People playing games only to kill things

[Terraniux]

Hm. Well, I'd say that Unreal Tournament 2004 is my favorite game, and honestly, there isn't much to the game other than [small]double [/small]killing. Well, you capture flags and stuff, but it's based around [small]multi[/small] killing . [small]mega[/small] Killing in games isn't a bad thing, not even only playing games to [small]ultra[/small] kill things, regardless of what genre the game actually is.

I admit, some of the most fun I've had in Grand Theft Auto is [small]m-m-m-monster[/small] killing innocent civilians and getting a high body count. Some people enjoy games in different ways than you or me, and that's okay. If you want to [small]ludicrous[/small] kill everything in every game ever, then I guess there's no reason you shouldn't [small]HOLY SHIT[/small] kill everything in every game ever.

 

[Karelwolfpup]

Guy on my Twitter has just been tweeting some stupid stuff in the past few minutes:

I've killed everything in my ranch on Red Dead Redemption except for the one dog that wanders around

Assassins Creed sucks too, fuck stealth shit i wanna kill people

If you manage not to massacre innocent civilians on free roam games you have a lot more patience than i do.

I even kill everyone in Fable.

I'm going to go play Red Dead Redemption and shoot my horses in the face, fuck missions.

If you give me a video game involving guns and free roam, i WILL kill everyone wether it's part of the story or not.

i sold Fallout New Vegas because i kept getting killed when i killed everyone

all i want to do i drive and fly and kill and buy shit without consequences that's why GTA is fun

i can't play GTA IV because i just get killed by police because i suck at that, i just wanna be free

it's all about free roam and random killing for me

And I wondered why the media thinks gamers are violence obsessed idiots...discuss?

Think I talked about people "needing" violence in videogames in a thread, twas a while ago, but can recap.
Videogames are all about stress relief through fantasy. Most people can't run around with a chainsaw and murder people because they'd get shot and/or killed for doing it, plus most people aren't mentally capable of the act "on a whim", that sort of things takes time to desensitize someone to the implications of the violence, or for the fantasy of such violence to overcome their own moral checkpoints and carry out the act.
For me, if I want to just blow shit up I go for the mercenaries games or GTA, climb in an attack chopper and just level cities for funsies. It is a relatively rare mood, but it leaves me satisfied and less stressed.
Some people delve further into it than that, perhaps due to personal stresses in their lives and they feel this is the only way to relieve their stresses.
Thing is people need violence, it is an inbuilt part of our nature whether we wish to recognise that fact or not. We need it because it is a stress reliever, and since we can so indulge in it in a risk and responsibility free environment we do so.

As for media perceptions? fuck the media, I care nothing for the opinions of muck rackers, corporate lackeys or the plain dishonest. Which leaves the small section of the media which is actually honest, and more importantly ACCURATE, in its reporting, which I will give some credit at least, but still remain largely disinterested in.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I'll admit, I've gone on virtual rampages in games before. I've killed everyone I saw in Saint's Row 2, blown up every single ship (including friendlies) in space sims, slaughtered villages in Elder Scrolls games, etc. These incidents are few and far between however, as I typically only indulge in such behavior when I need to vent some steam. Heck, some games are all about killing everything in sight (Doom, Painkiller, Serious Sam, etc.)

Games can provide a cathartic outlet for one's emotions. It's not that different from other anger release methods, like beating a punching bag or screaming into a pillow. If nobody real is being hurt, then I don't really see the problem.

 

[William Fleming]

I couldn't help but laugh when I read "i sold Fallout New Vegas because i kept getting killed when i killed everyone". Does that guy makes these tweets often because I cannot imagine anyone acting like that normally.

Though there are times when I just feel like lashing out at something in a game (and revert to a previous save or delete it).

 

[Abomination]

While I think the way your tweeted friend plays is too low-brow for me I wouldn't ever demand that games not grant him the ability to do it.

If he has fun with blowing stuff up, more power to him.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I don't mind a virtual rampage here and there, but honestly I need more than that. In SR2 I joined many a game that just boiled down to shooting cops for an hour. Not even gangs. Just cops. I just can't do that for long periods of time.
I go fiend hunting in New Vegas.

I can see why people might want the stress relief, but I gotta do something constructive in a game.

Well, I don't think it has to be said, but I'll say it anyhow. If he's obsessed with killing, better in a virtual world where no one really gets hurt than in reality.

