November 28, 2007
For more than a decade, violent video games have been blamed for inspiring everything from aggressive thoughts to actual school shootings. But a leading police executive in New Zealand has a unique new theory:Next-gen consoles are to blame.
As reported by the New Zealand Herald, Superintendent Bill Harrison, national manager of police youth services, said that recent increases in youth violence have coincided with the launch of the Xbox 360 in late 2005. The newspaper cited statistic showing a 25% jump in arrests of New Zealand youth for crimes of violence.
While Harrison attributed some of the increase to a police initiative targeting domestic violence, he speculated on the effect of violent games after watching his own son play an unspecified Xbox 360 game:
It was desensitising him to violence. It was shifting his norm about how he would deal with conflict.
You see these kids - their hands are wringing wet with sweat because their bodies are taking in what's going on on the screen and they are acting it out.
Harrison called for a planned government study into youth violence to include the effects of violent video games. However, Auckland University psychologist Ian Lambie told the Herald that game violence had no effect on most youth:
There is a subset of the population that is far more likely to be affected. But we know that the problems are far more complex. It's learning issues, it's a whole range of other developmental problems.
Comments
Aaah, a student of the Pastafarian ways are you? *laughs*
Uh, anyways, if the cop thinks games are so bad, why was he letting his 14 play anyways? .... It makes you wonder if it was really a violent game or if it was just something like Viva pinata or something. heh.
....Maybe crime went up after the 360 came out because all the 360's that froze up on them or something >:D .
how many crimes did you start with? increasing from 4 to 5 is worlds different than increasing from 400 to 500 yet they are both 25% increases.
in other news: the sky is blue and water is wet.
So, why not arrest athletes as well?
Or... what's the betting his kid's a four course porker who can't fetch the mail without needing a fresh shirt?
On a serious note: People sweat when playing sports too. Maybe we should ban physical activity of all types.
Gee, could it be that the kids are intensely into the CHALLENGE of the game, as opposed to the VIOLENCE of the game?
Or could it be that it's a physical sign of FRUSTRATION with the gameplay, their capability to play, their feeling of being cheated?
Or could it be that THEIR HOUSE IS HOT!
Or could it be a nervous condition?
Or could it be anger at the game, the storyline, the gameplay, being frustrated with the game/gameplay, losing?
Or could it be excitment over nearly winning? Or nearly losing?
"While Harrison attributed some of the increase to a police initiative targeting domestic violence..."
So they were what? Ignoring domestic violence and abuse in the homes (and probably the schools and communities) before? Gee, and one wonders WHY anyone would turn to someone other than the appropriate authority figures for handling such situations. And of course, he had to downplay their ignoring the abuse by pointing the finger at something else, in this case video games. Can't have the people holding the authority figures responsible, eh? TWIT!
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Yeah. Because the same thing hasn't been happening with movies for years. Seriously.
"But he said he started to wonder about the effect of video games when he found his 14-year-old son playing an graphic Xbox game involving "human beings killing each other"."
Has anyone told the man that the people on the screen are not real human beings? Just like the Witch in the Gingerbread House in Hansel and Gretel isn't real. Just like the characters on cop dramas aren't real.
"It was desensitising him to violence. It was shifting his norm about how he would deal with conflict," Mr Harrison said."
And his rationale for this is? Did his son actually act in a violent manner? Or is this some nice little soundbite he learned on the internet.
""You see these kids - their hands are wringing wet with sweat because their bodies are taking in what's going on on the screen and they are acting it out.""
It's not because they are taking in what's on the screen, it's because they are concentrating on it. I've seen students with sweaty hands programming in college because they are concentrating and using a mouse. I've had sweaty hands myself concentrating on playing the guitar. Also, yet again, he does not say how they are acting it out. Did his son hop up and start shooting people?
"Research had shown young people could generally distinguish "cartoon" violence from "real" violence,"
I believe we have made the scientific discovery of the century...
"but the interactivity involved in today's games seemed to pose a much bigger risk than previous generations of young people had faced."
Seemed to pose a bigger risk? Says who? More conjecture and opinion I'm afraid.
From the the only person to make sense in the article:
"But we know that the problems are far more complex. It's learning issues, it's a whole range of other developmental problems."
That sounds familiar... Wait a minute! It's what we've been saying all along! It's also what has been the case in every single crime attributed to games. The Stephan Pakeerah murder? Drug addiction and poverty. Columbine? Sociopathic tendencies. Virginia Tech? inability to fit in and rejection of society combined with mania and obsession with violence. Jacob Robida? Racism, homophobia and violent tendencies.
Finally, the list of games at the end should be titled. "A box full of nasties...but if your kids are playing these then you have already failed in a big way as a parent"
Really? Care to be more specific, or are you just speculating?
You see these kids - their hands are wringing wet with sweat because their bodies are taking in what’s going on on the screen and they are acting it out.
Yeah, I'm sure you wouldn't POSSIBLY find the same one someone who's trying to break Pacman's record. Or even trying to build an extremely elaborate house of cards.
It's called stressh. It happens when you do something challenging or exciting... Sheesh.
