> From: Larry Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain > > > "Aggressive Behavior" is very different from violent acts - especially > > on the scale that we're discussing (premeditated mass-murder). > > > One of the studies I quoted used as a measure of aggressive behavior how many > fights the kids were involved in at school, and also whether they agressed > against their teachers. > > From what I remember of the fights I got into at school, I'd call that sort > of aggressive behavior violent.
Kids fight, physically, much more often than adults in any case. Kids are just learning how to react to uncomfortable situations. Emulating games in real-world situation will definately lead to problems - and it, in my opinion, an education and moderation issue. Parents need to both limit their children's play and teach them how to respond better. Kids get over this - they learn how to better deal. Games (well, depending on the game) also greatly improve math and reading skills. They encourage cooperative, prosocial play (for example this small study: http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume11/issue2/articles/lee.html) and increase understanding of abstract ideas. Games have also been shown to reduce pain and anxiety in young burn victims. Read some of the criticisms of the negative studies by the likes of Karen Sternheimer or Henry Jenkins. The question is far from "answered": Here are are few recents reports of contradictory works: http://gamepolitics.com/2007/02/19/researcher-finds-scant-evidence-linking-violent-games-with-aggressive-behavior/#more-703 http://www.swin.edu.au/corporate/marketing/mediacentre/core/releases_article.php?releaseid=884 But forget all of that for a moment. Are you honestly suggesting that an increase in indcidents fist-fights as a child will lead to the crimes that we're discussing? Again, if that were case where is the correlated increase in violent crime considering the massive popularity of these games? Where are the studies showing that violent criminals are more likely to be gamers? Do you have information that shows an increase in childhood non-criminal violence in correlation to the rise of video games? At least in that arena I would think such a socially pervasive phenomenom should have have had measurable effects if indeed it were causal. Jack Thompson claims that these games CAUSE school shootings - are you making (or defending) that claim? He's made the claim that this was a fundamental issue of the VT shootings - despite the fact that no real evidence has surfaced that this kid even PLAYED games. Even if the findings you've quoted are completely, 100% correct in all conclusions it still doesn't create a defense for Jack Thompson. He's an asshole using this tradgedy to push his twisted, false agenda. Again, violence is a fundamental aspect of humanity. Teaching children how to deal with it is a basic part of creating society. Video games are far from the only violent media available and other violent media have been shown to increase aggression on par with them (for example, 2000-year-old literature increases aggressiveness: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660199036,00.html ). We need to stop demonizing such fundamental aspects of our culture and understand them. People like representations of violence. For the vast, vast majority this in no way leads to more violent behavior. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion MX7 by Adobe® Dyncamically transform webcontent into Adobe PDF with new ColdFusion MX7. Free Trial. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJV Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:232920 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
