From the official White House youtube channel

ColdDog

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There is a little truth to every joke. In this case, some kids act differently than others. I can see the whole desensitivity argument. The problem is not the games it is how people digest mentally... some people cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not. Case in point... play a COD match and listen to the kids talking - some people may think that is normal behavior.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/05/reality-check-why-some-brains-cant-tell-real-from-imagined/
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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These two posts from another thread on this really helped me with this subject:

https://testsquadron.com/threads/trump-plans-meeting-with-video-game-makers-to-discuss-gun-violence.13030/#post-243866
(TL;DR: US Violent Crime Rate peaked in the 90's and up to 2013 was as low as in 1970, thats Pre-Videogames - PONG came out in '72.)

and

https://testsquadron.com/threads/trump-plans-meeting-with-video-game-makers-to-discuss-gun-violence.13030/#post-243844
(TL;DR: Australia banned guns in '96 and has famously strict video game censorship, however they still let through things like the Modern Warfare airport shooting level and other violent content, and still have low gun crime.)

So what can we draw from this? Well, we arn't in a position to be able to. Put it in front of the White-house advisers and let them argue it out.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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...some people cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not...
Some? I think you'll find it's all of us:


The above is pointed out as a "Temporary" effect and is only in regard to your own body, not your mental state, but still don't go thinking we are all routed to 'reality' just because we all act in the same way. When I see the colour 'blue' is it what you'd see as 'red' but I have been bought up to believe it is blue, a cool calm colour rather than what you'd know as a vibrant warm colour? We can only know one thing: I think, therefore I am.

America has a problem. It's a very complicated subject, way more than "Ban certain types of video game and you'll solve the problem" and as suggested by Australia banning guns while retaining gun-violence computer games without impacting on the gun crime level, it is not a shallow sea the politicians are treading water in.

I must say the Trump Administration has taken on a HUGE task if they want to research into the effects of video games - this could take decades and still may result in an inconclusive conclusion.

However as well as banning modifications to semi-automatics to make them basically automatic weapons, it is interesting to see Trump looking further afield into other parts of the issue surrounding massacres that have almost a part of daily life in the US... The worst thing to do now is nothing.

So, a compromise may have to happen to make sure the things that work are done as well as the things that don't work, just to see what actually works - If games have to have a little less fidelity for a year or two to prove the point, then that point may just have to be proved the hard way. More Bully, less GTA. More Super-Hot, less COD. More Mario, less Duck Hunt. If violence stays the same, it's not games. If it goes up, its not games. If it goes down? It may be games, but at that point they'd have to prove it.

So they have looked at things they can do to regulate guns a bit, they have looked at violent video games - I wonder what they'll look at next?
 
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Vavrik

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Case in point... play a COD match and listen to the kids talking - some people may think that is normal behavior.
yep, and sometimes it's not even kids. But does this translate to desensitization and violent crime? In some cases maybe, but I don't think it's statistically significant. The fact is violent crime peaked during a time before video games were popular, and the bulk of the evidence seems to point to other things going on.

There's some interesting research studies on mental health and violent crime listed here http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/evidence-and-research/learn-more-about/3633-risk-factors-for-violence-in-serious-mental-illness. There are some interesting findings in studies in that list, but in total mental health issues only account for something like 4% of the total problem in the US. So yeah it's an identifiable problem, but there are other things contributing to the problem too, otherwise it would account for more of the problem.
 

ColdDog

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So yeah it's an identifiable problem, but there are other things contributing to the problem too, otherwise it would account for more of the problem.
I agree... issues may include but not limited to... PARENTS, schools, society, norms, mental health, maturity, morality, sense of entitlement (disregard for others), conflict resolution, politics, culture, and the fact that people are animals and not machines to name a few.

America has a problem.
It's not America... it is the world. America is blamed because we're the people that have to deal with the worlds evil - not just schools (wars, economy, terrorists). I am not saying ban it... I am saying live with it... there is a rating system already applied to games. If parents do not care what their kids do then they are part of the problem - bad parents like bad kids. That said... nothing will change, and shouldn't. if we did have knee jerk reactions like the rest of the world, America would be like the UK and Germany... where the government has replaced the adults. Thankfully, our constitution requires that we take these issues slow (I know we live in a 24 hr news cycle).
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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It's not America... it is the world [...] there is a rating system already applied to games. If parents do not care what their kids do then they are part of the problem - bad parents like bad kids. That said... nothing will change, and shouldn't. if we did have knee jerk reactions like the rest of the world, America would be like the UK and Germany... where the government has replaced the adults. Thankfully, our constitution requires that we take these issues slow (I know we live in a 24 hr news cycle).
Thats a fair point, I like that.

If I were to look at the world like a vast experiment, I'd see America as the Control Group. No limit on what otherwise would be the status-quo. I'd see Japan as the exact other side of the experiment with 100% controls and Australia as an interim where there were no controls, then they were introduced.

