Mike CernovichVerified account

even if we're highly empathetic on a large scale, we're inept at one on one relationships with ppl who aren't also in on internet culture

Video games very well may be a problem for people with mental illness, but most things are problems for them.

100% $ATVI just had their earnings call. -MAU & DAU up both. -Hours spent watching/playing games up. Virtual and Real world are merging for many. Lot of potentially very bad consequences esp the understanding of mortality.

I won't blame video games in and of themselves, but it's kind of ridiculous to say they offer *zero* influence on those prone to commit violence.

Exactly...it's not a cause but it makes the mind more "malleable" to the idea that people, like you said, are "pixels on a screen". It's easier to pull the plug on something you have no connection with. Yet I feel that social media is a stronger medium for that than video games.

Every experience exerts an influence to say that video games don’t influence is asinine

I think it has more to do with predisposition, mostly the mental part. I've played "violent" video games since I was young, grew up poor, felt repressed, not by race but by Gov. I know thats wrong but the point is I don't own a gun or think about killing someone that disagrees.

I don’t think it’s a 1 to 1 correlation but I do think that the culture you ingest does effect your world view. If you are surrounded by influences that heighten your fight or flight reflex while taking part in playing dehumanizing games, you’re likely to have less empathy.