Study shows that killer games do not make killer kids.

University of Southern California sociologist Karen Sternheimer, has been researching the possibility of the missing link between video game violence and kids since 1999. She said blaming video games for youth violence fails to take into account other major factors.

"A symphony of events controls violence," said Sternheimer, who began her research after experts blamed the video game "Doom" for the gun rampage at Columbine High School in Colorado in which two students killed 13 people and then themselves.

"It was a tragic and, very fortunately, rare event and it was discouraging to see that the conversation often started and stopped at video games."

Sternheimer's article, "Do Video Games Kill?," will appear in the American Sociological Association's Contexts magazine as the European Union weighs outlawing certain violent games and harmonizing national penalties for retailers caught such products to under-age children.

Her research, involved studying media coverage and FBI statistics detailing trends on youth crime, found that in the 10 years after the release of "Doom" -- and other violence targeted titles -- juvenile homicide arrest rates in the United States fell 77 percent.

In addition, Sternheimer found that students have less than a 7 in 10 million chance of being killed at school. “If we want to understand why young become homicidal, we need to look beyond the games they play or we miss some of the biggest pieces of the puzzle," she said. Karen Sternheimer lists other factors such as community and family violence and less parental involvement as other possible factors.

Sternheimer said violent video games have come to carry the baggage of social angst over youth violence as the industry has grown into a $10 billion-plus giant that towers over Hollywood box office sales. Blaming video games is a quick fix for when the public demands an explanation for why children become murderers.

In the US, the video game industry is self-regulated and retailers have the deciding factor whether or not to sell a video game. Due to demands from concerned consumers, the industry has given combat video games an age appropriate grade. An M-rated game is intended for mature audiences. These games contain content judged appropriate for people aged 17 and older. However, if is up to the buyer / parent on whether or not to buy the game for a child.

Putting the blame on video games gives a false impression that society should forgive the environment in which the child was raised and removes the responsibility of the criminal. However, youth criminal activity is more complicated than any video game and there is no one simple solution to answering why do kids kill?

Teaching in the Juvenile Justice System

More Than Just Fun And Games

Video games good teachers?

Source: Researchers weigh in on value of digital lessons

HOUSTON - Tired of badgering the kids to quit wasting time with those computer and video games and get started on homework? Here's a news flash for the 21st Century: It turns out many of the games might be better than homework.

In a series of research projects as likely to thrill young people as they are to horrify their parents and teachers, academic experts across the country are unearthing educational benefits in the digital games that surveys show are now played by more than 80 percent of American young people aged 8 - 18.

At the top of the experts' lists are simulation and role-playing games, often played on the Internet alongside thousands of other participants, because of the vocabulary, reasoning and social skills they can boost. But even some of the most violent games, such as the notorious Grand Theft Auto, have some valuable lessons to teach in the right circumstances, researchers are finding.

Replacing rote memorization |

Some researchers even suggest supplanting much of the traditional back-to-basics K-12 curriculum with a new generation of game-based materials to capture the increasingly short attention spans of today's youth.

"Right now, in American schools, we spend most of the first six or seven years of math education teaching kids to do what a 99-cent calculator does," said David Williamson Shaffer, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of a recent book, "How Computer Games Help Children Learn."

"We have this view that schooling is the natural and inevitable way to get kids ready for life in the world," said Shaffer, a leader in the field of digital learning. "But it shouldn't come as a surprise that when our economy has changed, when innovation and creativity are much more important than rote memorization, that the system needs some real updating to train kids how to use computer games to solve problems in the real world."

"We realized that over 80 percent of American kids have game consoles at home, 90 percent of kids are online and 50 percent of them are producing things online, so we really need to understand what is going on here," said Constance Yowell, director of the MacArthur Foundation's digital research initiative.

"This is what kids are doing, so we need to know both the positive benefits and the unintended consequences."

Simulation games in particular have already been embraced by some educators, as well as many businesses and the U.S. military, as effective ways to introduce people to environments and situations that would otherwise be too expensive, dangerous or impossible to gain access to.

The computer games and tools being studied are generations removed from the static, linear educational software commonly found inside many of the nation's schools today -- software that girls and boys quickly master and then discard as boring.

