Penn & Teller call 'BS!' on video game violence

Give it a shot - watch the one about dolphins... it's a classic.

There are a variety of episodes on youtube (usually). It's the only place I've ever seen the show.

It's a amazing show. It used to be all over YouTube and Google Video.

You can watch all these on Netflix streaming. If you have Netflix that is.

Trust me, if he is on the guest list he won't be taken seriously. Instead they will probably talk about how much time and money he has wasted.

Shane

You must not have ever seen Penn and Teller before. They are famous for exposing fraud in every form, including showing how their own magic tricks are done.

I can assure you the only reason Jack Thompson is there is so they can expose him for the fraud he is.

No problem. I'll mark my calendar and do that for you.

Oh shit! Radiation!

What hackery? Except for the college episode and maybe the smoking one, I don't see where they've ever done anything to warrant the title of hacks. They've never said they are experts and constantly remind the viewer that they are no one special either, but instead ask for proof from the other side that would make a claim true.

I think you should reconsider that viewpoint. Scientifically well-documented?

What, two or three out of the hundreds of studies have suggested there might be a link in a small number of cases?

Studies that are done by people with an agenda no less...

I cringe every time someone brings up violence in video games. It always carries the negative connotation that video games are only for children. In the same way that you shouldn't let a child see Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, you shouldn't let a child play Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. If there is a problem (and I know that we could debate that all day) it COMPLETELY lies with the parents that keep buying their children these games. Parents got the hint about not taking their kids to R rated movies, and about not buying them CD's with that huge parental advisory on it, so why is it so damn difficult for them to wrap their heads around the idea that M means "NOT FOR KIDS!"? Do we need to literally change every package so that the prominent words "NOT FOR KIDS IDIOT!" are written in bold letters right across the middle where these people can't possibly miss them?

If only adult content in games could live without the sales generated by children. Like it or not, children (of which I'm sure some people here still qualify as, no offense intended) subsidize the development of M rated games for the rest of us. I await the day that M rated, AAA games are viable with only the revenue from those of us old enough to buy them ourselves. At that point, you could ban the sale of games to minors all day long (without a parent) and it wouldn't have any bearing on my enjoyment at all. For now though, I refuse to let my adult oriented games die because parents are morons.

What was wrong with the college one?

And they've admitted they were wrong on the smoking one, at least about the evidence that second hand smoke does cause issues, however their original argument that the government should keep their fat noses out of it they stand by.

I think it's hilarious, all the people who refuse to believe the second hand smoke thing.

The same government that denies the burn pits in Balad are harmful, have you all afraid someone who smoked might walk by you.

I hope you were joking about only being a TV character. But in case you weren't heres a link to the book: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Lawrence-Kutner/39174137/books

Science 101 : correlation doesn't imply causation

This is otherwise known as an adrenaline rush.

That's not the angle BS will take. BS' pattern is to encourage people to be responsible for their own minds, bodies, and spirits. The root of a lot of their material is slamming people throwing their hands up and saying the forces around them are irresistible. They want people to take responsibility for their own actions instead of shoveling responsibility on someone else.

While violent MEDIA* may cause people to show signs of aggression, aggressive behavior does not necessarily have to be violent, or negative at all. I can aggressively try to get a new job, but that does not mean I will do it violently, illegally or even immorally. For every case you bring up of "violence caused by video games" I can show you 10 cases of responsible people who play violent video games and do not act violently. Please stop spreading your opinion as scientific fact and stop perpetrating the false idea that media is responsible for an individual's actions.

As BananaBoat said:
"In the same way that you shouldn't let a child see Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, you shouldn't let a child play Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty."

People are responsible for themselves. When it comes to children who are "not old enough to make responsible decisions for themselves" it is the parents who are responsible, or at least SHOULD BE. Stop blaming the media, educate yourself on the tools available (ratings systems, package warning labels, etc.) and make sure your children (or yourself, whatever) experience media that is appropriate for your/your children's level of education and understanding of virtual reality.

* Part of the problem is the fact that people are focusing all their attention on video games, and not all other forms of violent media out there. Singling out one media type with a bill or law is unconstitutional regardless of the science (or lack thereof).

I think some of this may be getting turned around some. Just because the word “aggression” is being thrown around with it’s different meanings (“aggressive behavior” and “”aggressively searching for a job”) does not validate anything. And, I don’t believe that Realgmr is implying that video games cause violence, but that there are connections between the two. Like Markusdragon says, it is basically an “adrenaline rush”. However, the type of adrenaline rushes associated with violent video games are those which activate the brain’s fight-or-flight mechanism. This is a self-preservation feature of the mind in which can either give a person more stamina to run from a dangerous situation or to fight for safety. The problem with these kinds of adrenaline rushes are that they leave the person with an increase of physicality and occasionally rendering the individual temporarily unable to distinguish real dangers from those that are not, similar in a few ways to an anxiety attack.

As Phish points out, correlation is not causation, but the point of these studies are to determine correlation and not causation, and I believe that is the point of Realgmr’s post. Humans have violent tendencies. These studies were done to see if those tendencies are encouraged when subjected to specific media. To say that these studies are worthless in an effort to protect our favorite past time is irresponsible, and the equivalent of ignoring other studies like the “dangers of smoking”. Even though smoking is not a direct causation to lung cancer (not all smokers develop lung cancer and there are lung cancer patients who have never been around tobacco carcinogens), there is a correlation between the two and that should be enough to warrant caution.

The studies were also never done to destroy the gaming community. Their point was to study their effects, and the possible dangers they could have on younger, developing minds and emotions. The purpose was more for parents with the attitude of “it is just a game, let Junior play it” to see that there are effects from this particular media. It was never meant to tell adults that they shouldn’t play Halo because they will become violent.

Not quite...Mythbusters does urban legend type stuff. P&T take on more controversial, social subject matters...here's the episode guide:
http://www.tv.com/penn-and-teller-bullsh!/show/17579/episode_guide.html

Not really. It's more of a logical skeptics' Mythbusters. They have admitted in the past "We're biased as all f*ck. But, we try to be honest." In the end, it's still a matter of opinion, but they try to level rational thought at irrational humanity.

Rest assured, the religious right and alarmist soccer moms get skewered like fondue. It will be an interesting show.