I'll leave that there as this is a video-game censorship thread and I am talking about unrelated things. As much as i'd love to derail this thing it isn't appropriate so I'll go back to the Guns. Good or Bad? thread where incidentally I think I have come up with a safe way to introduce Armed Teachers into schools.

Oooh, I forgot to say "Thank you, Glorious Leader!" for the video: Thanks Montoya! Great way to whio your Testies up into a Mass Debate!
 

Vavrik

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I agree... issues may include but not limited to... PARENTS, schools, society, norms, mental health, maturity, morality, sense of entitlement (disregard for others), conflict resolution, politics, culture, and the fact that people are animals and not machines to name a few.
There is something else though, that we often discount but the evidence is mounting that it's a real factor here. I haven't been able to find a really interesting chart i saw back in 2011 (at the CDC... I was doing some work there), but I did find these.

https://harvardmagazine.com/2012/11/soda-and-violence.
https://www.nap.edu/read/4420/chapter/7

The second of those is likely more relevant. Not sure if you've ever experienced hypoglycemia, I have. Anyone else who suffers it can tell you this too, it is an incredibly mood altering experience once blood sugar goes into the 80's. You can go from feeling either normal or a little shakey, to something that feels like being incredibly nervous in a few minutes. Then something aptly called "emotional incontinence" (i.e. emotional diarrhea") sets in. The nervous feeling starts to change, sometimes to a sense of anger, and even rage. not at anything in particular, but everything. If you ever experience it, you won't have very good judgement either.

Anyway, chart from 2011 compared consumption of sugar to violent crime over the 20th century and first few years of this century. The results were kind of startling, because one could draw the conclusion that there is a strong correlation. It wasn't a perfect match, but it was close enough they're still looking and collecting data.

One of the problems with drawing a conclusion is this: If you think the NRA is a powerful lobby, just wait till you meed the food and agriculture guys.
 

ColdDog

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I'll leave that there as this is a video-game censorship thread and I am talking about unrelated things. As much as i'd love to derail this thing it isn't appropriate so I'll go back to the Guns. Good or Bad? thread where incidentally I think I have come up with a safe way to introduce Armed Teachers into schools.
Why are you so inconsistent... I mean, if you want to take away guns because they hurt people, shouldn't you take away video games too? Wait... video games don't kill people, people kill people, right? :slight_smile:

Montoya wanted us to play nice... just have say this last thing.
 

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If only there was some way we could put a rating on the video game to let parents know that its not safe for six year olds to play and should be limited to mature adults. . . . we could call it the "Video game content rating system" and we could even have a bunch of morally smart people decide what those ratings are, we should call them the "Entertainment Software Rating Board" . . . . . Naaaaaaahh, that's just silly, nobody reads anymore, we just look at the shiny pictures with the flashy image and go "oooo, pretty"
I am well aware of the ESRB, but much like movies, ratings in games have gotten looser.

I am not proposing removing the ESRB, but merely enforcing them like you would a movie. AO, not under 18. M, not under 17 unless the parent is present. Also, give better descriptions of what causes the rating. What is currently there is lacking in not giving detail sufficient on a game. BTW, you know for most online games, you need to be 18 to have an account? Even WoW. That’s because to accept the TOS, you need to be of legal age to accept it, which is 18. When the rating requires an adult, make sure to explain what that particular ESRB means.

Again, make things more granular and enforce the ratings system.

Notice, I am not saying ban video games. I am saying educate the buyers.
 
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Vavrik

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Everyone seems to be ignoring the big issue with this meeting. It involved no statistical evidence. There were also no psychologists or behavioral scientists.
I don't think anyone misses that this meeting appears to have been politically motivated, to give the appearance of doing something. Nothing to do with science or statistical evidence. Those kind of things, facts, experts, and such just get in the way of politics anyway.
 

Radegast74

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<cue patriotic music> Hello America, I'm "CAPTAIN OBVIOUS" and I'm here to save you. . . yes save you from your own ignorance. Did you know that us Americans have managed to be on the bleeding. . . I mean leading edge of life termination for over 100 years. Yes'sir, we sure are an innovative bunch, in fact, we managed to find new ways to kill, murder, and terminate each other in new and creative ways so well that we even have laws protecting our right to do so. Don't let those video game CEO's take the credit you so richly deserve, do it like your great grandpa did, the old fashion way with can of whoop-ass, before rap, FPS games, and "commie" fake news tells you to do it for them. Don't take my word for it, just look at these fancy line graphs I found on the internet with data sources I'm too lazy to look up, because if its on the internet or the white house twitter feed, it must be true . . .. right.
I'm surprised you didn't reference this:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5IWK9sRYTs
 

ColdDog

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I'm surprised you didn't reference this:
LOL... the rest of the world hates our kick ass attitude except when we're protecting them from the Natzis and Russians... otherwise, were just crappy Americans. The rest of the world is like children (my arrogance) when they want something they are on our side... when they don't, they fight us tooth and nail
 
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