Rocket Science: Games Don't Cause Crime, May Be Key to Education
Rocket Science: Games Don't Cause Crime, May Be Key to Education
May 19, 2008
A NASA researcher speaking at a University of Manitoba workshop discussed using video games as an educational tool and disputed supposed links between games and criminal behavior.
As reported by the Truro Daily News, NASA's Daniel Laughlin said:
Since 1993, violent crime in Canada and the U.S. has declined by 50 per cent and during that time the video gaming industry has exploded. If video games were really linked to crime, then we wouldn’t have seen that decline in violence.
Laughlin is the learning technologies project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Baltimore. The space agency is working on an MMO to sharpen math and science skills among high school and college students:
I’d love to see a space-based game where the players are placed in real careers — astrophysicists, aerospace engineer. It would be a game where you need the expertise of real science to succeed... It’s got to be fun, first. Without the fun, no one will want to play it and it won’t be successful. But it has to use real science.
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Posted 08/27/08 at 04:05pm
SimonBob: HB: I actually voted for the old Green party, back before the treehuggers took over from the small-c conservatives.
SimonBob: HB: I actually voted for the old Green party, back before the treehuggers took over from the small-c conservatives.
Posted 08/27/08 at 02:57pm
ZippyDSMlee: So bascily the 2 aprty setup is soemthign that has not evolved any....
ZippyDSMlee: So bascily the 2 aprty setup is soemthign that has not evolved any....
Posted 08/27/08 at 02:04pm
Dark Sovereign: @Joel: Their entitled to their bull like the rest of us are.
Dark Sovereign: @Joel: Their entitled to their bull like the rest of us are.
Posted 08/27/08 at 02:02pm
HarmlessBunny: Awww Jack is calling the Florida Bar: "The Florida Gay Bar". How mature! :D
HarmlessBunny: Awww Jack is calling the Florida Bar: "The Florida Gay Bar". How mature! :D
Posted 08/27/08 at 01:54pm
JoelWhy: Wow, I am so tired of these Hillary-worshippers who can't get over the fact that she lost. Dems keep finding new ways to lose.'
JoelWhy: Wow, I am so tired of these Hillary-worshippers who can't get over the fact that she lost. Dems keep finding new ways to lose.'
Posted 08/27/08 at 01:41pm
Dark Sovereign: @Harmlessbunny: We in America have something like forty of those parties. We have 5 parties that actually produce prez candies
Dark Sovereign: @Harmlessbunny: We in America have something like forty of those parties. We have 5 parties that actually produce prez candies
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:53pm
sortableturnip: JT needs help from the ACLU here: http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/27/the-name-game.aspx
sortableturnip: JT needs help from the ACLU here: http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/27/the-name-game.aspx
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:51pm
GryphonOsiris: However this is limited to five years.
GryphonOsiris: However this is limited to five years.
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:50pm
GryphonOsiris: @Chuma, actually, sarin kept in a binary form for things like self mixing shells can extend the life of the chemical.
GryphonOsiris: @Chuma, actually, sarin kept in a binary form for things like self mixing shells can extend the life of the chemical.
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:45pm
DarkTetsuya: @questionmark1987 I'm guessing they're waiting till his licensectomy this September... should be fun to watch ^^;
DarkTetsuya: @questionmark1987 I'm guessing they're waiting till his licensectomy this September... should be fun to watch ^^;
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:35pm
questionmark1987: SO at what point can webmasters start filing suit against Thompson for harrassment?
questionmark1987: SO at what point can webmasters start filing suit against Thompson for harrassment?
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:23pm
HarmlessBunny: OH OH OH http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/26/whos-backing-who.aspx?pg=2&view=linear#Comment Jack gets priceless in here!
HarmlessBunny: OH OH OH http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/26/whos-backing-who.aspx?pg=2&view=linear#Comment Jack gets priceless in here!
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:18pm
HarmlessBunny: For EZK: http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/26/whos-backing-who.aspx#comment-1316308
HarmlessBunny: For EZK: http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/26/whos-backing-who.aspx#comment-1316308
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:10pm
E. Zachary Knight: link please
E. Zachary Knight: link please
Posted 08/27/08 at 12:03pm
sortableturnip: JT is threatening the webmaster at JAABlog, saying he changed a word in his post so that it was mispelled HA HA HA!
sortableturnip: JT is threatening the webmaster at JAABlog, saying he changed a word in his post so that it was mispelled HA HA HA!
