Gamers and Weapons: Ask Dr. Mark

blackrave

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For some reason I always liked games where there is non-lethal alternative to guns
(SWAT4 and DeusEx are first ones that comes to mind)
To quote Doctor Who
Rose: Doctor, they've got guns
Doctor: And I haven't! Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine
P.S. Also try beating Postal2 without any killing- it is surprisingly fun :D


Eleuthera said:
I agree with Fappy...
Aren't we all?
Seriously, Fappy can easily act as external conscience/common sense to anyone who lacks internal one :)
 

Olas

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Dec 24, 2011
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I don't think there's ever been a time period or place where people (especially guys) haven't been fascinated with weapons. You can call it basic human nature but I'd say it taps into a deeper sense of empowerment that weapons inherently come with.

But I think the question is still out there as to whether videogames increase these feelings by encouraging them or decrease them by providing an outlet for them. It's really hard to have a rational discussion about it when both sides of the argument are so strongly opinionated.
 

Dastardly

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Mark J Kline said:
Gamers and Weapons: Ask Dr. Mark

Examining the connection between a love of gaming and a love of weapons.

Read Full Article
We're bombarded by influences throughout our day. Many of them can't realistically be avoided, though many can. The current fixation with videogames, in my opinion, simply stems from the fact that they're the "last man on the heap." They're the newest, which means everything is their fault.

A more sensible approach, to me, seems to be stepping away from the specifics of the source of an influence, and instead focusing on the relative weight of that influence in a person's world. I can have acquaintances who use (even abuse) drugs without becoming a heroin addict... but if all of my acquaintances are drug addicts? Or if many of my close friends (who carry more weight in my world) are? Then I'm in more danger.

On one side, video games may, in some way, be telling a child, "Guns are fun! Use them often!" That voice may very well be present, even persistent. At the same time, millions of gamers play those games without going on shooting sprees. From what I've seen, the deciding factor seems to be whether or not that is the only voice a child is hearing.

We're all susceptible to peer pressure. The more numerous and the more constant the influence, the more likely we are to fall in line. If most of our "peers" are violent game characters, rather than real-life people, there may be a problem. If we're spending more time in that world than this one, there may be a problem. If the only people talking to us about guns/violence/sex/etc. are the fictional characters that glorify it, while the rest of our influencers remain silent on the subject... Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and our natures are no different.

The problem isn't video games, per se. The problem is kids who are left to play (often age-inappropriate) video games most of the time. The problem is parents who don't talk about the issues those games bring up. The problem is that a kid's mind is the purest democracy, and we've got far too many parents failing to make it to the polls.
 

Rthe47

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Apr 20, 2011
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Meh, kids have been bringing knives to school since the 50s. That is why the switchblade is banned/limited.
 

Mr F.

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rofltehcat said:
I don't really know if and what they could "do about" the product placement of real weapons in video games. If they'd be forbidden, video games would just be using weapons that look nearly exactly like real weapons and have names that can easily be identified as the original weapon the game's gun is modeled after.
This also applies to other items like cars in GTA, for example. It may not be called a Lamborgini but it still looks and sounds like one.

However, weapons clearly aren't for children (despite what some manufacturers might try to tell you) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Vi2df0ozSM]. The letter doesn't mention what kind of knives those were but regardless of it, they shouldn't have knives while in school. I can only assume they were something combat-knife-ish (something they simply shouldn't be able to buy), not some swiss utility knife.
That advert. I feel a little bit sick now. Seriously.

A while back my dad and I sat down and talked about buying me an Air-Rifle. I say a while back, it was about 6/7 years ago. We came to the conclusion that it was a pointless buy (He was more interested in me getting one then I was, it was a birthday thing) and that it would only lead to either mischief or injury so we went against it. We used to sometimes talk about going to a shooting range (Once one of them opened up in our town) and my dad was talking to some of his students about taking me hunting (It would have just been a day out in a desert watching eagles fly around before eventually shooting water bottles with a hunting rifle). The point I am trying to make with that is responsible parents can responsibly teach their kids about weapons. My dad used to hunt, way back when.

