[deanhills]

Yesterday Trump was at it again, and this time (probably trying to score political points after the El Paso shooting) suggested that video games may be one of the culprits for causing so much mass shootings in the US. He claimed that games glorify violence. A gun man again went ballistic in a shopping mall in El Paso killing 22 people and wounding a few more.  
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/violent-vid...019-08-06/

I am almost sure there must be a point to this, and am wondering what others think. Do video games contribute to violence like we see with mass shootings?  I think there has to be a point to this. Like I don't think that guys who are balanced and OK would be that much affected - they'd appreciate it isn't real, but for those who have a crappy family life, or is just a crappy person, and wishing to escape, the games world could easily become their only reality.  They could then become completely desensitized to reality, living in their "escape world" of violent games, feeling righteous and angry with the world.  It gives them more confidence and motivates them to "get even" with "reality" and society.  They feel much more bold to be violent and also take their own lives.

There was also a shooting incident in British Columbia, Canada of two guys who were also heavily influenced by games.  Particularly the one of them, who was divorced from real life and living in a world of games.  You can read more about this at the link below. The article focuses on the same theme as above, i.e. whether preoccupation with games of violence could have been a motivator of their actions. At the time of creating this OP the two guys have still not been found. I'm wondering whether they could have committed suicide.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5682403/twitc...-suspects/

[perry]

Computer violence makes no criminals,

When someone getting mad because their on the "losing side". It may be that worse that they may break their keyboard or even their monitor. But I don't think games are always the point of blame.

Studies also proven that games doesn't make killers.
It's purely mental state of mind.

[SRTerabytes]

In my experience, video gaming has only affected me minimally mentally. I've played GTA and enjoyed it. Did I want to go commit a bank robbery? No. Some people who have nothing to lose and had "terrible" lives or might be in a very depressing stage in life may be influenced by video games however but I don't think it was the game's fault because they were already in a state susceptible to carrying out criminal activity before they started playing.

[humanpuff69]

No . Most people know the difference beetwen real life and video game , and know that everything on video game isnt real . And most people play game just for fun of it not for followIng the violence action

[tryp4vps]

..... I am almost sure there must be a point to this, and am wondering what others think...

I do respect your point of view. But I am almost sure that it is Trump's intention to shift the focus from criticism saying that he should be responsible for the spread of hatred in the U.S.

It does appear that mass shootings in the U.S. are getting more frequent since the presidency of Trump has begun.

[deanhills]

It does appear that mass shootings in the U.S. are getting more frequent since the presidency of Trump has begun.

Wow!  Do you think Trump is that powerful?  That's a bit far-fetched though isn't it, to make him responsible for kids who are completely out of control.  I get it that you think Trump's tweets and comments are divisive, but I wonder if that character who was responsible for the El Paso shootings was influenced by what Trump had to say about anything. Like who are the guys who are blasting Trump's messages over the media? I think if there is place one should look at are those media discussions about racism, as by trying to advocate "against" anti-Trump "racism", they're spreading racism themselves.

Back to games.  There has to be a psychological effect if someone who is already imbalanced and looking to get out of his life, plays games 24 hours of the day.  At some point his vision of life has to become completely distorted, and if he has guns, it could be just easier for him to "break loose".  If Trump mentioned games as glorifying violence, then I'm sure it didn't come from him.  He must have studied research on it. Most of what he says he gets from the staff surrounding him. Or paperwork that was passed to him.

[SRTerabytes]

Wow!  Do you think Trump is that powerful?  That's a bit far-fetched though isn't it, to make him responsible for kids who are completely out of control.  I get it that you think Trump's tweets and comments are divisive, but I wonder if that character who was responsible for the El Paso shootings was influenced by what Trump had to say about anything. Like who are the guys who are blasting Trump's messages over the media? I think if there is place one should look at are those media discussions about racism, as by trying to advocate "against" anti-Trump "racism", they're spreading racism themselves.

Back to games.  There has to be a psychological effect if someone who is already imbalanced and looking to get out of his life, plays games 24 hours of the day.  At some point his vision of life has to become completely distorted, and if he has guns, it could be just easier for him to "break loose".  If Trump mentioned games as glorifying violence, then I'm sure it didn't come from him.  He must have studied research on it.  Most of what he says he gets from the staff surrounding him.  Or paperwork that was passed to him.

It's possible that people do get reality bent spending countless hours on their favorite games as their subconscious is filled with video games. Some people get angry over a death or huge mistake on a video game (usually in multiplayer) and can start throwing tantrums in real life and punch the wall and put a hole in it or even break their keyboard or whatever else depending on the rage level. But is it really their fault?

Don't seek to fix a problem by patching the leak over and over again. Seek to fix a problem by getting to the root cause of an issue and everything falls into place. I think the root cause of criminal activity is parenting. Our parents raise us to be functional members of society and if they don't do their part then the child can be affected greatly. It is the parent's responsibility to raise their children correctly to not become a criminal in the first place.

[Honey]

All of the recent news related to video games promoting violence and stuff is such absolute nonsense Its almost funny lmao

Sure, video games have violence, so do movies, so do some physical games like airsoft? Maybe ban everything then? or maybe.....just maybe....make it harder to "induce" that violence on others by making it harder to obtain the ammo and stuff for it?

Moreover, violence rated games are not new, they've existed for decades...but why is it that we have suddenly noticed these shootings and video games causing them?

[deanhills]

All of the recent news related to video games promoting violence and stuff is such absolute nonsense Its almost funny lmao

What violent games are they participating in though?  Is it possible they had been exposed to different games that are not innocent?  Could it be possible that these guys, being as angry as they were joined anti-social anti-society discussion forums where they had been exposed to different kind of games simulating real-life type violence?  

Is it possible that in the same way the media is being used by politicians to manipulate us in thinking in a certain way, there are people with real bad intent roping these guys into their dark worlds in online discussion groups using games of violence that include role playing.  With the shooting incident in El Paso the mother of the guy said she had reported to the police that her son had recently purchased a gun.  Why did he purchase the gun?  Like what pre-empted this? He was a loner, so whatever emboldened him to walk into a shop to buy a gun and to feel perfectly right in doing that must have come from the Internet and probably games that he has been playing, teaching him to use a gun to kill real people. Buying the gun could have been a logical extension from what he had experienced in role playing in games on the Internet.

[tryp4vps]

Wow!  Do you think Trump is that powerful?  That's a bit far-fetched though isn't it, to make him responsible for kids who are completely out of control....

I was just mentioning the fact - the frequency of mass shootings in the U.S. since the presidency of Trump has begun. I was not saying Trump should be 100% responsible for all mass shootings though. Usually this kind of social problem would not be caused by only one single factor.

Video games might contribute to violence too, perhaps indirectly, but in practical it is very hard to prove if that's true or not.