ProCon.org, a California-based nonprofit charity that specializes in promoting "critical thinking" by presenting both sides of compelling issues has launched a new site dedicated to the topic of video games and violence.
The hub offers an introduction to the topic, noting that “The effect of violent video games on children and teens has been debated by researchers and the media since the release of the video game Death Race in 1976.”
It then lists a variety of research and opinions on the subject, from both sides of the fence, and offeres gathered images and videos on the subject. Visitors to the site can take a survey on the subject and add their own voice to the debate. A separate debate section highlights pros and cons offered by politicians, scholars or public figures.
A 1999 quote from Bill Clinton is used on the pro (or, yes, violent games contribute to youth violence) side:
… video games like ‘Mortal Kombat,’ ‘Killer Instinct,’ and ‘Doom,’ the very game played obsessively by the two young men who ended so many lives in Littleton, make our children more active participants in simulated violence.
A Henry Jenkins quote is utilized to illustrate the con side of the argument:
According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report , the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful.
Comments
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
If the children are left in front of a computer game for many hours they may develop a greater insensibility toward the violence they face in the real world and therefore act in consequence. But video games are bad only if they are overplayed. On the other side, PC games actually develop strategic thinking and many of them contain references to mythology (see Age of Mythology or Caesar). Ella Rochelle - Arizona Web Designer
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
I do believe this video sums a lot of my opinion on the subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGArqoF0TpQ
It is a video by the saturday morning breakfast comic team exposing "both side" debates as something a bit more than that. Please watch until the end, the author's explanation and opinion is in the third, I think, "debate".
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
Violent games haven't made me violent & will probably never will. Only my family esp. my mom makes me irritated & go nuts.
"It's better to be hated for who you are, then be loved for who you are not." - Montgomery Gentry
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
FBI crime graph is good enough to bring for evidence, as well as the long line of Scare Tactics and Moral Panics that happened with books, radio, comics, TV, movies, cartoons, videogames, dolls, computers and so many other things.
Plus look at wars that are happening in other countries and ask if those countries had videogames?
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
I just went over there to take a survey. If anybody reading this article, go to that site and do the survey. If you join the debate bring every evidence to show them that video game does not cause violence. Use the FBI Statistic on crimes to prove your point. Also, to discredit the haters, show what happen to Jack Thompson, Rob Blagoevich, and the like of those politicians.
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
we kinda don't need to drag those names out. Those people are done and over with. We should just present our case and hope for the best.
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
No.
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
I've posted my views on the site. I think other people here really should take a few minutes to do the same, and do so politely. The survey is VERY short. It asks if you are pro or con and about the importence of the issue, and has a space to write your views in more detail.
Re: Internet Hub Offers Both Sides of Game Violence Debate
This is actually a good idea, assuming enough of both sides join in on the debate. The gamers will for sure. The problems are two things: 1. Those against violent videogames not showing up. 2. Rude gamers making the decent ones look bad.