Poll: Bloodsport; would you watch it?

Paragon Fury

The Loud Shadow
Jan 23, 2009
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So today's question is; if bloodsports were legal, would you watch them? Or would you even participate in them yourself? For clarity;

- A "blood sport" would be any sport or game in which death or severe injury (IE: Dismemberment, gouging, beheading, other severe wounds) is the point of sport/game and/or an expected and highly likely outcome for the particpants
- All participants would be willing, able-bodied, able to consent and have consented to participation in the activity and its televised nature. No prisoners, slaves, physical or mentally handicapped persons would be allowed.
- The actual game/sport and its rewards for participation are not in question here

Personally? I probably wouldn't.
 

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant
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Mar 15, 2008
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I don't think I would.

I suppose one could call that hypocritical as I watch UFC when it's on and sports like football where the athletes are falling apart before they're 40 years old but knowing that the point would be to horribly injure/kill the opponent would just be too much for me. I hate seeing them getting hurt playing legit sports, let alone if someone were to die on the field.

I just don't think I could handle that.
 

Scarim Coral

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Oct 29, 2010
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Nope.

Sure I can get bloodthirty in videogame but NOT in real life, there is a different at seeing gore in real life. Also no I don't partake in hunting or boxing etc.
 

Jamash

Top Todger
Jun 25, 2008
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I'm not going to lie, but as much as I would disapprove of bloodsports and find the idea of people killing each other for entertainment abhorrent, if I had the opportunity I would probably watch at least one or two bouts out of a morbid curiosity, especially if they featured melee weapons that I found interesting.

I've enjoyed watching MMA for over 20 years and cut my teeth on the earlier and more brutal Vale Tudo events, and I also enjoyed the the concept and fight scenes of Deadliest Warrior (despite how full of bullshit and biased some of the match-ups and idiotic 'expert' conclusions were), and my morbid curiosity surrounding death caused me to recently view an ISIS video of some guy being run over by a tank, so if I had the opportunity to watch a combination of the three, I can't say that the injury or deaths of the random strangers involved in it would be enough to dissuade me from watching.

That's not to say I wouldn't be terribly conflicted having watched it (even more so if I enjoyed it), and I certainly would never feel right about supporting such a thing financially (i.e. paying to watch it) or even giving my public or private approval (such as a tracked view and a like on an internet site), nor would I oppose such a sport being banned again, since it's obviously not a good thing.

Also, in theory I can't imagine that even if I watched a few bouts that I would enjoy following it on a more permanent basis because I don't like it when one of my favourite fighters loses or if a character I like in a film or TV series dies, so I think the concept of permadeath in a sport would be quite off-putting to me and most fans.

In reality (i.e. not the myth that ancient gladiatorial combat was to the death every match) it would be really hard to maintain interest in the sport or fighters if they died or suffered career ending injuries every bout, since even the most skilled talent would be quickly whittled down, then the entire sport would be reduced to amateur bush league athletes pretty quickly and wouldn't be worth watching (because the time it would take to train a good and entertaining fighter would be eclipsed by the scheduling of modern sports).
 

Wintermute_v1legacy

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Mar 16, 2012
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After actually reading the post, I'd like to change my vote. I thought it was the awesome Van Damme movie, which left me wondering "why is that even a question? Who wouldn't wanna watch that masterpiece?"
 
Mar 26, 2008
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I thought we'd evolved as a society past this. Then again you could argue that UFC is a sanitised version of this, and the way some reality TV shows are progressing The Running Man might not be too far off.

I'm kind of curious about it, but I wouldn't watch it. I accidentally watched a video of a Mexican drug cartel chopping a guy's head off with a chainsaw and that cured me of my curiosity of death.

Also, I'd argue that Double Impact was Van Damme at the height of his powers.
 

WolfThomas

Man must have a code.
Dec 21, 2007
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Probably not. Just because I'm not really interested in any sports.

However there are interesting parts for discussion, as others have pointed out that there are many myths about Gladiator fighting and much of it was...not staged exactly, but over dramatized for entertainment. Kind of like Pro-westling. I was going to say more dangerous than pro-wrestling but if you look at those guys average life expectancies, as well as level of morbidity it's pretty terrible.

Which brings to the point, we still have boxing, pro-wrestling, MMA and heck things like Rugby, Gridion, Australia Rules Football etc, where players are still physically injured for life, suffer spinal damage, long term brain damage etc.

And people still die in sports. It's rare but not unheard of.

If anything a Gladiator fight might be safer, as cuts and lacerations can be sewn up quite easily.
 

the December King

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Mar 3, 2010
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And no animals either. Of course.

Well, I think '30 something' year old me will pass, but angry 22 year old me already checked yes. Would they be criminals, fighting for their freedom, or reduced sentences, or something?
 

Recusant

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Nov 4, 2014
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Violence isn't bad because it's violent; it's bad because of its consequences. When I play Master of Orion and set up a scenario where I can destroy every last planet, wiping the galaxy clean of life in a single turn, there are no consequences. No one actually gets hurt (unless somehow digital creations have souls, in which case they're building an expansion on Hell just to house gamers, and I'll see you there). Real life doesn't have that excuse; the price isn't worth it.

That's secondary, though; the big thing is the lack of appeal. While I have never shot anyone in real life, I do know what happens. They collapse on the ground bleeding, begging for mercy in between bouts of screaming in pain. They don't drop powerups, they don't give you points, and they don't give noble speeches on the meaning of self-sacrifice before bursting into flames, their bodies melting away to reveal a robotic endoskeleton that laughs as it fires lighting beams at you from its fingers, "thanking" you for freeing it from its flesh prison so it can complete the rite to summon Goldrak the destroyer and devour the world. Reality does many things better than video games; violence is not one of them. Why on Earth would I want the former when I have the latter?
 

Sniper Team 4

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Apr 28, 2010
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I have trouble watching movies or reading books about that stuff, and that's made up. It makes my stomach churn thinking that people (in the movies and books) get enjoyment out of watching people, and sometimes kids, kill each other for sport--even if it is all fake.

There is no way I'd be able to watch it in real life. I wouldn't be able to handle it.
 

FirstNameLastName

Premium Fraud
Nov 6, 2014
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As long as both parties consent to the fight, then yes. Also, as others have said, no animals, since they can't consent to the fight or understand what is going on.

Not that I would advocate for their legalization, but if they were legalized I'd watch them. Knowing that the people went in to the fight with full knowledge of the consequences takes away any sting of sympathy when they inevitably get hurt, so I'm not bothered.
I certainly wouldn't enter though. What could possibly be worth dying for in that arena?
 

Hazy992

Why does this place still exist
Aug 1, 2010
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I find UFC too hard watch a lot of the time so there's no way in hell I'd be able to stomach something like that.
 

Buckets

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May 1, 2014
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Nope, the Barbaric shite that is performed in the middle east turns my stomach, so bringing it back as a sport would be awful.