Do video games cause/encourage violence?

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The first and last ones got 0% answers. What a surprise. Anyway, I personally don't have a problem with people old enough to play certain games, but I don't think kids shouldn't be allowed to play games that are rated Mature, just like they shouldn't watch R-rated movies or adult TV shows. I don't want them losing their innocence and becoming teenagers before they really are. I couldn't understand what other kids saw in such things, even when I was a child myself. Also, kids that appear online for violent games are always very obnoxious with their shrill whiny voices. I don't play such games but I've seen videos on YT and I just want to say to the kid, "You're too young to be playing this, go play something with Super Mario or Sesame Street in it or something!"

Of course, I do know males genetically have urges to hunt and kill and blow things up, so I can see why violent and sexual games are so popular with them.

Yes, they do, but let me explain, I know I'm a minority here.
They don't cause violence or are the source of violence. Like, a pacific person is not going to be aggressive all of a sudden because of video games. But they do influenciate because everything in our environment and culture influenciate our behaviour. It's not making it a scapegoat or moving the blame from the individual, but recognizing that we are constantly being influenciated by medias, social pressure, etc and it help us define our behaviour. For instance, there are violent societies and much more peaceful societies, even before the State. Why is it so? Different human beings? No, culture. (there are other reasons of course but that's a very important cause)

I think violent games can be a catalyst to make a weak person violent, by giving them direct visual stimulation. But this is the kind of person who would rob a gas station or a convenience store if you gave them a gun and told them to do it.

I picked the 3rd poll option, because I think its a mix of the two. The old saying of "whatever you put in will eventually come out" applies to the mind and emotions too, not just the body.

Everyone processes input in different ways, but some things are supposed to bother us; its how we know we're not crazy or sick. For example, I'm pretty sure most think ripping a guy's head off is pretty extreme, but I strongly doubt playing "Mortal Kombat" automatically turns people into murderers. It has to do with how that individual absorbs certain information, and how much of it they take in at once. Anything can become very dangerous when done in excess, but some things aren't supposed to be done at all (like child sacrifice or rape). Some folks play violent games as a method of releasing stress; I used to do that with the early "Resident Evil" entries, but it eventually became too much for me.

Darkness in any emotional, mental, or spiritual form is not something to be reckless with, and mental issues like AS can make things even more complicated. We can't escape violence completely, but constantly dwelling on it will only lead to disaster.

Video games cause violence in the same way that Sesame Street causes racism.

The games don't make people violent.

However, they do (as does all other media) DESENSITIZE people to violence. The more you are exposed to it, the more you come to accept it as "normal."

I don't think kids under a given age should be playing a game that depicts violence...of course, this should be the role of the parent to monitor what their kid is exposed to and show some good parenting skills.

We already limit who can buy a video game by age...hasn't stopped kids from being able to get them and play them.

I may blurt out some violent things uncontrollably when I get frustrated with a game but overall they help me deal with those thoughts. Nothing calms my desire to kill more than a virtual killing spree in Saints Row or GTA, or some zombie slaying in Lollipop Chainsaw or Left 4 Dead.

I would say some unclean thoughts I have come from anytime you just miss out on a killstreak in Call of Duty because you got killed. Or when the computer makes a miraculous play in Madden and the AI just stands there.

In my opinion no one should play an M-rated game, especially the gory ones.

There are a lot of variables at play; mental state/capacity, innate nature, home environment, school environment, etc. A child who has not been properly taught right from wrong, and that "cartoon violence" (even as realistic as the games are) is just that - play/pretend violence - and that performing the same actions on people can cause their deaths and there is no "reset button", that child will be more susceptible to violent behavior. They key words are "more susceptible", here, because even a child who has been raised right, knows right from wrong and may have all the "tools" to keep them from being violent, they may still become violent just because that's who they are.

I could go on for a long time, but I think the general gist is that a lot could be done to prevent violent behavior from a person, but there are no guarantees that removing/censoring certain potential stimuli would change the outcome of a person. It all depends on the individual.

if they did, please tell me which violent video games were played in the dark ages, where violence was rampant and much much more common then nowadays.

i don't think there is any way that a game (or movie or even a book for that matter) causes agression or violent behaviour. sure, they might give some new ideas to let those tendencies out, but only for people that were inclined to do so anyway.
for others, it is a normal pasttime or even a safe outlet. i myself sometimes boot up skyrim and murder everyone in whiterun when i'm angry, but i would never hurt any real person unless i'm in a true meltdown with no escape (self-defence)

I doubt violent video games cause violence, though violent video games, like first-person shooters and Grand Theft Auto, seem to be the most popular and best selling games in the US. There could be a correlation between our society's obsession with violent entertainment and actual violence, but correlation doesn't equal causation. It could be a spurious correlation, in which the same factors cause both our society's obsession with violent entertainment and actual violence, but neither one causes the other and they aren't mutually exclusive.

I blame all of the unrest in this country for causing both of these things. A lot of people here aren't laid back enough and tend to find conflict in relatively insignificant situations. The media and a lot of popular entertainment reinforce this unrest, and provide people with a greater sense of conflict and uncomplacency. This society also often makes it necessary for law-abiding citizens to fight the system just to live their lives; nothing can be easy. All of these things create stress that ends up driving some people to the point of becoming violent.

It isn't a coincidence that lunatics with a predisposition to violence are attracted to violent video games, and I presume that these same people would also be attracted to violent books / movies / music / paintings / sports / doctrines depending on their environment and demographic.

Can violent media cause otherwise sane and balanced people to commit violent acts? I don't think so.