I find the question worrying to be honest. They're polygons and pixels. No, I don't feel bad about using them as synaptic stimuli when I'm getting my Batman on. "They" do not exist and for the purposes I need them to fulfill (i.e. nice squishy things for my digital fist to pummell) that is all they are.
I'm all for immersion and escapism, heck that's why I chose this hobby. But once the machine is turned off I will not give "them" a second thought. That's why games are so great. You get to live out your fantasies. But once the call of the real world takes me out of the digital one, that's that, end of story. They'll all be there waiting for me to beat up when I turn my Xbox back on.
Sorry if this sounds like a downer, but when we're concerning ourselves with the hopes, dreams, and problems of unreal people who have no sentience, then I start thinking we're taking it too far.
I'm all for immersion and escapism, heck that's why I chose this hobby. But once the machine is turned off I will not give "them" a second thought. That's why games are so great. You get to live out your fantasies. But once the call of the real world takes me out of the digital one, that's that, end of story. They'll all be there waiting for me to beat up when I turn my Xbox back on.
Sorry if this sounds like a downer, but when we're concerning ourselves with the hopes, dreams, and problems of unreal people who have no sentience, then I start thinking we're taking it too far.