Of Virginia Tech, Dr. Phil and mass murderers - a personal stand |
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In the wake of the tragic events that ensued in Virginia Tech, Jack Thompson put the blame on video games. Don't look now but he's found a friend we're all too familiar with despite the fact that a lot of us have never watched his show. The well-publicized motivator unleashed a mouthful in Larry King Live with this statement:
The problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you - that if these people are playing video games where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, itÂ’s glamorized on the big screen, itÂ’s become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath, or someone suffering from mental illness, add in a dose of rage, the suggestability is just too high. And weÂ’re going to have to start dealing with that. WeÂ’re going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murderers of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.
The (very, very, very) few who do play games and exercise their ability to inflict terrible violence do not reflect the majority of gamers worldwide. To say that exposing children to violent games breeds sociopaths is a vile misconception. An entire generation of people who played games as kids have grown up to be successful, peace-loving individuals who never once thought of blowing away friends and family with guns.
Violence is a natural human instinct. Take away all the guns and violent games in the world and people will still beat each other to death with their bare fists. Charles Manson, Adolf Hitler and Ivan the Terrible have never even conceived of the games of today and they are far worse offenders than any modern criminal. Dr. Phil and to other riders of "blame it on the video games" bandwagon, please get your facts straight.
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Comments [refresh]
My name is Karloman. I'm 18 years old. I've been playing video games since I was 6. I've played through all the GTA's, I've played through Manhunt, I've played through almost every single violent game on the planet, yet I have never taken anyone's live nor have I had the thought of doing so.
I'm 30 and have been playing games for over 20 years, and I haven't killed anyone.
It bugs me that people like jack thombum and dr phail blame video games, when they really need to take a look at society as a whole.
I see much worse depictions of REAL life violence on the Nightly news (and today especially) and in shows like Cops.
Don't blame the game.
This person was not a child, but an adult, who decided to do a crime. You cannot even begin to argue that an adult was unable to take responsibility for his or her own actions in this case. Blaming videogames for violence in adults?? this is getting ridiculous.
Videogames or not, there are thousands of adults engaging in violence right now, so shut up.
They haven't even released the identity of the guy who was pulling the trigger and they're already using this as a platform against violent video games?
What about all those people who went nuts and opened fire on other people long before video games and movies?
Until there are more facts in the case, running off at the mouth about something they (Dr. Phil and Jack Thompson) don't have all the facts on is totally irresponsible. I find it totally unprofessional.
People need to stop blaming things for their actions and start admitting to the facts that they did indeed do something. Everyone needs to hold something accountable in this day and age, and instead of holding the individuals responsible for the crime, we're blaming media and games.
Why not blame the person who pulled the trigger? They are, in fact, responsible for opening fire, and for killing whoever it is they shot.
This whole thing is getting so out of control and I find it really sad that no one is responsible for anything anymore.
gaming is a billion dollar world wide industry, iv travelled to central africa and seen kids on gameboys, in many asian countries it's heavily integrated into everyday life, i assume in america gamers are no different to myself! but what is different in america to anywhere else is gun control, now l know loads of people go on about it, but stop blaming gaming! if the access to guns wasnt as easy as it is, this would not have happened, hell couldnt of happened! if we got rid of video games tomorrow this kind of thing would STILL happen, the media would just blame it on say, rap music, the US goverment needs to open there damn eyes
Lol. Man, he sounds like this "That guy in Africa farted, then the gunman shot dead two people. It's obvious that the farting caused two deaths."
Idiots.
i am so efing tired of hearing how ***** ing video games are ruining people. They blamed Columbine on Doom, other Shootings on GTA. They dont want to go to prison and be some guys ***** so they plead insanity that the video games made him do it. @_@. Thats enough people! we have heard this excuse many of times, if you were insae, why the hell do you even have games? I have been playing game since i was 3, my very first game was Doom. and i have never shot or killed any one, and to this day i play GTA, and other violent games.
There should be a law saying that blaming Video games for your crime is illegal.
this article has ruined my day and now im pissed
Well, let me tell you that if you put stricter gun control laws, all that's going to do is empower criminals even more. Guns do not kill people, people kill people. Believe me, I'm from Colombia, South America, and citizens there are not allowed to own firearms no matter what, yet, it still is one of the most violent countries in the world. When you put gun control laws in place, all you do is take away the right for good, law obiding citizens to defend themselves, and empower the criminals. Do you think that someone who is intent on killing someone cares about gun control laws? They will get the weapon in the black market and carry his/her evil actions without regard for human life, much less "gun control laws."
You could just as easyly blame it on a date line nbc program that air only the night before.
Where in the mass killer was a fellow that couldn't get a hopital to even belive he was a danger. (At least as i understand it. only caught the tail end of it)
He ended up killing a bunch of people over not being able to get some kind a special oil for his Motercycle.
Just want to also note that there are so many things that can mess up a person in the world. I suppose the question is why aren't more people going off the deep end. Gamers are an easy target simply because most people would rather blame there actions of something else rather then themselves.
You simply don't often hear someone say, "Oh, i lost my temper when my girlfriend dumped me. So i took it out on her and everyone around me cause i was mad."
They will almost alway blame the victim for there own stupid actions.
The world is a very vilolent place with or with out vid games and vilolent movies.
And as a society we also blame others and anyone but oursleves when something horrible happens. We decry these horrible things but don't want to pay the real cost of getting to the root problems with prevention options.
We only try to solve something after it's too late.
So we are all kinda cheap lazy blame passers
Just cause something bad has happened in your life doesn't mean you have to pass on that bad stuff to others.
Don't pass on the sins and slights you've had happen to you. The sin stops here.
@ Doomer, i was thinking the EXACT same thing..... my day has been ruined, im totaly pissed off by the fact that people cant see the obvious..... these people are nuts from the beginning.
Games did not do anything to these weird *****s
Obviously, I don't think games turn people in to violent monsters but, where in that quote does he say "exposing children to violent games breeds sociopaths"? It reads more like he's saying that a violence saturated media, like ours, that is so intertwined in everyones lives, becomes to much a part of their already sick minds.
You can't turn someone into a sociopath, those people are born with no conscious or have it ripped out by some horrifying traumatic event at an early age. But, the point is, even as dumb as Dr. Phil is he still knows you can't just turn someone into a psycho or sociopath, he's only saying that the violent media that is a part of us all doesn't sit well with mental illness, and in my opinion, he's right. Violent media has barely been with us more than a generation so, it's not totally unfounded that we have no idea what sort of effect it is going to have sociologically.
It's great to see intelligent comments peppering this article. Still, I'm making a call for everyone to please tone down the profanities and obscenities in your posts. This is a very sensitive matter and could catch the spotlight from other industries, so we're gonna be extra strict in moderating the comments here. Besides, populating this section with uneducated/immature comments would only solidify the misconceptions being unjustly bestowed upon us gamers right? Thanks. :)
i agree with "just a guy".
As i have read here http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page+%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200209%5CNAT20020917a.html
a cupple of good average citizens had guns in their car, as they were not alowed to cary in school. which was under attack by one of these messed up freaks, so they went and got their guns and he gave up once confrounted.
it becomes next to obvious when u think of it this way.....
if everyone is alowed to carry guns in school, would you attack it like these people are doing?
would u hell, becase there is a very high chance they would get killed before they could even get one round off...
Martin Bryant shot 35 people dead with multiple arms in Tasmania, giggling as he did it.
He owned three copies of The Sound of Music.
Perhaps it is time to ban this evil movie, obviously a cause of violence.
