Does GTA warp peoples mind ?

[Death2Drugs]

Why is this even here? This generally has nothing to do with GTA V.

[GRINCH ASS BITCH]

If GTA influences you to do something horrific, then there is something messed up with you in the first place.

This.

 

GTA is not at fault, it's the underlying problems that are to blame, yet GTA has been (and most likely will be) used as a scapegoat.

[Cosmic Gypsy]

if you are extremely suggestible, mentally weak, fragile and young, and left without parental guidance or decent opinions. then yes GTA could warp your mind.

but someone like that should not be playing GTA in the first place. in fact the game has an 18 rating. 18+ year olds who get warped by video games are obviously in need of psychiatric help.

 

GTA could and should be more violent. and most people will be left completely unaffected.

[TheTrooth]

 

If GTA influences you to do something horrific, then there is something messed up with you in the first place.

This.

 

GTA is not at fault, it's the underlying problems that are to blame, yet GTA has been (and most likely will be) used as a scapegoat.

The bottom line is, GTA is generally 18+ for a reason. For people who can always indentify themselves as playing a game, and leave it as that. The mature mind. It's what ratings are for.

 

It's nothing to do with blood, swearing and violence, those concepts are almost guaranteed in the life of anybody who can make use of a mouse and keyboard.

[Civkiller]

I work in a high stress environment, video games for me in general is a stress reliever. GTA games allows people to do things that in the real world would have it's consequences, for myself I love cars so stealing cars and getting into some crazy chases is what I like to do in the game which I would NEVER do in real life just cause of the consequences. Games let me glimpse into what it would be like to actually do that instead of thinking "hmm I wonder" then actually go and do it. Besides a hooker or two from time to time I really never get the urge to go on sme massive killing spree in the game unless it was a part of a mission (that's what BF3 is for ) lol

 

I believe that kids (0-14) which that's what it's labeled for should not play these types of games although their parents still buy it for them without realizing what the game is about or maybe they do but they buy it anyways to get the kid to shut up about buying the game for them. Their minds are still in development and face it most children still don't understand and/or comprehend between what would happen in real life compared to the video game world then you see in the news "kid steals parent's car" "kid brings guns to school" < how the hell des a kid get a gun from the PARENTS closet... how out some parents be responsible and protect their children properly as opposed to buying games like this then blame it on R* and video game industry in general.

 

Sorry about the rant but I hate when people blame everyone else except for themselves like they should, think before you do people!!

[chapman_bobby]

This is going to be long because this is the type of topic I really like.

 

Violence in video games can, at a young and impressionable age, cause certain changes in the brain. When we’re young our minds find things to lock onto. We go through several cycles of adaption, usually starting with our siblings when we compete with one another for a parent’s attention. If your brother happens to be a natural artist for example, you might find you get far less attention for your attempts at art and will grow to find art is not a viable fit for you. You may however have a natural propensity towards scholarly studies, and may have learned to read from an early age. Your parents then lavish you with attention for your talent enforcing that behavior. This subtle allocation of resources (in this case attention) helps breed the differences that separate us from our siblings and ultimately from our fellow man. We go through another such transition when we hit puberty. Our minds, now flooded with all those lovely chemicals that make us horny as all hell, look for things to understand what its feeling. If a child stumbles across mom’s ball gag and black leather mask or dad’s bondage magazines the brain equates that visual stimulus of the items to what it is experiencing sexually, and it’s a good bet that kids going to be tied up at some point in his future.

 

When you couple this with the mindset of someone who has only recently discarded the fantasy of Santa Claus but hasn’t yet let go of his/her own fantasies they may carry around with them, you get a pretty dangerous breeding ground of impressionability as the mind is looking for things to lock onto to carve out their own distinctive personality.

 

That said, an adult who has a normal healthy brain capable of distinguishing fantasy from reality is pretty much safe, and in my experience benefits from playing violent video games. We are a creature that has survived violent climates and very real physical dangers to claw our way to the top of the food chain. We still walk around in the world carrying a flight, fight, and freeze response we developed to ward off predators and competing rivals. Violence is a critical part of how we survived to get here, and you can’t just turn that off like a light switch. We have made amazing strides as a race to moving disagreements from the level of violence to simple verbal discourse, and this is despite the rise of mass media. I believe this is in part because we are finding other ways to stimulate the same areas in our brain with things like sports (primitive territorial wars in a sense), violent media, and video games. So I’d say that if you’re old enough to really distinguish between fantasy and reality, video games do not encourage your violent tendencies, but instead satiates them in a very healthy and safe environment, evolves the manner in which we tell stories and share experiences, gives us unique challenges that exercise our minds in very interesting and healthy ways, and helps us become a better species in the process.

[JoshGTAfreak]

I think a lot of the time, the person who committed the crimes because of GTA etc. are usually suffering from some sort of psychological disorder. They don't have a proper grip on reality so they lose their knowledge of right and wrong when they play games like GTA.