 

[Islandbuffilo]

Random acts of violence in games last pretty short with me, kill one civilian npc, and you've basically killed them all, and will most likely get the same reaction. I really only "needlessly" kill npcs when they're rude or screw up I.E Nazeem in skyrim or my villagers not working, but are complaining about lack of work being done in black and white 2, etc.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Well thats... something I'm ok with. Even if he sounds a tad bit dense, he can go light people on fire in Saints Row 2 for all I care.

I mean I got Dead Rising 2 to relieve my stress during high school. Nothing cures "I just got a D on my test" like the slaughtering of 158 zombies via sharp objects duct taped on blunt objects. And I do it in Skyrim... I had to test Elemental Fury somehow, good thing there was a town called Whiterun nearby with test subjects.

 

[skywolfblue]

Guy on my Twitter has just been tweeting some stupid stuff in the past few minutes:

I've killed everything in my ranch on Red Dead Redemption except for the one dog that wanders around

Assassins Creed sucks too, fuck stealth shit i wanna kill people

If you manage not to massacre innocent civilians on free roam games you have a lot more patience than i do.

I even kill everyone in Fable.

I'm going to go play Red Dead Redemption and shoot my horses in the face, fuck missions.

If you give me a video game involving guns and free roam, i WILL kill everyone wether it's part of the story or not.

i sold Fallout New Vegas because i kept getting killed when i killed everyone

all i want to do i drive and fly and kill and buy shit without consequences that's why GTA is fun

i can't play GTA IV because i just get killed by police because i suck at that, i just wanna be free

it's all about free roam and random killing for me

And I wondered why the media thinks gamers are violence obsessed idiots...discuss?

I'm not particularly fond of doing wholesale massacres of innocent civilians in video games.

Violence against bad guys is fine, killing an excessively annoying character or two is peachy.

But it makes me question when people find that replicating the actions of serial killers is what they want to do with their spare time.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I've only ever killed characters in a game with utter disdain in one circumstance, and I felt bad about it once I realized I had. It was in Assassin's Creed with the people that will get in your way all the time. I had lost my last shred of patience after seeing yet another one make a beeline for me, and only ever me, yet again and I went on a rampage killing any and all beggars in my way.

Afterwards though, I felt bad for it. Not because of killing virtual people, but because I try to conduct myself with honor when I play games. Also, most of the time that I'd kill people in a game, en masse, it was because I was screwing around like how I'd turn on cheats in Goldeneye and just go nuts if I was feeling frustrated. But this time in Assasin's Creed was the first and (Currently) last time I've done it with true sense of hatred and I hope I never do it again.

 

[marcooos]

Guy on my Twitter has just been tweeting some stupid stuff in the past few minutes:

I've killed everything in my ranch on Red Dead Redemption except for the one dog that wanders around

Assassins Creed sucks too, fuck stealth shit i wanna kill people

If you manage not to massacre innocent civilians on free roam games you have a lot more patience than i do.

I even kill everyone in Fable.

I'm going to go play Red Dead Redemption and shoot my horses in the face, fuck missions.

If you give me a video game involving guns and free roam, i WILL kill everyone wether it's part of the story or not.

i sold Fallout New Vegas because i kept getting killed when i killed everyone

all i want to do i drive and fly and kill and buy shit without consequences that's why GTA is fun

i can't play GTA IV because i just get killed by police because i suck at that, i just wanna be free

it's all about free roam and random killing for me

And I wondered why the media thinks gamers are violence obsessed idiots...discuss?

I'm not particularly fond of doing wholesale massacres of innocent civilians in video games.

Violence against bad guys is fine, killing an excessively annoying character or two is peachy.

But it makes me question when people find that replicating the actions of serial killers is what they want to do with their spare time.

Why? They are pieces of code. Also what serial killer do you know spent his time fufilling his dark fantasies by trying to murder every man, woman and dog in red dead with a knife?

 

[KOMega]

Well, replicating mundane actions only has so much finite potential.
So does "doing the right thing" for the umpteenth time.

What if I wanted to see some pretty red stained fireworks?
Save states also do help to alleviate the consequences of our actions. ;P

The main point of the games you mention btw IS to kill.
They just give you the freedom to decide your own targets sometimes.

