Violence, game and other

On a topic that I’ve grown tired of even thinking about, video game violence, I recently read the following…

First this:

Video Game Violence Goes Straight to Kids’ Heads
TUESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) – A study of adolescents finds that violent video games stir up the brain’s emotional-response center while reducing activity in regions linked to self-control.
“This is the first time that it has been demonstrated that violent video games can affect brain physiology and the way the brain functions,” said lead researcher Dr. Vincent Mathews, professor of radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Input “stirs up” the brain. So what!

Then this:

Hot on the heels of the release of the Iraq Study Group Report — and a day in which 10 U.S. servicemen were killed and at least 84 Iraqis were blown up or shot — prospective presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will join with Joe Lieberman to hold a press conference today at 3 pm ET to announce the launch of a television PSA campaign about… video game ratings.

Reading that Hilary Clinton is more concerned about fictional video game violence than she is about all the real-world death and violence in Iraq stirs up MY emotional-response center. Will someone PLEASE make a PSA campaign about the violence inducing risks of living in a world filled with moronic politicians!?

American

7 responses to “Violence, game and other”

  1. This study still avoids the central question. I recently did a (cursory) lit. review on this sort of thing, and it seems the consensus is only that exposure to violent video games causes a short-term increase in extremely mild forms of aggression, such as a greater willingness to punish opponents in a game.

    I don’t see why there has been no research on the “pressing” central question: whether continued violent video game play has deleterious effects on the lives of players and those around them. It’s not as if there are prerequisites to doing such research: just define your metrics, figure out how to control for them, and collect you data.

    I suspect that the reason for this continued omission is that researchers don’t expect to find a serious problem any more than I expect them to. It’s more effective to beat about the bush and alarm people with indirectly related (although interesting in its own right) work.

  2. I would also say that reading a particularly good book would incite emotional responses in a similar way.

    Plus driving in rush hour traffic incites road rage.

    Let’s just ban everything and live in artificial wombs our whole lives, none of this “feeling” stuff.

  3. hey any news on hansel and grettle, there seems to be a lack of ot floating around.

    i loved alice to

  4. Since your American McGee’s.com do you know if and when the American McGee’s Alice game will be availble on
    PSP, P3 and/or xBox 360° platforms? I have it on computer but I think it would be easier to play if was on a new platform.

    Thanks, Happy New Year!

  5. This has nothing to do with what the blog was about. But I thought you were going to make Oz a game, not a movie, either way i bet it will be great. Your the next Tim Burton man! Deff. On the way up.

    Im playing Alice now and it is, without a doubt, one of the more challengeing and fun games ive played.

  6. Go figure Ms. Clinton wants to have a crusade against something that really has no relation to what a polotician thinks that it relates to. Got to stand for something huh? well the first time I have ever heard of this was on a news show some 8 years ago debating the same issue but they used final fantasy 7 as a reference… uh yeah any person can lift a 7ft tall sword above their head and cut a chicken thats as big as a house…

    She can say there’s studies and such but I belive she’s going thru the wrong target group. A 8 year old playing a game that deals with violence is going to get influenced (maybe, if he can even comprehen the situation), but where is the parents influence? If i started acting up and started looking demented in any way or molecule I would have had my ass beat.

    Hillery needs her own Monica so she can STFU.

  7. In the words of GWAR… “Don’t blame me for your incompetence as a parent” -Gwar

    The rest of us know right from wrong in the real world.

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