Makes me wonder how dirt-poor bullies who don't even own consoles can be so viokent. Maybe everyone should play violent games so they can vent their anger in games and not beat up other people.
sings i get so sick of everyone placing the blame on video games. before video games even existed there were people doing killing other people for no apparent reason.. in addition to that video games isn\\\'t the only thing that advocates violence.. there are more violent movies and television shows then there are games..i believe the main problem is with the parents if they see that their child doesn\\\'t have a good hold on reality maybe the kid shouldn\\\'t play video games especially violent ones.
You are absolutely right! And I am surprised there are so many Intelligent comments much less, first posters.
I believe you guys are right. I do not if there is something we can do legally to protect gaming from this over abuse. It is not right to blame things from a damn big event. If there is something I can do as a gamer I would give my full support to it.
I'm with sinx on this one, the dr phil article doesnt say that the videogames make a sociopath or pschyo whatever, he simply suggests that the violence soaked media and alot of the violence in games, in the mix with the right kind of person could most certainly be an influence in someone going postal if they are already messed in the head in the first place. Hey i think its rubbish every time i hear someone blaming games for mass murders and such, and i am so not a violent person and i play all the most bloody and brutal games, but i do also know someone people that are messed up and giving them the right influence......i would prefer to keep my distance.......read the article properly people before you try to comment.......
dont assume that i started with videogames... TV is much worse and movies are even more violent then alot of games..... dont blame the gaming industry.....
i cant stand how the "knowitall" Dr Phil can say something without ANY PROOF... and assume things..... a true psychologist knows not to assume anything... because tyou are avoiding the real true problem/cause of the effect.
Dr Phil needs to learn how and when to stop talking as most of his talk is a bunch of hot air and can be proved false by an average Logic student.
Dr phil can petition to stop videogames... but the world should petition for him be quiet until he has more proof on subjects
Dear Dr. Phil and Jack Thompson,
This recent shooting that has already sparked much controversy all around the U.S. (and more). Please consider this statement (even though this is over children, this is somewhat true for college students):
Could the parents be at fault? Isn't it THEIR responsibility to talk to their kids about the child's problems in life? Shouldn't they should KNOW if their child is in the correct physical health to know that violent videogames are JUST a videogame? It also seems that many people use videogames, a popular industry, for blame in order to make an attempt to not get in prison (as easily)...
Is this site ran in Russia or is that where we are headed? If there ever was any media backlash to you guys on posts I don't mind being interviewed by them explaining myself. l welcome it.
ok ok ....
So the mass killin in 1966 at Texas Univ. was due in part to Video Games? Hmmm...
The problems obviously isn't games, shootings like this don't happen all over the world, the problem is the readily available guns that young stupid people can get to.
Personally I pretty much only play FPS games, not once in my life have i thought of going out and shooting up a school.
If games can really have such an effect surely these things would happen a lot more as there are millions of people playing them every day.
An early version of Pong was apparently responsible. The killer thought that dot representing the ball is a bullet and he had to shoot the paddle representing a person.
The problems obviously isn't games, shootings like this don't happen all over the world, the problem is the readily available guns that young stupid people can get to.
Personally I pretty much only play FPS games, not once in my life have i thought of going out and shooting up a school.
If games can really have such an effect surely these things would happen a lot more as there are millions of people playing them every day.
somehow this appeared on my screen
Here's a few commentaries that go a bit in depth as far as reactions that aren't D.P's. I find it interesting that people are thinking not only of one side of gun control/videogames/etc vs the other, but taking completely separate views as to other motivating factors.
http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-shooting.html
http://munchkinwrangler.blogspot.com/2007/04/events-of-day.html
http://canticle.livejournal.com/621183.html?style=mine
I've been speaking to a few friends of mine who have kids, and I have to agree with eaglebaize..
Many of these kids who are growing up in the age of the internet where everything from graphic movies, porn, violent video games are the norm, and a only a click away, have trouble discerning what is real and what is make believe. And I think this may be a big part of the problem. Parents really need to watch what their kids are doing and playing all of the time, and explain to them what is real and what is not.
Hollywood churns out visually amazing movies, which we all know are fiction. But if you showed someone who had never seen television before, a movie, say, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, could you image what would be running through their minds? How would you explain its 'just a movie'?
I'm not trying to justify the actions of the lunatic who commit these crimes of late, but seriously, anyone who thinks violence is a solution to any problem really needs their head examined.
Anyways, as you can probably tell, I'm passionate about sensitive subjects like this, because not only do we need to stand up for our rights to enjoy fictitious movies + games, we also need to look at other possible causes and solutions, such as failure to clearly define reality in our kids, and clearly express that for the majority of people, this is not a problem.
Thanks QJ for letting us discuss this topic, I'm aware that nearly all previous topics concerning mr thompson have been locked from comments, due to the flaming, but I definitely see this as an opportunity for intelligent discussion on a topic that will mold our future forms of entertainment.
Violent video games do not make violent people violent people make violent people and so do the *****ing psycopathic freaks out there that should be playing them because this is what happens. They need to have you not have a mental illness to beable to play games like GTA or anything like that. Btw im 16 and have been playing games since i was about 4
The whole thing was premeditated meaning he had it all planned out a good example was him chaining the doors so no one could get out. He also brought a ton of ammo. So he probably wasnt as crazy as we all think.
"You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath, or someone suffering from mental illness, add in a dose of rage, the suggestability is just too high"
A video game or movie is not going to make something "click" in someones brain and tell them to go on a murdering spree....
Guess what.. A psychopath or a sociopath are going to do something *****ed up... Why? Cause they are *****ing psychopaths. A movie scene is not going to change anything about that
get with the times man.. and dont badmouth Russia...
first of all... yes they are entitled to OPINIONS/Comments...
but they are practically forcing that opinion onto other people to beleive that videogames are the cause...... WITHOUT ANY PROOF....
i dont want to be FORCED anyones opionion... especially without sufficient evidence ....
so to Dr. Phil/Jack... make your point, and let it be... dont keep beating a dead horse...
BTW... whats next??? no more freedom if people try to ban violent videogames, TV and movies...
look at Don Imus... apparently our free speech ahs been taken away due to people taking things too personnaly...... whats next?
all in all... the issues lie with bad PARENTING..... not videogamesgames
We didn\'t change anything that'll alter the comment's context, I only removed the words (well actually, I replaced it another word) that went through our anti-cuss filters.
They have no quarrel with blaming the parents as well. They need a medium to blame and they're willing to go as far as they need to go just to vent their own personal opinions on us and then calling them "facts".
If we're to blame parents for anything, let's do it for everything. I'd like to blame my mother for sending me to college. I'd like to blame my mother for my steady job. I'd also like to blame my mother for me being a normal human being that can understand right from wrong and can acknowledge what I've done and pit the blame on myself when I've done something bad or unnecessary.
I blame it all on you, mom. Thanks. :)
Guys guys guys, you're all so completely wrong, i agree video games aren't responsible, but nor is the person pulling the trigger, it's the 3rd wold little children that assembled the gun and bullets!
If there's any killing to be done, i'd say: kill the weapon industry.
Dr. Phil, this has got to be the most arrogant thing I've heard you said considering you have a show that does 'in some peoples perspectives' pretty insane things/comments/etc...
I would like to first point out that I'm not a HARDCORE video game player, just a casual player whom plays due to either boredom or strictly educational/work purposes ONLY.
Your claim of video games having a MAJOR influence on crime to simplify things are just as absurd as Hitler claiming Germans are the superior race in the world back in his days.
I'm sure Hitler meant well in his case as your intentions are yourself, but blaming something you probably never laid your hands on or even understand is just unprofessional and wrong.
I can't believe I'm hearing this. I've always respected Dr. Phil because you base your teachings in fact not theory.
