These Are the Video Games the White House Played in Its Meeting on Game Violence

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Megalith

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The President met with ZeniMax Media, Take-Two Interactive, and other industry executives on Thursday to debate the correlation between video games and real violence. This is the video that the White House played to support its argument, which includes Fallout, Wolfenstein, and various Call of Duty titles.

“We discussed the numerous scientific studies establishing that there is no connection between video games and violence, First Amendment protection of video games, and how our industry’s rating system effectively helps parents make informed entertainment choices," the ESA said in a statement after the meeting.
 
It's a good think they left out Doom 2016....

I've always felt that the problem isn't so much the games, but the parents not taking any interest in what their kids are playing. I was in EB Games a few months ago to buy Mario Odyssey and I saw a kid that couldn't have been older than 11 or 12 begging his mom to get him GTA V, which she inevitably did. Couldn't believe it.
 
It's a good think they left out Doom 2016....

I've always felt that the problem isn't so much the games, but the parents not taking any interest in what their kids are playing. I was in EB Games a few months ago to buy Mario Odyssey and I saw a kid that couldn't have been older than 11 or 12 begging his mom to get him GTA V, which she inevitably did. Couldn't believe it.

That's precisely the issue. Those same parents likely wouldn't let their 11/12 year old go and watch an R-rated horror movie (although I know some would, sadly), so why do they ignore the ratings on games?
 
That's precisely the issue. Those same parents likely wouldn't let their 11/12 year old go and watch an R-rated horror movie (although I know some would, sadly), so why do they ignore the ratings on games?

Most movies are R-rated because there was a brief exposed tit, someone got shot in the shoulder, or someone said a few cuss-words (but not nearly as many cuss-words as those 11/12 year olds are already saying at school every day). Who gives a shit? Most of my favorite movies when I was a kid were rated-R. What kind of fucked up parents wouldn't let their kid see a movie like Terminator 2 or Starship Troopers? Those movies were practically made for kids.
 
If its not bloody or gutty i dont play it thats why its a VIDEO GAME..........................................Been playing games since i was about 9 and i'll be 48 in May of this yr I turned out just fine tyvm
Asteroids and lunar lander would have a word with you.

...that's not to say it doesn't enhance the experience of certain genre.
 
We need to give up the 'video game' term. We are into full on simulations at this point. We have to give this stuff more adult, clinical terms, like the person who came up with ASMR was very careful about the terms she choose, so it couldn't be trivialized
 
If its not bloody or gutty i dont play it thats why its a VIDEO GAME..........................................Been playing games since i was about 9 and i'll be 48 in May of this yr I turned out just fine tyvm

Mid 40's here also and never shot up a school. Never correlated what happened in a video game to something I must accomplish in real life. To be exact when real life gets tough and I have a moment to spare, I will fire up a game to let off some steam.

Now events that happens in real life makes me think about hurting someone. ;) Maybe we should ban that shit and stick to the make believe.
 
It's not the games or movies, it's the side effect of keeping a dumb populous for votes and agendas.

I used to watch rated R movies when I was 8 :p

Remember the movie Jaws? This scared me so bad that I spent most of the time running away from the TV instead of watching the movie. Do I hate sharks? No, because I can think for myself.




I Spit on Your Grave. I watched this as a kid and never thought of doing the acts depicted in the film. My parents used to make us hide our heads under a pillow when the sex scenes rolled in films. Of course we peeked sometimes. :)

 
Have to be honest, that video is pretty bad, if you think about all those suits sitting around a table and seeing that, and then them imagining their kids playing the games (I’m sure they don’t, to busy getting ready for events or school or whatever). Would probably not go over well, especially Pence, a devout Christian. It all has to be in context right, I’ve been gaming since I was like 8, Mario etc, and I have no thoughts towards violence, but in the hands of others, maybe it does invoke awful feelings and push them over the edge. You can’t control that though, nor should we try. That’s why this discussion is so difficult and goes nowhere every time, no one has the answer.
 
Most movies are R-rated because there was a brief exposed tit, someone got shot in the shoulder, or someone said a few cuss-words (but not nearly as many cuss-words as those 11/12 year olds are already saying at school every day). Who gives a shit? Most of my favorite movies when I was a kid were rated-R. What kind of fucked up parents wouldn't let their kid see a movie like Terminator 2 or Starship Troopers? Those movies were practically made for kids.

