How have video games influenced peoples perceptions of firearms?
Do you think the video game culture has a negative, positive, or neutral impact of the general perception of firearms by the public? Please explain your answer and/or reasons.
I asked this here since hunters have more real firearms experience than any other category in yahoo answers. This was also asked in the video game section of yahoo to get a fair comparison of answers.
My experience tells me that it has been generally negative.
I have the pleasure to teach the firearms portion of hunter’s training where I live (once a year is all we do). Most often, I bring in several (trigger locked/cased) firearms for "show and tell" because visual aids help a lot. There is a short, well supervised practical at our range afterwards (lots of parents like this, even the non-hunters).
Most children are in the 12-17 year old range, and you can tell the questions they have almost always stem from TV/movies/games. Every year I always have this conversation…
(after the "boring" lecture on calibre/bore size)
Them: Do you own a .50 cal?
Me: Yes, I even own a .54 cal. Do you want to see them?
*enthusiastic head nods all around*
I pull out my two muzzle-loaders, and you can almost feel the disappointment in the room.
Me: Please be more specific, as there are many cartridges/rifles in one bore diameter.
(Later, after the optics lesson)
Them: Do you own a sniper rifle?
Me: No. Some of my rifles have scopes on them, but having a scope does not make it a sniper rifle. Unless you enlist in the military, you wont have one either.
Insert "assault rifle" talk here/hunting with an AK talk here (AK’s and variants thereof are prohibited in Canada), etc. etc…
Then there are the kids that think .22’s are perfectly adequate hunting rifles (after which comes the "boring" lecture on ethical hunting energies and minimum hunting bore sizes).
Then there are the kids who think they can handle a .50 BMG, but after shooting a .32 Win. Special on the practical they flinch so bad they can’t hit anything with a .22 (I only let the kids shoot what I think they can handle, for example I’m not going to let an 80 pound kid shoot my .45-70 with Ruger #1 loads!).
However, being in a rural area, you always get a few farm kids who only take the course as it’s government required to get a hunting permit in this province. These kids tend to answer questions of the other kids faster than I can, and are most often correct. But these kids are getting fewer and farther between.
My town is only 4000 people, and 75 miles away from the nearest city! And yet games take up more of the kids lives, killing the interest for the outdoors.
Sorry about the long thread. Just giving my $0.02
bad..just bad…kids think shooting people/t is fun…and the guns…omg the love of the crappy eagle…lol
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Butch…Video games will take our culture down …just like drunken orgies killed the Roman Empire.
I see it here all the time. Tactical this, tactical that. We rarely see a posting the reflects the passing of a sport and hobby from parents to kids.
How may times are questions here framed on the idea that deer ’should’ be shot at 500 yards?
Video games feed blood lust and don’t encourage a persons appreciation for good walnut and blued steel.
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Negative in the fact that the real thing is no where near the video game level. Just think how many kids won’t go out and discover the thrills of the hunt or fish or target practice when all they have to do is flip the power button.
I royally s**k at video games requiring aiming but have no problems afield. I instruct in proper firearm technique and marksmanship as a side interest and I find horrid lack of knowledge at the shooting table despite the shooter claiming otherwise. Usual knowledge comes from games or urban legends. I break them all the way down and build them all the way up in a couple sessions. They learn to love doing it right and then they do it well.
I just loaded up a question like Butch in the Gaming section. All I can say is WOW!!!! http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091111102030AAUjabI&r=w
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I believe it has had a negative effect. It has made some youngsters think guns are toys and the only knowledge they have of them are gleamed from Call of Duty. How many times in the average day is there someone on here that thinks they are a sniper? Too many. I bet they don’t think that from watching the Tom Beringer movie. How often does someone want to know where they can purchase a full auto rifle?
How often does someone ask other stupid questions based on misinformed knowledge based on video games? It seems to me like it gets worse everyday. But I can’t blame the games 100%. I think a lack of a positive role model also bares some responsibility.