But seeing something like this gives your show a bad taste just because you or other professionals out there says their not good for anyone (which I'm betting most are in the same boat as yourself or just don't understand the 'fun' side of video games)
The closest thing I would agree with is the fact that yes, violent video games do play some role in SOME peoples case. But the number of people that plays video game that commits crime are no way in an alarming rate.
If your theory is correct then according to your theory I can just blame football/basketball for the same crime your proposing. Since most sports has it's violent side, I can simply blame the whole genre of sport to be a bad influence to people out there.
My point is, don't bad mouth ANYTHING that has no SOLID FACT besides a few old geezer's that's made some test that they themselves have no idea what their testing in on behalf.
This is just my 2 cent, I'm sure there are many people that thinks this 'theory' of yours just isn't possible. I and many others out there which I'm curtain of that would have MUCH more to say in regards this but it isn't fair to those people whom only wish is to just play and the only killing they intend to do is kill time...
My only advice is to re-examine this theory of yours before this theory brings you shame or worst through your life/career...
Video gaming is evolving as if not faster that the I.T. industries. In the same respect I.T. and it's researchers have accomplished, the same or more research should be made first before such claims like yours should have any proven facts.
Just in case some people are wondering, I've been exposed to video games since the 8-bit days (atari, 286,etc...) and not 1s I've ever commited crime nor taken anybody's like away. Even though I've been exposed and admit myself enjoy the GTA series now and then.
Games should be taken as what they are, if people are picking up life essentials from them then it isn't the games fault, it is the parent or guardian to whom they are obligated to are.
Don't put your blame to anyone else's just because it's hyperthetically plausible. It's wrong and just plain st00pph33d!
Ch33rz!
if the person really was influenced by video games he would have at least waited till october so he could play GTA IV before he took himself out duhh!
Dude, what's wrong with you?
The pathetic thing is before anything is even known about the killer's motivations, videogames are immediately blamed.
Like Carl Johnson from GTA SA said, "don't blame me, blame society."
Go back to being a dating consultant, Dr. Fraud.
The games, while violent and explicit, aren't the cause for such violence. Like the article says, there's been violence embedded in mankind for our entire history. I can see the point that the violent video games aren't helping to fix the problem, but they're also not to be blamed for the problem either. Some people have mental problems, and if they aren't noticed and helped in time, they go and do something stupid and/or horrible.
Even if we did "correct" our society, and we had no violence anywhere in the media (which, frankly, would make for a very boring media experience), people would still fight, and they might even come up with the idea for such atrocities themselves (people bent on destruction don't need to see it on TV or in video games to think it up). On top of that, our government isn't very helpful in setting a good example. You can see this in action if you were to look at the events leading up to and the events in Iraq. I'm not going to divulge on that, lest this go off topic.
In reality, all this is just the frantic search for someone (or something) to point the blame finger at. It's a natural coping mechanism for humans - people blame their versions of "God" or "Satan" for their misdeeds, their government for various social / economic issues, and so on. What video game activists are doing by blaming video games for violent outbursts (with the sorely lacking evidence out there attributing violence to video games) is acting on instincts just as base as those that drive people to violence.
It's called a fr3akin joke u humorless pr!ck.
MRV9292: LOLZ! I would'ved!
ok.... Manson was a GTA fan?.....
How about, now get ready for this one because its gonna be heavy, WE BLAME THE INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE!
Oh boo hoo, my daddy hit me now I'm gonna go kill defenseless people. Sob Sob, my mother was cold and distant and now I drink all the time. Tears and sighs because my uncle Lesters nickname should have been *Insert something clever and slightly lewd*.
People need to take responsibility for their actions. Its almost like a state of prolonged arrested mental development, wherein some never outgrow the chlidish acts of not being able to pay up to what is owed. Everyone has an excuse for something, and no one owns up to anything anymore. We go around carrying sobriety chips and scars, both internal and external and congratulate one another for "overcoming insurmountable odds"
Many in society have become nothing more than petulant children who look to do the crime, but not do the time because they can blame it on depression, abusing substances, past "traumas" or some other crutch or excuse. Why didn't this guy go onto a military base and try to start firing at the armed security in a fair gunfight? Because he wouldn't have stood a chance.
The man was weak, a bully and nothing more than someone who had completely lost touch of any reality other than his own in which these actions would have been reasonably justified. That is why they always have an excuse lined up. Lawyers will eat it up, calling the whole nation to arms in a fight to save this poor victim. This poor helpless victim that locked the doors with chains and took enough ammo to choke a chinese elephant into a school, a place of education where his peers had no reasonable means of defense, and slaughtered them and affected hundreds if not thousands of lives in a single, premeditated act of ignorance.
After its done and he realizes he's going to go to the electric chair and smell like burning hair and hot dogs, he thinks to himself, "Who or what can I blame to just get life in prison?" It is farting in a room and blaming someone else on a far more tragic scale. The Lawyers *sniff*, psychologists, therapists, counselors and all around talentless hacks *cough* love it, wouldn't you love an excuse that kept you in a Bentley and a $5,000 suit everyday.
We need to stop blaming his parents, his forms of entertainment, sexual preference, personal background, brand of cologne or busy handed relative and start blaming the person who pointed the firearm at someone, and with blatant disregard to the victims existence, ended a promising life. Society needs to stop this whole "everyones a victim" mentality and begin making examples of such disassociated tyrannical acts.
Good day.
No one at all is blaming video games in the incident at Virgina, no one!!!!!
While I see a wide spectrum of attitudes, I have to admit that I have found many of them to be irritated replies to the statement made by Dr. Phil.
What he was construing was that social disruptions like this are a component of our society. The person who committed the crime did have inputs from the environment he grew up in. While I could go on and on about the importance of the process of socialization in humans and primates alone, I will give only a few examples. Why have all of these newsline massacres done by males? Why is it that the ratio of violent crime in the United States is 1 woman for every 9 males? Or perhaps the documented cases of how easily a human beings, or our evolutionary ancestors (Pan Paniscus), can become develop anti-social, neurotic and schizophrenic tendencies when not raised without critical amounts of social interaction. If you would like to how important sociology and social psychology is regarding human behavior I would suggest you do a google search for "Gender Based Social Crimes" and "Human Deprivation Cases". By all means don't just take my word for it.
But I digress, what I wanted to say about the article and it's obviously critical stance of a Ph.D owner's opinion that video games, mixed with mental instability, results in situations like what happened yesterday. I found his "recipe" explanation a little bland, he is totally correct. The definition of a sociopath is person that posesses a personality that is not functional is society. Such a personality contains a lack of conscience (the ability to ethically and socially evaluate and behave) as well as antisocial tendencies such as rage.
Can anyone reread the statement and tell me if Dr. Phil was being all-inclusive in his opinion?
Bush decides to open a war on videogames, you'll never play a decent game ever again...
People who had originals (or even worse copies) of GTA would be taken to guantanamo bay for some sociopath cleaning...
I really pitty you...
The tragic events of yesterday makes you wonder why a person should act that way. But it is even worse when you consider that the US is one of the few countries where massacres like these occur in schools. I've been subjected to the same dosseages of violence thorugh TV, movies, video games and real life in both my home country (Colombia) and in the country where i'm now living (Chile). In both these countries I've never seen a metal detector, or heard of random acts of sensless violence perpetrated by young people with no other end than to do so and then end their own lives. So I've always pondered on why this happens so often in the US when even their neighboring countries, Canada and Mexico don't have these sensless events. I think it has to do more with the idiosyncrasy of the country, from their history the way people are educated (not inferring poor home education, but simply different). Putting the blame on all the media whether it be video games or movies is just trying to blindly justify the events in an easy way. This goes more to the roots of the country. Just as an example, historically Colombians are violent, but their expression of violence never translates in shootings in shcools. Another example Chileans show their violent nature in protests where they burn downtown with no other objective than to cause chaos. So if at any point people in the US want to solve these sad occurances, they should look beyond a supposedly "obvious" and easy answer and really dig deep inside to se why these sort of events happen. I hope this is taken in the appropriate context where I mean no harm in my words and I do sympathize for those who were brutally injured and murderd yesterday.
