Oh THAT probably takes a little more than a couple hours

I voted yes but for a specific reason. Because I believe at the wrong age it definitely can.

I remember parents flipping out over Power Rangers and all the news stories about preschool kids fighting on the playground yelling out power ranger sayings.

I mean, kids are easily influenced by the stuff. Just how a kid might look up to his parents and end up wearing a toy tool-belt to be like his Dad, he also might put on a ninja turtle mask and fight his brother/sister.

Of course I am talking about when you're very little. I think you can deal with violence about the same time you start avoiding your parents. What age is that... 10 or 12?

I mean, I know people are violent by nature but it doesn't mean a kid couldn't get the idea to hit another kid by playing a video game. Playing video games is exciting... "Hey, we're at recess and we have some free time. HIYEE YA!"

Do I think video games or movies were the reason for incidents like Columbine? No... No freaking way. Unless those kids were eating shrooms and injecting large amounts of PCP while playing games, I don't think they had anything to do with it. Do I think playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nintendo could have something to do with a kid trying to round house kick my brother into an antique beer keg that gave him a scar when I was 8 ... perhaps.

Parents just have to know when it's appropriate to spring this sort of stuff on their children. Just like alcohol and Mary Jane, haha! I think a child just needs to learn something of self-control so they won't grow up to be a serial killer or a drugged-out loser. Of course saying this stuff is probably way easier than teaching it to a kid.

~Edit: Now am I not going to let my kid enjoy these violent video games or movies because I think he may hit someone? Pfft, not a chance! I think seeing what your actions can do is how you learn. I'm prepared for the note from the teacher saying, "Sally just wanted to drag Frank under the picnic table to give him cooties when Frank yelled 'Kamehameha!' and put Sally on her ass."~

I really doubt that it causes any sort of increase in violence. It's much more of an outlet for frustrations than anything else. Though I have to admit Rgturner makes a good point in that it can affect a young person in this manner. Great, now I'm conflicted.

Even with that, I think the whole video game violence leads to real violence thing is way overblown. Most of the people they say where influenced to do whatever violent thing they did because they played some war game or something more akin to Grand Theft Auto, it's just looking for an easy target to blame. The blame shouldn't go to our entertainment, it should be the values and examples people are setting for others out in the real world, real life.

video games dont make someone violent. just look at the crusades thousands of years ago. heaps of violence there and not a video game in sight

yes people can get ideas from games. but they can get those same ideas most other places. may as well point the finger at tv and movies too. and books.
damn those books

its up to the parents to actually parent their children (shocking aint it) and judge if their kids can handle certain games or not.

ive been playing different types of games all my life and im perfectly fine....
~punches random stranger~ see, fine
obviously a joke there by the way. i grew up watching TMNT and i didnt go around punching/kicking anyone. still dont.

its up to the parents, then the teachers should help out later on.
and a good peer group helps some too.

it is all about the parents. if they let the kids play violent games and ignore/beat the child, bad things will happen but it isn't the kid's fault

Since I was three I have been playing video games. Always a fighting or shooting game. I play them all the time , but never I got the thought killing someone. Though it does happen a lot. True story!

wait, what? It's not like people are always becoming violent from these games. the reason these cases make such a big fuss is that it's so rare

Video games are merely a scapegoat. They don't want to blame the people actually responsible because it means more effort than they really want to put in to fix anything. The people who push that video games lead to mass shootings or even lesser sorts of violence just want something that makes it look like they're doing something to fix the problem.

The real issue is with the parents, the friends of the people doing this, the people who terrorize and make fun of the people who do this. People snap after being pushed far enough. It has nothing to do with their favorite forms of entertainment. A healthy happy person isn't going to be influenced by something like that. Someone who is hurting or angry or both didn't get the idea from the game they were playing, they got it from seeing the access they could get to weapons to do it.

It's society's issue, not entertainment. That said, entertainment is a big part of our society, and I'd say the violence in games is merely a reflection of what goes on in our world, and not the other way around.

Well, entertainment other then video games might be one of the problems. I mean, there are some pretty violent movies out there that are much worse than the video games

Video games are an easy target, because unlike movies, bullying, bad parenting, violence, and trauma, this possible risk wasn't around in previous generations, which means older people (in power) didn't grow up with them. Seeing them as new, they rush to attack them. I agree with Rocksome; this is just my explanation as to why it's the most popular scapegoat.

violence in video games does affect your life like my cousin causes violence he is ten and he plays m reted games.

Maybe he shouldn't be playing M-rated games if he's violent because of them.

Personally, I think the idea that violent games exacerbate the youth violence issue is bunk. Everything really does boil down to parent responsibility. If it affects your kid, something is wrong with them and they SHOULDN'T be playing them. Especially not after you've already taught them the difference between the game and life.

I either learned said difference at a very early age, or came to understand it on my own, because I played Doom II when I was six and seven, and while I seem to have very violent tendencies, I am, in all actuality, a pacifist. I cannot bring myself to seriously hurt another person or animal, as much as I may think about it, and I'm pretty sure that if I did, I would hate myself for it. I'm pretty sure that, like myself, most people use violent games as a form of stress relief.

I remember finding a study once, two or three years ago, that showed that violent crimes in teens went down after the launch of the PlayStation. If I could find where that was published, I'd offer a link, but I can't even remember what the hell name it carried. ._.

If video games made a person violent then we'd be seeing thousands of Mario fans running around looking for turtles to kill.

i do not think so

video games don't cause kids to be violent, thats their choice and even if violence was a problem in video games its the parents fault for buying that game

In my opinion yes because I have heard of people playing games and then going out and shoting people. furthermore I think it is unnessasery. Many people who play these games get used to the idea of someone being shot its on the news all the time. But that is just my opinion. (please whatch what you play)

Those people that you hear about going out and killing people after playing games is nothing to do with the matter, more people have gone out killing after reading a book (re: the crusades for example).
It is nothing to do with the games but instead of these individuals sense of reality.
A violent game does not a violent person make, it is indeed in some peoples very nature to be violent normally.
The only reason people think that games are to blame is because of media hype and certain anti-gaming movements.

Anyone that goes out killing or doing bad things and claims it was because they saw it in a game is just using it as an excuse, they would have done those things anyway as they arn't right in the head.

When I'm playing GTA San Andreas it doesn't make me want to be a violent person.

i think that when people say 'video games make people violent, its almost like when people say 'guns kill people'
People kill, not guns or videogames.
the only people who act violently on things they've seen, heard, or read were already mentally unstable to begin with.
what are we going to start mentally screening people before we let them buy videogames????
one other things, when people are depressed they
turn to things like videogames and books and food (and lack of food) to make them feel better-not worse. jeezum...
i feel like if something goes wrong once, people judge it and say its 'bad'.
whatever, i love my videogames, blood & guts & all.
im not violent.
if i get angry, its of my own accord and because of
my own personality thats been shaped by my experiences, NOT by the games i've played.
sounds stupid but my videogames have helped me expand my imagination and actually aquire the patience for problem solving (ex. any zelda dungeon)

Violence have nothing to do with children. nly the children's FAULT can be if he do something. Such thing is something what you born with what are you like. Just to let you know kids did bad things even killing by effect of oldie ATARI games too samely like for the newer games. It has no bad effect.