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ORIGINAL: MJH

What happened to your mate? Did he get addicted?

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ORIGINAL: jango

But in this 'happy slapping' media/internet age it seems to have reached a new level of dysfunctionality. Where a child can type a request for 'horrific war footage' or 'sexual assault' into google and then be exposed to some of the worst images that the internets most depraved minds can muster.

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ORIGINAL: Veins
blame the PARENTS.

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ORIGINAL: Noddie

I think a lot of the problems today are caused by a lack of self-respect. People don't feel there is any value or virtue in being honest, hardworking, peacable and polite. People no longer have a sense of "We're poor, but honest" or "We're alright. We don't have much, but what we have we worked for and we don't owe anyone anything". I think people used to have a sense of pride that they were "better" then criminals and wouldn't want to think on themselves as the kind of person who was a thief or a thug. Now days we're encouraged to get our sense of self-worth from consumer durables, sexual prowess, physical attractiveness and suchlike.

Years ago we didn't commit theft because we didn't want to be a thief. Now days were told that the offenders are really victims of society and they ought not to be stigmatised. That's your problem, right there. Lack of self-respect because we've lost faith in moral and spiritual values in exchange for material possessions and other superficial values of use to the ruling classes and their industrial bretheren.

I don't know what the answer is, though. Definately NOT the church, but I do feel their replacement with television and sport as the core of our community has led to this moral malaise we see all around us these days.

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ORIGINAL: Veins

I dont know... they removed guns from cartoons.... tom & jerry cant light up anymore... yet you hear of people being gunned down in the news more frequently than ever before...

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Does playing violent video games make players aggressive? It is a question that has taxed researchers, sociologists, and regulators ever since the first console was plugged into a TV and the first shots fired in a shoot 'em up game.

Writing in the International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry, Patrick Kierkegaard of the University of Essex, England, suggests that there is scant scientific evidence that video games are anything but harmless and do not lead to real world aggression. Moreover, his research shows that previous work is biased towards the opposite conclusion.

Video games have come a long way since the simplistic ping-pong and cascade games of the early 1970s, the later space-age Asteroids and Space Invaders, and the esoteric Pac-man. Today, severed limbs, drive-by shootings, and decapitated bodies captivate a new generation of gamers and gruesome scenes of violence and exploitation are the norm.

Award-winning video games, such as the Grand Theft Auto series, thrive on murder, theft, and destruction on every imaginable level explains Kierkegaard, and gamers boost their chances of winning the game by a virtual visit to a prostitute with subsequent violent mugging and recovery of monies exchanged. Games such as '25 To Life' remain controversial with storylines involving violent gangs taking hostages and killing cops, while games such as World of Warcraft and Doom are obviously unrelated to the art of crochet or gentle country walks.

Kierkegaard points out that these violent games are growing more realistic with each passing year and most relish their plots of violence, aggression and gender bias. But, he asks, "Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behaviour?"

Media scare stories about gamers obsessed with violent games and many research reports that claim to back up the idea that virtual violence breeds real violence would seem to suggest so. However, Kierkegaard has studied a range of such research papers several of which have concluded since the early 1980s that video games can lead to juvenile delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods and violent criminal behaviour such as assault and robbery. Evidence from brain scans carried out while gamers play also seem to support a connection between playing video games and activation of regions of the brain associated with aggression.

However, Kierkegaard explains, there is no obvious link between real-world violence statistics and the advent of video games. If anything, the effect seems to be the exact opposite and one might argue that video game usage has reduced real violence. Despite several high profile incidents in US academic institutions, "Violent crime, particularly among the young, has decreased dramatically since the early 1990s," says Kierkegaard, "while video games have steadily increased in popularity and use. For example, in 2005, there were 1,360,088 violent crimes reported in the USA compared with 1,423,677 the year before. "With millions of sales of violent games, the world should be seeing an epidemic of violence," he says, "Instead, violence has declined."

Research is inconclusive, emphasises Kierkegaard. It is possible that certain types of video game could affect emotions, views, behaviour, and attitudes, however, so can books, which can lead to violent behaviour on those already predisposed to violence. The inherent biases in many of the research studies examined by Kierkegaard point to a need for a more detailed study of video games and their psychological effects.

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Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said:
“Kierkegaard’s argument that there is no obvious link between real-world violence statistics and video games is an important contribution to the debate on video games and violence. Too often video games are blamed for all manner of society’s ills. Kierkegaard’s research helps to redress the balance.

“No single piece of research will settle the issue concerning the influence of video games conclusively. The crucial points are that children and young people should be protected from viewing inappropriate content, while adult gamers should typically be free to play mature games.”