(Not a god debate) Video games effect on young children?

[Dragoon Fighter]

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Preface/Inspiration for debate
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During my trip to my fathers on spring break I brought my wii with me to help keep me entertained. I brought the following games with me...

Slient Hill (Via Homebrew Channel)
Tatsunoko vs Capcom
Super Mario Bros. (Virtual Counsel)
Donkey Kong Country (Virtual Counsel)

However at my dads his wife (and my step mom) are very picky about what I play as my half sister (She is Five) lives in that house as well. When she is asleep I am allowed to play any game, however while I originally was not allowed to play any video games when she was awake I was able to convince my step mom that my sister's brain would not be corrupted by watching me play Super Mario Bros. She even

Spoiler

(I personally believe that the only reason she allows this is because is because she played Super Mario Bros. as a kid.)

allowed my sister to play for 5-10 min. a day depending on how generous she was.

Now I do partially agree with her that there are some games kids should not be playing, for example silent hill (That game is scaring me, I would hate to see what it would do to a kid.) However I was not allowed to continue a game of Tatsunoko vs Capcom because my sister woke up while me and my dad where in the middle of the match my step mom said it was because of the violence that was going on. However IMO Super Mario Bros. is just as violent because you are running around commenting mass murder of many Koopa's and Goomba's so whats the deal with that My guess was stated earlier as to why, but this brings up the debate topic.

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The Debate
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How much of a threat would violent video game be to the development of the child? Given the many various shades of violence in video games (From cartoon violence to the gory "why is there a gallons of blood coming out of a small stab wound".) what should be considered okay vs not okay? Does the atmosphere and use of violence effect how okay vs not okay (Example: While does not have as much gore would Metroid Prime be considered worse due to atmosphere during game play vs something with violence but no atmosphere like a fighting game?) What is your opinion?

My personally opinion is not fully formed on this subject (Hence on of the reasons why I chose to bring this up) I do agree something with large amount of gore can be bad for someone under the age of 10 or so (Give or take based on how mature the kid is). I think that my step mom is somewhat over reacting. Also I personally believe that the atmosphere of the game does raise its maturity level, depending on what the game is about of course.

 

[ballin4life]

If you play violent video games you wind up like this:

Seriously though, I don't think it's that big of an issue. Probably shouldn't be playing super violent/realistic/scary games at 5, but cartoon violence is probably fine. Ever seen Tom and Jerry?

 

[Budget Player Cadet_]

Agreed@Tom&Jerry.

Seriously, especially with TvC... It's not like Mortal Kombat where you rip out spines and guts, it's not even like Tekken or Street Fighter where you've got two humans beating the **** out of each other... You more often than not have Superman A (<3 Ryu) throwing fire at Robot X (<3 TBlade). I've seen scarier looney tunes. And cartoon violence... it's funny, and I sincerely doubt that it has negative effects on a child's development–it's not desensitizing because it's simply so far from the reality that it doesn't serve as much of a comparison.

Now, truly violent video games... Silent Hill, Manhunt, etc.... They are dangerous due to the desensitizing nature. A child who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality (usually before like 6) is likely to see something like that and think "oh, this is cool, and this is fine because he's doing it with no problems". If you know what I mean...

 

[Dre89]

See, the fact you enjoy something like Silent Hill could be considered a flaw that came about as a result of your gaming.

The problem is, we're biased in that we play games, and we don't think the way we are is wrong. Sitting in front of a screen for hours and being desensitized to blood and guts could be something wrong, we just don't see it.

 

[Dragoon Fighter]

See, the fact you enjoy something like Silent Hill could be considered a flaw that came about as a result of your gaming.

Actually I was playing silent hill out of a recommendation, it is IMO a very well done game, but that game scares me.

The problem is, we're biased in that we play games, and we don't think the way we are is wrong. Sitting in front of a screen for hours and being desensitized to blood and guts could be something wrong, we just don't see it.

I guess we are a little biased, but I do not really play a lot of violent games the most violent games I have played are Metal gear, silent hill, and Onimushia series. However I would like to know what is wrong with Tatsunoko vs Capcom for example.

Also @ Tom and Jerry while I agree to that my little sister is not allowed to watch that either.

 

[GoldShadow]

Linnc, please don't resurrect old topics unless you have something relevant and significant to post.

 

[LarsINTJ]

It isn't so much about whether violent content affects the developing minds of young children (of course it does, just like everything else), but whether the child's parents are there to help them process the violence.

At any rate, violence in a video game is nowhere near as dangerously suggestive as it is between parents or against children at the hands of their parents.