviour?
Take small bites...OR ELSE!!!!!
This is a perfect example of why parents need to teach their damn kids not to believe everything they hear. Funny thing is, if they have that skill, MY GOD! They will be smart enough to NOT allow these games to influence their behavior in the fiest place. But then again...the parents CAN'T TEACH THEM because theythemselves don't know. Bit of a conundrum(sp?).
.-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
its a shame teens get brainwashed by the media as much as, if not more than, adults.
its going to take awhile to get rid of the idea that games do this to people. as I was once told, if you say something loud enough and long enough, people tend to believe it, whether its true or not.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Wait, kids under 15 believe what their parents believe???? OMFG! The people who did this "study" really need to go buy a clue.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Did they ask if it changes their behavior, or other peoples? I can just see it: "Yeah, I think video games affects other kids behaviors. I've heard a lot of French people are more violent after playing."
Also, brainwashing someone doesn't make you right. I could claim that video games are the gateway into heaven, make a cult, and have all kinds of children agree with me...
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Its funny if I read that: "Around two-thirds of older children agree that violence in games affects people’s behaviour outside the game".
Why am I finding nothing about the violence in video games causing "agression" instead of just changing your behavior outside the game.
I will admit, violent video games change my behavior outside the game also. Violent video games make me more relaxed and a much more well behaved person.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Are the Daily Fail and Telegraph both considered to be tabloid rags over in the UK?
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Daily Mail = Conservative tabloid trash
Telegraph = Slightly more respectable, liberal tabloid trash.
MONEY TALK$
If I'm getting payed, I'll say whatever kinda crazy shit the payer wants. Hell, I'll say that the planet is flat and that leprachauns invented air if you throw in another twenty. Who wouldn't? Money talks, shit walks.
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
Re: MONEY TALK$
I dont care how much they pay me, I wouldnt say games make me feel violent. If they offered me a trillion dollars I would spit in their face, fuck them and their money, ill work for a living and keep my dignity.
But if they just wanted me to say leprochauns invented air for some quick cash hell yeah I would say it, cuz we dont have a bunch of old senators trying to legislate air for fear it will turn you irish and make you want to get drunk as hell all the time.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
I have grave doubts about this study. Any kid who says violent video games make them has just given up his ability to play them, so even if they really do think games make them violent I bet they'll lie.
Like I said something seems very very rotten.
Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
I once heard a 14 year old say that, "drinking beer is bad for you." I assume that the kids in this study, along with that alcohol-fearing kid I knew, are just parroting what they've heard from their parents and teachers. Maybe the kids in this study were coached, or they're just a bunch of goody-goodys that said what they thought the adults wanted them to say.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
It's a Trap! Beside the incredable vagueness in the articles that would never get a grade higher then a D-, and the fact survey was done by a media regulator makes it highly supiscious. I don't think that the video games part should have even been in there since all it is a vague encript that hints research. Felt more like they threw it in for the heck of it.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
This just proves that stupid people who believe this tripe were once stupid children who believe this tripe. Or another form of tripe (probably that rock and roll would condemn your soul to hell).
This a great example of an urban legend, something repeated often enough that it becomes defacto truth despite there being no evidence to support the claim...
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
I find myself curious as to the demographic of the children interviewed. If they are, say, grade schoolers, then they are most likely repeating what they have been taught by either the media or parental figures. To them, the truth would be what they are told, Video games are bad!"
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
At least they note that that bullshit sensationalist media coverage could be a factor in this view.
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
"There are high levels of agreement for having settings on consoles which can restrict game playing based on age ratings." I know this gets harped on alot, but there are already setting for this on all the consoles, how hard would it be to find that out if your going to do a study like this?
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Hell, even I have questioned whether or not games could make me more aggressive. I strongly doubt that they do, but it would be nice if they did. Our capitalist society sort of requires it. These teens better not be too stupid to effing realize that they are SUPPOSED to have aggression in their teen years. It's NATURE!
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Way to go, anti-video game media! You have once again succeeded in poisoning the minds of the youth.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Sounds like the kids were brainwashed.
Re: UK Study: Kids Share Adult Concerns Over Violent Games
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
my friend's 13 year old brother said that too.
you know why?
he belivied what he heard his parents and teachers say. and I'm willing to bet money that the teahers and parents only belive that because the news media told them it was so.
this is a pretty big problem. most parents i talk to think that the Virginia tech shooting was linked to video games because all they saw was the first reports with jack thompson.
all this miss information hurts the game industry and gamers as well.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Although research to date has failed to prove conclusively a link between violent games and violent behaviour in children, children themselves clearly share the wider public concern around this issue.
I thought the concerns were over..... you know... YOUNG CHILDREN. I say they conduct another poll to see how many of those teens think of themselves as "children."
Sorry, where does it say that?
I haven't read the whole audit yet so maybe I missed it buy I don't see where it says kids "believe playing violent video games makes them more aggressive." In fact, the word "aggressive" does not appear anywhere in the audit's 115 pages.
Please read the words carefully
Reading all the comments, the ones before Andrew Eisen's seem to be knee jerk comments. So I just to want to say it out loud.
I would like to extend his criticism on the statement on violence in games. While it is true that the questions posed may be vague in that behavioural effects might be interpreted as positive or negative. Most individuals would infer a negative effect, since the word 'violence' is not often associated in a positive sense among normal individuals.
My criticism is the vagueness of 'who' the participants might be referring to. Does the 'people' include the participants themselves? or not? If participants only referred the VG impact on other people and not themselves, then the statistics is pretty much in line with research (See Grand Theft Childhood, and third-person effect.)
violent games and positive effects
I can think of a few ways that violent games can be assosiated with something positive.