Honestly, I grew up playing video games. I have a Xbox 360 right now. But I know the difference between fantasy and reality. I hope you guys laugh me off of here if I ever start asking questions about killing zombies and "What’s the best sniper rifle for under $100?".
Added: I checked out the answers posted in the video game section. I have lost all faith in the next generation.
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People whose firearms experience come strictly from video games (I would also add TV and Hollywood) have a very negative influence on society. Kids who cannot tell the difference between real and pretend, safety is out the window, of course our gun grabbing elected officials get many of their legislation on guns based on false and misleading information. It also gives people the notion that it is cool. And while safe, responsible, and legal gun ownership and use is cool, fun, challenging, they are not getting the look of it. They want to hold it in the front of their pants and pull it out gangsta style.
References :
Gun Owner, NRA member
To the extent video games have helped to create a fascination with guns, I think it’s a positive impact.
In today’s world, most people are exposed to firearms through movies, TV and video games. The days of Dad taking junior out into the backyard pasture and shooting tin cans with the .22 rifle is a distant reality for millions of American urban dwellers. That’s why we see hundreds of questions dealing with airsoft, airguns, sniper this and tactical that. It’s not that they are morally deficient, it’s because that’s the only thing they know. And often they are very young.
Now once they decide to take the step into firearms reality and join our ranks, then it is our responsibility to teach them what real life experiences have taught us so we can pass on our firearms culture to fellow Americans. How else can we expect to gain support for firearms rights and the Second Amendment?
Like it or not, we who answer questions here are teachers of a very important subject matter. And teaching requires patience, dedication, tolerance and understanding. Often we are dealing with children. Berating them and beating them down like they were military recruits will not help our cause when dealing with 12 year olds, or even your average citizen. Give them a chance. Once they pick up that real firearm, they will learn that the Desert Eagle is too heavy, that the fancy doo dads they bought only messed up their good shooting SKS, and that there really is little difference between a "sniper" rifle and a deer rifle. But they first need to be encouraged and taught that gun owners are genuinely nice people and that they too should want to be a gun owner.
References :
Very negative. Kids that play video games live in a fantasy world to the point they believe its reality. Now I have seen some exceptions but very few. Humans learn by 3 basic means;
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/how-do-you-learn.htm
1.Listening learners
2.Seeing learners
3.Touch / experience learners
Video games are able to imprint on the brain very well because it hits all three of the ways we learn; you hear it in the game, you see it in the game and you touch the controller and get results. But what the kids cant fathom is its all fake. It’s the best mind control device of our century on a mass scale. And I do believe it is a real danger to society.
Here is a couple of links with some of the real dangers of video games;
http://www.familyfriendlygaming.com/Dangers-of-video-games.html
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/familyresources/a/videojap.htm
Fact is playing video games have killed people, hard to believe some one can get so into a game they ignore their basic body needs but it has happened.
So their effect on the view and use of firearms is dangerous and detrimental. Some have actually killed their parents over a video game being taken from them. Life becomes a game a fantasy and they loose the human qualities that separate us from other animals such as compassion, concern for others well being, respect and self control.
I wont spend a dime on video games for my grandkids but I will take them fishing, hunting and do art projects with them.
What the kids don’t get is no matter how good you play the game there is no real reward. Unless your one of the very few who get paid to play video games you get zip for playing that game.
A gamer who spends countless hours playing just wasted that many hours of his/her life, if they had used half that time doing something productive they could be very wealthy.
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Everyone who posted before me is absolutely, and irrefutably correct. I couldn’t argue against them.
Now kids think guns make "pew pew pew" sounds when the go off… instead of a healthy "boom" or "crack". Surprised the hell out of my 13yr. old cousin when I took him shooting for the first time.
Video games WILL be the downfall of society. Sadly, but surely they will.
EDIT: Good goddamn longshot… those kids ARE stupid. Please put them back in their place… will you?
References :
Avid shooter losing the "grip" on reality.
