Gun obsession in video games

[jawakiller]

Believe me, shooting something in real life is actually slightly more fun than using a gun twice as big on a console (or pc).

It's easy to say "Oh yeah, a kitchen knife could kill someone too. Guns aren't much different la la la la"
.

Actually a kitchen knife is a lot more dangerous than an empty handgun. And if you got scared holding a empty handgun... I don't even want to know if you were given a loaded shotgun.

 

[mega48man]

because it's fun to do something that we can't do in real life. we boys like to live that fantasy of being a 20's mobster (mafia 2) or a badass badass with a PHD in badassery (duke nukem forever). duke nukem is a very good example of boy fantasies; built like a tank, immature humor, fighting aliens of impossible odds, lots of topless women, and sunglasses.

same thing goes for halo, master chief is awesome. this is why JRPG's suck: the main character is always this annoying kid who you want to kill.

mario=old, it's been done to death and everytime is boring
Grayson Hunt (bulletstorm)=awesome, maturity of a 14 year old and is a badass (and voiced by steve blum which is a huge plus)

cloud (FF7)=lame, i don't know why he's emo and the over the top sword stuff doesn't impress me, it's all the same
chairman prescott (gears of war)=HE'S GONNA BE A PLAYABLE CHARACTER IN GEARS 3 I'M SO EXCITED. and he's amazing

 

[captaincabbage]

Because overall, people like guns. The sort of power and authority they exude is incomprable to much else.
As for real guns, I do like real guns. I'll sometimes go out rabbit or fox hunting with my dad on his property and it's fun.

 

[KiKiweaky]

First of all, OP, you need to conquer that fear of guns. They only kill things when they're asked to kill things.

Regardless of whether or not it's currently being called on to perform the task of killing the whole essence of a gun is focused on its ability to snuff out life. That is the length and breadth of its purpose. You can talk about how cool it is to fire them on a range or out on the farm but that doesn't change their nature. This is a tool we humans have made to kill each other with.

I fail to see why the OP's trepidation at holding such an item is unwarranted. To me it seems very wise to be afraid when touching a gun for a first time. After all, a gun is the culmination of the very worst aspects of human nature and it can be jarring to be confronted with that fact in such a physical way.

Agree with Heathrow on this, being fearful of a gun is entirely justified. I love going to the range but I'm still pretty cautious with a gun in my hand (its only a .22 at that, some of the handguns on show were monsters and I'd probably hurt myself firing them). At the end of the day its purpose is to kill, sure bringing it to the range is enjoyable and being able to shoot it at long ranges and hit things is an incredibly difficult thing to do and requires great skill.

But theres a reason ranges are so strict your holding something thats made to kill another person. I saw a clip or 2 on YouTube of guys giving their girlfriends shotguns and laughing when they hold/fire them wrong... not really sure they should be allowed to have a gun if thats how they carry on with them.

 

[Daverson]

Because in modern conflict zones, no one runs around with a sword? You can only expect fiction to follow suite with modern trends. The concept of "shooters" (AFAIK, the genreless term is "action game") themselves, it tends well towards gameplay, easier to pick up than an RPG, and not as detached from the actual conflict as a strategy.

As for your queasiness around guns... firearms are the ultimate objectification of individual liberty and responsibility. Yes, a lot firearms are designed explicitly to end human life, denying that is like denying gravity, but are all gun owners implicitly murderous psychopaths? Of course not. I'd wager over 99% of people who own firearms (notice I said *own* firearms, not *are issued* firearms - police and military use is a completely different kettle of fish!) will ever use them on another person, and much less than that will set out with the intention of using them on another person.

 

[Smagmuck_]

I like guns, hell video games and my father got me into them in the first place! Now, I know there are some very serious differences between gaming and the real deal. The largest caliber that I've fired was the .50 BMG, my shoulder hurt badly the next couple of days. The smallest I've fired is the 9x19 parabellum. I do find shooting in gaming very enjoyable, but I also enjoy the real thing... And it irritates the ever loving piss out of me when some kid on Xbox Live thinks he knows everything about guns, just because of video games... -_-

 

[Jack of Spades]

Because if you have a sword obsession, then you "sir" are a nerd. Not saying that's a bad thing.

 

[DarkPegasus333]

I've held a gun before. There wasn't anything frightening or empowering about it.

I really like sci-fi weapons (pew pew pew!). They don't exist, so I can't really go out and own one

Guns are popular in video games because they're modern (er..well...some), they're loud, and cause death and dismemberment. =D

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Guns are not the only weapons (or even the first) that were made from the ground up to kill humans,

Swords were the first.

