Fantasy war games, are they creating socio-paths?

[Willie71]

Here is a reasonable summary of the effects of several associated factors, including gun ownership, mental illness, violent video games, and media in general to violence. It mirrors the research I have looked at. If anyone wants references to some of the better studies, I will post them Its time consuming for me, but I will if its wanted.

 

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/09/24/studies-suggest-complex-link-between-guns-violent-video-games/

Edited November 6, 2014 by Willie71

[MonDie]

I don't know whether I'll ever get around to reading them, really, Willie.

 

After reading that article, I looked back at the meta-analysis for the correlation coefficients. It was aggressive cognition r+ = .27 (link); physiological arousal r₊ = .22 (effect); aggressive behavior r₊ = .19 (link and effect), altruism r+ = -.17 (effect) and -.16 (link).

 

It only strongly effected aggressive behavior when the video-game target was inanimate r+ = .41 (.28, .54), versus .14 (.08, .20). Those look like some highly variable results anyway, so I wouldn't put too much stock in it. I would like to know the sampling differences between studies!!

Of course guns are a separate issue. The issue isn't whether guns make people aggressive, but whether they enable aggressive people to do more harm.

Edited November 11, 2014 by MonDie

[Dekan]

How many posters on here actually play "war-games" videos?

I've never played one. Because they're primitive, and repulsive. Like a retrogression to the jungle.

 

Frankly, I'm surprised that anyone here on Science Forums admits to playing such things.

I thought that on Science Forums, we'd be more interested in Science, than in fantasies about killing each other.

[MonDie]

I don't think anyone did. I own none and play less than yearly.

The most popular first-person shooter of my childhood, Halo, was not gory at all. First-person shooters are suspenseful, especially online multiplayer ones. You probably enjoy a similar feeling if you watch suspense films or sports. I do none of these.

 

Apparently these r scores (correlation coefficients) are not additive. An r to Z Fisher transformation would probably give us an effect size that can be interpretted as percent of variance.

[Dekan]

Thanks MonDie, I had a look at the link you kindly provided, but couldn't understand it very well, that's my fault.

 

I think probably that war-games attract young people most. When I was young, I used to be fascinated by books about nuclear war.

 

But now I'm older, I don't like the books so much. I don't like the waste of material they describe. Not so much the waste of human lives, but the loss of cities.

[barfbag]

I will add a dimension to this.

 

Is a child who grows up playing video games smarter on average than someone who watches an equal amount of television?

 

Video games may be destructive, but many are goal oriented and need intelligence and a practical nature to build your cities, empires, businesses (even if criminal), etc.

 

If the father in the OP article wanted his kids to feel empathy... Nothing better than buying them a dog. Animal lovers are just better people, and training my animals is a fav pastime for me and them.

 

Why even use kids as examples. Try playing a few games like a Tower defense game (I like them and they are free and quick) where you kill the people walking through your valleys. Then walk outside and see if you can imagine killing your neighbor.

 

It just does not translate.

 

Banning kids from games does not work. I was banned from having a toy gun as a child and as soon as I was old enough i joined the reserves and became a marksman.

 

My eldest son has been allowed every video game around and has every gaming system on the market. Now he does not play any of them and barely watches television. He would rather be outside on a skateboard or his bike (that he saved $1000 for from working).

 

I vote that videogames have no influence on whether someone becomes a sociopath.

 

The first Playstation one had some pretty advanced fighting games (red alert, GTA, etc.) and that came out over 20 years ago, so we would see a real rise in violence by now (as opposed to false stats based on overpolicing as some claim).