I mean what else is there to do in those games?
Whatever mini games are available are well.... mini games.
With their own mini game mechanics, which are usually not as well done as the core gameplay.
Killing is part of the core gameplay mechanics in these ones.

 

[loc978]

Guy on my Twitter has just been tweeting some stupid stuff in the past few minutes:

And I wondered why the media thinks gamers are violence obsessed idiots...discuss?

Met quite a few similar people... generally not very avid gamers. The ones that are should probably be on government watch lists.

Also:

i sold Fallout New Vegas because i kept getting killed when i killed everyone

Tell him this, from me, if you will (hell, use my screenname if you want):

"Hah! Take that, ************! Real open-world games bite back when you act like a particularly idiotic psychopath. I'm glad one of my favorites kicked your sorry ass."

 

[piinyouri]

I do admit, there was a time back when I played Morrowind where the prospect of killing every NPC in the game seemed like a fun thought.

Not because I personally take joy in ending lives, or fantasize about murder, real or virtual, but because the idea that I could have such a sweeping impact on a game was really really cool.(Morrowind was more or less the first game of that scale that I had played to that point)
It wasn't just limited to killing people either. Steal all the pillows in a town and make a pillow fort, pilfer every stores inventory ect.

I do still do this, however it's not literally "kill everything" but instead I'll make characters that have something wrong, some mental flaw or whatever that makes them a bit more violent, and thus I will kill a few more innocent NPCs than I normally would, but I rationalize or role play a reason for it.

To me that guy in the twitter feed sounds like he's trying to be sarcastic or do some kind of satire. Could be wrong though.

 

[Drummodino]

I guess for some people that is just what they like to do in video games. Nothing wrong with it if that's just what they enjoy. I have gone on rampages in games like GTA in the past but it's pretty freaking rare these days. I like to think it's because I've grown up and matured as an adult. Whenever I kill an innocent in a game I often feel absolutely horrible. There's one part in Spec Ops that really got to me, when a civilian runs at you as you turn a corner. My natural instinct was to gun them down, but as I did so I realised what I'd done. The game never mentioned it again and it had no impact on anything following but it really got to me.

 

[SadisticFire]

"Hah! Take that, ************! Real open-world games bite back when you act like a particularly idiotic psychopath. I'm glad one of my favorites kicked your sorry ass."

I second this. I read that and was snickering to myself. The most minor elitist in me can't help but laugh at this guy. Challenge? FUCK THAT.
I mean like. this guy might be a problem to our perception issue, but that's just kinda sad. I really don't know what to say to him other than it feels like games might not be the median he actually wants. Or at least, the types of games he wants. I don't know. I just find everything he said too funny to actually generate a proper response to. Part of me just wants to bash his skull in, another part of me wants to just laugh at me, and the politically correct part of me says "games are games."

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

This is one of the things I thought that made Dishonored such a beautiful game. From my own experience, I played through it with the strongest of conviction to try not to do any harm if I could help it. Not for the achievement or the bragging right, but because what was going on with the story and all the bodies dropping from the plague, I didn't want to kill anyone.

I actually wish more games would do something like this, and not just as a stealth element either.

 

[Thr33X]

Games give us that "option" to do as we see fit. In the case of free roam/sandbox games, that freedom is even greater. Now unfortunately this idiot here is protected by certain factors.

1) He's in the privacy of his own home (or likely his parents home, as this behavior doesn't strike me as that of a mature adult capable of maintaining a household).
2) He's playing a game of his ownership, bought with his own money (or his parents' money, for similar reasons as #1)

So he's within his "rights" to play his game the way he sees fit to play. However, it doesn't take from the fact that he's a crazed asshole. Sadly all we can do in this case is shake our heads and file him under the extremely delusional gamers out there. Unfortunately, those are exactly the ones that mainstream media look for when they start pleading their case that video games are the devil.

 

[lacktheknack]

Nope. Pacifist runs FTW.

I even play Pacifist Saints Row on some occasions.

Wrap your head around that.

 

[Oinodaemon]

For me, it depends on what game I'm playing, I suppose. When I play Dead Rising, for instance, I'm usually playing to kill some zombies. When I play a WRPG, I'm usually role-playing a character. When I play Saints Row ,(no GTA for me, too gritty and "realistic")
I go back and forth between mindlessly killing and playing through the story. So...yeah, isn't that kind of a natural reaction?