Why are video games so often blamed for mass shootings?

[webfact]

 

As Thai authorities try to uncover the motive behind a 14-year-old suspect’s shooting spree at the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok on October 3rd, some media outlets have discovered that the suspect had a game addiction and mental health issues.

 

Oftentimes, video games have been blamed for mass shootings, as many of them depict acts of violence which may trigger players to commit crimes in real life.

 

-It’s unfair-

 

In light of the recent shootings, “Don’t blame video games” was one of the top-trending hashtags on social media in Thailand, where netizens complained that not all players will commit violent crimes in real life after playing video games.

 

Among the first to speak up was the Progressive Game Industry. They claim that some media outlets, reporting that a perpetrator is a “game addict”, creates a misconception that all game enthusiasts will commit violent crimes. This, they say, has significantly damaged the reputation of Thailand’s gaming industry.

 

“I think it’s unfair,” says Sasimaporn Pagdeepudsa, CEO of Thai gaming platform Gamiqo and a representative of the Progressive Game Industry, a collective which aims to elevate the gaming industry and e-sports in Thailand.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2023-10-16

 

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[OneMoreFarang]

People want easy answers.

Like: violent games make people violent in real life.

 

Is it correct? No. Is that maybe a factor, together with many other factors? Yes.

But that would be too difficult to understand and comprehend for many people.

 

I like this summary:

There is always an easy answer to any complex problem.

And mostly it's wrong. 

[FolkGuitar]

Personally, I don't think video game 'cause' the shootings, only that they desensitize kids to death, a condition that they may 'understand' on a scientific level, but of which they don't fully 'internalize' at that age, so that the games gives the unbalanced ones 'permission' and 'inspiration' to act out.

[Chris Daley]

The argument has repeatedly been thrown out of court.  It is worthless now.

 

The suspect is basically saying they are mentally ill at that point.  In some cases the suspect has even admitted 'no it wasn't the games I just wanted to kill the bully at school' lol.

 

I think it is used as a very thin last resort by lawyers.

[Pouatchee]

because todays new generation has a gene called 'retardism' and they are not raised with any moral boundaries. i am a teacher and i have witnessed this decline in kids over the decades. much has to do with the fact that kids can do no harm and that there are no consequences in life

[bkk6060]

I think yes, the games are a factor.

It is like people who grow up in abusive families sadly, they end up being abusers.  Being bombarded with the violence and death of these games all day certainly could cause an undeveloped mind to be swayed imo.

[Gottfrid]

Why are video games so often blamed for mass shootings?

The answer is incredibly simple. It´s just not a good combination to engage in a virtual world where they shoot-the-5hit-out-of-everything and a mental disorder. Just too easy to mix virtual life and reality, I guess. However, for mentally healthy is should not pose a problem.

[JonnyF]

It's easier to blame video games than it is to blame society, parents, social media, lack of mental health care etc.

 

I remember when I was a kid it was horror movies getting the blame (Nightmare on Elm Street etc.). Now it's video games like Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty. Ridiculous.  

 

 

[riclag]

18 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

It's easier to blame video games than it is to blame society, parents, social media, lack of mental health care etc.

 

I remember when I was a kid it was horror movies getting the blame (Nightmare on Elm Street etc.). Now it's video games like Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty. Ridiculous.  

 

 

I agree with your first paragraph.

 Its my opinion the fanatical who spend many hours each  day fantasizing and playing out pretend especially the minds of mush ,it can lead to a warped sense of reality!

 

 

 

[pacovl46]

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

I think yes, the games are a factor.

It is like people who grow up in abusive families sadly, they end up being abusers.  Being bombarded with the violence and death of these games all day certainly could cause an undeveloped mind to be swayed imo.

Literally billions of people totally contradict your statement. The number of people who play these games and commit these crimes, in comparison to the number of people who play the games and do not commit gun crimes is extremely small! 

 

 

[fredwiggy]

8 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Literally billions of people totally contradict your statement. The number of people who play these games and commit these crimes, in comparison to the number of people who play the games and do not commit gun crimes is extremely small! 