Are the idiots blowing each other up in Iraq playing violent video games?
so basicly...dont let retards play video games, sounds simple..
It isn't fair that we have people like Jack Thompson and now Dr.Phil (Who actually isn't a Doctor!) trying to move in on our games and try to take them away from us. It isn't our fault at all, its Americans! Americans all think its fine to bare arms, when its not! Here in the UK we dont have the right to bear arms and we never ever have mass shootings, or even minor to think about it. Americans should realise that the public should not be allowed to bear arms unless you are part of a shooting club and have a lisence.
P.S. We dont have to take anything off Dr.Phil he got owned by the creator of bum fights!
If you think about it the mind can sometimes be more powerful than the body. I agree that the makers of the games nor the games are responsible. BUT at the same time who here didn't get absolutly obsessed with GTA when it first came out. Why is that? Well we took something such as violent selfish crimes and made it look as real as possible. The realism of the games could damage the way you look at things. For instance I never even thoght of shooting an old lady crossing the street but in GTA I do it every five minutes for the hell of it. And by the way haven't any of you ever been driving and someone cuts you off and you say to your self....I wish I could go GTA on the MO FO!!! We can sit here and defend video games, Movies and the artistic boundries that we all believe we have a right to but some people are trying to help our little kids see the difference. (BTW 5 yr/olds shouldn't play these games.....BUT THEY DO!!!!!) And when they do it may implement the feeling of realism. When tath happens it distorts thier reality and something they would have never seen or done before now they can do it in a game. Then one day some guy says I'm going to do it in the street and just like you guys are saying that they are placing blame on the games and such .... we are also moving the blame somewhere else so they don't take your precious GTA away. That won't happen but still. Dr. Phill has a degree in child psyc... You guys are wanna be devs!
My name is MJ, Im 55 and I have played through all these games and I have only killed 3 people. I dont think these games make a difference.
Sims designer Will Wright (personal interview) argues: "Videogames are perhaps the only medium that allows us to experience guilt over the actions of fictional characters. In a movie, because we do not control what occurs, we can always pull back and condemn the character or the artist when they cross social taboos, but in playing a game, we choose what happens to the characters. In the right circumstances, we can be encouraged to examine our own values by seeing what we are willing to do within virtual space. Wright’s own contribution has been to introduce a rhetoric of mourning into the video game. In The Sims, if a character dies, the surviving characters grieve over their loss. Such images are powerful reminders that death has human costs."
Wonder if you feel guilt in games like manhunt or GTA...
My guess is that not all game developers are informed of the reaches of videogames as an educational tool in todays society...
... what would you do if another country invades yours and they have a huge army? Would you just sit back and die or fight? If you think guns should be banned, why not ban household chemicals? How about banning rocks or sticks. Those can kill too.
Gun control is not the answer. The guy could have made bombs from ordinary household chemicals that would have been way worse than guns.
I knew Jack Thompson well be talking about virginia tech but I did not know dr. phil will be included this.
I'am Larry and 19 years old and going on 20, I own every single GTA game and never bugs that I will go open a moving car and grab somebody and punch them in the face. It never brothers me and it never will.
People like Jack Thompson needs a f-u-c-king life and stop going on church of Sunday to pray god to ban games.
People like him makes me mad and including people that bans the weed.
If weed was legalized, Our death/shoot-outs etc rating will go down. Weed enhances you to relax and not get all stress out and kill everybody just because you don't know where the f-u-c-k your g/f is.
Every seed has its plan for something on this earth and we cant use it. F-u-c-k that!
Then our news media is being raciest to black people? I bet theres going to a riot going on and somebody have to be like Martin Luther king Jr. We got so many black people here then it was 45 years ago and now media wants to be f-u-c-king raciest again.
F-u-c-k the media, all they b-i-t-c-h about is iraq, duke, gas, now this going to be in the picture.
You are absolutely right. I know people that have even made their own guns.
I only said that I don't agree with totalitarianism s.
I AGREE!
I AGREE!!!!!!!!!!
Half of these fanboys that beat off to Halo and Gears of War don't know the difference between real life and video games. Just look at them!!!! They dress up in Halo outfits and really gay stuff like that. It's any minute before one of these TOOLS goes and shoots up something. Stop them now! Make video games for only 25 and up so that they won't be able to play them, but I will! bwaaahaahhaahah ahahhahahaahha! Sorry *****s, I have to get back to work. (since I have a job, a girlfriend, and a hot car). (Unlike gaming nerds which only have video games!!!)
it's just so stupid, it's all because people are allowed to get guns and own guns in america, that's were the problem lies. And from what i can tell from the reactions here, americans themselves just don't see it, or don't want to see it. 'You need a gun to defend yourself'etc. etc. The problem is that if everybody has guns, normal people who would otherwise never have the ability to kill, now can kill. You see were the problem is? you create a possiblity for normal people to become criminals/killers. Of that guy would'nt have had a gun he could've just hit somebody with his fist and nothing more. You are creating such a big problem by allowing everybody to own a gun, it's so wrong...but i guess you only understand that if you're not from america. Sure there will always be criminals and criminal ways to get guns if you want to, but it's just to easy right now. Shooting has become so normal, that it's a logical thing to grab a gun if you want to hurt someone. I'm affraid i can not explain what i mean
America - Don't sell guns in supermarkets, you guys live in a gun culture, its got nothing to do with games or tv or even music.... its the f*****d little d**ks that want their own five minutes of fame.
Think of all the innocent Iraqi kids that get bombed since the start of Gulf II !
Your crazy. Are you saying that you are not normal and have the tendency to kill someone? You need help.
Lol, an easy way to see if games cause people to kill, would be to rub Dr. Phil's head and take a peak into the future.
Oh, of course you blame video games. Of course Doctor freaking Phil wants to jump straight the heart of the matter and blame video games.
I, personally, think it's such a cop out to blame games on violent actions and tragedies like VATech, Columbine, and etc. What's really going on is that people are looking for something, anything to blame in order to make all this make sense. So they blame movies, television, video games, or parents. But the fact of the matter is that they are all too afraid to address the real issue.
The cold, hard truth is that man, by nature, is sadistic and evil. Some people are just wired as crazy, malevolent people, and that sometimes kids can just be so messed up in their heads that they actually have an urge to do these things.
Some kids are just plain dark and evil, and I think that's a truth that a lot of people are too scared to face. So they look for a scapegoat. But the problem is not media, parents, or community. The problem is the hearts and brains of these kids. I guarantee you video games did not force these children to do what they did yesterday. If anyone can see a violent video game and actually have an urge to reenact what they're seeing, then guess what? NEWS FLASH: SOMETHING IS NOT WRONG WITH THE VIDEO GAMES. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE PERSON. Even if these kids did play violent video games, nothing they saw would make them do what they did by itself. What happened yesterday happened because the human race is dark, twisted, and evil. To try to pin it down and blame video games or parents or tevelision or whatever else is to refuse to open your eyes and see what is actually going on, and in my opinion, it minimalizes the tragedy that happened yesterday and is almost insulting to the victims and their families to rationalize it so simply.
That is all. My thoughts and prayers go out to the students of Virginia Tech and their families.
