does video game violence lead to violent children?

I think that as long as the parent sits down with the child and explains that the things that happen in the video game should not be expressed in real life, the child should be allowed to play it. I think also that if the parents buy a balanced amount of videogames both good and bad, that this will help. Instead of punishing the child and not allowing them to play the game system at all for doing something bad, the parent should instead take away the violent games and allow them to play the nicer ones. Rewarding the child by giving them back one video game after apologizing, doing a chore, or doing something nice for a friend or to the person that they have wronged will also teach them the value of respect. A parent should also check the ESRB rating and judge whether their child is mature enough to actually play a higher rated video game. The ratings are merely a suggestion and many children do p;ay higher rated video games, but this doesn't mean that they became violent because of it. If the parent plays the game through either with the child or before the child plays it then this will also help the parent understand what is going on in the game and how often the child should be allowed to play it.

You can't blame the game creator for making a perfectly fun game. Usually the child has mental problems. If this is the case they should stay away. I play video games for fun, not some hidden satisfaction in killing things.

first of id like to say that u are contradicitng ur own statement. first u are saying that violent games do not affect children minds and then u say yeah they do but the parents are to be blamed for that. u have answered ur question urself but i ll give my views as well. i strongly believe that a child's mind is affected by violent video games. we may ignore this fact easily because we are grown ups and mature and think that 'it's just a game and our child will think of it the same way.' well it doesnt work this way. a child's mind tends to adopt anything which it finds interesting and that includes the behaviour shown in the video games. i do agree that some crimes committed by the underaged are fueled by the violence shown in the games and those kids just want to copy what they saw in the game. i personally believe that ALL people who play games have psychological affect on their minds because people do relate everyday events with whatever is in their head. when i am mistreated by someone else, i DO think that i would rip the person apart like that video game character did... obviously most of the people dont do such things but SOME children fail to control themselves. other affects maybe a feeling of mercilessness, being unemotional or even developing a fantasy towards violence and interest in violence related news. all this is the result of violence in the games. i would strongly suggest parents to not let their children play games that are meant for mature audience... especially games like mortal kombat (too much blood and gore), manhunt (too much blood and gore, merciless and brutal killings) and GTA (this game might not seem that serious at times but still has lots of violence and if it doesnt makes one feel aggressive, it'd surely make one's language extremely foul). and there are tons of other games... the parents should check the esrb ratings before buying the games.

I believe similarly to you guys. I think that it is the parents responsibility to decide whether they have raised a child that can handle the violence. If they haven't then they are either too young or the parent is at fault. I was playing mortal combat at 7 or 8 years old, maybe younger, and I'm not an exceptionally violent person. My mother was very open when it came to video games. She made sure I knew that video game were just that: games. She felt I was equipped mentally to handle them, and let me loose on some okay games like zelda and donkey kong. When I showed my ability to handle those maturely she allowed me to play when I wanted and what I wanted. I think that is the appropriate way to handle the situation. If the child goes out and commits a crime because of a video game then they are not equipped to handle any type of media such as TV or radio, and are likely mentally handicapped in some way. Dan