I won't let my kids watch R rated- movies until they are much older.

My daughters are 9, 6, 2, and newborn.
I don't need them to be exposed to adult themes, nightmares, (the inability to sleep in their own bed) or otherwise create irrational fears that would present themselves in an R movie.

My 6 and 9 year old have had months of worrying about the sun dying and consuming earth as it grows to red giant size ever since I told them about that theory. I told them it was anticipated to happen in 5 billion years. I told them they don't have to worry about - they, and everyone they know will be long dead in 5 billion years, but since they can't understand that concept of time, they've asked me about when that will happen so many times, and are irrationally scared of the sun burning us all up next year or whatever.

I've realized it was probably a mistake to even share 'scary' scientific information with them at this age -- especially with the 6 year old.

I'm 38 -- I remember being a kid and seeing ET at the theater with my dad. It scared the blazes out of me. I was afraid to go upstairs by myself for years. I also remember seeing this movie cover at our local movie store. For years after, while I was a boy, I double glanced in the toilet, before and after using it. Of course as an adult we know these fears were irrational -- but as a kid those worries were very real. I didn't even see the Ghoules movie. I Just saw the cover. What motive do I have putting that type of nonsense in my children's head --- and purposely? No way. That's not what you do to someone you love.

740full-ghoulies-poster.jpg
 
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I won't let me kids watch R rated- movies until they are much older.

My daughters are 9, 6, 2, and newborn.
I don't need them to be exposed to adult themes, nightmares, (the inability to sleep in their own bed) or otherwise create irrational fears that would present themselves in an R movie.

My 6 and 9 year old have had months of worrying about the sun dying and consuming earth as it grows to red giant size every since I told them about that theory. I told them it was anticipated to happen in 5 billion years. I told them they don't have to worry about - they, and everyone they know will be long dead in 5 billion years, but since they can't understand that concept of time, they've asked me about when that will happen so many times, and are irrationally scared of the sun burning us all up next year or whatever.

I've realized it was a mistake to even share 'scary' scientific information with them at this age -- especially the 6 year old.

Im torn on this. Maybe its good they spent that worry on something like that. If it wasnt that, it might have been any other world/paradigm shifting information with longer term results. As time goes on, they will understand time better so it cant grow into a big fear. I guess what im saying that is you cant shield your kids from all grief, it will come in one form or another, be glad it was a small fear that they will for sure grow out of.
 
My 6 and 9 year old have had months of worrying about the sun dying and consuming earth as it grows to red giant size every since I told them about that theory. I told them it was anticipated to happen in 5 billion years. I told them they don't have to worry about - they, and everyone they know will be long dead in 5 billion years, but since they can't understand that concept of time, they've asked me about when that will happen so many times, and are irrationally scared of the sun burning us all up next year or whatever.

I've realized it was a mistake to even share 'scary' scientific information with them at this age -- especially the 6 year old.

No offense, but if you're at the point where you're even afraid to discuss science with your kids, there are bigger problems at play here... I was 5 years old when the big Loma Prieta earthquake happened back in 1989. That would scare the shit out of most kids. Instead, I spent the next hour explaining to my parents how earthquakes work. Science is a very good thing, especially for kids.
 
It's a good think they left out Doom 2016....

I've always felt that the problem isn't so much the games, but the parents not taking any interest in what their kids are playing. I was in EB Games a few months ago to buy Mario Odyssey and I saw a kid that couldn't have been older than 11 or 12 begging his mom to get him GTA V, which she inevitably did. Couldn't believe it.

I honestly don't see why it even matters whether parents have any interest in what their kids play.

Where is the evidence that parental involvement has any effect?
 
Curious how many times they watched the COD MW2 airport shooting scene that even has a warning in the game.
 
I honestly don't see why it even matters whether parents have any interest in what their kids play.

Where is the evidence that parental involvement has any effect?

I'm not sure what you're implying here. Are you saying that parents don't play a role in the development of their children or that people aren't influenced by the experiences that they are exposed to as children?

I'm not saying that kids who play violent games are going to become murderers or social deviants, but you can't deny that there is a certain degree of desensitization that occurs that probably isn't good for the developing mind.
 
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Remember the movie Jaws? This scared me so bad that I spent most of the time running away from the TV instead of watching the movie. Do I hate sharks? No, because I can think for myself.