Posted 08/27/08 at 11:35am
HarmlessBunny: Well we in Canada to have the joke parties, like Bloc Quebecois and NDP (New Democrat Party) OH and the new "Green Party" :)
HarmlessBunny: Well we in Canada to have the joke parties, like Bloc Quebecois and NDP (New Democrat Party) OH and the new "Green Party" :)
Posted 08/27/08 at 11:07am
Talouin: @Azhrarn: It's the same in Canada. Only two parties to form a federal gov't are Liberals and Conservatives.
Talouin: @Azhrarn: It's the same in Canada. Only two parties to form a federal gov't are Liberals and Conservatives.
Posted 08/27/08 at 10:42am
Zevorick: Yeah, but you can find a lot of things in Texas that don't count. I should know, i've lived here all my life.
Zevorick: Yeah, but you can find a lot of things in Texas that don't count. I should know, i've lived here all my life.
Posted 08/27/08 at 09:04am
sqlrob: wehrgeist - there have been more WMDs found in Tyler , Texas than Iraq
sqlrob: wehrgeist - there have been more WMDs found in Tyler , Texas than Iraq
Posted 08/27/08 at 08:16am
Azhrarn: So they have been effectively 2-party for a century now. (not counting coalitions of all parties)
Azhrarn: So they have been effectively 2-party for a century now. (not counting coalitions of all parties)
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Comments
I guess NASA is part of the consp1racy now.
Pssht, scientists. Always using logic and attempting to further education.
Hrm.
Properly done such a MMO could be an EvE killer. Unlikly but the concept has some potential. One of the big complaints about EvE as a space sim is it's fantasy physics......
The correlation between crime rates and videogames "exploding" is just as big a pile of stinking logic-poop as the 'he had played a violent videogame at some point in the past, so it had to be an effect'.
Just because the asshat pulling the spew from his wazoo is on your side doesn't make his "point" any less assinine.
John Bruce is that you?
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Probably not, considering he acknowledged that the "videogames are a factor in crime" is shit. 'Course, Jack is completely batshit insane.
-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.
@ Anonymous
It's basic statistics. Correlation is necessary but not sufficient for causation.
For the population as a whole, the fact that the two measures (crime and video game play) are going in opposite directions is enough to preclude the belief that playing violent video games increases the likelihood that a typical person will act violently in the real world.
That doesn't mean that some individuals may not be affected by playing violent video games; there may be some people who are more sensitive to the effects or, more likely, for whom playing violent video games in some way is a marker of risk for violent behavior in the real world. (For example, having high cholesterol is a marker of increased risk for having heart disease.) But that's very different from saying that the games cause the behavior.
@ Anonymous
If you mean that the idea of games causing lower crime rates, then I'd agree with you.
Is that what you mean? Or are you disagreeing that the crime data is wrong/faked like a certain someone?
this scientician is simply ignoring the hype and fearmongering to linger on piddly facts. what a moron.
Here are we -- and yonder yawns the universe.
Because the first thing I think of when I think of fun is astrophysics...
Oh, and, with all the eloquence I can muster: Suck it JT!
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
i'd agree on the "fun != astrophysics" theory, until i found out my little brother was having intense conversations about mutated virus strands. so yeah, diff'rent strokes and all that.
Here are we -- and yonder yawns the universe.
OH MY GOD, VIDEO GAMES FOR SCHOOL?!?!?!?! THERE'S GOING TO BE A MASS MURDER RIOT ON OUR HANDS!!!!!!!
Who knows what it means? Perhaps games do lead to a decrease in violence, maybe not. Hell, who's to say that the rates wouldn't be even lower were it not for video games. The whole damn thing is a giant question mark.
-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.
Lets alter time & find out! Now where did I put my TARDIS?
Damn, now I can't say it's not rocket science anymore...
Personally I'd love to see some well done science games, that don't go so far as to be unplayable by people without a degree.
A biology one where the player can study simulated bacteria and virii, analyze the genetic code of animals, etc. Maybe a real CSI game that doesn't fail and doesn't rely on TV fantasy for solving cases but actually uses realistic crime scene set-ups that make the player really work to find the clues and piece them together. NASA engineer game designing new space suits, rockets, shuttles, etc.
Done well I think all of these and more could be made and generate interest in their respective fields while preparing our youth to have the critical thinking skills and knowledge to be successful in college/their work. For an example the biology one for bacteria/virii could be the reverse of that Pandemic flash game, and you have to come up with a cure to a deadly disease before it kills off all humanity. I could get behind a game like that.
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