I recently stumbled up on an article headlined "Parents fear GTA more than sex and alchohol" and I was thinking "What?" The surveyors asked over 1,600 respondents what they’d fear the most if their 17-year-old were to participate in a sleepover.

The results, picked from single answers only - no multiple choice here - indicated that while 16% were concerned about pornography and 14% about beer, 19% voiced concerns that their child might end up playing Grand Theft Auto.

Thats right, your parents are more likely to fear you playing a video game with sex than actually having it. That makes perfect sense. Well, before I run my mouth off here and skew your opinion (more so) this brings us to our question of the week.

Do you believe video games actually inspire violence and explicit activities in real life. Or are video games an alternative outlet that people can use to vent or explore instead of poppin a cap? Vote above and leave a text reply on what you think.

But please, keep it tastefull folks. :ohyou:





Link to the article: http://tinyurl.com/6fbtds

Yeah I read about it on Kotaku. I think video games have no effect on children unless they are complete idiots. If everyone in the world imitated video games then we would have kids running around with swords hacking off bodies.

I mean video games are just as influential to a kid as a show like spongebob. They are just for playing and have no other need other than that. If your stupid enough to think video games are the cause of cancer or other things then just go declare yourself retarded.

Actually it is proven that video games REDUCE violence in a child's life because he unleashes his anger in the game. No, it does not harm children in any way.

It depends how fragile and stupid the person is, there are age ratings for a reason but parents just seem to ignore it thinking their little Jimmy is a perfect son. Anyway it depends how young and stupid the person is

^This.

Somewhat, I think that video games somewhat affect people, if only a little bit.

Yeah, I say that it really all depends on the person. And their parents. If they KNOW that the child can't play a certain violent game without imitating some dumb part out of it, then they'd for sure worry. But again, this all goes back to the person. If you can play GTA4, without feeling the need to drop your pants, head shot someone, or join a gang, chances are, nothing will faze you, and this is just a game to you. And then, this also goes to someone's grip on reality. GTA4 can't possibly have an effect on a child unless they attempt to imitate it, or they're easily impressionable. And if their parents know that the child is impressionable, chances are, they won't let them play that kind of game. (But we all know that by 17 or 18, you've done it all.) But if you're always doing what your parents say, chances are, you're gonna go out on a limb and play the game anyways, because you wanna see what's so bad about it.

Of course, in my opinion, GTA overall is a bad series. Whenever I go over to a friend's house, they just start up the game, grab a rocket launcher and blow stuff up, and then go and sex some hookers. Now don't get me wrong, I love blowing cars and people up with some rockets, but... if you're really that desperate for sex, just go to LA. Seriously.

Sorry if I totally murdered your opinion or whatever.

EDIT:

That quote made me lol. So hard.

I don't think it has anything to do with a child being violent. After all, children learn through what they live. So if their parents are violent, they are more likely to be violent. Video games have nothing to do with it.

i do believe as many others have said, mostly smaller children are effected by it. but again. when i was 6 years old and i somehow came across a porno and watched it, i was almost exactly the same as i was after.

it's really all about how the children were raised. the way i was raised i do thank my parents for. in the younger years i knew so much i was just a huge trouble maker. but then since i already knew everything and was allowed to do most stuff. it kinda took the fun away from sneaking around to do the things

if the parents actually watched the kids if they were under the age of i'd say 13 or 14 and explained some of the things, it wouldn't really affect them.

young or crazy without supervision + GTA = no, but even then, what are they gonna do?I'd say if they are under 13, then at least be a little concerned

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I also find it that only fragile or stupid children are really affected by violent games.

I also agree that it is a place were children can unleash their anger.

I mean, I've played GTA IV, and honestly, it didn't influence me to do anything violent.

Or maybe it did :custom2: :custom3:

I don't think that violent video games cause children to be even more violent. Although they did studies that proved that children are more agressive after playing...say Halo or Resident Evil, than children that had just finished playing...Super Mario Galaxy or Phoenix Wright (Woo!).

Thene you have to look at the ratings system. There's a reason they have it, just like movies. If you parent (not trying to be mean, just hypothetical) buy you an M-Rated game when you're thirteen (me...) without even trying to consider what the giant black "M" on the box meant. For instance, eariler this year I had to go to school the day GTA IV was released. So I made my dad get it for me (I had it preordered so I juat gave him the money. He was going to town anyway before you say 'that was mean to make your dad go'.) When I got back from school, the game was on the counter and he was waiting there, saying "You like games that you can kill people in?" I was 16 at the time and he was worried that it was too bad for me, even though I turned 17 in two months. He didn't really care though. He already knew that I don't take games seriously (although i can get a little agressive during Halo 3 or Call of Duty)

And just like DD said, it's just as influentual as children shows on television. You don't see hordes of kids running out into the wild to start their very own adventure because 'they saw Dora the Explorer do it'. It's just stupid that parents would be so hypocritical about video games just because unlike television shows, you are in control. You can control what you want to do in a video game, while you can only watch the television. If a parent wanted to prevent their kids from playing GTA, then they should also prevent them from watching R-rated movies or late-night television. Or, in a little more extreme measure, if they didn't want their kids to play M-rated games, they shouldn't have bought them for their kids in the first place.

In conclusion, parents have no one to blame but themselves. Now I will stop before I begin to ramble. ::):

~buckyboy

Absolutely not!

people have worried about video games being the problem ever since there was a school shooting that all led back to two teens playing GTA Vice City.

ever since, it's "Oh, I bet video games are causing you to become stupid" this, and "Oh, I bet those smash bros games are making you this violent!" that.

I, for one, am getting sick of it. I don't see how video games can have an effect on teens and kids. Ya wanna know why? because the kids and teens who had an effect caused by video games didn't have parents who told them it's a fantasy world, not the REAL world.

So I, for one, blame the parents as well.

It also is the parents' fault as well. When you buy an M rated game the cashier ALWAYS says this game is M rated and asks for an ID. If the parents bought them the game then they should at least listen.

not necessarily.

I bought Dementium: The Ward and the cashier didn't ask for ID.

I call haxx on this situation.

Well, maybe he/she just saw you old enough, and he/she didn't care.

Well I have a story on the reverse side of that.

One time I was renting a game from blockbuster called "Graffiti Kingdom" and thinking it was something bad the cashier asked to see my ID. I then retrieved the actual display case and showed it to her.



Hey, it was a pretty interesting game.

Rofl. That's a weird title for a game.

Yep. This.

of course not. i dont see how they could in the first place. kids should know they are fake.