Are Videogames the cause of society’s problems?

Those who are regular listeners to BBC’s Radio 5 Live service may have come across a little piece they did only this morning, about videogame addiction (details can be found here: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/4... and in previously documented BBC style, they were wholeheartedly biased against videogames. We here are Splinter Gamer find this unfair, and this is our reaction to it:

[deadreckoning666]

Well, its the cause of SOME of society's problems. Those animals in Korea who neglect their children for a video game should rot in jail forever.

[Zimmerman]

I think there are more subtle effects with video games as their cause, but this can be said of anything.

It's kinda like tv; Most of us watch it and would deny that it influences ourselves in a significant way, yet we know t.v. alters societies behavior as a whole.

Video games don't change "who I am", and I'm not gonna go out an kill someone due to this very fact. I am not a murderer, will never be. I'm sure most of you would agree that video games are probably not at fault in cases of crime, etc.

Even still, this website exists only to cater to video games. People who have destructive video game habits waste most of their time, and we are having this conversation primarily as a result of video games. All of these things have an effect on society as a whole when added together.

Most of this type of influence is so subtle we'd be very hard pressed to define it.

On the whole, I definitely DON'T think video games have a positive influence on society if that means anything. Now that i think of it, vg's contribute to materialistic attitudes.

If you take that to be true, we could show that video games don't have NO impact on society and, by process of elimination, say that video games must have a negative impact.

tl;dr

Who knows? They are not directly to blame for things, but they might could contribute.

[Army_of_Darkness]

Does that make me crazy?!

[Zimmerman]

I think we're all a little bit crazier than we like to let on :D

One thing is for sure, we are creatures of habit. Most of the things we do are done "just because". We are still largely animal in nature I fear.

[showtimefolks]

problem is every time someone goes on a rampage they blame games. i don't think gta or saint's row told us ever to go kill people

games are suppose to be a hobby and take some stress off your mind but some people go over kill like some who play WOW for weeks straight and than commit suicide i mean everything in life should have its place

game
life
work etc

[N4g_null]

Like most art it is only an reflection.

[ikkeweer]

One word: "addiction".
No hobby is a "definitive" cause of anything, but if it becomes an addiction, then yeah ofcourse it can be.
Put the word addiction behind any hobby/habbit and it can become a problem.

[xtremeimport]

the cause of todays issues is the fact that 1. parents are getting worse at monitoring their children. some because they are bad parents and others because both mom and dad are now working. but thats just an excuse. and 2. because 15yr olds are having babies and then instead of being taught its wrong they give them tv shows and they get to star on tv.

THATS societies problem. stop blasting shit tv into kids, get them playing sports and team activities then you will have a better world.

[thebudgetgamer]

yea, before video games the world was so much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[OhReginald]

I think I heard about the third one before somewhere.

[Motorola]

Society is the reason for Society's problems.

[schlanz]

bp is the reason for society's problems

[theonlylolking]

Nope, but justin bieber is...JK

[ScentlessApprentice7]

but he certainly is an example of what is wrong with today's bubblegum mickey mouse society.

[ForROME]

Nope - Articles like these - Are

[Xfanboy]

- http://www.youtube.com/watc...
obviously this helps society! & directors are completely sane!!

[danthegardner]

That was disgusting.Seriously GOW3 is baby stuff compared to that stuff. I wonder if we will have gore that detailed in games eventually.

[Dsnyder]

Technology as a whole is part of the problem. Its made things too easy for us. It can shop for us, write for us, do math for us and entertain us in a way that makes us pretty sedentary. The whole texting thing is making us pretty bad spellers and killing face to face conversation time. Not to mention the anonymity on the internet turns people into dicks. Technology has brought us so much but it may be our downfall one day if we rely on it too much.

[Gawdl3y]

Reminds me of Final Fantasy X... Or The Matrix...

[ShadowJetX]

Honestly, I avoid text talk as much as I can, in fact I rag on the people who openly use it in discussions.

The thing about the internet turning people into is completely true. Being anonymous on the internet pretty much means you can be pretty much anyone. And you know what happens when you give the average person any kinda power like that, they tend to abuse it ya'know.

