

How the Video-Game Industry Already Lost Out in the Gun-Control Debate - rdp
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/how-the-video-game-industry-already-lost-out-in-the-gun-control-debate/267052/

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jack-r-abbit
I grew up with the Atari 2600 as my game console. I played the shit out of
Pitfall... and never once did I just snap and start swinging from vines over
alligator pits. I played the shit out of Frogger... and never once did I just
snap and start running around on the freeway or try to cross a stream jumping
from log to log. I also used to play Army outside. Of course we just used a
stick for a gun. Probably the same stick that was a sword the day before. To
this day I have never killed anyone with a real gun or sword. We used to build
sand castles in the sand box, and then take turns strategically
placing/detonating fire crackers on the other kid's castle to see who could
take it. I have never bombed anyone.

I'm not a big gamer these days but it seems like a huge cop-out to try to
blame the games for the ills of others. Many, many people play the same games,
own the same firearms, have the same history of being abused, are on the same
psychoactive drugs, have done any number of things that a few random sickos
have done... and yet they have NEVER committed such atrocities. Some times
there is no better answer other than: Some people are just fucked in the head.

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boringkyle
I second that, and also think parenting is a big factor to blame.

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pcote
Not necessarily. Two brothers can be brought up under the same terrible
parenting and take radically different paths with their lives.

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SigmundA
Blaming video games for people shooting other people is like blaming punching
bags for people hitting other people. Why don't we outlaw these
assault/battery simulators?

If anything it reduces the the urge for someone to do it by redirecting the
urge into a simulation, kind of like a punching bag.

Now it seems video games are the punching bags for the gun violence debate
instead when most studies show they have the opposite effect.

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mistercow
Actually, blaming punching bags for people hitting other people makes way more
sense than blaming video games for shootings. One of the primary purposes of
punching bags, after all, is to make you better at punching people.

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SigmundA
I won't argue that video games might make you better using a gun against human
targets, it very well could. That is a different argument than it leading to
more gun violence.

A punching bag makes you better at punching, it also wears you out and gets
the urge to punch someone out on the bag rather than the actual person. You
never heard of someone wanting to go hit the punching bag for a little while
because they had a bad day at work?

What does the phrase mean when you call something a punching bag that is not
actually a punching bag? Think about it, it's all related to redirecting
aggression.

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sopooneo
How do we know video games aren't partly to blame? To me it seems unlikely
they are to blame, but I have no proof. I don't play or create games so I
don't have any _direct_ stake in this discussion.

Most arguments I hear from gamers use plausible, and even persuasive,
_theories_ on why games wouldn't contribute to mass shootings, but I don't
recall hearing any empirical evidence backing them up. And the older I get,
the more I find that plausible theories and reality don't match up often
enough to be fully convinced.

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kahawe
Along those lines you couldn't possible dismiss the wild theory that it was
actually toast or breakfast cereal that made them do it.

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hkolek
Exactly, there is this joke in german that goes like this: "90% of violent
acts are committed within 24 hours of the consumption of bread. Ban bread!"
This kind of "logic" is just ridiculous.

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sageikosa
Now if it were: "after consuming bread, 90% of the time the consumer will
commit a violent act within 24 hours", we'd have to worry.

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kahawe
It is not "after playing a violent video game, 90% of the time the consumer
will commit a violent act within 24 hours" yet people act like that and want
to have video games banned...

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zgohr
_Firearms, not entertainment, lead to mass shootings, and yet gamers have
irrevocably become implicated in the conversation over violence in America._

Ha.

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kabdib
Heavy 1st Amendment issues here. Also, interesting court decisions upholding
the 1st in the context of video games.

This is clearly political, rather than based on any sound research or data.
But if there was hard data, historically the legislatures haven't cared: It
looks good to their constituents.

Looks like I'm going to have to give money to the games lobbies now, too.

