Here we go again
by Jermaine Morgan · in General Discussion · 12/20/2007 (11:34 am) · 12 replies
Another death due to a violent video game.
Its been in the news today that 2 older kids (her 16 year old sister and a 17 year old boy friend) who were babysitting a 7 year old girl, decided they wanted copy some violent moves from the game "mortal kombat" and try these moves on the little girl.
She the little girl was killed.
The older 2 charges as adults and facing 48 years in prison.
I personally dont think that its the game fault, but rather the parents and the retailers. I havent played mortal kombat lately so I dont know the rating, but, I do know that some stores dont sell mature or violent games to minor under 18. Even if the parent is there.
So I believe that all stores need to adopt this policy. No more mature games period not even if the parent is there!
The parents need to start taking responsibility. Those parents who buy there 8-9 year old kids mortal, tekken, God of War and other games with out looking at the rating.
I am so sick of hearing parents, news agencys, officials and other cry out that its the video games fault cause that is a load of BS.
In this case a 16 and 17 years kids should know not to do this, but if they had mental problems their parent should be very alert on what game a child is playing.
This is just like while back where the 5 year old climb the second floor window thinking he was spider man. He fell from the 2nd I think he lived not sure.
But in cases like above who is really at fault.
The Video Game Industry?
The Parents-----I tink so.
The kids?
what do you think?
Its been in the news today that 2 older kids (her 16 year old sister and a 17 year old boy friend) who were babysitting a 7 year old girl, decided they wanted copy some violent moves from the game "mortal kombat" and try these moves on the little girl.
She the little girl was killed.
The older 2 charges as adults and facing 48 years in prison.
I personally dont think that its the game fault, but rather the parents and the retailers. I havent played mortal kombat lately so I dont know the rating, but, I do know that some stores dont sell mature or violent games to minor under 18. Even if the parent is there.
So I believe that all stores need to adopt this policy. No more mature games period not even if the parent is there!
The parents need to start taking responsibility. Those parents who buy there 8-9 year old kids mortal, tekken, God of War and other games with out looking at the rating.
I am so sick of hearing parents, news agencys, officials and other cry out that its the video games fault cause that is a load of BS.
In this case a 16 and 17 years kids should know not to do this, but if they had mental problems their parent should be very alert on what game a child is playing.
This is just like while back where the 5 year old climb the second floor window thinking he was spider man. He fell from the 2nd I think he lived not sure.
But in cases like above who is really at fault.
The Video Game Industry?
The Parents-----I tink so.
The kids?
what do you think?
About the author
#2
There is much more than what you've stated Jermaine: the offenders were drunk, they did not directly claim they were mimicking moves from Mortal Kombat, there was a history of abuse on the girl, and so on and so on. They said they were "playing Mortal Kombat," as in playing "Cowboys and Indians."
You got one thing right, though. Blame is irrelevant at this point. Two young lives have been destroyed, and one innocent life is forever gone. You don't even have a foundation to argue that the parents or retailers are at fault. If you have to blame anyone, blame the people who committed the crime. Aside from being inebriated, they had full knowledge of what they were doing.
Check out the GamePolitics article I posted to get some good information and links.
12/20/2007 (12:54 pm)
Read this article for a more in depth coverage than what Jermaine has provided.There is much more than what you've stated Jermaine: the offenders were drunk, they did not directly claim they were mimicking moves from Mortal Kombat, there was a history of abuse on the girl, and so on and so on. They said they were "playing Mortal Kombat," as in playing "Cowboys and Indians."
You got one thing right, though. Blame is irrelevant at this point. Two young lives have been destroyed, and one innocent life is forever gone. You don't even have a foundation to argue that the parents or retailers are at fault. If you have to blame anyone, blame the people who committed the crime. Aside from being inebriated, they had full knowledge of what they were doing.
Check out the GamePolitics article I posted to get some good information and links.
#3
12/20/2007 (8:30 pm)
Oh i didnt see that article, I was watching the story on CNN. They didnt say they anything about people being drunk on the CNN story. I must have missed it.
#4
12/25/2007 (7:20 am)
The point is that a video game was mentioned. No matter what the circumstances, alcohol, abuse, stupidity, the video game industry will now be questioned yet again about their reaction. The industry will give the same answers it did last time: video game ratings, parents responsibility, retailers responsibility. Even legitimate answers look like they're casting blame. It comes down to stupid kids... and a poor little girl who had to pay for their stupidity.
#5
12/25/2007 (7:26 am)
AMEN TO THAT! 
#6
12/25/2007 (8:49 pm)
When is the last time a book, a movie, TV show, or music was blamed for something??? Do not every new media type get its turn on the wheel of blame? Thank the maker that laws and rules about this type of thing are NOT left up to the common everyday citizen. But fear the day public opinion becomes easy to manipulate.... Oh wait, its time to start the fear!
#8
12/26/2007 (12:20 pm)
Wow, yea a 16 and 17 year old who say they want to try out mortal kombat moves on a 7 year old girl? no no no no no. something fishy there man. 16 year olds know better. 