Actually, the sword is the only weapon that has no viable purpose save killing people. If you want to hunt, for example, you would be far better served bringing a spear or a bow. A sword asks you to get far too close to deliver a strike, and with many animals, such proximity can be fantastically dangerous. Trust me when I say you do not want to be anywhere near a wild pig that you've managed to piss off by stabbing it.

 

[Sejs Cube]

Nthing the "you don't need to be afraid of a gun, it's not got some malicious intent, it's just a tool" comments.

If it helps, think of a gun like a lion. If you are not thoughtful and considerate with how you handle yourself when you are around one, there's a good chance that someone can get hurt or killed. If you are thoughtful and considerate with how you handle yourself when you are around one, there's significantly less problem. In both cases you probably shouldn't handle one without proper training first.

 

[Danpascooch]

Guns are not the only weapons (or even the first) that were made from the ground up to kill humans,

Swords were the first.

Actually, the sword is the only weapon that has no viable purpose save killing people. If you want to hunt, for example, you would be far better served bringing a spear or a bow. A sword asks you to get far too close to deliver a strike, and with many animals, such proximity can be fantastically dangerous. Trust me when I say you do not want to be anywhere near a wild pig that you've managed to piss off by stabbing it.

I don't know, my years of fencing have made me really good at hitting the buttons on the tv with my foil when I'm too lazy to walk up to it.

 

[Kwaren]

Guns are not the only weapons (or even the first) that were made from the ground up to kill humans,

Swords were the first.

I think that honor goes to a rock tied to a stick

 

[GenericAmerican]

Because you don't want to run off to war in real life, and you use video games as a pale imitation.

I'm all for guns, I think everyone should have one; but they must be properly trained in how to handle it.

Look at it this way, you're Mr. robber, and your looking to go mug someone for the paper in their wallet.

Too your left is a county that has strict fire-arm laws, no one is allowed to carry other than the police. Mr. Robber can go there, mug someone at gunpoint and in most likelihood not worry about retaliation as long as you can get away before someone informs law enforcement. (Unless you're as dumb as some criminals and hand you're gun to the victim while you count the money.)

Too your right is a county that is notorious for the number of people who carry weapons. I don't even have to go into detail; anyone with any amount of common sense would go and try evil things in the other county...you're not going to risk getting shot over a couple bucks.

They are a deterrent, but if the need arises, they give you the capacity to defend yourself.

I believe in the far future, the same discussion will be going on about lazer rifles and other things.

And a thousand years ago they were saying the same things about swords and bow...wait no, people back then weren't such freaking wusses.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

It's easy to say "Oh yeah, a kitchen knife could kill someone too. Guns aren't much different la la la la"

But I agree with the OP: I was on holiday in Arizona once and we went to a firing range for the craic. I fired a Glock-17 (the 'pop gun' of most FPSes -- I wanted to use a P90 but they advised me against it). The thing was so loud and exploded with such force, I thought someone had handed me a Desert Eagle by accident. It was incredible. There's nothing akin to it in everyday life. It was a highly sobering experience.

Trust me, you'll know if you've fired a Desert Eagle. 9mm doesn't actually kick that much... Why did they advise you against a p90? Yea, it fires a 5.7, but the gun itself is made to be able to be controllable.

OT: Do you get terrified every time you get behind the wheel of a car? Do you get terrified every time you hold a kitchen knife? Do you get terrified every time you walk across the street, or hold a pillow? All of those actions could result in the death of you or any random person. I hope you realize that guns aren't the monsters that people make them out to be. Guns are tools, they don't kill people. People kill people. Just train more with them, you'll get over your fear and realize that they aren't that bad. Hell, they're not bad at all. In fact, going to the firing range helps deal with everyday stress. It's something about how your adrenaline and testosterone get moving and it subsequently releases endorphins.
Guns can be very useful training tools. Hell, they teach you one of the most important things in life, Responsibility. You have to learn how to properly maintain them and clean them every time you use a firearm. This in turn will teach you how to be responsible for not only guns but for everything else.

For me, guns are the things that actually draw me away from the FPS's. I find the lack of understanding that is very common amongst the players to be rather infuriating. Then they claim to be firearms experts because "This gun rocks in CoD!" However, I can understand how people who have never fired a gun like to do so in games. Shooting a firearm gives you a sense of power and worth. The knowledge of that power can make someone feel good and depending on what their character is, they will act accordingly. People who have no chance of ever firing a gun, or never want to fire a gun are still amazed and perplexed by the ability most firearms can give someone.



On a side note: What gun did he get and what is it chambered in?

quoted just to get your attention

 

[razelas]

I wanted to pose a question to some folks on the forum. What, exactly, is so appealing about shooter games? And by that, I mean the shooting in general. I enjoy a good shooter as much as the next person but Ive sort of realized something since christmas. My dad bought a sidearm for christmas (its going to be his new hobby) and it was the first time I ever held a firearm. It terrified me. The clip was empty but the knowledge that I held something in my hand that could end a life really terrified me more than I thought it would. Probably a good percentage of people who play shooters are like me, in that they have never even held a real gun before, and yet there is a huge obsession with them.