"There are a lot of terrible educational games out there, where you have to do something un-fun, like solve five math problems, so you can do something fun, like play a game," said Ben Stokes, a games expert at the MacArthur Foundation.

Instead, the experts are interested in the educational benefits of commercially available games that were not expressly designed for school use -- simulation games like Zoo Tycoon, in which elementary school-age children build virtual zoos by selecting animals, creating appropriate habitats, managing food budgets and even setting the prices of popcorn at the concession stands.

The verdict on the potential benefits of computer and video games is not unanimous, however. Some critics worry about the persistent racial and economic gaps in access to computers and the Internet: 60 percent of white households, but only 36 percent of black households, had Internet access at home in 2003, according to the Census Bureau.

"The only thing we know for sure is that video games are effective at desensitizing people to extreme violence," said Edward Miller, a senior researcher at the Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit child advocacy group. "There is no evidence that video games are good at teaching problem-solving or collaboration or the other higher-order skills that these proponents are claiming."

More Than Just Fun And Games

Chases linked to video games

Source: Pursuits: Police say speed, testosterone and cars are lethal

A "lethal cocktail" of testosterone, powerful cars and the influence of video games is being blamed for youths attempting deadly high speed getaway attempts. On February 5, Rotorua 14-year-old Pehi Tahana was killed after he lost control of the stolen car he was driving. He was being chased by police after he took off from a Papamoa service station without paying for petrol. On Tuesday afternoon three youths being pursued on State Highway 30, east of Rotorua, crashed head-on into a car carrying a family.

"It was only through the grace of God that someone was not killed in that crash," said Rotorua police area commander Inspector Bruce Horne. He blamed a "lethal cocktail" of testosterone, the cheapness and availability of high powered vehicles, and the boy racer culture for the increasing number of high speed fatalities. Part of the culture was influenced by video games like Grand Theft Auto and Need for Speed. "It's not just the games but TV as well," Mr Horne said. "There's been a lot of research on it, but young men driving fast is not a new issue. "You can go back decades and still find cases of young guys inclined to take risks. The difference between then and now is that they did not have the fast cars available to them." The problem was not restricted to Rotorua and was happening because young men were frequently speeding recklessly, regardless of whether they were being chased, he said. Acting Bay of Plenty road policing manager Inspector Ed Van Den Broek said that if people tried to flee from the police it was usually because they had something to hide. "The car may be stolen or they may have stolen property or illicit drugs inside." "The thing we have noticed is that the people who try and run from us have very poor driving skills. "I have yet to be involved in a pursuit where I have thought, 'Gosh, that was good driving by the guy we were chasing' ... They [drivers] think they are 10-foot tall and bullet proof." Gareth Schott, who lectures in games studies and media psychology at Waikato University, said while people frequently blamed video games for things like car chases, there was not a lot of research on the subject. He was about to begin a two-year research project investigating the issue, which would include interviews with youths to find out to what degree their behaviour was influenced by games. "Most of the research that has been done has a very poor understanding of [video] games and ... is inconclusive." It was also difficult to isolate games as the major influence, given the wide variety of media in teenagers' lives such as film, television and the YouTube internet site. "Years ago people were asking the same questions of comic books, saying they were immoral and having a bad influence on the kids, even what we now regard as fairly harmless stuff like Superman. "People underestimate how media-literate young people are. Even very young children have a very sophisticated understanding of what they are watching." Meanwhile, two Rotorua 16-year-olds were found in a stolen car during a routine stop by police last night in Union St about 11.30pm. Senior Sergeant Scott Fraser said one of the youths was appearing in the Rotorua Youth Court this morning charged with unlawfully taking a vehicle.

Beating violence to the punch

Source: Hurley School takes proactive approach to preventing the problem

Globe Staff Writer

HURLEY -- Violence is infiltrating our schools, and the video game industry and television are major contributors to that aggressive behavior, according to a national speaker on school violence.

With no violent acts at the Hurley School to date, school officials are taking a pro-active approach to the problem.

"It is preventable. It is treatable," said fourth grade teacher Ronda Olkonen, who attended a Student Media Awareness Reduction Training conference in Escanaba presented by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman of Jonesboro, Ark.

Fourth grade teacher Monica Kolpin and second grade teacher Michelle Santini also attended the SMART session.

