Online Shooting Games

[no_hypocrisy]

http://www.agame.com/games/shooting-games

I've been a substitute teacher for several decades. I teach preschool to high school.

What I've noticed is the appeal of online video games to boys from about 11 on up. When they're left to their own preferences, for example, they go online for technology (computer) classes, I'll see every third boy with automatic weapons on their screen, shooting at people. It goes very very fast and they're deeply connected. (I've even seen this at public libraries.) One 11 year old I've taught isn't interested in anything except Storm Ops.

The schools have policies against these "games". But they're so addictive, that as soon as you leave the boys, they return to the shooting games. They don't want math games. They don't want to learn about the multi-layers covering the Earth. They want to shoot people.

I can only speak about what I've seen. The districts I teach in are urban and multicultural.

[NCTraveler]

1. Pretty clear to me that the mass school shootings arent about games.

I’m not saying they don’t desensitize children in general, just there is no correlation with respect to games being some form of catalyst. Guns are the problem.

These kids shouldn’t be playing them in school.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I agree that these are two different issues. But this situation exists and isn't being discussed.

[Blue_Adept]

3. Well

Research suggests violent video games don't make us more violent: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/20/after-parkland-video-games-back-critics-crosshairs/356654002/

[no_hypocrisy]

5. There may not be a direct connection between violent video games and violence, but

I can't see much benefit when boys are motivated to shoot PEOPLE online. They aren't shooting spinning cubes, teddy bears, etc. They are shooting people. It's one thing to watch violence passively online or on TV. It's another thing to put a virtual assault weapon in the hands of near children and let them shoot virtual people.

[Blue_Adept]

6. And again, what's the difference from the rest of the world?

Actual access to weapons. It's the guns.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. It's both access to guns and the desire to use them against people.

[Blue_Adept]

8. And it's that small minority that has that desire

Or do you think the several million people in the US that play Call of Duty all have a desire to use them against people?

Sorry, I've seen this argument made for DECADES about everything but what the actual issue is. Every ounce of solid research has shown that it's not. But if you have the belief that it is, and the anecdotal evidence that backs you up, that's for you to believe and I'll leave you to it.

[mercuryblues]

16. About 250 million

CoD games sold alone. 500 million copies of Halo since 2010 and 185 million Grand theft Auto. These are total sales. Other countries have these games, without the mass killings on our scale. It is the guns.

[Blue_Adept]

18. Exactly

Thanks for the numbers, I didn't have a chance to go and look them up earlier.

[mercuryblues]

21. No problem

[Blue_Adept]

4. Anecdotal evidence doesn't offer much

4.4 % of the world's population is what we are.

40+% of the worlds guns in our hands.

Stop diluting the message.

[Ezior]

9. I used to be / I am a gamer, and I think 11 year olds shouldn't play games like this

I personally prefer simulation games, like Factorio or OpenTTD (aka "Transport Tycoon", even though it shouldn't be called like that since that is a trademark). Though I have played a bunch of games where the primary game mechanic is "point gun at other things, including other player- or non-player-characters, and shoot", and I enjoyed them if they tell a somewhat interesting story.

I'm sure games can raise your blood pressure if things don't work the way you want them to work, and that may lead to some temporarily higher aggression levels. But it's the same with many other hobbys, like my other hobby, software development – if I can't find a bug after hours of debugging, I might be frustrated and not very balanced for some time.

Still, I doubt it's very good for 11 year old boys to regularly simulate the shooting of people. Most games like that are 16+ in Germany, and many ignore that and secretly play those games when they're maybe 14. They should be old enough to be able to recognize the difference between reality and the game world very clearly and they should be able to reflect on their gaming habits. So in some cases it's okay for 14 year olds to play these games. It's like watching bloody action movies, you need to be old enough.


I have another issue with online shooting games though. It's the community surrounding many of those games. It's basically toxic masculinity raised to the 10th power. Many kids, mostly boys, aged 14+ where misogyny, homophobia and often xenophobia and racism or antisemitism is not uncommon. Amplified by the nature of these games. It's not a good combination. They infect innocent boys with their crap, I mean 1 or 2 deplorable kids are enough to spread the hate to the whole "clan".

And suddenly you're no longer surprised by Gamergate, or the fact that many alt-righters and Social Unjustice Warriors or Men's Right Activists appear to be gamers.