 

 

Nothing wrong with his statement. Children who are abused are a lot more likely to grow up to be abusers than those who grew up in a non abusive, caring environment. It's where bullies come from. And he did say an undeveloped mind, which I'm sure he meant as one that's been subject to abuse and or neglect, is likely to be swayed by playing the games, because it does desensitize kids against violence. People who commit gun crimes against innocents are mentally unstable all of the time. It starts at home, or a relatively small few are born that way. Billions do in fact play these games, and yes, a tiny fraction are influenced by them and act out violently using guns.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Oftentimes, video games have been blamed for mass shootings, as many of them depict acts of violence which may trigger players to commit crimes in real life.

And I have no doubt that there are Thais who drive as if they're playing a video game. Same thing - can't separate a game from reality. Killing or driving like a maniac just becomes normal to them. The human race thrives on violence and aggression, which is why most video games are based on it.

[Baht Simpson]

It wasn't like that back in my day.

 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

because todays new generation has a gene called 'retardism' and they are not raised with any moral boundaries. i am a teacher and i have witnessed this decline in kids over the decades. much has to do with the fact that kids can do no harm and that there are no consequences in life

That was born out of the easy-going, be cool man attitude of the 60s. Those who grew up surrounded by that became parents, who passed on the lack of self-discipline attitude to their kids.

[ignore it]

Of course its the vid games.

 

 

You think it might be their parents?

[Yellowtail]

27 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Literally billions of people totally contradict your statement. The number of people who play these games and commit these crimes, in comparison to the number of people who play the games and do not commit gun crimes is extremely small! 

 

 

The same could be said of gun owners, yes?

[Pouatchee]

8 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

That was born out of the easy-going, be cool man attitude of the 60s. Those who grew up surrounded by that became parents, who passed on the lack of self-discipline attitude to their kids.

agreed. my old man is 94. terrible father. micro manager and my brother and sis suck up to him for fear of being disinherited. the new generation is gender confused and who knows what will result from that. things arent getting any better. the world needs to be shaken up, yet with all the wars going on right now we have yet to learn a thing as a species

[fredwiggy]

7 minutes ago, ignore it said:

Of course its the vid games.

 

 

You think it might be their parents?

Latch key kids, absent and or abusive and neglectful parents, violence prone peers, media addiction, lack of real punishment for earlier violent crimes.

[klauskunkel]

blaming video games is less confrontational and easier than blaming parents

Edited October 16, 2023 by klauskunkel

[brianthainess]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Oftentimes, video games have been blamed for mass shootings,

Only in countries with no real gun control like Thailand and the US

[atpeace]

50 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Literally billions of people totally contradict your statement. The number of people who play these games and commit these crimes, in comparison to the number of people who play the games and do not commit gun crimes is extremely small! 

 

 

 Games I doubt have much if any impact but I bet there is a correlation between extreme enthusiasts and them becoming killers even if gaming isn't the cause.  

 

Last game I played was Asteroids in an mall arcade 30 years ago.  Didn't make me feel  the urge kill but obviously I'm a little out of touch.  I did punch my brother after he took me off the Pacman leaderboard.  

[Yellowtail]

15 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Only in countries with no real gun control like Thailand and the US

Yes, everyone knows it's the guns! 

[KhunLA]

Because blaming the govts, and institutions, puppeteers of the slanted economy for destroying the 'nuclear' family would be admitting guilt and taking responsibility.

 

Creating hard economic times, when both parents have to work, and kids are raising themselves with no moral values instilled from responsible adults.

 

If even 2 parents are around at all, as divorce rates skyrocket, many caused again by economic woes.

 

 

[Purdey]

Yesterday it was weed, today it is games. Blamers got to blame.

[Marsupienemi]

4 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

And I have no doubt that there are Thais who drive as if they're playing a video game. Same thing - can't separate a game from reality. Killing or driving like a maniac just becomes normal to them. The human race thrives on violence and aggression, which is why most video games are based on it.