Why is it that everytime there is a major killing spree or attack that idiots like these two w**nkers try and blame it on video games? If these guys got there way imagine what life would be - there would be no more video games, no action films, restrictions on what you can say and do publicly. These guys are fascists who are no better than guys like Hitler or Mussolini!
They would take away peoples democracy, freedom and liberty if they thought for one moment that they could get away with it. Also, guns don't kill people its the people who use them!! If someone is a psycho then it doesn't matter about video games, films etc they would be a risk to society anyway.
I have played video and arcade games since Space Invaders/Pacman in late 70s early 80s and its not turned me into some gun toting, axe wielding Jason,Friday 13th maniac. My fave game of all time is probably Grand Theft Auto and I have played violent games such as Manhunt, Loaded and State of Emergency.
If violent films are supposed to corrupt peoples minds then maybe the state of California better watch Arnie incase he goes on a terminator killing spree.
These 2 morons should get a life and leave video games alone.
VIDEO GAMES DON"T KILL PEOPLE, THE GOVERNMENT DOES!!!! (And so do @$$h0les like j@ck@$$ thompson.)
They immediately pop another reason to ban video games. How about this?
When people are playing video games, just dude rises up and started saying video games causes massive violent intention and should be ban. So people started to play the games with the mindset of does it really make us become violent? So it triggered or "brainwashed" some people into thinking video games make them violent. And so, they start the rampage.
So IN MY CONCLUSION, These two dudes should be banned! Because they are the source for causing people having their mind set!
So Dr. Phil how do you explain Hitler? What violent video game did he play?
Obviously, these people are stereotyping. We only know 3 things about the shooter: he was asian, was a male, and was in his 20's. So what do we conclude: He must be a video game player.
guns don't kill people: drivers with cellphones kill people.
A buddy of mine posted a blog about guns and the shooting which I responded to and thought I'd just repost it here because they're unfairly blamed just as video games are.
" Thought I'd throw in my two cents here...Yeah, it is some f***ed up s**t...but I don't think outlawing guns is the solution. Most licensed gun owners don't commit heinous crimes with them. And if he hadn't had guns he could have simply climbed into a car and mowed down a preschool class crossing a street or something equally crazy. I'm not a hunter and have no desire to shoot an animal let alone a person but I fully believe that everyone should be capable of protecting themselves and the ones they love. Can't even really depend on the police to do that because they're usually brought into the fray after something has already happened. They're little more than societal janitors, they prevent very little that could happen to the common person, although sometimes they get lucky. People who live in gated communites with their own little security force, body guards, or secret service don't have very much to worry about. And of course there are other reasons they should still be legal. Always blame the person that initiated the destruction not the instrument. If it's not one thing it's another. What amazes me is that you have to have a license to carry a gun, to drive a car, but any half-baked f***in retard can have a child. Like you said, maybe a psychological examination should be in order as well as determining whether or not they're financially able to have one let alone four, five, or even six children in some instances. But then again, there's no way to control that either without infringing on personal liberties."
You said in the UK you're not allowed to own guns and another poster made a very good point about what could happen if your country was invaded. What if your armed forces weren't enough? I bet you'd wish you had something to fight back with huh? And our founding fathers here in the US wanted us to have the right to bare arms to defend against threats both foreign AND domestic. Disarming law abiding citizens is not the answer in fact it's going in the wrong direction entirely. It's been said, "that when guns become outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns." Clinton believed limiting our rights was the way to go but then he had power so it didn't matter to him. If the right to bare arms is taken away what's next? People who think the 2nd amendment is necessary aren't going to stop there, suddenly the first isn't so important anymore, or the fourth or the fifth...They need to be cemented in place because once they're taken away nothing is sacred and everything is at risk.
Yeah, I know that was about guns and this is a video game forum but still, similar issues.
1st reply!
yes, pong was the reason. So was the beta version of missile command: the bullets were to shoot out little pinpricks to make sure his base (the clock tower) would not be bombed by the pin pricks in the distance.
read the article, n00bzor. Dr. Phil, and jack@$$ thompson are...
has a video game ever been proved as the reason behind a murderer. sure people blame their actions on them but thats just mostly to reduce their punishment. if you think video games are violent read this: http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/violence_and_videogames
stop acting like an a$$O(Dr. Phil) none of you can prove or disprove anything the other says, so stop acting as if you know *****.(nor you nor "Dr Phil" know *****)
That last part was supposed to say, "people who think the 2nd amendment isn't necessary..."
Reading more of these it amazes me how many people fail to grasp how important an issue this is. "Just take away the guns" is too simplistic and doomed to failure. One poster actually made a good point however on how children are educated. Add to that how parents raise their children and how society treats each other in general and maybe you're starting to get the big picture.
They should re-direct their efforts to stop the most prevelant killers of people. Cars and obesity. More precisly, wreckless driving and driving under the influence. More people die each year in auto accidents than people dying from nutjobs with guns(in the US). Soon, obesity related deaths will out number all other deaths.
Gun deaths get the hype, and hype mongers use these instances to get publicity.
Publicity sells.
how could you be that dum to go around killing people in a game and then going it in real life casue you saw it in a game
how could you be so dum
its called a game moron
damn now you got good violent game that i lke like gta going soft and saying it won't be as much running around and killing people as the other games
man people need some common sense and need to stop acting dum
if you have problems go in a menta home you freaking lunatic
i lyk totally agree
I guess violent massacres NEVER EVER HAPPENED prior to Pong then?
Oh wait, Texas State... Among many MANY others.
Did the Mongol Hordes play GTA?
"Here in the UK we dont have the right to bear arms and we never ever have mass shootings"
Dunblane and Hungerford ring any bells? Your claim is flat out wrong. However, I believe Dunblane was the last mass shooting in England, some 11 years ago. Hungerford was nine or ten years before that. (Can't remember if it was '86 ot '87).
People saying "I play violent games and I've never killed anyone" are just as guilty of baseless claims as the people they condemn. The issue here is far FAR more complex than that simple rationale.
Phil's comments (and I despise Phil BTW) at least do make a small amount of sense. However, Thompson is just a self-righteous self-promoting blow-hard who is cashing in on the suffering of 33 families to further his own twisted agenda.
My point about Hungerford is back then it was the 8-bit era. Another example of mass murder that can't be blamed on games. Unless the guy got so pissed off with Monty Mole that he went nuts...
It wasn't funny.
LAWL! Crystal ball? XD
The video companiez are teh evilz11!!11!! it's not teh parentz fault, its j00r fault lol11!1!1!1!1
My statement here will be simple:
The shooter, as I understand it, was a senior student at Virginia Tech.
Don't you think that he's a little old to have his psychosis blamed on video games?
"We%u2019re going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murderers of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose."
He sure seems to be making an all-inclusive statement about today's children. I think I'll go out and rip someone's head and spine out with my bare hands, just to help prove his point. After all, I played gory, violent video games when I was a child. I just be one of the mass-murderers of today.
Because it sure seems like they are by the very words coming out of their mouths.
these two *****s want to kill gaming if they speak of kids killing because of video games than i speak of politicians and celeberties seeking attention by speaking of killing off a billion dollar industry
Violence is as much a part of human history as anything else. Since the dawn of time, humans have been violent, brutal, and inhuman in their conquests. I sincerely doubt that Napoleon or Alexander the Great ever played Civilization, or GTA, yet they lead imperialistic wars. Did Atilla the Hun play hours of Manhunt? Did Count Vlad Dracul get the idea to impale his prisoners from Postal? How about some of the most famous Serial Killers of the 20th Century? Did John Wayne Gacey have a ps2?
