Six things actors can do but gamers cannot...

[SunoffaBeach]

In 1991, ANTHONY HOPKINS won an Oscar for his performance in "The Silence of the Lambs".
As you know, he played a serial killer in that movie. Hannibal Lecter is probably one of the most brutal and violent characters ever in movie history.

In 2008, I buy the game GTA IV. In this game I play a criminal in New York. Nico Bellic is probably one of the most brutal and violent characters ever in games history.

Now, why am I perceived as a psychopath and potential criminal by society when I play a criminal...
...while Anthony Hopkins gets an Oscar for playing a serial killer?

As much as I love Hopkins acting, I doubt that he is better educated than me or smarter than me or more critical than me or more emotionally stable than me. In fact, a lot of actors are not emotionally stable at all.

So why the fuck can he play a serial killer but I cannot? Why does playing a criminal in a game fuck up my mind but playing a serial killer in a movie is considered an "outstanding performance"?

Thinking about this,
here's a short list of things that actors do on a regular basis that I as a gamer cannot:
1) rape women
2) destroy entire planets
3) die of alcohol or drug abuse
4) kill innocent children in Vietnam
5) torture James Bond
6) play Hitler
7) ...

Feel free to continue this list, I know there's more.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

I think I can add one.
Be a snobbish arse and still expect to be adored by millions!

 

[Hydrus]

7) Get paid millions to do 1-6.

 

[Jak The Great]

It's simple, The player 'becomes' the character in a game. In a movie, they are only observing the character. Tell me, would it be better for society to observe a killer, or be one? I personally usually don't attach myself to a character in that way, however I am also not forced to play as a brutal psychotic. My Niko Bellic wasn't nearly as brutal as the cut scenes would have you think. But what about these people who become the character, and could go to the extreme and actually carry out these fantasies?

That's the question that's being asked, and that's the one that will continue to haunt our little community: Are you the observer or the actor?

For the record, I am not for censorship, I can just see where the argument is coming from

 

[Alone Disciple]

Talk about Politics like they actually know something...and people tend to listen?

Does that count?

 

[SunoffaBeach]

can play that character and still be so celebrated throughout multiple demographics and popular culture.

goes onto my list, thank you!

 

[Good morning blues]

7) Get paid millions to do 1-6.

I don't think you fully understand how shooting a film works.

 

[Monogamie]

Cutscenes in 'realistic' videogames (any game genre featuring models of human proportions) will more often than not fail. Even with a killer script, world-class voice-acting and top-notch values, we're still at a point where they will come off as fake in their noble attempt to emulate reality. The greater question would be, why would you allow your product to be presented in a manner that basically begs for a comparison with any art form starring actual human beings, such as movies, when you know it'll come out on the losing side ?

Another thing that won't work in GTA's favor is probably the fact that we're all so disensitized to violence in games. Seriously, the bar's way too high for Niko to be able to do anything that will shock me. Even a gory title such as Dead Space feels 'about normal' rather than 'edgy' these days.

 

[mr mcshiznit]

Very good points i never really thought about that.

 

[Hydrus]

It's simple, The player 'becomes' the character in a game. In a movie, they are only observing the character. Tell me, would it be better for society to observe a killer, or be one?

I disagree. An actor in a film rehearses for months in order to get inside the mind of their character. A gamer just sits down and picks up a remote. An actor using the Stanislavsky System will intentionally draw on a memory or feeling from their own life which can help them better feel what their character is feeling. A method actor will often do exactly what their character does to prepare for them film, for example, an actor playing a homeless person may actually live on the streets for a while. The only prep a gamer does is sliding a disc into the machine.

7) Get paid millions to do 1-6.

I don't think you fully understand how shooting a film works.

Actually, I do. The point I'm trying to make, and the point the author of this thread is trying to make is to show how hypocritical it is to suggest that games have a negative or brainwashing impact on people playing them, when actors can very realistically portray much more horrible instances and be showered with money, women and drugs.

 

[Amnestic]

Maybe it's because Anthony Hopkins is awesome and you're...not?

Just saying.

 

[Good morning blues]

Actually, I do. The point I'm trying to make, and the point the author of this thread is trying to make is to show how hypocritical it is to suggest that games have a negative or brainwashing impact on people playing them, when actors can very realistically portray much more horrible instances and be showered with money, women and drugs.

No, I get that, though I think it's a bit of a false equivalency (Anthony Hopkins was celebrated because he managed to make this character fearsome and terrifying and get under our skins with his performance; I haven't played GTAIV, but so far every GTA game I've played has glorified or at least normalized violence, and I have a hard time thinking of a violent game that I can't make this accusation of). If I'm misunderstanding anything, it's what you mean by "to do 1-6." It looks to me like you're saying that Anthony Hopkins worked five-hour days while shooting The Silence of the Lambs, in which case, no, you most definitely do not understand how shooting a film works.