I don't know if you drive like a maniac, but what you just wrote is called a shortcut. But this one will take you down a dead-end road. 

You blame video games, but what you don't understand is that these people have tipped over into madness. And madness can manifest itself in many different ways. Except we don't talk about it on TV. So your shortcut is murders = video games.
What tips you over the edge into madness is a trigger. But these people had an underlying predisposition. Waiting for an occasion to show up. These people are on probation, but they don't know it. 
Here are a few examples I've witnessed: 
A violent emotional shock: Attack, death, accident...
I've seen 3 cases: The first one : After the explosion of a chemical fertilizer warehouse outside the city, all the windows in the city center exploded. All means of communication were saturated and my ex-girlfriend didn't hear from her father and little brother for 3 hours. The intensity of the stress caused her brain to burn out and she began to have paranoid attacks. She was convinced that she was under constant police surveillance. It wasn't easy, but we managed to get her to see a doctor. She was constantly on medication, because she knew it could happen again at any time. And unfortunately It happened 20 years later when she was married with children...
The 2nd, after the death of their father, the brother of a friend became crazy and he wanted to kill his sister, blaming her of being responsible. He end up in a mental hospital.
The 3rd was the husband of the woman who initially trained me in my profession. He hanged himself. 
 

A 2nd example is taking hard drugs (and in this case, it's more on this side that I'd look, given the ravages of Yaba and Ice): What few people know is that when you take a hard drug for the first time, you're playing Russian roulette with your brain because it's the perfect trigger. But so is taking it in large quantities, because these people don't sleep, and the brain becomes suffocated and switches into madness. 
 

Where video games may be indirectly responsible is in the case of the so-called no-lifers (who played World of Warcraft, among other games). But it wasn't the game that was responsible, but their lifestyle: lack of sleep + poor diet.

In fact, these cases of madness are more frequent than we think, but nobody dares to talk about them. If you witness a case and talk about it, you'll see that tongues are loosened. Murder is only a tiny fraction of the consequences of madness, but it makes the headlines. 

Be aware that brain damage is irreversible, so take care of it. 

[Bangkok Barry]

7 minutes ago, Marsupienemi said:

I don't know if you drive like a maniac, but what you just wrote is called a shortcut. But this one will take you down a dead-end road. 

You blame video games, but what you don't understand is that these people have tipped over into madness. And madness can manifest itself in many different ways. Except we don't talk about it on TV. So your shortcut is murders = video games.

I believe that in some cases video games might be a contributing factor. They are built on the thrill of killing and/or aggressive behaviour, and there is a danger in the mentally unstable, and you appear to know several who fit into that category, that the line between fantasy and reality become blurred. Killing or driving recklessly, in their damaged mind, becomes the norm if done to excess. And there are plenty who do play these games to excess, spending hour upon hour 'killing'.

 

Humans can be very fragile mentally and can lose touch with reality, as you have experienced.

[SABloke]

8 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

I think yes, the games are a factor.

It is like people who grow up in abusive families sadly, they end up being abusers.  Being bombarded with the violence and death of these games all day certainly could cause an undeveloped mind to be swayed imo.

Well, computer games are relatively modern. So if they had any effect, we would have noticed it by now. However, most stats point to the developed world as a whole becoming less violent. If violent games were to blame today, were books containing violence blamed before that, and what before that? 

[NoDisplayName]

Why are video games so often blamed?

 

It's the new morality.

 

Nothing is ever, ever your fault.

 

Somebody or something external cause it, made you do it.

 

It was society.

 

It was WHite suppemacismists.

 

It was capitalism.

 

It was colonialism.

 

It's not their fault, they're blameless.

 

Dey dindunuffin.

[ifmu]

its the easiest way to blame others  

not   guns  parents   where it should be

[swm59nj]

I have listened and read news reports regarding a number of mass shootings around the world . The majority if any were not said to be caused by video games.  And just because the 14 year old might have watched them doesn’t mean that created the issue.