Do video games cause/encourage violence?

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I believe they don't, but what about the other people here?

I believe that if you're going to blame video games(especially those that kids should not be playing in the first place), then a lot of other types of media that children have a far easier time accessing should be blamed as well, if not more; movies, shows, and books can o into far more detail in a lot of ways.

But no, I don't believe that any of these have the power over a human being at all, let alone cause violence. People are influenced by absolutely every single little thing around them, but in the end it is the person that decides to act on their thoughts. Those who would blame their actions on a video game already had something wrong with them beforehand.

A convenient scapegoat, nothing more.

Pfft, the media trying to make a quick buck and an excuse for bad parents. I've been playing video games since I was 4 years old and I never shy away from a fight in a video game but I'm squeamish in real life. In Mortal Kombat, I performed a fatality on each character yet I can't watch people beat each other up in real life,

If the question is stated in such a general way, I don't think there can be an answer.

Personally (and this is based on no evidence) I suspect that video games can lead to violence in a certain very specific situation.

Basically, you need to start with a disturbed person to begin with. Let's call this disturbed person Johnny. For whatever reason, Johnny decides to go further down the rabbit hole of antisocial thoughts and behaviour. On this journey, Johnny plays a video game which allows violent actions, while pretending that the video game victims are real people that he dislikes. This process accelerates Johnny's journey into becoming a potential threat to society.

But it's important to note that to do this, Johnny has to intentionally ignore the video game's narrative and replace it with his own.

Yes. if I see a tv I smash it, if I see a turtle I smash it. I see a gold block I smash my head on it.

Video games do not make people violent period.

Games can be a catalyst, but they are never a direct cause.

Of course not. There's no point in singling out videogames as a medium, since it's not like games are the only way one might be exposed to fictional violence, among other things. Besides, parents who let their kids play a game meant for an older audience forfeit the right to complain that it's not age appropriate, since there's a rating right on the box.

Anyways, it's not like media as a whole points a gun to people's heads and forces them to kill someone. The issue is mental health. An individual in his or her right mind would not open fire on a classroom full of kids. In cases like that though, it's clear that the killer's actions weren't guided by logic or reason. Any individual with a sound mind wouldn't play a violent game like CoD, then think to themselves that it would be a good idea to shoot someone in real life. Unfortunately, it takes someone of an unsound mind to pull off a tragedy like what happened not too long ago. Videogames aren't to blame, and neither is the NRA, or any other scapegoat. If the US government thinks otherwise, the issue will continue to go I solved.

http://videogames.procon.org/
The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled. (FBI study)

I say no to video games causing violence, I have played Video Games since I was a kid since the SNES, Sega Genesis, PC, etc. When I was a kid I played games like mortal combat and street fighter for the SNES and my first game for PC was Duke Nukem 3D Demo because that was all I could get easly. I have played GTA on Playstation and PC. I have even played alittle Postal 2 and I didn't fell like going out and shooting people.

This video game debate has been going around along time since Computers like the Apple II and PCs started being able to run Video Games. It is like the debate with guns. If it was up to alot of people in the goverment like Hilary Clinton all video games with violance would be banned because she made a big stink when games like GTA come out.

I think it depends on the child and the situation. I also played a lot on the computer as a child (Warcraft I + II, Baldurs Gate, Doom ^^) but my mother told me, that she was not really worrying about me, because when she came in and started to talk about me about the game I seemed to be very happy and the games seemed to relax me.

If you start to ask your child about, what he/she is playing, and what it feels because of it and its telling you frustrated about that "damned noob lamer" that ruins everything and so on, and so on... and everyone sucks..... in a way that you can feel frustration, anger and so on behind the words, i would worry.

So a game should be for fun and playing it should bring fun. But if its played to wioe out anger and frustration it would worry me. Because if someone plays to lower his anger and frustration, then it means that something is worrying him. And if something is deeply worrying you, gaming wont help you to solve your problem. So gaming should be for fun, not for hiding before problems.

If a 12 year old is able to recognize, that Shooters is nothing else then playing a ball game, where the player who gets hit has to leave the playfield for some minutes or so, I see no problem. If not, he should not play it.

Anyway, i think 12 year old should not play alone around 2:00 in the morning, what happened to me more than once. Today many games are also with a voice chat, and I dont think i wanted my 12 year child to be in a random voice chat. Not because of pedophiles, you are normally in bigger teams with at least 4 persons, i would be more afraid of the typical "He, i just got my first hair in my balls, so I have to proof that I am a man now, and as a man I have to use as many rude words as possible." teenager.

But from my Opinion you cannot say "Game xyz makes you violent" and "Game bnj not." The boy of the neighbors and I were lying on the floor laughing when we found out the cheats for the "Fatality" Kills for Mortal Combat. Some were really ridiculous. ^^ But we just laughed over it, as if it was Tom and Jerry. It would be something else for me, if someone would do this to a playpartner and then would be cheering, "...that this Lamer now got what he deserved" or so...

So shortly. I think the emotions someone has when playing are the most important part to decide if a game fits for your child or not. Sadly many parents do not care for the games their children plays. At christmas, when I was searching for a present for my partner in the videogame department of our electronic shop, there was a grandfather who simply asked other people that was interested in the same game he wanted to buy for his grandchild, if they could explain the game for him, so what you do in the game, and so on. I found that really responsible.

As many have said, I think it's correlation, not causation (people with a tendency towards violence probably also like consuming violent media).

At the same time, there was interesting Cracked article. I think he has something of a point. I certainly wouldn't want my kids playing/watching games/movies/TV/etc. wherein they are committing/witnessing realistic violence. Key word, there, because I wonder how much of an effect media depicting cartoon violence has on developing minds.

All in all, we can't say anything for sure as of now, and I don't think there's a significant enough number of mass shootings and the like to warrant widespread panic. Concern, sympathy, mourning, yes, but not the knee-jerk type of reactions you tend to find when people come out with anti-video game statements.

I think it is utterly asinine to assume that video games cause violent behavior (especially when much of the people against violence in video games neglect to mention violent television programs, motion pictures, music, comic books, toys, etc.). Violence is borne within the individual - no matter how much violent media one is exposed to, it will not "turn them into a killer" or cause them to behave violently towards others. There are underlying mental issues that elicit such behavior.

With the sheer amount of violent industrial music I listen to, I should have a pretty decent stack of corpses by now...

Video games do not cause violence. Would someone blame a pencil if one used it as a lethal weapon? Maybe the gov't should ban baseball bats because they can be used to kill a human!

Playing video games is not going to make you violent. However, I do strongly believe that, for people who are already predisposed to violence or have an inherently violent nature, that video games do lessen their inhibitions towards carrying out violent acts. If you play violent video games for a few hours a day, your mind will become accustomed to those violent images, and develop a greater capacity for depictions and themes of violence. And I believe that this causes those who are already predisposed to violence to have less inhibitions about actually committing it.

That said, I am an avid gamer and yes, I have played my fair share of games of all genres, yet I wouldn't harm a fly. But that is because I am not a violent person, with or without any sort of external input, that part of me is not going to change. But there are many more people who are far more impressionable than I am, and it's them that you have to watch out for with these games.