I guess the point I am trying to say is that when I was 14/15, my dad was tempted to get me an air-rifle. Because, at the time (And I still am) I was interested in hunting and rifles. We then talked about planned trips to shooting ranges, or hunting with his students. We never got round to it (I left the country) so thats that. That advert was a mixture of insane and sexist, pitching guns to kids that young is utterly, utterly foul. I find it strange, gaming and gamers get in trouble because little kids play games with a clear 18 plus rating on them, yet gun companies can try and sell weapons to kids that young?

Over in Blighty you would get in trouble for trying to sell an air-rifle to a kid that young. I know it is a ridiculously low calibre rifle that they are pitching, it would be hard to do any real damage with it. Yet an air-rifle can take an eye out (Had a friend of a friend go to Juvi for doing just that), that toy could kill. I...

I have little to say, really. 14/15 year olds learning about guns does not bother me, adverts pitching guns to 8 year olds piss me off to no end. I know lots of people on this site are gun advocates and thats fine. But lets try and keep the NRA out of games and keep guns away from 8 year olds.

EDIT:

I read up. When I was young we used to fuck around with BB guns. BB pistols and AK-47's, including a few full auto ones when my friends found a shop that would sell them. However ridiculously dangerous those things were, none of us ever got badly hurt and at least it aint a rifle. Although you can get powerful enough air-rifles to kill things, I have a friend who used to go hunting rabbits with an air-rifle. Bleh. I am just sickened by that advert, honestly. The article is interesting and I think people should stop assuming gaming goes on in a vacuum. I am massively behind the rating system and I think it should be listened to.
 
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Oh yeah. Video Games probably contributed to my interest in guns. I like the mechanical aspect of it, and if I want to shoot someone I get NERF blasters :D

rofltehcat said:
I don't really know if and what they could "do about" the product placement of real weapons in video games. If they'd be forbidden, video games would just be using weapons that look nearly exactly like real weapons and have names that can easily be identified as the original weapon the game's gun is modeled after.
This also applies to other items like cars in GTA, for example. It may not be called a Lamborgini but it still looks and sounds like one.

However, weapons clearly aren't for children (despite what some manufacturers might try to tell you) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Vi2df0ozSM]. The letter doesn't mention what kind of knives those were but regardless of it, they shouldn't have knives while in school. I can only assume they were something combat-knife-ish (something they simply shouldn't be able to buy), not some swiss utility knife.
I am for teaching kids to be responsible around guns, as abstinence only is a great way to not only make people interested in a subject, but they have a tendency to approach it unsafely. For example: see sex in more conservative communities (please don't actually see it, though, as that's illegal and creepy). I don't particularly agree with marketing something as a kid's rifle, but as long as the parents are actually freaking responsible about it then it should be okay.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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Mr F. said:
rofltehcat said:
I don't really know if and what they could "do about" the product placement of real weapons in video games. If they'd be forbidden, video games would just be using weapons that look nearly exactly like real weapons and have names that can easily be identified as the original weapon the game's gun is modeled after.
This also applies to other items like cars in GTA, for example. It may not be called a Lamborgini but it still looks and sounds like one.

However, weapons clearly aren't for children (despite what some manufacturers might try to tell you) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Vi2df0ozSM]. The letter doesn't mention what kind of knives those were but regardless of it, they shouldn't have knives while in school. I can only assume they were something combat-knife-ish (something they simply shouldn't be able to buy), not some swiss utility knife.
That advert. I feel a little bit sick now. Seriously.

A while back my dad and I sat down and talked about buying me an Air-Rifle. I say a while back, it was about 6/7 years ago. We came to the conclusion that it was a pointless buy (He was more interested in me getting one then I was, it was a birthday thing) and that it would only lead to either mischief or injury so we went against it. We used to sometimes talk about going to a shooting range (Once one of them opened up in our town) and my dad was talking to some of his students about taking me hunting (It would have just been a day out in a desert watching eagles fly around before eventually shooting water bottles with a hunting rifle). The point I am trying to make with that is responsible parents can responsibly teach their kids about weapons. My dad used to hunt, way back when.