Maybe it's just me, but it felt like the writer gave far too much emphasis on Harrison's statement instead over Dr Ian Lambie's testimony.
Try examining your hands after playing ANY video game for awhile. Or typing on a keyboard. SAME THING HAPPENS.
Thanks for playing. Sorry, no parting gifts.
Zing!
THAT my friend is the real problem. Parents don't understand what's going on, sit back and watch their kids get "desensitized" to violence and all that other good stuff... and say "Oh dear! What can I do?"
Idiots.
...what games are those kids playing, then? As far as i could remember, i never got sweaty when playing games... at least not my palms.
Not counting DDR, but you get my point.
Semi-related: I wish there were more games that actually gave you sweaty palms- they are too easy nowadays. Unless you are playing a bullet-hell shmup (ESPGaluda, etc)...which is pretty much nobody.
BTW... Video games also cause:
Tsunamis
Earthquakes
Hurricanes
Tornados
and colon cancer
It's true. It's in print. You just read it.
This reminds me strongly of the graph used by followers of the flying spaghetti monster, which (as a joke) shows the increase in global warming to be a result of the decrease in pirates since the 1800's. Just because youth violence appears to be rising after the launch of the Xbox, its stupid to cite something like that as causation, even if when presented in a certain way it appears to have a correlation.
Hmmm The Superbowl (or other major sports events) has much the same effect (acutally hits adults harder then the violent kiddies). Guess that has to go as well. War movies, crime movies, Transformers, Harry Potter (devil worshipper) etc, ie most Movies... yep have to go. Game consoles (not games just the console) yeah they have to go. As displayed here, the list can be targetted at just about anything and goes on and on.
In the name of sanity stop. Look to yourselves and how you raise your kids before pointing fingers at everything else. Adults you might want to remember that you are responsible for your attentant minors. Act the part and stop trying to pawn off the blame.
Oh btw they sell a controller for the PS2 and X-Box 360 that has a built in fan for those that suffer with heavy sweating palms disease. ;)
Sweat comes from stress. You also sweat a lot more fighting in a war (or being caught up in one). When veterans come back from a war, are they desensitized from the violence and the people they shoot? Probably. But do they turn their nations into havens for robbers and murderers? Not at all. In fact, the US WWII veterans became known as the "greatest generation". Playing video games won't make us heroes, if grown up boys with real guns, despite being mentally taxed, come back without a sense of bloodlust for society, so can younger guys playing around with fake ones.
Show that man a video of someone getting kicked between the legs. If he recoils then he obviously weighs the same as a duck and so his theory is shot.
We get sweaty hands while playing games because we might be veering on the edge of having our character die. We might be winning a fight and getting anxious about being taken down. We might be approaching an ominous bit of scenery and getting nervous about an anticipated boss battle.
We might, actually, have just been holding too tightly onto a piece of smooth plastic for the last half hour. A friend of mine leaks bodily fluids just by holding a mouse for too long.
Seriously. Sweaty palms are evidence of mental reprogramming?
He's in Court until Dec 21st. Be thankful.
Slow news day, I think.
From what I recall from the earlier thread, it is just this week that he's in court for, but the court itself has until the 21'st to render a verdict on the case. Either way, I am indeed glad he's not here to sully this discussion with his baseless assertions and wild claims.
****.. Damn, i'd planned to enjoy my time away from super-troll.
Besides, as the Kiwi that broke this story I'm more inclined to blame the recent Anti-Smaking Bill passed for the increase of youth crime rates. But that's just me.
Desk, apply directly to the forehead.
Desk, apply directly to the forehead.
An increase of me impaling people on spears will cause crime decrease a sharp ammount.
Say yes to Impalation.
Either that or i should have used fire.
Though the point im trying to make is..
The rise incrime could be, well i dont know, maybe attributed to the increase in population?
--How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Joystick
NZ represent!!!1one!.
@ Everyone
I watched a debate yesterday afternoon with the police guy (and before you all start claiming he has no background with this sort of thing, he is the guy in charge of youth offending), a psychologist and some game reviewer.
It was quite a reasonable debate where Harrison merely pointed out that he would like to see the results of a study done on whether violence in games is a factor in the likelihood of someone becoming a violent offender.
I was actually pretty pissed off after reading the comments in the Herald yesterday, but then they are known as conservative types with no compunction about selective quoting (I was surprised that they even bothered balancing there article with the comment from the Auckland professor.
So, all in all, nowhere near as bad as the crap you Americans (JT) and the Pommies (BBFC) have to deal with.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article...
That is not the properway to deter crime through impalnation.
umm, okay......
This sounds more like something that would happen to a druggie after just getting their latest hit.
Turns out the kid was playing "Barbie Horsie Adventure"
Hmmmmmmm
Your just upset because we beat you at the, umm, well, shit....
Alright, can someone translate this from bullshit to english please?
The only thing I can surmise is that his kid has a glandular problem or something. The only time I've been "wringing wet with sweat" is after playing a good long DDR session.
But yeah, he needs to take his kid to some kind of specialist.