Question of the Day, June 28, 2010

[Cody211282]

"Think of the children!"

That same line has been shoveled by censorship advocates for centuries. It's as much bullshit today as it ever was.

Hell it's been used by everyone for everything.

I would say no it hasn't changed how I look at violence, why, because real life is nothing like a videogame.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

I think more or less depends on the person. It doesn't effect me really. I think that gaming has made me somewhat "immune" to strong cursing, because where other people stop and get offended, i just w.e it and keep going.

As for violence, I don't think you should over-dose on violence, Too much God of War will probably turn your up your insanity some. But some doesn't.

 

[Choppaduel]

wait... 1 and 3 are the same answer

 

[Drexlor]

Violence in videogames has no affect on me. It is just another scapegoat for overprotective parents and people who are afraid of anything that is new.

 

[Spiner909]

It'd be nice to say no, but I cannot deny the effect on the mind they have.

 

[ShadowKirby]

Let me add to the discussion by quoting the very smart Gus Mastrapa [http://www.joystickdivision.com/2010/06/pretension_1_the_violence_prob.php#comments]:

But M.I.A.'s overarching point, I think, isn't that games turn kids into gun-toting zombies. It's that video games like Modern Warfare 2 are a brilliant recruiting tool.

The U.S military should save its advertising budget. The video game industry, of late, has been doing all the recruiting for them.

Kids are smart enough to know the difference between real world violence and video game violence. But they're not smart enough to know what's cool and what isn't. There's probably a million or two of them that love the Insane Clown Posse, for chrissakes.

So, the fact that there's a generation raised on killstreaks should be scary. Not because they might go on a shooting spree. But because they might think it's cool to gear up, chopper in and wax a bunch of brown people, because they're probably terrorists or communists or something.
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In the last bit of M.I.A.'s quote she's not griping that our soldiers are less human than they ought to be. She's saying that our soldiers might be getting duped into signing up for a war that has been white washed by rag-doll physics.

It's not even about whether it makes you violent/ encourages violence / desensitize us to violence / violence in general. It's about looking at our medium and asking ourselves: "Are we really ok with games making war cool for a bunch of people?" Movies that glorify war get criticized, why wouldn't games that glorify war be criticized too?

It's cool to defend games and all but lets not become crazed fanatics that just defend everything.

Question the medium, man!

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

They do no damage that film has not already been doing for 100 years.

 

[Feystar]

Frankly no, it doesn't increase your propensity for violence, it just means that if your the kind of person that intends to perform acts of agression you have a few more creative ideas about how best to do it.

This is an attention seeking rapper making noise.

 

[kiwi3000]

I think that video games help "lower the threshold". I understand that the military had trouble overcoming a natural "reluctance" in soldiers, until they started drilling with human looking targets etc.
If I had to kill someone I'm pretty sure I could.
Don't get me wrong, I am not a violent person at all. I don't think video games make people violent. But I sort of think violent games, films, exposure to violence, wears down a psychological barrier.
Thats no excuse to ban games though, we are all still responsible for our own actions.

 

[junkmanuk]

No they do not encourage Violence. What does encourage violence is people that say that there is a link.

Calumon: Movies are to blame as well!

the question wasnt whether or not it encourages violence.

Thank you, you seem to be one of the few people who actually read what it said instead of just presuming it's another whine about games causing violence. This is about altering perceptions, not altering behaviour.

It's interesting to see an alternative view, whether it was intended or not. Violent games/videos don't cause violent people, but I think they do change your perception of violence.

It would be very wrong to try to crowbar changes in perception into a change in behaviour, but then - that's what the modern media love to do.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

As I see it, not at all. The are events in real life that are far more violent than any game we have. Wars, crime, etc are presented to us in the news every day. And even so, the world was much more violent in the past. Videogames add nothing to that fact.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

No, but just in case MIA is on to something here, developers might want to start depicting violence more realistically!