[Octo1]

Nope. Society in general is Society's problem.Video games if it is a contributing factor to society's ills will be at the very bottom of this very very long list.

[Dsnyder]

Thats a pretty circular argument. You cant say something is bad because it is bad. There is no reasoning behind that.

[Octo1]

which is why I added IF. Video games is nothing more than a convenient scapegoat.

[GodOfGaming]

That kid in the pic looks like he is about to shit himself or he is trying to squeeze one out, LOL :D

[thehitman]

Again.......

[Ares84PS3]

No, not video games. Even though parents usually like to point fingers for their failure as a parent, video games are the least of the causes of societies problems.

Just a few minutes ago I had 5 black kids walk by my store. I was reading an article online in a calm state of mind. They yelled in the store like morons and started running and laughing, laughing did I say?? I mean screaming like a donkey. This is, ladies and gentleman is the state of todays youth in our society. This isn't a rare occurrence. This happens frequently in our beloved Queens Center Mall in Queens, New York City. People especially teenagers here (with a few exceptions) are extremely uneducated and without any manners.

It's because teenagers are having babies at the age of 14 than don't know what to do. Parent's fail all the time and than blame video games which is, in my opinion is ridiculous.

[Samus HD]

no - Fools are

[Bathyj]

Yes they are.
I read a lot about history and I'm pretty sure there were no major conflicts in the world until after 1972 when Pong was invented.

Do I really have to put a forwardslash and a big S here?

[ShadowJetX]

Buddy, what the hell are you on?

Nothing is worse then the nukes the US has stored away (not to mention any other countries). I don't think video games could cause anything worse then the Hiroshima bombing or whats going on in Darfur. Stop being delusional. Video games only cause problems in single individuals, not a whole, though it's quite unfortunate and sad when you hear of those stories about Korea or other places.

[Bathyj]

So you're saying I really do have to put a forwardslash and a big S here?

[1PC2PS33360]

the issue is morons and scumbags breed at a rate of 10 to 1 in thier favor compared to decent people.

The solution is simple, end all tax incentives, public school and further assistance to parents and watch the world magically clense itself of idiots. Poor, ignorant slobs would not be in such a hurry to replicate should their 'gubment handouts no longer be there, also if they had to pay $6000 a year for billy to attend school, or, shocker here, actualy educate the child theirselves, well, I think we would see a major decline in birthrate(this is a very very good thing)

[Sidewinder-]

Oh why YES! Gaming MUST be the cause of the economic downturn and the Afganistan war.

Gaming is the cause of mass unemployment and the lack of available jobs.

Gaming is the cause of fucking ridiculous tuition fees and cuts in government spending.

...

Its the fault of bankers and bureaucrats...and the Illuminati lol.

[V0LT]

No, there were wars and much more worse things way before video games.

[DaBadGuy]

As Motorola said further up, society is responsible for society's problems. Video games just get their inspiration from society.

It's not like people weren't killing each other in the streets before GTA. Its not like people weren't torturing and killing each other before Manhunt.

Stuff like that in videogames comes from society, not the other way around.

[Orionsangel]

Yes! Video Games were the cause of WWII.

[zackacloud]

You mean call of duty world at world cause it i totally agree with you , you read my mind

Come on the society problems and sadness create game to avoid the problems

Now instead of watch news about murder and pathetic war etc. i play game avoid the madness of other people,SO that would make me a threat person for society ??

gamers who play want to have a fun not to learn how to threat on their society

heatler was the result of the dark that was inside the people

Why all people want to say videogames produce killers and problems makers SKIPING the obvious resaons ??

[bobrea]

sigh....no

[Boody-Bandit]

Humans are violent by nature and believe it or not we are a lot less violent today then we were thousands of years ago. These articles have been beaten to death and are a waste of bandwidth.

[SpLinT]

what makes a 'good society' ? what is good? we created society , there is no such thing as good or normal.

[nnotdead]

Baby boomers and Gen X are the cause of society's problems. gen Y should be starting to screw things up pretty soon, but i fear for how much will still be left to screw up once gen Z comes along.

[Fel08]

No, irresponsible parents are.