I Spit on Your Grave. I watched this as a kid and never thought of doing the acts depicted in the film. My parents used to make us hide our heads under a pillow when the sex scenes rolled in films. Of course we peeked sometimes. :)



Jaws I can partially understand. It's mainstream. I spit on your grave I'd never heard of, I watched the trailer and then read the synopsis. It has a 30 minute rape scene, hanging, disemboweling, genitals being cut off, etc - - if you saw stuff like that as a kid - It's an absolute miracle if you aren't twisted as an adult. IMO. BTW -- if you like these kinds of movies as an adult - it is my opinion that you are twisted. These types of movies are outlier movies and most people do NOT enjoy them, nor the genre. No Offense.
 
Edited out accidental multiquote.
I honestly don't see why it even matters whether parents have any interest in what their kids play.

Where is the evidence that parental involvement has any effect?
There's plenty evidence that any interaction will have some effect on the development of a child. What effect it has will depend on the individual, how they perceive the interaction, and past interactions that the child relates to what's happening at the moment. In other words, you can't really predict what affect parental interaction will have, but any is almost always better than none or near zero, unless you're trying to produce a random result with tendency towards chaos.
 
I'm not sure what you're implying here. Are you saying that parents don't play a role in the development of their children or that people aren't influenced by the experiences that they are exposed to as children?

I'm not saying that kids who play violent games are going to become murderers or social deviants, but you can't deny that there is a certain degree of desensitization that occurs that probably isn't good for the developing mind.

I don't think America has uniquely hands-off or disinterested parents, particularly if we are only considering parents of young (video game-playing) mass murderers. And yet America is uniquely fertile ground for young mass murderers. So I'd expect the problem to be something other than just the quantity of parental involvement, and maybe something more like the culture of the parents or something entirely unrelated to parenting.
 
I honestly don't see why it even matters whether parents have any interest in what their kids play.

Where is the evidence that parental involvement has any effect?
I'm assuming you don't have kids at this point. Or rather, I hope not.

It is less that you are watching and controlling what they play and do. It is that they think you are.

They need to believe someone is watching what they do, until they are old enough to realize and are capable of self regulation of their own actions.

That is what this is all about.
 
I don't think America has uniquely hands-off or disinterested parents, particularly if we are only considering parents of young (video game-playing) mass murderers. And yet America is uniquely fertile ground for young mass murderers. So I'd expect the problem to be something other than just the quantity of parental involvement, and maybe something more like the culture of the parents or something entirely unrelated to parenting.
It goes beyond parents. There is a reason for the "It takes a village" saying.
 
I don't think America has uniquely hands-off or disinterested parents, particularly if we are only considering parents of young (video game-playing) mass murderers. And yet America is uniquely fertile ground for young mass murderers. So I'd expect the problem to be something other than just the quantity of parental involvement, and maybe something more like the culture of the parents or something entirely unrelated to parenting.

Absolutely, this is a multifaceted issue. I'd attribute it to the following things:
1) A lack of parental attention.
2) The ease with which people can semi-automatic weapons and handguns.
3) Income disparity.
4) Lack of access to affordable health care (including mental health).
5) Lack of social support structures.
6) Desensitization to violence.

I could probably list a few more but these are probably the biggest contributors to the US's high rate of mass shootings. But I'd argue that most could be mitigated with proper parental attention.

Now, the flip side of this is that it's not really the parents fault (not entirely anyways) we live in a time when both parents are usually forced to work to make ends meet, and that obviously decreases the amount of time parents can spend integrating themselves into the lives of their children. We also live in a time when teachers and other non-parental authority figures lack the ability to discipline children.

That's my take on all this anyway.
 
It goes beyond parents. There is a reason for the "It takes a village" saying.

That seems like it has to be true. Also, I wasn't trying to say that parenting as a whole doesn't have any effect. It just seems really unlikely that leaving kids alone with only video games to raise them is what's driving mass violence among young people.
 
Violent video games are in other countries too, like Canada, and they're not experiencing a school shooting crisis like the USA. Is anyone even talking about this facet? I doubt it.
 
All these school shooters come from broken homes. They are trying their best to not put the blame where it lays, 2nd wave feminism. This is the fallout from that bullshit. And where was the news about the (thankfully), failed bomb attempt by that isis kid? Oh yea, there was no gun involved, nothing to report there.
 