Catharsis: playing violent video games can be a great form of stress release.
Consequences: there are some violent games out there that actually use violence to teach consequences. I have even read reports of psychologists stating that realistic violence is better for children than non-graphic vilence for children, as it does show consequences of violent actions.
And there are some "violent" games that don't actually promote violence: some give players choice to take violent actions or not, and sometimes the non-violent actions are rewareded (such as stealth games gamers are encouraged to avoid having to kill).
(I'm currently writing a research paper on the benefits of video games.)
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Kids generally believe what they're told. The media and probably many of their parents are telling them on a regular basis that video games make them violent, so why wouldn't they believe it?
But just because other people's kids believe the tooth fairy is real doesn't mean it is real.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
That's not to say the kids themselves can't be feeling a bit more aggressive after playing a violent game. I know that I was personally. Aggression however is something that should be taken lightly in terms of limitation and legislation. Aggression isn't illegal.
---- There is a limit for both politicians against video games, and video games against politicians.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Well of COURSE they feel more aggressive... They did something BEYOND sitting on their asses.
Why don't we ban running and walking? I hear it has the same effect as well - You know, that darndest thing called ADRENALINE.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Aaand my name has a dash in the middle of it?! o.O
Hax.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
agressive? maybe..
murderous rage? i don't see it...
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Video games cause aggression? The real question is what kind of aggression is it? Short term, long term, violent, non-violent? Even still, 'violent video games' aren't intended for the impressionable anyway. Just finished Condemned: Criminal Origins, and yes, I felt a bit aggressive after being killed by an uber-whatever-the-hell-it-is guy over seven times in a row. Point is, the targetted group has nothing major to do with the subject.
---- There is a limit for both politicians against video games, and video games against politicians.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
The linked article just shows that the creator of this study hates kids having any kind of technology. I'm pretty sure that the kids opinion were made up.
And god dammit, Dennis really needs to take the stupid captcha crap off this site.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Log in, that removes the captcha
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
"Two thirds" they say?
Probably more like two out of three kids conducted in the whole "test" that really didn't understand what was going on.
Again I think of the whole Colgate/Crest scenario from the book "How to Lie with Statistics".
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Oh, you can prove anything with statistics. 14% of all people know that!
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Aggresive and competetive things have an aggresive response, this is not a suprise, especially when it comes to teenagers... sports have similar reactions, especially losing at sports.
And at the end of the day there is NOTHING wrong with aggresive responses.. a little aggresion is needed in life, and so is developing the skills to deal with those feelings.
Games don't make me aggressive,idiots like these do!*
Damn it to mother truckin hell!!!
I don't feel the least bit more aggressive when I play violent games,in fact,I feel more relaxed!
It's probably because we Americans are exposed to so much violence in our cartoons at such a young age,that we're indifferent to it(violence),but they're not,so of course they're more angry.Just like they're exposed to more sex at a young age,they're indifferent at a young age,but it's still considered taboo by a great many people here in the States.
Hey,how much is the beting that Jack Thompson funded this "study"?
Re: Games don't make me aggressive,idiots like these do!*
Being indifferent to sex is a good thing as there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. We only freak out about it here because of the high volume of puritan idiots we still have left, and as far as violence goes, no, I dont think we are more desensitized or indifferent to violence at all. The reason why this line of thinking is more prevalent in the U.K. is because the U.K. has no first amendment and its much easier to silence the oposing viewpoint/any evidence it might have.
The U.K. government wants to scapegoat video games just as much as ours, they are just more succesfull so we see these brainwashed children getting dupped when they participate in these biased studies. It has nothing to do with exposure to violence, especially not from CARTOONS, to say that is to say you actually believe those things desensitize your reaction to violence, which is unproven and asinine.
Ive been watching/playing everything violent I could get my hands on since I was younger than 12 easy I can EASILY tell the difference from a cartoon or a tv drama, or game, no matter how "realistic" it supposedly is. The second I see real violence, I can immediately tell the difference, and it makes me almost physically sick, the exact oposite of being desensitized if anything.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Not knowing how this study exactly went, I still feel that it might be very biased.
Hitting puberty usually means that the hormones rages and you are closer to frustration if something doesn't work out. Several parents can vouch for this.
Loosing in a multiplayer game on the console/PC = Frustration/Anger
Trying to fix your bike without much luck = Frustration/Anger
Not getting their ways when talking to their parents = Frustrations/Anger/Screams about how they don't understand them
Seeing a pattern here? The difference between getting angry out in life as opposed to on a computer/console is that you can vent your frustration out on another game or by winning. If frustrated about the bike, he'd either begin to cry, kick the bike or something totally different.
Teenagers are generally angry, it is a part of growing up (Puberty) but I doubt that games actually makes them MORE aggressive than normal. They get asked if they get angry when playing games, they think about it and say yes. What if the question was: "Do you get angry when something doesn't work out for you?" Well, yes. Of course it does. It's part of being human.
Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
Well hell, if kids say that games make them more aggresive, they must be right. Nevermind poeple that sill play games at 30 or the scientific studies done by adults, a 15 year old says they're wrong!
In other news, my seemingly drunk friend assures me that it's okay for him to drive. Science says he's wrong, but this is straight from the horses mouth, so it must be true.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
12 to 15? C'mon, do they even understand the psychology that goes into this kind of thing? Why not ask an adult instead? Oh, right...cause adults know what they're talking about, while children are more easily manipulated for the sake of masturbatory self-promotion against an unreal cause.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
I bet they warped this to make them seem angrier then they said they were.
Re: UK Study: Kids Say Violent Games Make Them More Aggressive
Explitive!
This make me so angry!
I feel like I need to hit someone!