Are violent video games problematic?

no, and even if people are pushed to violent actions because of gaming I don't give a s***. People have been doing evil s*** from the start of time that will not end.
 
They aren't "inappropriate for children" - there's zero evidence that violent video games cause any issues with children. Tons and tons of kids play pubg, Rainbow 6, COD, etc. Those games are all filled with kids.

What is appropriate or inappropriate for kids is up to the parents (as it should be). If someone buys a COD game for their 12 year old is it going to turn into national news? Of course not... happens all the time.

What is "inappropriate" is up to parents, not something for the government or businesses to decide. The labels are just there as a guide for parents and to help prevent kids from buying something that maybe their parents don't want them to have.

This. The game is not the issue. Parents letting games/TV parent for them is. The world was a far more violent place than it is now long before the advent of TV and gaming. Kids need real world context and guidance. That is for the parent to do. There is no way to legislate it away. It's cultural.

Just labeling something "problematic" without specific context is useless.

People trying to pin blame on these things (music, tv, movies) is what is "problematic" because it's the easy scapegoat and draws the attention away from the actual problem- which is probably impossible to fix, and we don't like to think there are issues with that level of difficulty to tackle. Especially since no single entity can do it. It has to come from individuals in their own lives.

A school shooting happens and people act like it's some substantial issue with the majority of people. It's not. ONE jacked up kid did it. The thousands (and millions across the nation) of others did not. We hear about school shootings and because of national media, it amplifies to an unrelatable level.

There are something like 37,000 (public and private) High Schools in the US. Even if there were 10 high casualty shootings happening per year (like this recent one, not the low income areas with gang-violence related shootings), that doesn't even rate statistically. Yet we act like this is rife in US schools.

The more important stat (outside of our fear for the possibility of harm to our kids) is that overall violent crime is on the decline. Figuring out why people are doing what they are doing in these incidences, and how the systems in place are failing us, is a more appropriate focus, imo.
 
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Video games are just like any other form of medium. It's up for the adults who are responsible for the children to determine if they should play a game. If a movie is too graphic, or sexual, parents usually don't let them watch. If music is too vulgar, same deal. As the children get older, responsible caregivers know when to start to let them make their own decisions, and as they progress into young tweens, teens/young adults, they should be able to make choices about their medium choices on their own if they were brought up properly. Of course, there are variables and exceptions. They still need hands on. Hell, they'll need hands on all the way through college.

The only game that made me uncomfortable was in the CoD when you were infiltrating the bad guys organization and you had to kill civilians. I don't think the trigger once. I just couldn't do it.
 
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Just labeling something "problematic" without specific context is useless.

.

This. The way the questions are so generalized and given without any specific context makes them pretty much useless.
 
Feeling like I'm not supposed to really reply to this topic online because it would be like discussing religion or politics in a bar.

I will say this... I used to be a bit of a horror movie fan, but not as much anymore. I also sometimes prefer less realistic-looking games that are violent, so that the imagery cannot be mistaken. I prefer not to surround myself too much with violent realism anymore. It's just personal preference. Possibly because there's enough real violence in the world every day. I like my entertainment to escape that reality.
 
This. The game is not the issue. Parents letting games/TV parent for them is. The world was a far more violent place than it is now long before the advent of TV and gaming. Kids need real world context and guidance. That is for the parent to do. There is no way to legislate it away. It's cultural.

I think it's also political in that the Economy is often problematic. I think a lot of people are under financial and career pressure and that makes it hard to focus on family. It might even contribute everyone seeking escapism and paying less attention to each other.

Television News and Talk Radio demogogues probably make all this far worse making people even more fearful and angry. This combined with social media is probably a more toxic combination than any influence coming from videogames.
 
I think it's also political in that the Economy is often problematic. I think a lot of people are under financial and career pressure and that makes it hard to focus on family. It might even contribute everyone seeking escapism and paying less attention to each other.

Television News and Talk Radio demogogues probably make all this far worse making people even more fearful and angry. This combined with social media is probably a more toxic combination than any influence coming from videogames.

The economy is vital no matter the government style. People have to have things to do, and they need things to survive. It's our own responsibility to balance the different pressures of life and needs of our progeny. THe first step is realizing it is indeed on us, and not blame exterior factors.
 
Think it has to be on a case by case basis between the parents and kids. Obviously rating systems are there as a guideline and then beyond that it is up to the parents to know whether their child understands the content, whether it is real or not, and any consequences from that. One of the earliest M rated game I remember playing is the original Tenchu, so I would have been like 13 years old at the time. My parents would write a note for me to rent it but not just willy nilly. It was something they would discuss with me on what was real or not and that it was a privilege for me to play that sort of game at that age. Never had issues with it and had that privilege taken away. Some kids not so and then it's up to the parents to correct it.
 
So if you don't think any violent video games are at all realistic, then why are they inappropriate for some audiences?

Peanuts aren't poisonous but some people will die if they eat one. lol

It's just confusing to expose a young kid to something they don't have the tools to comprehend or put into context.
 
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No.

I watch a lot of porn, but I don't go around screwing everyone. I used to watch endless amounts of police chase videos, I don't go out irl and get involved in police chases. I play a lot of racing games, you won't find me out of the roads racing. I used to listen to Geto Boys and tons of gangster rap as a kid. Did I go out and murder people for listening to it?

Anyone that can't distinguish the violence in video games from the real world already have psychological problems to begin with. I don't know what annoys me worse; the people who commit murders or the people who defend those who commit the murders with excuses about video games being the cause. People are always trying to find excuses to blame others for their own mistakes.
 
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This. The game is not the issue. Parents letting games/TV parent for them is. The world was a far more violent place than it is now long before the advent of TV and gaming. Kids need real world context and guidance. That is for the parent to do. There is no way to legislate it away. It's cultural.

Just labeling something "problematic" without specific context is useless.

People trying to pin blame on these things (music, tv, movies) is what is "problematic" because it's the easy scapegoat and draws the attention away from the actual problem- which is probably impossible to fix, and we don't like to think there are issues with that level of difficulty to tackle. Especially since no single entity can do it. It has to come from individuals in their own lives.

A school shooting happens and people act like it's some substantial issue with the majority of people. It's not. ONE jacked up kid did it. The thousands (and millions across the nation) of others did not. We hear about school shootings and because of national media, it amplifies to an unrelatable level.

There are something like 37,000 (public and private) High Schools in the US. Even if there were 10 high casualty shootings happening per year (like this recent one, not the low income areas with gang-violence related shootings), that doesn't even rate statistically. Yet we act like this is rife in US schools.

The more important stat (outside of our fear for the possibility of harm to our kids) is that overall violent crime is on the decline. Figuring out why people are doing what they are doing in these incidences, and how the systems in place are failing us, is a more appropriate focus, imo.
It won't let me click the "agree" button more than once, so ill just quote you and say something along the lines of what most others have been saying.

This is a parenting issue more than anything else. Some kids can handle the violence and some can't. The parent should be adjusted what their kid has access to according to their ability to handle it and their own value system. The government doesn't need to be involved with this.

When there's a school shooting and the person played COD, the news or politicians start to blame the game. They ignore the fact that millions of other kids played the same game and haven't done anything and won't do anything. They just want something to blame regardless of if it had anything to do with the events or not.
 
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