Counter Strike does not teach teen violence
Intense debates are being held after the Winnenden tragedy over how acts of violence by teenagers could potentially be prevented.
Lower Saxony wants to inhibit the illegal sales of violent video games to minors. Experts believe this to be wrong.
The Public Attorney’s Office of Stuttgart has launched an investigation into the father of the 17-year-old Winnenden gunman for manslaughter. Tim K.’s father, a member of a shooting club, had 4,600 rounds of ammunition stored in the family home and the weapon used in the shooting spree was kept in the parents’ bedroom – against regulation – and not in the safe with the other 14 weapons he owned.
Tim K. took the unsecured weapon from the bedroom. The Public Attorney’s Office believes that Tim’s father should have recognized his son was proned to violence because of his diagnosed depression.
In the meantime, debates are running rampant about what measures could prevent future acts of violence by teenagers. Lower Saxony is demanding a major change in the manner in which the addiction of computer games in minors is dealt with. The underlying reason for this is a survey undertaken by the Kriminologischen Forschungsintituts Niedersachsen (KFN – the criminal research institute of Lower Saxony), through which it has been determined that 14,000 9th graders in Germany are addicted to video games, especially to computer role games such as World of Warcraft as well as so-called killer games like Counter Strike.
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The state government wants to contain the sales of violent games to minors through under cover test sales. According to investigators, Tim K. was playing a so-called killer game the night before the rampage.
These test sales are set to function in the same way as they do for uncovering the sales of alcohol to minors. If a game is illegally sold to a minor the shop owners or salesmen could face a fine of up to 50,000 euros.
In the survey, presented by KFN Director Christian Pfeiffer, 44,610 9th graders were questioned about their internet and computer game habit. The survey found that 4.3 percent of the girls and 15.8 percent of the boys had an “excessive” playing habits with more than 4.5 hours spent on the computer every day. 14,000 9th graders were classified as addicted to computer games with 23,000 more in serious danger of becoming addicted. The total number minors that have been classified as addicted to computer games, Pfeiffer said, was around 50,000 to 60,000.
Minister for Social Affairs Mechthild Ross-Luttmann said she would present her suggestion of the under cover test sales at the next national conference with other youth and social ministers. It is shocking, she said, how easily children have access to games that are not appropriate for their age.
Ross-Luttmann also aims to achieve a general age restriction for addictive computer games. World of Warcraft, for example – available to minors at the age of 12 – might in the near future only be sold to adults. In addition to this, parents need to be further sensibilized. “Parents must know what danger potential exists in their children’s bedrooms,” Ross-Luttmann said.
Computer game expert and author of „Digital Paradise“ Andreas Rosenfelder is rather skeptical about demands like this. “I don’t see a connection between digital role playing games like World of Warcraft and shooting sprees,” he said. World of Warcraft is a game set in medieval times in which the protagonists can take on the roles of dwarfs, elves and wizards. There is no shooting in this game.
“In heated debates there can easily be some confusion,“ Rosenfelder said. Games like Counter Strike – where the gamer plays through the eyes of a heavily armed character and kills as many enemies as possible – need to be kept an eye on. These types of games are called Ego Shooter. Rosenfelder says an excessive consumption of these games will have side effects.
A cultural pattern has come into existence because of the school shootings in the years gone by. Rosenberg says, though, that this pattern can not be stopped just because things are now to be forbidden. He believes that whoever has the potential to see the world through hateful eyes will find a way through which to get rid of the aggression – whether it be through computer games or something else. The behavior that could lead to a shooting spree, Rosenberg says, can not be learned through a game like Counter Strike.
Lower Saxony wants to inhibit the illegal sales of violent video games to minors. Experts believe this to be wrong.
The Public Attorney’s Office of Stuttgart has launched an investigation into the father of the 17-year-old Winnenden gunman for manslaughter. Tim K.’s father, a member of a shooting club, had 4,600 rounds of ammunition stored in the family home and the weapon used in the shooting spree was kept in the parents’ bedroom – against regulation – and not in the safe with the other 14 weapons he owned.
Tim K. took the unsecured weapon from the bedroom. The Public Attorney’s Office believes that Tim’s father should have recognized his son was proned to violence because of his diagnosed depression.
In the meantime, debates are running rampant about what measures could prevent future acts of violence by teenagers. Lower Saxony is demanding a major change in the manner in which the addiction of computer games in minors is dealt with. The underlying reason for this is a survey undertaken by the Kriminologischen Forschungsintituts Niedersachsen (KFN – the criminal research institute of Lower Saxony), through which it has been determined that 14,000 9th graders in Germany are addicted to video games, especially to computer role games such as World of Warcraft as well as so-called killer games like Counter Strike.
‘);
// –>
The state government wants to contain the sales of violent games to minors through under cover test sales. According to investigators, Tim K. was playing a so-called killer game the night before the rampage.
These test sales are set to function in the same way as they do for uncovering the sales of alcohol to minors. If a game is illegally sold to a minor the shop owners or salesmen could face a fine of up to 50,000 euros.
In the survey, presented by KFN Director Christian Pfeiffer, 44,610 9th graders were questioned about their internet and computer game habit. The survey found that 4.3 percent of the girls and 15.8 percent of the boys had an “excessive” playing habits with more than 4.5 hours spent on the computer every day. 14,000 9th graders were classified as addicted to computer games with 23,000 more in serious danger of becoming addicted. The total number minors that have been classified as addicted to computer games, Pfeiffer said, was around 50,000 to 60,000.
Minister for Social Affairs Mechthild Ross-Luttmann said she would present her suggestion of the under cover test sales at the next national conference with other youth and social ministers. It is shocking, she said, how easily children have access to games that are not appropriate for their age.
Ross-Luttmann also aims to achieve a general age restriction for addictive computer games. World of Warcraft, for example – available to minors at the age of 12 – might in the near future only be sold to adults. In addition to this, parents need to be further sensibilized. “Parents must know what danger potential exists in their children’s bedrooms,” Ross-Luttmann said.
Computer game expert and author of „Digital Paradise“ Andreas Rosenfelder is rather skeptical about demands like this. “I don’t see a connection between digital role playing games like World of Warcraft and shooting sprees,” he said. World of Warcraft is a game set in medieval times in which the protagonists can take on the roles of dwarfs, elves and wizards. There is no shooting in this game.
“In heated debates there can easily be some confusion,“ Rosenfelder said. Games like Counter Strike – where the gamer plays through the eyes of a heavily armed character and kills as many enemies as possible – need to be kept an eye on. These types of games are called Ego Shooter. Rosenfelder says an excessive consumption of these games will have side effects.
A cultural pattern has come into existence because of the school shootings in the years gone by. Rosenberg says, though, that this pattern can not be stopped just because things are now to be forbidden. He believes that whoever has the potential to see the world through hateful eyes will find a way through which to get rid of the aggression – whether it be through computer games or something else. The behavior that could lead to a shooting spree, Rosenberg says, can not be learned through a game like Counter Strike.