Violent behavior is not taught from video games. Its instinct. Human behavior. People always talk about the nut-jobs that go on on killing sprees, but no one ever sees the opposite side of the equation. How many people with violent tendancies use videogames as a release of their pent up agression? With an absence of a safe release such as shooting up a bunch of pixels and polygons, how many MORE school shootings would we have?
Anyone who's crazy enough to go on a killing spree doesn't need video games to do it. Might video games suggest scenarios, details, or weapons to use? Sure, but aren't there just as many graphic movies, TV shows, and even books out there with just as much violence? You betcha! If a kid tries to blow up his school, why do autorities stop investigation when they hear the kid plays video games? The answer is simple. America is a country that needs instant results. From 1 hour photo processing to meals ready in seconds, car side delivery of take out, and speed pass payment, everything needs to be fixed, accounted for, or ready A.S.A.P.
God knows that finding the real root of the violence problem, and instituting solid, reasonable, and effective countermeasures would just take too much time and effort. Why spend time effort and money on educating kids about firearm safety, and screening children for possible violence problems... when you could just sue Rockstar and make it so that no one wants to publish a violent videogame?
God Bless the USA
The most violent videogame my mother's ever played is Tetris. Yet when my Dad's a douche about something, she makes comments like "Im gonna kill him!" Yeah we all wish we could go GTA on someone who cuts us off, but instead of doing it and blaming videogames, we're ADULTS, and we don't. Or we do and blame it on poor road conditions
And FYI Dr Phil's degree in psychology is from a community college in Texas. Community college: as in... not a real college. 95% of what "wisdom" he doles out on his show is common freakin sense. My grandmother coulda done what he does.
Ok, it's obvious that none of you are affected by playing violent videogames but think that 0.001% are (which I think the percentage of mentally disturbed people is higher). Well there are more than 100 million gamers worldwide so even though it's rare this thing happens and this concludes that over 1000 gamers are mentally disturbed and could cause such acts. I for one prefer that games like GTA that the purpose is solely based on killing NPC's (as characters portraying human beings) are stopped being produced and discontent some millions of gamers a bit than losing around a thousand lives to videogames worlwide per year as one's videogame needs do not compare to other people's life and the only way to stop this is to boycott this games. Now I don't mean to stop buying violent games but not buy games that you know that they can affect mentally disturbed people (like explained in before in this paragraph), games who's sole purpose are to cause these violence (like violent games like Battlefield, Half Life, Doom, Halo, Gears of War, ect. are ok since the killing of charcaters portraying human beings is not relevant to the purpose and goal of the game). Also of you have some major discontent with these people you probably are way to tied to your videogames and should go out and be with your friends which I assure you is better; some people here speak like they live to play videogames and play more than 30 min a day :S
I have been playing violent games since I was around 7 my first Mature games I played are Wolfenstein and DOOM and I haven't done anything horrible, I also play GTA and have not done anything violent. They need to quit with this blame on the gaming industry when you should blame society for causes.
For those who say the identity of the killer wasn't revealed you seriously need to look at the newspaper or msn.com. And to those who ask why is he called Doctor Phil if he's not doctor, it means he has a doctorate.
Video games actually help prevent depression and lonliness. It puts you in a different world without rules. And video games have little or no side effects. The fault of this case is the school's fault. They didn't respond quickly enough to get the shooter. And also, the shooter already had problems. He was quiet, a loner, and in one of his english classes he was reffered to the school psycologist because of his writing. (I know all of this because we are doing a debate about school voilence at school. lol)
Video games are one small section in the greater whole that we know as THE MEDIA.
The media is the primary trigger for underlying violent tendencies within people who have mental illnesses and unnatural violent urges. THE MEDIA causes these problems.
Take for example, the USA vs. Canada. The media (the NEWS CHANNELS in question) in the US makes money off of selling the idea of massive homicide problems in the US. Ultimately, this encodes this problem into our youth, and hasn't helped prevent this catastrophe. Canadians, however, actually presents facts regarding their news, based on what is relevant. Often, they don't have news regarding deaths. They may report on a kitten stuck in a tree somewhere, saved by firefighters.
In short, you can't blame video games alone for instilling violent tendencies in children, adults, or even those with mental problems. Making video games a scapegoat is what hypocrites like Jack Thompson try to do. Trying to pin a massive problem on a single entity is ridiculous - nothing has that much power over our actions, besides society in general. Media isn't even wholly is held responsible for these problems in society - SOCIETY is. Fix problems within society before blaming a subject of entertainment.
There is some proof that video games can "Increasce Aggression" Here is the page on the study:
http://www.apa.org/releases/videogames.html
Ben
Jack Thompson isn't the only one to be worried about, this is an ongoing issue. It needs to stop. You cannot place blame on isolated incidents. Things happen, America is free, we have a right to bear arms, a right to go where we want, say what we want, a right to make art in forms of music, writing, movies, video games, and painting/drawing. Some people believe restricting some of these rights will solve the problem, case in point, there is no problem, we are a free people, and with a free society, violence in media or not, things are going to happen. ANYONE can walk into a place and shoot many people, but it doesn't happen much at all or as much as the media makes it seem. There really has to be something wrong with a person to bring someone to that point. There was something wrong before they watched a violent movie, played a violent video game, read a violent book, or looked at violent imagery. If you took these things away I can guarantee these things would still happen. Nevertheless the media, government, and so-called experts want to take away our rights, our freedom. Sure.... banning the sale of video games seems so small, but the effects could be huge. What's next? What do they do after they ban video games or movies and these things continue? What's the next step? Where does it end? The effects could prove an even more bleak picture for the future than anything. Imagine a world were everything was very strictly controlled and monitored, including you, for fear that "something might happen." You can't see this, hear this, play this or read this. You may think it's far fetched, but I still say if we start banning forms of our freedom of speech, where does it end? Seriously, take the time and think about it. I urge everyone to put a stop to this before it starts, take a stand and make your voice heard. Write to the media, the government, or that so-called expert. Tell them our RIGHTS are NOT part of the problem. There isn't a widespread problem. Things happen, people have problems and some things we cannot predict nor prevent. STOP telling us what's good and bad for us, we are the people and we can make those judgements for ourself, that's what freedom is all about, stop trying to take it from us.
First, the Virginia Tech's massacre is unfortunate.
Game do not program people to go on a shooting spree. Maybe if they were design by the Nazi or something evil.
There are many odd people out there and some may be be drawn to shooting game. But the point is they are mentally disturbed already. Blame the parents, the bully, and society/ environment, not a leisure past-time.
I would, first and foremost, like to say that America is a diverse country. Saying that all Americans are anything besides Americans is just plain ignorant.
Anywho, tons of people in all different countries own guns, or some type of weapon (Heck, you probably do too). The thing is, it's not the gun's that are to blame.
For that matter, nothing is to blame. These individuals are mentally unstable. They are to blame. You cannot convince me that Hitler started off as a sweet little boy, heard a song, and then snapped.
Its irresponsible, and furthermore rediculous to even suggest that the murderers are the victims. That they're just puppets, being controlled by a video game. Its disgusting.
Peace
~Mikey
Someone should kill both Dr. Phil and Jack Thomas. I mean, one could could avoid jail time by just pleading insanity and blaming video games. I swear to Bob, if I ever killed someone, I could so get off with blaming video games and pleading insanity.
Ok, seriously: Why do they keep doing this to us? Why keep stereotyping gamers? I mean, what is the whole point? Is it the only thing that they can find in there logic? Are they just attention whores?
These men are intelligent and could use their powers of manipulation to logically better aspects of life. What about our damn friends and familly that were forced to leave us and commit acts of terrorism? How about a little bit of empathy?
Why not use your power, manipulation, and "attention whoreness" to prevent deaths that are accumulating with each passing day?
