Help with some information for a speech

[Jackal]

I'm giving a speech in my speech class about how violent games like GTA aren't a problem in our society. People are just using them as an easy way out. I'm also putting blame on the parents for not looking at the ratings and thinking "oh it's just a game nothing wrong can come of this" thinking video games are still like Mario and haven't evolved.

I know it may seem a little harsh but I like to play video games especially the older ones like GTA, Duke Nukem, ect. I'm just sick of them getting the finger pointed at them when TV and the movies show just as much, but nope, everything wrong in our society is a video game problem.

I've gathered a whole lot of research on this subject but I was just going to ask since this is a video game forum if anybody has information FOR OR AGAINST (I want both sides of the argument as well). It would be greatly appriciated if you have any little tid bits or some article or study.

Thanks.

[Dizz]

I agree with you 100%, games are like movies which is just a form of entertainment. blaming a game for something you did is just dumb. how bout you blame the parents for bad supervision. when i was growing up i had no priivacy, if my mom want to come in my room she did and without knocking. there is no way i could build a bomb or stash a gun because my mom was not having that $hit. parents today dont care and they let there kids do whatever, when they need to be whoopin they kids when the act up...time out? whats that? we had time out to think about the things we did after we got that whoopin.

[Glock 19]

If games are rated M people under 18 should not even own. Would parents or retailers sell a kid an adult film No and should be same for M rated games. And i Agree with dizz how parents don't care my parents were super strict also could get nothing past them Plus my dad was In Marines for 30 yrs and a Drill Instructor learned not to cross him.

[salgado]

Yes parents are to blame, if they dont want their kids to play violent video games is so easy to set up the parental controls features in the consoles that way the consoles wont play games that are not appropiate for their kids, the same goes for TV's, dvd players, and computers, Parental Controls are so easy to set up even a 5 yer old can do it is just the parents who are lazzy and what to blame society... Used the Parental Controls people!!!!!

[NVR 20]

i agree with u also . parents should be responsible and not let their children buy games that are not suitable for them, the problem is many parents are not responsible but thats not our problem and its not the governments problem either.

[Jackal]

UPDATE

I found some stuff you might find interesting. I think it was in '02 the FTC did a study on video game sales, figures, ect. Of all the kids under 18, 8 out of 10 times the parents were there with the kid when they purchased it. I also think 30-40% of parents buy their children under 18 a M rated game. The kid isn't even with the parent when they get it.

Now these figures aren't close I'm just pulling them off the top of my head but I do have them in my papers here somewhere. They show that parents haven't been paying close attention to this type of thing. I know it may see harsh but parents need to know about this stuff. They know about movie ratings, they need to know the game ones too.

I have a question though I think will really help me out. In 2004 of all the computer and console games sold 16% were M rated. What I really want to know is if anybody knows what percentage of all movies sold are pornographic. Last I heard which was back in '01 or '02 it was about 14%. Now if I can show that there's a higher percentage of pornographic movies being sold than M rated games I think that'll really say something.

NOTE

In my speech class, about 1/4 of it is parents in their 30s and 40s. Another 1/4 are parents in their 20s with little kids. So as you can see I will be addressing this stuff to real parents and NOT just a bunch of college kids.

[cablekiller]

The majority of the problem is parents wanting the idiot box to raise their children. Anymore, parents become so involved in their "careers" and their "personal lives" that the kids get left out. By the time they realize their family IS their personal life, it's too late, and the damage has been done. People like that shouldn't be allowed to have children. In fact, there should be some sort of common sense test before anyone is allowed to have kids. IMO of course...

[Dizz]

The majority of the problem is parents wanting the idiot box to raise their children. Anymore, parents become so involved in their "careers" and their "personal lives" that the kids get left out. By the time they realize their family IS their personal life, it's too late, and the damage has been done. People like that shouldn't be allowed to have children. In fact, there should be some sort of common sense test before anyone is allowed to have kids. IMO of course...

Very well said.

[Don_Rico]

The majority of the problem is parents wanting the idiot box to raise their children. Anymore, parents become so involved in their "careers" and their "personal lives" that the kids get left out. By the time they realize their family IS their personal life, it's too late, and the damage has been done. People like that shouldn't be allowed to have children. In fact, there should be some sort of common sense test before anyone is allowed to have kids. IMO of course...


Indeed, I couldn't agree with you more.

[Dizz]

Hey Don Rico, is that the girl from "The Girl Next Door"? it looks just like her.

[Don_Rico]

Hey Don Rico, is that the girl from "The Girl Next Door"? it looks just like her.


Indeed it is, Elisha Cuthbert ;)

[Dizz]

Indeed it is, Elisha Cuthbert ;)

She is badd, i was watching that movie just last night.

[ChuckSteak0331]

I read it in one of the gaming magazines, that means its out there, but ever since video games have become mainstream, violence in youths has gone down a considerable amount. That is something worth checking up on. And this was a recent study as of last year. I'll have to look it up for you when I have some more time. So this whole video games makes kids violent is crap. It is an arguement based on a few incidents involving kids who say they played games. You dont hear about many kids growing up blaming their plumbing job on mario, or they learned how to smoke because of solid snake, or insist that there are aliens because of master chief. Alright, I'm done.

[salgado]

:withstupi :withstupi :withstupi :withstupi

[gps]

One popular instance that people use in their arguements against violent video games is, of course, Columbine High School.

Here we have a case where two psychologically unstable teens, angry at society, take it out on their classmates and teachers by means of extreme violence.

One of these teens played Doom and Quake online, he hosted his custom Doom maps, he also had a makeshift personal blog about his hatred toward society and his peers.

Take away the Doom tournaments, these kids were still unstable at best.

[Jackal]

Something I found of interest. Tales from the Crypt (the comic) from the 1950's got bad media attention and was banned from stands along with all of the "graphic horror" comics that were sold at the time. These comics made up only 1/6th of all comics at the time.

Sound familiar?

http://www.stevestiles.com/cryp.htm

I also need to know something else. The Hot Coffee Mode from GTA:SA, how do you get it? I know if you have it on the computer you can download the hack but I didn't understand how you could do it on the console. Isn't it much harder to do? I figured that'd be something to point out if it's really hard to get that on a console.

[Wingman1977]

Honestly, retailers should take some responsibility as well as the parents. There are some parents that are not even aware that there is a rating system in place for video games as odd as it sounds.. Retailers should educate parents about the rating system. Some actually do but not all.

[no anaesthesia]

just a practical advice if u get nervous speaking in front of a class........................try looking at the back of the classroom instead of looking people in the eyes looking people in the eyes can get distracting and if u look at the back wall of the classroom low enough the classmates will think that u r looking them straight into theyre eyes.....optical illusion or sumthing.....just thought it may help the actual performing. if u don't believe me try it out next time talking to ur friends instead of looking at theyre eyes try looking at their foreheads and see if theey notice ...............once again i have too much time on my hands