All these school shooters come from broken homes. They are trying their best to not put the blame where it lays, 2nd wave feminism. This is the fallout from that bullshit. And where was the news about the (thankfully), failed bomb attempt by that isis kid? Oh yea, there was no gun involved, nothing to report there.

Yes, how dare those women demand the right the work, demand equal treatment, demand that domestic violence and rape are taken seriously. Them womens getting rights are totally what is causing this. Can't possibly be any other reason. And, of course, broken homes are only the fault of women. Men could never be responsible for that.

/s Obviously.
 
How can you not love the fact that The Donald was elected President of the United States of America? Everything he says makes perfect sense, and is always incredibly accurate and based on fact. Also, he's done a bang up job of 'draining the swamp' as well. Bravo.
 
We have parents that let young kids watch South Park, "It's just a cartoon" and wonder why little billy said "Shit" 50 times the next day in kindergarten.

When you let the TV or Xbox raise your kids for you, don't be surprised by the results.
 
Absolutely, this is a multifaceted issue. I'd attribute it to the following things:
1) A lack of parental attention.
2) The ease with which people can semi-automatic weapons and handguns.
3) Income disparity.
4) Lack of access to affordable health care (including mental health).
5) Lack of social support structures.
6) Desensitization to violence.

I could probably list a few more but these are probably the biggest contributors to the US's high rate of mass shootings. But I'd argue that most could be mitigated with proper parental attention.

Now, the flip side of this is that it's not really the parents fault (not entirely anyways) we live in a time when both parents are usually forced to work to make ends meet, and that obviously decreases the amount of time parents can spend integrating themselves into the lives of their children. We also live in a time when teachers and other non-parental authority figures lack the ability to discipline children.

That's my take on all this anyway.

1 and 6 I can agree with completely.

5 does have an affect on how young minds develop.

3 is interesting, but if you look back as most of the school shooting, the shooters were from well off or at least middle class homes, not poor homes. AR15s are not cheap, and the recent kid has that as several others which he bought on his own, I don't even have that kind of disposable income. The Columbine attackers were also from well to do homes as well.

4 I can see as far as mental health going, but since even when someone has mental issues and the government has rules in place to keep that from becoming known to agencies that can actually do something about it, the problem will persist even if the health care was free.

2 Semi-automatic weapons have been accessible to the public since about 1900, and honestly they have been just as affordable the whole time so why were we not seeing mass shooting back in 1950? The weapons have nothing to do with the twisted mind that commits the crime. MS13 gang members killed two girls using baseball bats, but we don't blame Louisville Slugger for causing crime. As far as assault rifles go, the function of those are no different than any other semi-automatic rifle, it is just a "skin" that looks "aggressive" or "military like" that makes people want to ban them. No different than adding a skin to a basic weapon in a video game, makes it look cool but doesn't change the damage stats. My Dad was a marksman instructor in the Army from 1966-68 and he say he would take a M1 over the M16 any day as far as accuracy and reliability goes, even though the M1 normally has a much smaller magazine. I have seen more deer killed with single shot or bolt action rifles than with semi-automatics.

The biggest factor in young people doing things like school shooting comes more from trying to protect them their whole life from disappointments that might hurt their self esteem instead of allowing them to fail and learning how to build self esteem and how to deal with failure in constructive ways. Participation trophies grow weak social skills.
 
I don't think America has uniquely hands-off or disinterested parents, particularly if we are only considering parents of young (video game-playing) mass murderers. And yet America is uniquely fertile ground for young mass murderers. So I'd expect the problem to be something other than just the quantity of parental involvement, and maybe something more like the culture of the parents or something entirely unrelated to parenting.

Well, we also have a dwindling sense of family as a society, it seems. Kids are left to their own devices frequently. Many may argue that it's a symptom of the lack of strong religious teachings (I'm not one of them), but I'd argue that it's a symptom of a society that is increasingly overworked to get by. Other countries work less than us and have higher quality of living. Because of that, they have a better sense of family and spend more quality time together.

In America, you simply can't afford to have a single parent working while the other one raises the kids. Both parents could work 40+ hours and the last thing they want to do when getting home is more work, so they let the media available distract and raise their children. They don't have the psychological energy to say no to a 10year old consistently asking for an M-rated title, and deal with the fallout.

Couple that with such an upbringing may spawn more lackadaisical parenting on the next generation. Until eventually Alexa is seen as mom and creepy uncle Google is literally the creepy uncle.
 
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