Jack Thomas was enough. People were finally realizing how much of a joke this guy was. He quoted from the damn Bible when he ran out of tricks. Now there's Dr. Philly-grape-head-a$$-son that is now continuing this corupt legacy.
Bah...I'm shutting my feckin' hole...
Dr. Phil, unfortunately, is using anecdotal evidence in support of a supposition. Karloman (as well as other posters), the first poster, also makes this mistake by using himself as the basis for his statement. The two mirror each other:
Person a [did/did not] do action b therefore connection c [is/is not] true.
By that logic I could argue that because one person never got lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking, there are no risks involved with that activity.
Based on a purely numerical look at the situation, one could argue that playing videogames does not increase permanent violent tendencies in the majority (99+%) of players when coupled with statistics that show a decrease in overall violence among youth.
Lon makes an interesting observation, but the US is far from the only country with this problem:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1953425.stm
*doncerdo makes an interesting observation
sorry about that
I noticed a posting about gun control
although this is from the NRA website, it does go to show that gun control is not the solution
"Germany -- Described in the Library of Congress report as "among the most stringent in Europe," Germany`s laws are almost as restrictive as those which HCI wants imposed in the U.S. Licenses are required to buy or own a firearm, and to get a license a German must prove his or her "need" and pass a government test. Different licenses are required for hunters, recreational shooters, and collectors. As is the case in Washington, D.C., it is illegal to have a gun ready for defensive use in your own home. Before being allowed to have a firearm for protection, a German must again prove "need." Yet the annual number of firearm-related murders in Germany rose 76% between 1992-1995. (Library of Congress, p. 69.) It should be noted, HCI goes further than the Germans, believing "there is no constitutional right to self-defense" (HCI Chair Sarah Brady, quoted in Tom Jackson, "Keeping the Battle Alive," Tampa Tribune, 10/21/93) and "the only reason for guns in civilian hands is sporting purposes" (HCI`s Center to Prevent Handgun Violence Director, Dennis Henigan, quoted in USA Today, 11/20/91)."
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID+78
I do not understand why people want to place blame in an item, such as a gun or a video game, when some crazy lunatic commits such horrible acts. Many of you people say that it is not the videogames, but readily want to put the blame on soething else....Guns. Blaming this tragedy in guns is as much of an escape goat as is blaming it on video games. Some of you will say, "If he did not have access to those guns, he would not have been able to kill so many." I disagree. I'm first going to explain my view in gun control, and then I will discuss what psychopaths are capable of doing with or without guns. I believe that gun control laws only empower criminals and take away the right for good, law obiding citizens to defend themselves and use the guns for sport. Alot of people think that gun control regulations will magically make all the guns disappear, and that is not the case. All it does is take guns away from good peolpe, and place them in the hands of criminals who will buy them in the black market regardless of any gun control act. I am a native of Colombia, South America. In Colombia, there is one gun control law. Simply put, you are not allowed to own, posses, transport, or discharge any type of fire arm. In other words.......NO guns allowed, period. Yet, Colombia is among the most dangerous countries in the world. Why? Because peolpe who are willing to kill do not give a rat's behind about any gun control law. They just buy it off the street, wtih the serial numbers damaged, which in turn makes it even harder for authorities to control crime and track down possible criminals based on ballistic evidence. We only have to place blame on one thing, or in this case, person: the shooter. When a person is intent on killing, the tools he/she uses is only a means to an end. Timothy McVeigh, perpetrator of the Oklahoma city bombing, did not use a gun nor fired one single shot. He used a home-made bomb as the tool to cause all that death. The bombs were made out of chemicals found on manure/plant fertilizers, so should we have a manure/plant fertilizer restriction law as well? Look guys/gals, lets stop trying to blame "something", and lets put the blame where it belongs: on "someone," more specificaly, the shooters, bombers, stabbers, poisoners, axers, automobile run overers (is that even a word lol). My point is that if someone is intent on killing, they are going to use one thing or another to do it. Lets not blame what the murderer uses, lets blame the murderer. He could have just as easily waited for rush hour around campus, gotten a car, and run over as many people as possible. And then what, ban cars? I trully believe in my heart that if some of those students/professors had a gun with them (in the event that it was legal to carry one, of course. I know that currently, "GUN CONTROL" laws do not allow for Virginia residents to carry), the casualties may have been much fewer.
I'm bipolar, I've had depression for a couple years and it's not going to go away.but you think that just because I have a mental illness I blame any sort of radical thoughts I have on some grand theft auto game? No, I had these thoughts regardless, GTA and other games like it do not cause this stuff it's people not understanding when someone needs help. So not even the mentally ill have an excuse with videogames, it's ju
There are more than just American in the world who play video games and I didn't see them fighting... or does Dr. Phil knows it? He is properly too busy making money and forget about the 'real world'.
As far as I care, Dr. Phil might as well gives his 'advise' to Martian on how they should live their life or blames CIA for the GameBoy they sent to Bin Ladin.
I am a 32 year old businessman. I am currently into the fuel business and have more of less 50+ gasoline stations in the Philippines.
I have been playing video games since I was 12. I have had my share of those cutesy why-the-hell-did-I-bother-playing-that-game games and those DA*N, THIS GAME IS F*C**D UP games. These games have been a release - an outlet for me. With all the stress I have to cope up, I wonder what I would be without VGs.
Japanese children are the biggest consumers of violent media in the world.
They Play violent video games and read Manga comics (ultra violent) in huge numbers. Yet the rate of criminal activity amongst Japanese children is extremely low compared to the USA and UK.
Surely if exposure to violent media was significant, then Japan would have a problem! No one can say that were not talking about a big enough sample group here.
I'm going to give you my own wild, Off the wall theory as to why so many people get shot in the USA. It might..just might have something to do with the fact that there are 300 million guns there!
It's an absolute F*****G NO BRAINER!
Carry on America, do your studies, you may find that most high school shootings are carried out by people that eat too much sugar!
I'm sure you'll think of something that doesn't threaten your right to bear arms!
These tragedies are so much more common to America than almost every other western country, and what do you expect when you can walk in to a shop and with the money buy a gun and ammunition without even your name!
what is worse is the answer from many of the dead and wounded families is that this is reason to relax gun laws?!?
yet more insane logic.
America is the worlds most powerful and influential country in the world and that scares the ***** out of me when logic like that comes from the victims of gun crimes.
What toss pots these two guys are, if people didn’t have access to guns as easily as they do in USA, shootings like this would never happen.
I don’t care about the whole... the constitution gives me the rite... blah blah all that crap. Personally I believe that no one should have access to hand guns and semiautomatic weapons as they do in the US.
But anyway... these two tossers find it easier and less dangerous to hassle the gaming community, then the gun nut public. After all if you get hit in the head with a CD its not gona kill you.
Perhaps they should fight the root of the problem, GUNS... not games, personally I accept that games do make kids & young adults do & think stupid things... and im sure you can link violent video games with these types of events, but it they didn’t have such easy access to weapons, then it would never be an issue.
Gaming since 1990.
in my life i have played games since i was about 5 and am now 27 22 years and i have never in my life thought about hurting another human being.
i just wish there was a way of stopping people thinking that if anything bad happens in the world then it is the blame of either video games or music don't you think that in this case the shooter just had problems which he could not talk about because he didn't know how to i just feel that he probably never played games and the media and police and whoever else are saying it just want to find an easier way for a motive
Is Jack Thompson retarded or what? Does he really think that playing GTA is going to make you more skilled in the use of real firearms?
Presumably, he thinks that our elite anti terrorist police sit around playing Rainbow Six all day to hone their skills too!
