Violent games are worse than porn

[VermilionUK]

Lifted from BBC

Violent video games have "a much bigger negative influence on kids" than pornography, a leading porn star has claimed.

He said parents should be more worried about the harmful effects of such games.

Mr Jeremy's comments were made at a session called the Great Porn Debate during the Consumer Electronics Show, CES, in Las Vegas.

His comments angered gamers, who accused him of "ignorance".

Mr Jeremy's appearance at CES in Las Vegas caused some raised eyebrows.

He took time away from the Adult Entertainment Expo, which takes place in Las Vegas at the same time as the annual tech fest, to speak out on behalf of his profession and promote some practical tools.

"Studies have found that violent video games are a much bigger negative influence on kids," Mr Jeremy said.

"It's rather hypocritical behaviour and it doesn't speak up for pornography's merits by merely saying "something else is worse, don't look at us.
Very disappointing behaviour from a man who should know better," said Jim Sterling of gaming news blog Destructoid.com.

Andy Chalk at video gaming site escapistmagazine.com said Mr Jeremy's remarks cannot be completely ignored.

"While I do think he's (Mr Jeremy) working from a platform of ignorance, I'm not quite as certain that the sentiment is entirely wrong.

"I wouldn't want my kids (the hypothetical ones, that is) playing Modern Warfare 2 or becoming overly familiar with Ron's body of work, but is it really reasonable to say that one is significantly worse than the other?" asked Mr Chalk.

Mr Jeremy also urged parents to play their part in preventing children from accessing adult websites.

Full article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8453043.stm

Questions for debate:

Are violent video games a greater negative influence on children than pornography?

Should there be stricter age ratings on video games with adult content (violence, sex, foul language, drug use)?

Should violent video games be banned? If so, why?

[Raptor_Jesus]

That's a very good point. My personal experience was on the other end of the spectrum. As a kid, my parents tried to keep my sheltered but failed because they would tell me things were bad, and then do them themselves. For instance, my parents both always told me drinking was bad. Then my dad got drunk and tried to kill my mom and brother. Same thing with pornography. My dad told me it was horrible and addictive, and then he left his magazines on the floor. Plus, when I was around 8 or nine I got smart enough to hack our computer blocker, and that sort of thing. Having it as forbidden fruit just made it more appealing to me. I think there should be a balance. Now I'm mature enough to stay away from it for the reason that it objectifies and disrespects women. You make a very good point for the "open" style child-raising. I wish my parents would have let me have the maturity of making some of my own decisions as a child.

Have to be careful with that though. There's a balance between over sheltering and making it too open. My parents pretty much ignored me when I was young. They let me make too many of my own decisions(with regards to most things), and that didn't turn out well either.

Well of course sheltering it [forbidden fruit metaphor] would make the child want it more. But being too open will make the child or teenager think theres nothing wrong with it. I mean, I wouldn't bring it up around dinner time when the family is together. The way my dad communicates with me, if its something secret or just a one on one conversation, is he pulls me aside from everyone and totally makes sure I have what questions I wanted answered. And being a strict but not too strict parent is a very good thing.
My dad still tells me that he's my Dad first, friend second.