#9
Too bad the parents don't. I don't think it can be stressed enough what the effects of "vacant parents" are. People have kids, don't care to spend time with them, and then sit them in front of the TV or just let them roam the streets at all hours. Then, because deep down they know what their role in their kids' doings were, they feign disbelief that their kids were responsible to such a degree that they themselves believe it.
Real parenting would see to it that a kid would think about consequences before performing an action in order to avoid negative outcomes (sort of why us hairless apes evolved that social behavior to begin with, since it was counterproductive to the survival of our species for Jimmy to go poke the sabertooth with the stick).
Problem is, tell a politician to tell his constituents to get off their asses and live up to their responsibilities. Some months later, he'll be out of a job. So he does the next best thing (for him): He convinces himself that if he helps to eliminate something that looks like it could be sort of influencing the environmental factors that maybe do something to a kid's brain, kind of, then he can reduce the problem, and move the ball forward. And get reelected too.
So he goes to the media, who are hard at work trying to uncover all of the things that are dangerous to society, except for society itself, because it goes without saying and if they get too preachy about how people should raise their kids, they'll lose sales. Happy to be able to point out the big new threat to kids, and save the day, they run the story from the politician, with the help of some sources they dug up to reinforce the point (because we all know it's the truth, except for those who want to make excuses or cover it up, of course). They turn a blind eye to the people who did the review because they know that those people have an angle of their own to work- but who cares, as long as the right thing gets done by the end of the day. And they'll make sales. And their career will get a boost. Bonus.
And the researchers conduct dubious studies about kids who get violent, and put videogames in front of them and watch them go apeshit, and say "oh look, Jimmy flips out when he kills people, and loses control when he's frustrated- see how bad games are!". And then the researchers give the kids back to their parents, who continue ignoring their kids and letting them spin out of control. Because hey, that researcher told them that the reason they're like that is because of the media, and they're so busy, they have no choice but to sit the kid in front of the TV, and they can't relate to kids anyway, and they did bad things when they were young too so can't chide a kid without being a hypocrite, so why bother? It's useless, right?
Right. Thank God they have those pills, so that they can medicate those kids into behaving, and thank God thay have those laws, so they can keep kids from breaking the 14 other laws they used to break to do bad things, and thank God the politicians, media, and those "researchers" all pointed out who was really to blame. It's those games! The ones that the kid saw on the TV (that they sat the kid in front of), and the ones that the kid begged them for (which they subsequently caved into because they're weak minded), and the same games that invaded their home and made their kids do all those bad things (that they never really talked to their kids about). It's a good thing all those countries like Sudan and Somalia don't have videogames, or else they'd have to cope with violent crimes as well!
::pant pant:: Ranting all done. Just had to get it out...
12/26/2007 (1:08 pm)
Quote:16 year olds know better.
Too bad the parents don't. I don't think it can be stressed enough what the effects of "vacant parents" are. People have kids, don't care to spend time with them, and then sit them in front of the TV or just let them roam the streets at all hours. Then, because deep down they know what their role in their kids' doings were, they feign disbelief that their kids were responsible to such a degree that they themselves believe it.
Real parenting would see to it that a kid would think about consequences before performing an action in order to avoid negative outcomes (sort of why us hairless apes evolved that social behavior to begin with, since it was counterproductive to the survival of our species for Jimmy to go poke the sabertooth with the stick).
Problem is, tell a politician to tell his constituents to get off their asses and live up to their responsibilities. Some months later, he'll be out of a job. So he does the next best thing (for him): He convinces himself that if he helps to eliminate something that looks like it could be sort of influencing the environmental factors that maybe do something to a kid's brain, kind of, then he can reduce the problem, and move the ball forward. And get reelected too.
So he goes to the media, who are hard at work trying to uncover all of the things that are dangerous to society, except for society itself, because it goes without saying and if they get too preachy about how people should raise their kids, they'll lose sales. Happy to be able to point out the big new threat to kids, and save the day, they run the story from the politician, with the help of some sources they dug up to reinforce the point (because we all know it's the truth, except for those who want to make excuses or cover it up, of course). They turn a blind eye to the people who did the review because they know that those people have an angle of their own to work- but who cares, as long as the right thing gets done by the end of the day. And they'll make sales. And their career will get a boost. Bonus.
And the researchers conduct dubious studies about kids who get violent, and put videogames in front of them and watch them go apeshit, and say "oh look, Jimmy flips out when he kills people, and loses control when he's frustrated- see how bad games are!". And then the researchers give the kids back to their parents, who continue ignoring their kids and letting them spin out of control. Because hey, that researcher told them that the reason they're like that is because of the media, and they're so busy, they have no choice but to sit the kid in front of the TV, and they can't relate to kids anyway, and they did bad things when they were young too so can't chide a kid without being a hypocrite, so why bother? It's useless, right?
Right. Thank God they have those pills, so that they can medicate those kids into behaving, and thank God thay have those laws, so they can keep kids from breaking the 14 other laws they used to break to do bad things, and thank God the politicians, media, and those "researchers" all pointed out who was really to blame. It's those games! The ones that the kid saw on the TV (that they sat the kid in front of), and the ones that the kid begged them for (which they subsequently caved into because they're weak minded), and the same games that invaded their home and made their kids do all those bad things (that they never really talked to their kids about). It's a good thing all those countries like Sudan and Somalia don't have videogames, or else they'd have to cope with violent crimes as well!
