sanquin said:I've been playing violent videogames (among others) since I was like...12~13 or something. Starting with GTA2 I believe, in which I loved just going on rampages to kill and destroy as much as possible. And I still play plenty of games where you kill tons of people. On top of that I'm pretty violent in nature. Fighting feels awesome to me. But I barely ever use violence. Heck I haven't actually fought a real fight with anyone in many years now. I simply don't like hurting real people. I'd feel way too bad and guilty if I did so. If anything, games (together with music and LARP) are an outlet for what would otherwise become a lot of pent up aggression and stress.
Then there's two friends of mine. One likes himself some good old fashioned murderous rampage every now and then, yet is pretty much the friendliest and non-confrontational person I know. The other loves himself some mindless killing and can cackle like an excited child while doing so, but he'd sooner hug than attack you in real life.
So clearly whatever effect games are supposed to have on people doesn't affect every one at the very least. It's almost as if you need to already have problems to make games have a violent effect on you. >.>
In fact, I can say that "violent videogames" have helped me more than anything. I've noticed I'm more aware of my surroundings and have better peripheral vision than people I know that don't play games, for instance. My hand-eye coordination and reflexes also seem better, though I'm not sure about those two. And yes, that does mostly come from the violent videogames I play. Because the other games I play usually don't require a lot of that.
As for tactics, it's hard to tell. The tactics I use in games barely help me in real life I think. At most it might make me more careful in certain situations because games have taught me that even though you might think it's safe/quiet/whatever, the situation can go to shit real quick if you aren't.
I don't think it's JUST the easy access to firearms in the US. I also think it's because of America's culture at the very least being more accepting of violence, if not even glorifying it. Readily accessible guns are a large part of it though.stroopwafel said:These games are played over the entire world yet these recurrent mass shootings are only a problem in the U.S. The sole reason for that is the excessive circulation and easy access to military grade firearms.
^^This in a nutshell. We're hypocrites. Our culture is a byproduct of quite a few disgraceful things we've done to build our western society, and we've so far been unable and/or unwilling to acknowledge it. If we were more honest with our history, that would be a good stepping stone. But we've woven a tangled web and lost track of what's important. We scoff at basic principles which would, if taken at face value and practiced, at least give us more solid ground to stand on as a civilization. It's no wonder bad things keep happening, and will continue to happen as long as we toss the blame onto trivial scapegoats like this.