Are caomputer games capable of teaching children to shoot?

[Curio]

There have been numerous lawsuits against computer game developers for teaching and inspiring children/teenagers to use/operate weapons. I myself would scoff at this, for I have played computer games such as Battlefield 1942 and Grand Theft Auto 3, and I have also shot firearms. The difference between the two is huge. (Voice of Reason, having served in Vietnam, I expect you will be able to back me up)

After the Columbine High School tragedy, there were several lawsuits against one of the most popular shooting games ever. Doom.

This seems particularly humorous, as the prosecution chose to sue the makers of Doom over a game that was developed inb 1993. It is 2D, you cannot look up or down, and the weapons automatically aim. It would seem much more logical to sue the makers of Rainbow Six, a hyper-realistic SWAT style combat game where pistols are inaccurate, 1 shot kills rule, as opposed to Doom's rocket launchers and demons. Or, even better, say that it was the fault of those who commited the crime and not sue anyone at all.

Thank you for listening to my rant on this, and please submit your own opinion.

[KWJams]

I would agree that to a point violence in movies or video games desensitizes people from reality.

You can't hit the refresh button in real life.

For those who don't care about others already it just further enforces their self centered outlook.

[Curio]

Originally posted by KWJams
I would agree that to a point violence in movies or video games desensitizes people from reality.

You can't hit the refresh button in real life.

For those who don't care about others already it just further enforces their self centered outlook.

I agree also... to a point. For me, violence in TV, movies and video games only desensitizes you to them on a screen. I saw a video of the columbine high school shooting, and was seriously disturbed for weeks. Also, I read "Give a Boy a Gun" and that took me aback a bit too.

[KWJams]

Years ago one of my sons was at a neighbors house playing and they were jumping on a trampoline.
My son did something to make the other kid mad and so he kicked my son in the face.
He did not break his nose or his neck when he fell off the trampoline but it did hurt him pretty bad.
See, they had been watching all those Kung-Fu movies where the good guy gets kicked in the face thirty times and spits out a dribble of blood and continues fighting.
They were desensitized by those movies into thinking that it is normal to kick someone in the face.
When I was younger the Three Stooges was about as violent as things would get on TV, yet we kids understood that hitting somebody in the head with a hammer and a "boink noise" happens was not real.

[Curio]

Then your kid and that kid are a lot different then the kids I know.

[Curio]

also, you are being off topic. The topic is- do video games teach kids to shoot?

[KWJams]

Then your question can be answered yes and no. :D

A person can learn to shoot a pretend gun but that does not make them proficient with a weapon.

[Eric]

Racecar drivers use racing simulators to better themselves in the cockpit and I knew nothing about deer hunting until I played a few rounds of Deer Hunter. Now I feel I could bag myself a buck!:p

Having said that, I believe that it takes a lot more than a violent movie or video game to provoke a child into kicking another child in the head. Its the child's environment outside the video game/violent movie that matters, be it his/her parents, teacher or friends. It seems like a fairly obvious, but it still true.

No matter how many violent video games I have played or how many violent movies I have seen (and there have been plenty), I was still extremely disturbed by Kill Bill. I have seen plenty in my day and I can't say that I am desensitized. And that's a good thing!

[Simon666]

Originally posted by Eric
No matter how many violent video games I have played or how many violent movies I have seen (and there have been plenty), I was still extremely disturbed by Kill Bill. I have seen plenty in my day and I can't say that I am desensitized. And that's a good thing!
The violence in Kill Bill was pathetically unrealistic so it is rather amusing how bad and campy it is than how "real" it is. I thought the movie sucked and it is overhyped. Some fun scenes though.

[DRMIZER]

On Point: NO

[Vic]

it´s quite logical, that a kid whos parents never are at home and don´t teach them anything and learn all thing sonly in television, internet and computergames won´t be quite able to distinct reality and virtual reality.

a normal kid that also goes out a bid, plays with other kids as every normal kid, he won´t have many problems handling computergames or violent movies.

Computer games don´t make normal children to killers, computergames only give sick minded children more ideas on how to kill people or make agressive kids even more agressive.

it´s all relative for each kid.

but in the end it´s always about education. a child that kicks some other kid in the face while jumping on a trampoline, such a kid must have some serious issues.

[Duo_Maxwell]

it's pretty hard to go from keyboard and mouse to a working rifle or pistol.

It does desezntize us, but hardly teaches children to be a proficient shot.

Even air gun and BBS are vastly different then a real weapon.