I guess the point I am trying to say is that when I was 14/15, my dad was tempted to get me an air-rifle. Because, at the time (And I still am) I was interested in hunting and rifles. We then talked about planned trips to shooting ranges, or hunting with his students. We never got round to it (I left the country) so thats that. That advert was a mixture of insane and sexist, pitching guns to kids that young is utterly, utterly foul. I find it strange, gaming and gamers get in trouble because little kids play games with a clear 18 plus rating on them, yet gun companies can try and sell weapons to kids that young?

Over in Blighty you would get in trouble for trying to sell an air-rifle to a kid that young. I know it is a ridiculously low calibre rifle that they are pitching, it would be hard to do any real damage with it. Yet an air-rifle can take an eye out (Had a friend of a friend go to Juvi for doing just that), that toy could kill. I...

I have little to say, really. 14/15 year olds learning about guns does not bother me, adverts pitching guns to 8 year olds piss me off to no end. I know lots of people on this site are gun advocates and thats fine. But lets try and keep the NRA out of games and keep guns away from 8 year olds.

EDIT:

I read up. When I was young we used to fuck around with BB guns. BB pistols and AK-47's, including a few full auto ones when my friends found a shop that would sell them. However ridiculously dangerous those things were, none of us ever got badly hurt and at least it aint a rifle. Although you can get powerful enough air-rifles to kill things, I have a friend who used to go hunting rabbits with an air-rifle. Bleh. I am just sickened by that advert, honestly. The article is interesting and I think people should stop assuming gaming goes on in a vacuum. I am massively behind the rating system and I think it should be listened to.
*sigh* The point of children's rifles like that is teaching them from a young age how to safely handle a firearm. I had a BB gun at the age of six or seven, but it was used as a tool to teach me how to safely handle a gun. I never shot anyone with it. In fact, the only guns I've ever shot anyone with are airsoft guns, which unlike BB guns and air rifles (which fire steel balls and lead pellets at a high velocity -- the higher end air rifles are designed to kill, let alone capable of it), fire plastic balls at low speeds, and are designed as a cheaper and more realistic alternative to paintball guns.

That digression aside, in some parts of the country, guns are everywhere, and it's impossible to keep kids away from them completely. This is especially true if, as is true for the target market of the Cricket, you have guns in the house already for hunting and target shooting. Basically, it's better to teach a kid real gun safety than it is to just tell them to stay away from guns. It's like the difference between saying "don't have sex" and leaving it at that, and adding "but if you do, wear a condom."
 

likalaruku

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Nov 29, 2008
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Fappy said:
I think it's more that the children are interested in FPS's
This.

If you find smashing inanimate objects therapeutic but don't want to get into trouble, alarm your neighbors with the noise, buy new stuff, & clean up huge messes, you play stuff like Dungeon Siege.
 

PeterMerkin69

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I've always liked guns and I grew up around them but video games do make me want to go out and shoot too. It's not surprising, really. Racing games make me want to drive fast cars, flight simulators make me want to fly planes, watching people fuck in movies makes me want to fuck. Doing or watching fun things in entertainment reminds me that fun things are fun. Funny how that works, isn't it?
 

ResonanceSD

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PeterMerkin69 said:
I've always liked guns and I grew up around them but video games do make me want to go out and shoot too. It's not surprising, really. Racing games make me want to drive fast cars, flight simulators make me want to fly planes, watching people fuck in movies makes me want to fuck. Doing or watching fun things in entertainment reminds me that fun things are fun. Funny how that works, isn't it?
Yeah and because I main Lich in Dota 2, I frequently get the urge to levitate, cast ice magic, and make horrible puns about cold things.
 

Cat135

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I would like to know the title of a certain computer game I've played years ago.?
I think it has stages/levels that you have to complete.
You need to collect something, I remember there were jewels.
Your character is a cute 'monster' with no arms, but with feet. It constantly jumps and you control the direction on where its jumping on. It's color pink,,, I think.
I think I remember some storm clouds with crown.
There are bonus stages where you can collect lots of stuff but with time limit, after which the tiles begin to fall.
I think the objective of the game is to change the color of the tiles in each stage.

THank you!