 

The affect GTA has on kids/teenagers really depends on the kid on hand. For example, look at me. I played GTA from when I was twelve. It was introduced to me by a friend. My mum actually asked her friend about the game and whether it was alright or not before she bought it for me. She knew that I could tell the difference between the game and real life. She knew that what I had been tought, the way to behave etc would over-ride whatever the game "teaches" me.

 

So basically, the responsibility is left to the parents. They should know their child and how they will react to violent media.

 

People have always been violent. There have been brutal murderers since before film even. They are disturbed people, scarred by their life experiences. Something lead THEM to kill and it sure as hell wasn't GTA.

 

People that are perceptive to those sorts of things, shouldn't affect our entertainment vices.

[Algonquin Assassin]

In reality these people who are driven by video game violence are in the minority. It's just when it happens people like Jack Thompson piss in the wind about it often exaggerating.

 

I started with the GTA series when I was 12, but have been playing violent games since I was about 8. I'm 25 now and haven't so much as received a parking fine let alone done hard time for going on a massacre.

 

Like a few others have said video games often tend to be the opposite rather than provoking irrational and inhumane behavior. People can go on virtual rampages in the comfort of their own home without the consequences of reality.

 

Even if violent video games never existed it wouldn't be that much of a deterrent. How many bloody thirsty serial killers have committed their crimes by playing a violent video game?

 

 

[ToniForelli]

sometimes GTA twists my mind but i haven't gone crazy btw i have been playing GTA since i was 6 years old never effected me yet.

[UshaB]

It is possible.

[Mister Pink]

I think TV in general has warped more minds out all media. Fox News and any mainstream news media outlet does more to corrupt and brainwash people. GTA satirises this, fake car names, fake place names remind us every second that this is a game.. Not that we need fake names to do so.

GTA also isn't bad like people imagine. It being taken off the shelves by misinformed over zealous fools fail to realise that if you commit a crime such as beating a pedestrian male or female the cops come after you. It re-enforces the notion that what you did is a crime and is punishable.

 

Anyway there's no link being made between videogames and violence or whatever.

[UshaB]

I believe it's how you were raised. I grew up with an abusive father, though I had brothers and sisters yet we all listened to "Bring it all back" by S Club 7 which helped me surpass negativity and I grew up on Jackie Chan, my hero, leading me to have a more generous view on people plus I take up mixed martial arts, I bought and played GTA VCS (my first gta ) when I was 8 and I turned out well. I'm now going into year twelve and to tell you the truth I have a more ethical view than 98% of the people at school. I didn't know everyone drank and smoke, they are all the 'take life for granted kids' even if most our my friends.

 

Anyways, it's not the game it's how a child is raised and how they respond to negativity. So parents, raise your kids with care.

[donnits]

If someone's going to go on a killing spree, no amount of violent video games would have any influence. They're just sick in the head. If anything, violent video games give people an outlet for their anger.

[HoleInTheSky]

Mind has to be warped in the first place to have something like a video game "inspire" them to go on a killing spree. Then again, "GTA causes murder spree in nearby town" is good for ratings.

[Flesh-n-Bone]

No. The people who commit crimes after playing GTA were already ticking time bombs with a lot of anger issues and violence in their mind waiting to blow up. Going through any type of violence in entertainment (games, music, movies) only speeds up the process and make them do the actions instead of just thinking it out in their mind.

 

Anyone with a normal brain and life will be able to tell reality from fiction and it's highly doubtful that their normal life suddenly takes a turn for the worse after they played a violent game. Considering the millions of players of this game who don't do anything stupid, the handful of nutcases who blame their actions on a game most likely have a problem from the get go that they should confront instead of making it worse by acting out their fantasies in another form of fiction.

[universetwisters]

Yes it does! One minute I'm looking at a GTA poster in walmart and the next I'm driving a dump truck into a school for mentally handicapped orphans.

[AlisaM]

I believe this line of thinking comes from people not wanting to take personal responsibility for their actions. It's a flaw that is all over our society.

[hornedturtle]

"Before i had to do all my raping and killing sprees irl. Now that i have games to do it in, the world is a safer place". - viking lord

[The Dedito Gae]

Yes it does! One minute I'm looking at a GTA poster in walmart and the next I'm driving a dump truck into a school for mentally handicapped orphans.

You had been reported to an admin, police in your local area have been notified and mom is on her way.

Your days of run over mentally challenged kids and farting in the church are over, you maniac outlaw.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Midnight Hitman

[American Viking]

There will always be morons or mentally unstable people out there who may take influence from what they see in video games or movies, but 99% of people can easily make the distinction between fake and reality. That lawyer was only trying to capitalize on Rockstar's name, nothing more.

[jp9865]

If it wasn't for GTA, i never would have realised that i could just kill the hooker and get my money back. If i don't pay for sex then it's not creepy right?

[9i OTD]

If GTA makes you commit massacres, then spoons make you fat on their own, cars crash on purpose and guns are sentinent evil beings.

[happygrowls]

holy mother of a bump