 

[ObnoxiousTwat]

In 1991,
Thinking about this,
here's a short list of things that actors do on a regular basis that I as a gamer cannot:...
5) torture James Bond

Poor Bond gets tortured on a regular basis?

Example: "Morning Mr. Bond!" *shank* "Ugh... Good..morning.."

 

[ward.]

ACT.

Seriously, that's it, Anthony Hopkins adopted a character and changed his own personality to suit it while still being believable.

GTA IV players tap a button until the hooker in front of them dies, hardly comparable.

 

[SimuLord]

Thinking about this,
here's a short list of things that actors do on a regular basis that I as a gamer cannot:
1) rape women
2) destroy entire planets
3) die of alcohol or drug abuse
4) kill innocent children in Vietnam
5) torture James Bond
6) play Hitler
7) ...

Feel free to continue this list, I know there's more.

1) I take it you've never played a Japanese hentai game. Tokimeki Check-In! was actually translated so you can rape Ayumi in Engrish.
2) I don't know to what extent using terraforming tools to render a "class M" planet uninhabitable counts as "destroying" it, but Spore's got you covered on that front.
3) Getting the Felldew quest wrong in Shivering Isles and getting slaughtered when the stuff wears off and you can't get more is the closest gaming example I can think of. You may have something here.
4) Does it have to be Vietnam? I've killed innocent children in The Sims 2, for example. I've killed innocent women in Oblivion and Morrowind, which is pretty inhuman as well. And in Alpha Centauri there's "The Word of God has been obliterated, Provost. 50,000 Believing citizens have been put to death." You gotta figure there were some children there.
5) Playing Goldeneye with your mind bent the right way, or making a dead-on lookalike for Bond in a Sims game...
6) Hearts of Iron, playing as Germany, your head of state is Adolf Hitler himself. Not quite the same thing, but you're directing Germany's war machine and killing everyone in sight (or not---you can back down after the Munich conference, but the game's pretty damn dull if you do.)
7) Profit? Two words: Capitalism Two.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

But what about these people who become the character, and could go to the extreme and actually carry out these fantasies?

The video game Holocaust is so much more horrifying then the real one

 

[Hydrus]

If I'm misunderstanding anything, it's what you mean by "to do 1-6." It looks to me like you're saying that Anthony Hopkins worked five-hour days while shooting The Silence of the Lambs, in which case, no, you most definitely do not understand how shooting a film works.

Lol, no, you do misunderstand. The 1-6 I'm refering to is the list of six things in the first post. I meant actors gets paid millions of dollars to do (some of) those things. I've been on enough film shoots to know they can last an eternity.


Look, I'm not dissing Anthony Hopkins, the man's very talented. What I'm saying is that's it's absurd for society to complain that video games warp people's minds, when the same society idolises people who can pretty much get inside the minds of serial killers and rapists. Hypocrisy.

The video game Holocaust is so much more horrifying then the real one

Uhm, no.

 

[Good morning blues]

Lol, no, you do misunderstand. The 1-6 I'm refering to is the list of six things in the first post. I meant actors gets paid millions of dollars to do (some of) those things. I've been on enough film shoots to know they can last an eternity.


Look, I'm not dissing Anthony Hopkins, the man's very talented. What I'm saying is that's it's absurd for society to complain that video games warp people's minds, when the same society idolises people who can pretty much get inside the minds of serial killers and rapists. Hypocrisy.

Oh, okay, that makes much more sense. I maintain that there's a lot to be said for presentation, though. Violence and depravity in movies is almost always assigned a negative value, especially when the movies are celebrated; Hannibal Lecter is a monster, Michael Corleone allowed himself to become a bad man, Private Ryan's life may not have been worth all of those others and the Second World War truly was horrific, and so on. Some movies are lurid and gratuitous, but those movies receive similar condemnation to GTA. What I'm saying is that there's nothing wrong with admiring the people who bring us these cautionary stories about the side of human nature that we'd all like to ignore, and that comparing it to what is really lurid pulp (that we happen to enjoy) isn't entirely appropriate.

 

[Kermi]

I'll just add it preemptively...

7. Get laid.

Grow up.

 

[The Stabilo Boss]

I think the complaints against games like GTA are more to do with the fact that children can play them. People aren't so much worried about the effects of video games on adults. There are plenty of 12 year old kids out there who play violent games, but very few who act the roles of serial killers.