A leading expert in the study of school violence, Grossman will be at the Hurley School on Sunday and Monday to talk with parents and educators about the "virus" of violent crime.

On Tuesday, Grossman said he hopes his presentation will accomplish three things: Save lives, increase the quality of life and increase the quality of education.

Grossman has been presenting the Student Media Awareness Reduction Training program to schools throughout the nation.

The SMART program shows how television and video games have a detrimental effect on our youth.

Grossman said studies show those involved in the SMART program have shown enormous cuts in violence, bullying and obesity.

He talked about the brain.

Dividing it into two sections, he stressed the importance of "detoxing" students from the impacts of TV and video games, and reintroducing them to human behavior.

"The forebrain is that which makes us human -- reading, writing, arithmetic, decision making, social skills, etc. -- everything people can do that a dog cannot do," he said.

"The mid-brain brings out the animal instincts -- basic survival, fighting, reproduction," Grossman said.

"When we read, we exercise our human side. Violent visual imagery brings out our animal instincts," he said.

Grossman was in Escanaba in October. His presentation there was the start-up of the SMART program in Escanaba.

Noting that within three days, kids can be "detoxed" from the impacts TV and video games have on the brain, Grossman said after the SMART program was enacted in Escanaba, "They got a double-digit increase in test scores."

A West Point psychology professor, professor of military science and an Army Ranger, Grossman has combined his experiences to become the founder of a new field of scientific endeavor, killology.

Grossman said killology is his personal area of study. It teaches about how people in the military are taught to kill and how video games do the same.

"The military has a safeguard built in, discipline," he said. "It's being done to our children without the safeguard of discipline."

Grossman will be at the Hurley School on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. to talk with parents about media violence and its effect on children.

This session is free of charge.

He will talk with educators and other area agencies on Monday beginning at 8 a.m.

Presentations will be held in the high school auditorium.

Porn Through Video Games

Source: Porn Through Video Games

It seems some porn web sites have found another way to sneak into your home uninvited. Players say some are now coming in through video games.
Michael Gatson is a self proclaimed video gamer. He says he was shocked after recently playing a friends Nintendo Wii and porn popped up. "When we went on line, we were going to play some football when we went on a big screen like a pop up like on the internet, 'would like to see this?' and it was a young lady, very erotic."
The Nintendo Wii video game is so popular stores can't keep it on the shelves. At Replay Gameware they only had one.

Players say video gaming isn't just letting kids play ping pong. It could be letting them see porn through it's internet connection.

Cpt. Bill Duncan is with the Caddo Sheriff's Dept. "They are actually accessing Wii consoles through their sites and enticing people to come into their sites."

Gatson says, "Before we knew it we had a house full of guys and they were flipping out, I mean, they really had some hard core stuff which I don't think would be appropriate for the youngsters."
So what's a parent to do? You can begin with the games privacy controls and install some blockers, but police say nothing is more fullproof than a parents supervision.

"I'm not sure that it blocks everything and I don't think you'll find any filtering device that will block 100% of anything." Duncan says.

He goes on to say, "Parental involvement is the number one thing."

The gaming-violence connection: why society finds it comforting

Source: The gaming-violence connection: why society finds it comforting

Ars has extensively covered the attempts to legislate restrictions on violent video games and the ambiguous science that supports those efforts. An aspect of this that frequently escapes analysis is why these legislative efforts gain so much traction despite their lack of a solid scientific foundation. Writing in the journal Contexts, USC sociology lecturer Karen Sternheimer analyzes these efforts in terms of ongoing societal fears regarding the influence of media on children.

Sternheimer notes an obvious but underemphasized figure: despite the proliferation of violent, first-person shooters in the wake of Doom, juvenile homicide rates have fallen in the decade since its release. Random school shootings remain incredibly rare; for all forms of homicide, students face a seven in 10 million chance of being a victim.

Random school shootings remain so rare, in fact, that Sternheimer reports that the FBI found it impossible to generate a profile of a "typical" shooter. This leads to a number of difficulties. Linking violence to the perpetrators' background might wind up revealing aspects of the shooter's predominantly white, middle-class origin that helped foster their violence. Nobody seems interested in doing this sort of analysis, perhaps in part because much of the media belongs to that same group.