[Books_Tea_Alone]

17. May not be the games/ but the culture

I am a high school teacher. You are 100% correct about the culture. The kids that are addicted to these games play them non stop at the expense of socializing normally &attending extracurricular events, let alone reading or their studies. These boys are misogynistic, often racist and homophobic and not afraid to make their beliefs known in this current political environment.

I'm not saying that these games are at all to blame for school shootings/ it is absolutely access to guns which is responsible. I'm not even saying that occasional playing of strategy type games are dangerous. I'm just noticing a general deplorable culture around heavy addictive use.

[Dave Starsky]

10. Been hearing this shit all my life.

In my day, it was violent TV shows. Watching Mannix every week was going to turn me into a stony eyed killer.

It's the fucking guns, people.

[Blue_Adept]

15. Comic books in the 50's and 60's, Dungeons & Dragons in the 80's

The 80's also had rock music and then the 90's dovetailed into violent TV and movies.

There's always a scapegoat instead of the responsibility of saying it's the access to weapons.

[Dave Starsky]

19. I was into all those, as well.

You would think I should be serving consecutive life sentences in a supermax facility by now.

[Blue_Adept]

20. I'd be patient zero as well

And that's without even mentioning the porn.

Yet here I am, like so many others, a stable adult, capable of adult relationships, and raising two very aware and liberal teenage daughters.

[JesterCS]

11. I'm gonna call bullshit right here and now

Video games have nothing to do with real gun violence. It's about upbringing, morality, mental illness, etc. I've been playing violent games since I was about that age, and never once have I ever considered the thought, "I bet it would be fun to shoot real people". People need to take responsibility for their kids. In these times, everything is hurry up, instant gratification, my way or highway.

Also, I suffer from depression and social anxiety. Was bullied all throughout school, from 1st grade until the day I graduated. Not once did I ever think a gun would solve my problems.

And to the ammosexuals. If that's your way of thinking, you have a major defect.

If you can't separate video games/entertainment from your real problems, then you have no business owning a weapon of any kind. And to the parents who own weapons and they're that easy for your child to access, in my opinion, you're just as guilty for being irresponsible and immature to not consider the consequences your gun-humping will have.

My 2 cents.

[Sherman A1]

12. I believe that the issue is more of one

separating fantasy from reality. In my childhood years the problems were comic books and TV Westerns that provided images that were of a violent nature, later we moved to video and role playing games as a culprit to explain away behavior of which society (or parts of society) do not approve. Now we look at first person shooter online video games.

I suggest that none of these are a culprit, they may not be beneficial, but anything to excess likely is not so.

Game play ( depending on the type or category) has many positives, such as hand eye coordination, math skills, reading skills, problem solving and group interactions.

I currently and have for decades played war games and as of yet have not done anyone harm by doing so.

[Locrian]

13. I don't think it's so much the violence.

The shooters are generally outliers (personality - psychological? wise) - so the violence is THERE to begin with - and I don't think you would see correlation.

HOWEVER - the desensitizing and more so the ADVERTISING of guns in the games as "cool things" and "must haves" etc leads to a general acceptance of them and proliferation. Same and more so in action movies.

You had the same thing going on with cigarettes when ALL the cool people in ALL the movies smoked. It was advertising. People / kids know the exact kind of gun their "hero" uses. There are whole websites talking about movie and tv characters "guns"

So - probably not inciting the violence - but the proliferation / normalizing/ advertising / etc guns - yes. Which generally makes it ALL worse and more difficult to do something.


(edit) the proliferation also DOES have results in increased suicides by gun, accidents, domestic abuse etc.

[CanSocDem]

14. Good points.

I think the effects of 'video games' on young people is vastly under appreciated. A study decades ago, documented the effects of the introduction of basic television into a small northern community and found it mirrored a rise in anti-social behaviour in children.

There is something about the relationship between the viewer and the screen that nobody wants to talk about. We'd like to think that it is all entertainment or vital information and not the principle corporate tool used to make us willing consumers. And I'm only talking about basic television!

Selective viewing takes it to another level.



.

[2naSalit]

22. I see them as

Last edited Thu Feb 22, 2018, 10:19 AM - Edit history (1)

simulators, much like those used in training programs of various types. They are simulators, training children.


ETA