Kennysplash

PS 5 any day and anytime please. The others come in when it is not available. 

Our social lives have suffered! Today we have lots of people that find it hard to say hello to someone on the street. They find it hard to hold a conversation, due to modern technology. Many would rather stay on their PC and dissociate themselves from the real world. 
This is a growing menace, I’m afraid. 

Allison. It’s an educational app where I get to learn a lot of skill, especially soft and digital. And it is all free! But that does not in anyway compromise it’s quality. I make use of the app the most. 

If anything I will say it has made it better. I have friends today that what we mostly talk about for fun is the games we play. It elevates my social life. 

I will say Tetris. I was still very young then, but I got so hooked to it that I was eventually cautioned. That was my very first video game, and I wanted more. 

I mostly play games on my phone when I am outside. It’s always console when I am home. So since I am on the move I barely spend half an hour playing games on my smartphone a day. 
I only use it to pass away time when I’m waiting on someone or something. 

Nope, I don’t and never did. What I even spend on games is nothing compared to other activities. And I don’t consider wholesome activities I enjoy doing as a waste of time. 

The Bruno episodes! He could be fierce and adorable if he chooses. I so much love the singing too. 

When I’m stressed, yes. But not traumatized. Trauma for me needs more than a video game, so do better when I talk to someone. But when I am tired I use games to unwind. 

Have we all not experienced this as kids? There was a time I missed school just to stay at home and play. Parents were out of town for a week, I woke up one morning and loaded the game instead of preparing for school. 
School called my parents that I was absent and I can never forget the discipline I received. That experience still being smiles to my face whenever I remember it. 

I have really sweaty palms, it even drips when they’re folded. Usually it’s the X button on the controller that stops working, since I press it the most.
I now have a towel handy when I play though. 

I don’t even think of games when I’m sick. Where is the strength to grab a controller and sit up straight? I just continue lying down till I get better. 

@Kennysplash
 
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Have we all not experienced this as kids? There was a time I missed school just to stay at home and play. Parents were out of town for a week, I woke up one morning and loaded the game instead of preparing for school. 
School called my parents that I was absent and I can never forget the discipline I received. That experience still being smiles to my face whenever I remember it. 

It’s not an addiction to you. It becomes so when you have tasks and activities that you need to get done, but games interfere with them. You find it hard to concentrate on activities during the day, without thinking of the next arcade you want to complete. That right there is addiction. 

First of all, no offense taken. I even see this an opportunity to have a wider perspective. 
The games are not to blame (nor books, movies). Rather, the easy access to them. 
 
Of the three options:
1. GTA being banned is out of it, doesn’t need further explanation. 

2. The kid is not allowed to play, excellent. But he has such easy access to the firearm? One thing I always say about firearms is that they are self-manualled (permit me to use that word).
If a five year old sees it, he knows where to hold, in few seconds he’ll discern there is a trigger to pull and to point as well. Like you said, if he had used it on himself the grandmother would have a lot of questions to answer. 

3. Right there is the answer. Unless an eight year old could legally get a gun and register it. That incident would never have happened if there was no EASY ACCESS to the firearm. 
 
I don’t blame the game or producers, but the fact that kids engage in them. 
From the experience you gave, we can’t blame the gun. But the easy access to it. 
 
That is why they are kids, they don’t get to decide what to wear, when to sleep, what to play.
A kid that is exposed to entertainment rated above his age; whatever results from it, the entertainment medium is not to blame. 
 
This has been insightful, really. 

 
 

I couldn't agree with you less. In fact, with all due respect, I don't feel that you understand the level of sheer nonsense that post was.
 
Entertainment media, wether it be video games, movies, TV, books or music does NOT pose a threat, that is ridiculous. Scapegoating and the blaming of entertainment media for socital problems, now that IS dangerous because the powers that be who do this sort of thing never address the real issue and causes behind those social issues. They take the easy way out. They don't want to address the real issues because they don't know how to, don't want to because it politically polarising (Gun violence is great example if that. I've actually got a prime example if that coming up in a moment.) or they simply don't want to solve the problem at all. It's lazy propaganda and it's deeply stupid. Scapegoating is such a bad thing that it even costs lives
 
I've talked about this horrifying incident before on VGR, but I feel it's appropriate to bring it up here to help you understand why what you're saying is nonsense.  About 9 1/2 years ago an 8 year accidently shot and killed his Grandmother after playing GTA IV. Can't say I blame the kid, after being asked by Roman to play pool or go bowling for the 800th time, I'd kill the first living thing I find as well. All joking aside, many people tried to blame the game. Well, at least one neighbour had common sense. From the article;
 
Neighbour Johnnie Scott said: "Where did she have the gun? Where did he see the gun, was it in his eyesight? That's the thought that goes through my head."
 
Exactly! Imagine if this situation had exactly the same, expect instead of the boy shooting his grandmother, he had accidentally shot himself. That woman would been beyond ridiculed, criticised even demonised for leaving that gun in a position, locked, loaded and ready to go, where an 8 year old was able to get his hands on it.
 
Whare was the gun lock? Why was is left low down and in plain sight? It even defeats the purpose of owning the gun if it's for self defence. If the kid could get his hands on it so easily, why wouldn't a robber get thier hands on it just as easly?
 
Back to the story. For some reason I doubt the safety catch (assuming the gun even had one) was on when he picked up the gun, otherwise he'd have to know how to disengage it. So l believe found the gun in that condition, just lying out in the open ready to fire. Both morally and legally it's difficult to blame the child and people don't want to blame the grandmother because she died in the incident, so take the easy way out and blame the game. 
 
I'm not going to deny the possibility the game was factor, kids are impressionable (although not as impressionable and certainly not as stupid as I feel you're implying.) as I've admitted already, but it's an M rated/18+ rated game, so why was he playing it in the first place?  People who expose themselves or thier dependants to media that is clearly labled as being potentially inappropriate have to take responceibily for it. It is NOT the responceibily of the people who created that media, simple as that. Like I said in my earlier post, the ratings system is there for a reason and there is no way that could innocent works of fiction as a "threat" and understand that purpose.
 
Now you tell me @Kennysplash, which of the following three options do you think would have had the best chance of success in preventing this incident?
GTA IV being banned beforehand or never being allowed to be sold. The parents and/or grandmother not allowing this 8 year old to play a game so clearly ment for adults. Better scrutiny and training for firearms owners on keeping thier guns safe.   
I'm going to give you a hint, one of these options wouldn't work, one would definitely work and another wouldn't garuntee success, but is still a sensible course of action. God help you if you can't tell which is which.
 
There's nothing wrong with having moral objections to certain expressions of entertainment media, the best art usually is provocative at least to some extent, but do you understand just how ludicrous it is to call it a "threat"? Who told you that? Who or what are you listening to? Whoever or whatever it is, for your sake I'd highly suggest you stop now.

You made some valid points. Video games truly gets all the blame, while books and movies pose the same threat. But this still validates my point. We should remember that kids imitate what they see and there is the risk of terming it as normal.
 
Its true that when they become adults they won’t necessarily engage in this activities they play, but I don’t want to start mentioning instances when teenagers do unthinkable and horrible things…which they played as a game. 
In the end, it is all in the hands of parents.
There are reasons the restrictions are there, and it would surely make things better as compared to without.