::pant pant:: Ranting all done. Just had to get it out...
#10
I'm gonna train my kids to be cage fighters anyway.
12/26/2007 (9:44 pm)
Lol.. Im not reading that.I'm gonna train my kids to be cage fighters anyway.
#11
Unfortunately, the area of politics you brought up is not limited to video games. The cycle of potential political candidates pandering to the masses has been a long running trend.
About the research studies: thanks to GamePolitics, I have been able to read the more prominent studies performed by analysts. Most cases are actually pretty enlightening and properly conducted. However, the opponents of video games take the results of these studies and twists the words to their own benefits. I'm sure you are aware of such tactics used by Mr. Jack Thompson, Joel Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Lyndon LaRouche, and so on.
Disclaimer: The rest of this post is very long and involves scientific research. Stop reading here if you have a short attention span, or just plain ol' don't care
Here's a good example:
In 2006, an Indiana University Study found that while exposed to violent media, adolescents experienced increased activity in the areas of the brain responsible for aggression. The results of this study are trumpeted by Mr. Jack Thompson, Dr/ Susan Bartell (see this link for her response), and others. They never provide links to these studies, and never talk about the full results.
If you read through the "Media Violence Exposure and Executive Functioning in Aggressive and Control Adolescents" findings from Indiana University School of Medicine, you can get some pretty interesting information. The findings are cover the areas of the brain (amygdala, cerebral cortex, prefrontal lobes) vital to emotional control and executive functioning and how they are affected by violent media (both TV and games).
Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, researches will scan the brain of an adolescent before and after exposure to violent media.
Aggression: an emotion.
Violence: an action.
So, the research ("dubious studies") performed is actually quite useful and should not be dismissed. Reading these findings and doing your own research allows you to fight back instead of just sitting around and complaining like the vast majority does (about anything).
What does any of this have to do with the original topic? You can't just find one or two areas to blame (parents, drugs, games, society, music, etc). Human begins are the most complex organisms on this planet. We have the ability to create and destroy, for logical reasons or lack there of. Some things cannot be blamed, and some horrible acts cannot be prevented.
(edits for grammar, formatting, and linking)
12/27/2007 (6:14 am)
@Ted - Since quite a few variables are unknown in this specific case, trying to figure out which of your claims is the cause of this is an act of grabbing at straws. It is unknown if the children who committed the crime received proper emotional nourishment from the parents, if they were medicated, or what they were exposed to growing up.Unfortunately, the area of politics you brought up is not limited to video games. The cycle of potential political candidates pandering to the masses has been a long running trend.
About the research studies: thanks to GamePolitics, I have been able to read the more prominent studies performed by analysts. Most cases are actually pretty enlightening and properly conducted. However, the opponents of video games take the results of these studies and twists the words to their own benefits. I'm sure you are aware of such tactics used by Mr. Jack Thompson, Joel Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Lyndon LaRouche, and so on.
Disclaimer: The rest of this post is very long and involves scientific research. Stop reading here if you have a short attention span, or just plain ol' don't care
Here's a good example:
In 2006, an Indiana University Study found that while exposed to violent media, adolescents experienced increased activity in the areas of the brain responsible for aggression. The results of this study are trumpeted by Mr. Jack Thompson, Dr/ Susan Bartell (see this link for her response), and others. They never provide links to these studies, and never talk about the full results.
If you read through the "Media Violence Exposure and Executive Functioning in Aggressive and Control Adolescents" findings from Indiana University School of Medicine, you can get some pretty interesting information. The findings are cover the areas of the brain (amygdala, cerebral cortex, prefrontal lobes) vital to emotional control and executive functioning and how they are affected by violent media (both TV and games).
Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, researches will scan the brain of an adolescent before and after exposure to violent media.
Quote:"Additionally, a considerable amount of evidence points to the prefrontal region as a key brain area responsible for executive functioning (Lezak, 1983), and prior studies have provided preliminary evidence of the importance of this area in violent behavior (Filley et al., 2001)."In shorter words:
- -They found increased activity involving the amygdala[li]-Since the amygdala structures play a vital role in emotion control, it can be concluded that aggression would be one response brought for from increased activity.
Aggression: an emotion.
Violence: an action.
So, the research ("dubious studies") performed is actually quite useful and should not be dismissed. Reading these findings and doing your own research allows you to fight back instead of just sitting around and complaining like the vast majority does (about anything).
What does any of this have to do with the original topic? You can't just find one or two areas to blame (parents, drugs, games, society, music, etc). Human begins are the most complex organisms on this planet. We have the ability to create and destroy, for logical reasons or lack there of. Some things cannot be blamed, and some horrible acts cannot be prevented.
(edits for grammar, formatting, and linking)
#12
Reminds me of my own childhood. Good times...
12/27/2007 (6:34 am)
Quote:I'm gonna train my kids to be cage fighters anyway.
Reminds me of my own childhood. Good times...
Torque 3D Owner Caylo Gypsyblood
So i blame the human race.