Study: Kids Can't Get Enough of M-rated Games
Study: Kids Can't Get Enough of M-rated Games
July 7, 2007
Forbidden fruit.It's almost common sense: if you can't have it, you suddenly want it.
So it should be no surprise that a recent survey in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health found that many boys and girls aged 12-14 played games rated M, intended for those 17 & older.
The always controversial Grand Theft Auto series made it into the top three games for both boys and girls, with Halo being popular only with boys. The survey didn't address how the kids got hold of M-rated games in the first place.
Ars Technica looks at the survey, which examined over 1,200 students in Pennsylvania and South Carolina in 2004. Data was collected by the Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Michigan State University, and looked into the spread of violent video games among America's youth.
As well as mature-themed games, the survey also asked whether kids liked games "with guns and weapons," (a resounding "yes" for boys), and whether they played electronic games because there was "nothing else to do," ("yes" for 60% of both boys and girls).
CM: The resounding "because I'm bored" answer to "why" should be an indicator to parents worried about their kids whom they think game too much (hint: give them another activity).
-Reporting from Canada where he remembers being forbidden from playing Star Wars: Dark Forces, GP Correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes
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Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
"This is precisely the danger of copying a copy of an article (and blogging in particular). This Colin “Jabrwock” McInnes gets credit for an article he didn’t write, based on an article the ’source’ didn’t credit, and barely gives accurate reporting on."
I'd like to think Ars Technica is a reputable source. And they did in fact credit the source (the journal link). If you'd like to verify the contents of the original study, Ars linked directly to it (but you'll need to fork over $30 to read it yourself, it *is* a journal publication after all). An unfortunate reality when dealing with studies.
Another Ars article dealt with that aspect specifically. Namely that if you aren't careful, you fall for stats that appear significant, when their sample base is very small.
http://www.gucomics.com/comic/?cdate=20070706
Roo S. Ter
so?
its still reasonable thought/question/article,they could do better to link sources a bit better tho.
Are we so inclined to accept such third-hand information, ready to pass on as a true story? Why didn't Games Politics research and report on the actual source material...? Hmm...
Kids (18.2% of participants) who play in their own room are more than twice likely play for longer hours and M-rated games.
5% always play with parents, it doesn't ask whether the parents don't want to or anything of that type.
31.8%, who play M-rated games, always or often play with friends vs. 16%, who never play M-rated games.
Boys are more likely to always/often play alone (62.8%) or play with friends (33.4%) than girls (45.6%) and (12.5%) respectively.
It's more like sharing the forbidden fruit, when you have it, you share it.
Once we become adults, we find the government and/or certain zealous individuals want to keep us from doing all those fun things ironically enough to "protect the children." Yet as kids we waited to do all this stuff. This was supposed to be our reward! It seems just when we want to do all the cool stuff, someone wants to take it away - whether it be violent video games...or movies, or sex, or porn, or fireworks (I'm into those as well) or whatever. It's like we can't win and it feels as if we're on the wrong end of the argument.
Grownups when we're kids or the government/bad lawyers as adults. They never let us have any fun! :p
You can get the Massachusetts General Hospital's press release for this article (which has more information) at:
http://www.massgeneral.org/news/releases/062907olson.html
You can read the article abstract at the journal's web site, at:
http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/jah/current
Oh, and those aren't LEGOs in the picture, I forget what they are.
Also, as I've said before, and was said as the first 2 words of this report. Forbidden Fruit. When you have Politicians and Lawyers running around telling people how 'bad' these games are, it becomes more attractive to young people.
I've said it before several times that the free popularity bought to these games by idiots like Grossman and Thompson actually makes them more of a 'must own', because it's a symbol of rebellion against the 'older' people. Admittedly you cannot stop children trying to play violent games in general, when I was 8 I ran around with replica guns that fired caps, they were accurate enough that I COULD have learned to use a real gun from them, but I didn't, nor did I go on a rampage with one, despite spending several days a week running around playing 'War'.
I remember Mortal Kombat being huge and all the kids i hung around with and all the kids i knew at school loved it but none of us tried to act it out or thought it would be cool to do the fatalities in the game in real life. The fact is the vast majority of kids around that age have a firm grasp of reality and fantasy and know the consequences to real life violence. When it comes to young children like 5/6/7/8 year olds i could see a problem but not when it comes to older kids or teenagers.
As for the M rated thing. I would have thought that was obvious.
“In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.”
-Mark Twain
Also, GTA should talk with Lego about making a Lego GTA 3, imagine the fun that game would be. ( I know its Rubrick, but considering how successful Lego Starwars was...I would try other things as well).
Would make a whole lot more sense than attacking art.
CM: The resounding “because I’m bored” answer to “why” should be an indicator to parents worried about their kids whom they think game too much (hint: give them another activity).
when younger people, especially teenagers are "bored" in the context that article uses, thats when they start getting into trouble, most of the time serious trouble, drugs, gangs, etc. i think its safe to say that if these kids are "bored" and think that there is "nothing else to do", people would prefer them playing videogames when they are bored rather than going out and breaking the law when they have nothing to do.
And I believe I may be first.
Anyway, where can I get those GTA III Legos (picture)?