I don't play shoot em ups and I've never used hand gun, but I'm betting that I could point a gun at unsuspecting, unarmed people and shoot them without the need for video games to show me how it's done.
I reckon the only things that would need to be practiced are how to handle the recoil and how to reload the gun. Neither of these skills can be learned from a video game. You don't simply press x to reload a Real gun!
Way back in the day they used to blame everything on Rock N Roll music, then TV, then gangster rap and now it's video games.
It's because they know that guns (the easy availability of which are the real problem) are here to stay and that this problem is now so big that it's impossible to sort out.
Just like both of them to capitalize on a tragedy. Both just show how worthless lawyers and psychologists are (not Psychiatrists, they are REAL Medical Doctors).
Now, we have some information that the shooter was committed for a short time.
As much as I enjoyed reading your comment I find it completly wrong.
The plain fact is that if you have a country that has the right to bear arms, you are going to have a lot more shootings than a country that doesn't gives its citizens the right to bear arms such as where I live (The UK). A small minority of people in the UK (around 2%) do have guns, but this is because they have been licensed and inpected to do so.
PS. Hitler was a sweet boy, who was an artist, and the only reason he had hatred over the jews is because is got his application into art college denied and while living on the streets at the lowest time of his life, became to hate the jews more and more as he thought they were snubbing him with their money.
These guys have been watching the same stuff as most of the US on TV. They enjoy it just as well, and it is good that Dr. Phil even brings up the fact that its on tv. Here is the problem, people that lacks some type of emotion feeds off of the TV or Video game reality in order to feel accepted. That same "lack of" what ever is what causes people to join cults, chruches, gangs and "you name it". Everyone want to feel important or accepted or just need attension and they go about it in their own manner. Take a closer look at society and not what is on TV, because the two old guyes above that blame games and TV are not killers and I am sure that they watch action killer movie just like you and I. I guess mass punishment (no killer video games or movies) would solve all the problems of the world...
i've also played all the gtas from gta 2, i'm 13 and the only thing i think about right now is year 9 sats, not turning the nearest street into a chainsaw massacre...
the only way we can prove this statement is to do tests on a real human, put him/her under constant violent videogaming and see personality changes, but it's immoral to use a human guinea-pig for a science experiment.
we all need to start rebelling against these open mouthed bigshots like Dr Phil and Jack Thompson! they need to get over themselves quicksmart we need to fight them back and perhaps even sue them good! why isnt bill gates suing them for damaging the technology industry LOL he damn well should be, cause he has the money and the power to ruin both of them and make and example! the point is people like Dr Phil and Jack Thompson are losers they have no life and instead are ruining other peoples lives the problem does not start with the video games its starts with the person... the fact that jack Thompson gets fired up about this is ridiculous, he has no reason to go up against it and basically he is doing it because he would've been sick of being a *****ty small time american lawyer and decided to do something controversial, somebody needs to make a legit and fair site that unifies people who are against Jack Thompson and his group of people that waste the worlds resources on worthless vendettas, i dont care who oposes the video game industry cause America is pretty stuffed up no offense guys but your leader Bush is a warmonger , its not a bad reason to go to war but cmon he aint genuinely trying to stop terrorism he too like Jack Thompson is pursuing a vendetta against somebody!!! these C.u.n.ts rule our world, lets ruin them!
go ahead and sue me jack Thompson or DR Phil im too far way for you to even touch me wanker!!!
rise up video gamers stand for your rights! if seedy bastards are aloud their f.u.c.k.e.d up drugs and ***** porn we can have our games!
I just wish that people would recognize the fact that once you hit 21 you can basically just run out and pick up a gun. I feel like there should be some type of psychological test before a weapon with the possibility to devastate an entire nation like this is just handed out. I'm also a college student and at this point I just feel terribly upset by this whole fiasco. I had formed the idea that this type of thing didn't happen in a college setting. Video games can account for certain things, but this is not one of those incidents. It also saddens me that Jack Thompson could even try to say something like this. In the wake of a tragedy all he can do is push his ideals on everyone. He's capitalizing on a situation and playing on emotions we're all already experiencing. Jack Thompson makes me worry about our future.
is Robert Paulson..
yes i train on doom daily :) , lmao i cant ppl adults and dr.phil and every one that blames videogames, no gta is going to make any normal and make them a mass killer, come on are you kidding me. its just to hard to say the killers a freaks with issues who cares if they played gta i did to, no frags in real life for me so grow up and just blame the person, not video games, ...
I've just finished playing GTA Vice City, what a game! I'm going out now to imitate what happened in the game and get the whole hardcore experience! Later dudes! I would have never have thought that guns kill people if I hadn't played that game!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^
Violence being blamed on video games? That's dumb. Why don't we just blame the war Iraq on video games, since we're blaming everything else on them.
I totally disagree.
It makes me sick to my stomach that people get away with blaming these things on video games. My friend and I have been toying with idea of mf making a group where gamers can fight back and actually be taken seriously, and get their vioces on the news, instead of just viocing our opinions on message boards that mostly gamers read. and we could rally outside of jack's events and what not.
(then follow him to his hotel and kil him).
also I think this about video games i and is really starting to get on my nerves. look in the middle east I haven't seen anythingto do with video games being sold there at all. and they're killing eachother (countries) left and right. and how many copies of GTA were sold? millions. now how many people have claimed video games made them kill? barely any. It's a shame that a few a$$holes can't man up to what they did so they blame it on video games and ruine it for the rest of us.
Charlie Manson didn't have video games. He still did what he did.
only a stupid f*&king american could say that 'only if the students had guns to shoot back with' your idiots if thats your thinking, it also appears alot of people are blurring the lines between this mans obvious mental issues, and normal everyday crime. this man didnt hold up a 7/11 and then shoot up the school, he did not do this for profit or personal gain, he had a PROBLEM and needed help.
2nd reply and 1st reply to that 1st reply and my reply!
I've been playing video games for years now...and from my opinion its not fair to blame video games for events happening...video games are just games...you control yourself and you'll be the one to know if you'll be affected or not...the bottomline videogames are not to be blame....we are just gamers enjoying our time playing games.....
be FAIR!!!!
Ma cosa cazzo dici a cojoneeee
L'imortacci tua i giochi nn c'entrano un cazzo sei un frocio di merda sta troia pompinara.
Porco dio di do fuoco alla casa xkè io sn Marcus di gears of war sn pro imba se te sei un frustato di merda che è un niubbone fallito di merda nn devi mica offenne sempre i vidiogame ed i videogiocatori l'imortacci tua
How about banning the guns that actually Kill the people, and not the games. Jack Thompson is such a retard, trust an American.
You think that banning guns means that psychos won't be able to get guns? How stupid are you!! Criminals will always have guns, so should the rest of us. If you prevent the average citizen from owning a weapon for self defense, they may become a victim. Not being able to go into a store and buy a gun hasn't saved any lives.
The arguement that games make people do things like this is absurd. Fact is, the 1 in 500,000,000 people who end up committing an act like this were going to at some point in their lives no matter what. Nothing to be done about it. Unless the courts had caught this one in time and sent him away for being a nutcase, which probably should have happened...
Games don't make people violent. Games let violent people let out aggression until they commit their violent acts.
Jack Thompson is a moron... That will probably have to be my new ID.
Dear PS3Rider,
Hmm, thank you for that info on Hitler, I didn't know that. +D
All I'm saying, however is that giving people the ability to own a weapon doesn't automatically lead to death and murders.
People can kill other people with knives, bombs, bats, etc. And besides, people can still get guns over the black market even if its not legal.
~Mikey
drugs are illegal and there is still drugs EVERYWHERE
and it's east to get a gun