So basically, why do you think there is such a love of guns in video games.

Personally, firearms (and weapons in general) are tools for me to achieve an objective, whether that be getting from point A to point B with X number of obstacles, or neutralizing X number of targets. As a pacifist, I don't revel in the violence and animosity of shooter-games, but rather the intellectual side of war, i.e. tactical and strategical competition with humans and AI. Entertainment from a shooter for me doesn't come from pwningn00bz or blasting enemies into chunks of meat, but rather from the intellectual exercise of learning the game through experimentation and opposing interaction.

 

[Outright Villainy]

There's most likely a gun obsession in games for 2 main reasons:

a) People like seeing killin' stuff, and destruction.
b) Shooting makes a lot of sense as a means of using skill in games. You need quick reactions, and controls are well suited to point in specific places to put death on man. It's an immensely satisfying feeling, and it's one of the purer genres out there. Pokemon snap is one of the few games that capitilised on that mechanic without all the death, and it's unfortunate more games don't try and find other ways of making point and click skill games that don't involve killing.

[sub]Shooting pikachu in the face with an Rpg would be cool though...[/sub]

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

My obsession with guns in games has actually a lot to do with the feel of firing them. Hearing that crack, muzzle flash and recoil, has a large factor on how "good" that game is to me. Although now I've fired all kinds of real firearms that are featured in games, I had this obsession *before* firing any gun. Some games just seemed to get it right. Counter-strike, Call of Juarez, Soldier of Fortune, Rainbow 6: Vegas etc.

Others, although popular, let down my enjoyment slightly because the guns felt too much like a game, and no real consequence to the lead coming out, like firing the sniper rifles in MW2. It's like, "really? that just killed something?"

 

[manaman]

...it was the first time I ever held a firearm. It terrified me... the knowledge that I held something in my hand that could end a life really terrified me more than I thought it would...

A hammer can end a life. I think you need to conquer your unfounded fear of firearms. It's a lifeless hunk of metal, it's the wielder you only need ever worry about.

A hammer can fix things, build things or destroy things. A firearm is designed to place a hunk of metal into a target at high speed; a function that by and large will not do anything other than maim or kill.

Guns were designed to kill things, thinking anything less is delusional.

A gun is a tool, I agree, however it has a singular purpose.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. A gun has a singular function, not purpose. A gun is designed to fire a projectile. Squirt guns and nail guns are not called guns because they look like pistols. Anyway I know we are talking about firearms which have the singular purpose of delivering energy on Target through a projectile. Assuming that the only possible thing you can do with that is kill people would seem a bit more delusional to me.

How about entertainment, like a trick shooter. How about as a hobby, providing sustenance, self defense, etc. singular function does not make for a singular purpose.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

...it was the first time I ever held a firearm. It terrified me... the knowledge that I held something in my hand that could end a life really terrified me more than I thought it would...

A hammer can end a life. I think you need to conquer your unfounded fear of firearms. It's a lifeless hunk of metal, it's the wielder you only need ever worry about.

A hammer can fix things, build things or destroy things. A firearm is designed to place a hunk of metal into a target at high speed; a function that by and large will not do anything other than maim or kill.

Guns were designed to kill things, thinking anything less is delusional.

A gun is a tool, I agree, however it has a singular purpose.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. A gun has a singular function, not purpose. A gun is designed to fire a projectile. Squirt guns and nail guns are not called guns because they look like pistols. Anyway I know we are talking about firearms which have the singular purpose of delivering energy on Target through a projectile. Assuming that the only possible thing you can do with that is kill people would seem a bit more delusional to me.

How about entertainment, like a trick shooter. How about as a hobby, providing sustenance, self defense, etc. singular function does not make for a singular purpose.

Singular purpose, multiple possible applications of that purpose.

Again I don't disagree that shooting as a hobby can't be fun. I'm sure it can be, and I'd love to try it.

I'm respectfully wary of the power a gun can hold; nothing much more than that. My opinion, negative or otherwise, should not infringe on the right of someone else to own one.

 

[Hulten]

Well... I guess it is cause killing people and shooting guns is something most can't get away with in the comfort of their own home. In reality anyway. Or it could just be a deep seeded lust to do such things. Or maybe people just like having the power over virtual life and death as perceived through a man with a gun? Obviously this varies from person to person and the things I have listed are just my thoughts and may not even be true for most normal people.

I honestly play shooters because I think it is fun to make cherry pie all over the wall... Behind that guy..... That I shot.... With a gun..... Think I might play some COD tonight.