NEGATIVE, one of my buddies plays a tom clancy on game on his game station and he swears the best gun for close quarter conflicts is a short barreled .50 BMG machine gun with a 100 round belt being fired from the hip. the sad part is he was in the police academy for a while too.
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people think that since they use a 50 cal bmg in call of duty that they can use it for hunting too and therefore recommend it for small game and deer
and i really hate it when people who believe that they know everything about firearms because of a video game and will try to give advice on someone who actually needs the advice can be very dangerous. i actually saw a question about what type of gun someone should use for small game and the actual answer from one of the kids was a 30-06 or 30-30 for squirrels would be a little to small so the asker should look into a large caliber rifle and for deer the asker should look into again a 50cal bmg and it wouldn’t destroy any meat from a 500+yard shot
THESE KIDS ARE STUPID AND SHOULD NOT BE ALLOUD TO POST THERE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF FIREARMS EVER!
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Constantly playing video games that depict violence can definitely result in a greater amount of aggressive thoughts and feelings as well as how they act out as demonstrated in both a clinical environment (i.e. research laboratories) and in real everyday life. Some examples of violent games are Halo, Doom, Weapons of War, Wolfenstein, Mortal Kombat, etc.
This is according to two studies published in the April issue of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The researchers found that even a minimal exposure to such violent games result in greater aggression in the people exposed.
I can say that personally, my son takes on a much more aggressive demeanor when I allow him to watch animation that depicts a lot of violence. So I see the effects first hand.
This can influence the perception that firearms are associated with violent behavior because in many of the games, firearms are the weapons used to carry out the violence.
In defense of those that choose to possess firearms, this is an unfair characterization of guns. Guns do not equate to violence necessarily, and could be associated with self defense. However, many of the game publishing companies are owned by liberals and therefore, guns will only be portrayed as "VIOLENT" by such individuals - its a matter of mind moulding taking place there.
I’ve included the link below for your perusal
Andrew Hamilton
Preciseplus Technology
References :
http://www.apa.org/releases/videogames.html
http://www.preciseplus.com
My experience tells me that it has been generally negative.
I have the pleasure to teach the firearms portion of hunter’s training where I live (once a year is all we do). Most often, I bring in several (trigger locked/cased) firearms for "show and tell" because visual aids help a lot. There is a short, well supervised practical at our range afterwards (lots of parents like this, even the non-hunters).
Most children are in the 12-17 year old range, and you can tell the questions they have almost always stem from TV/movies/games. Every year I always have this conversation…
(after the "boring" lecture on calibre/bore size)
Them: Do you own a .50 cal?
Me: Yes, I even own a .54 cal. Do you want to see them?
*enthusiastic head nods all around*
I pull out my two muzzle-loaders, and you can almost feel the disappointment in the room.
Me: Please be more specific, as there are many cartridges/rifles in one bore diameter.
(Later, after the optics lesson)
Them: Do you own a sniper rifle?
Me: No. Some of my rifles have scopes on them, but having a scope does not make it a sniper rifle. Unless you enlist in the military, you wont have one either.
Insert "assault rifle" talk here/hunting with an AK talk here (AK’s and variants thereof are prohibited in Canada), etc. etc…
Then there are the kids that think .22’s are perfectly adequate hunting rifles (after which comes the "boring" lecture on ethical hunting energies and minimum hunting bore sizes).
Then there are the kids who think they can handle a .50 BMG, but after shooting a .32 Win. Special on the practical they flinch so bad they can’t hit anything with a .22 (I only let the kids shoot what I think they can handle, for example I’m not going to let an 80 pound kid shoot my .45-70 with Ruger #1 loads!).
However, being in a rural area, you always get a few farm kids who only take the course as it’s government required to get a hunting permit in this province. These kids tend to answer questions of the other kids faster than I can, and are most often correct. But these kids are getting fewer and farther between.
My town is only 4000 people, and 75 miles away from the nearest city! And yet games take up more of the kids lives, killing the interest for the outdoors.
Sorry about the long thread. Just giving my $0.02
References :