My Opinion on Violent Video Games and their Influences (I want yours too)

[誰がｗｏｍｂａｔ]

Here is my reasoning and I hope some of this can be helpful to you when you are "debating" this with anyone who challenges you:

In this I discuss:

• Why we play games
  
• How we can enjoy violent games if we can discern fiction from reality
  
• How we are not desensitized to real world violence through video game violence
  
• How a lack of discernment between real world violence and video game violence is harmful
  
• Games do desensitize you, but it isn't bad so to speak
  
• Games cause aggression, but countless other things cause it as well (competition)
  
• Obsession and addiction to violent games are a problem that should be addressed but it is never brought up
  
• That people make incorrect assumptions about games due to the way they are marketed and miss out on what games really are.
  
  
  The reason I play games is to mainly have fun, but also to relax by losing myself in world that has no consequences on my real life. Games have recently become a great stress reliever for me... but how can this be? How can I relax to "murder simulators" where you dismember people's head and paste their neck juice all over the wall?
  
  It is SIMPLE. How can we relax to violent and gory video games? The same way that we relax to violent and gory TV shows and movies. We know that it is not real. We know that it is FANTASY . This violence is not real. It has no real-world impact. It is fake.
  
  The reason we can enjoy and like violence, whether it is in games or movies, is because they have made the violence glamorous. Not glorified; but glamorous. Real world violence with real guns and real people getting shot or stabbed is horrifying. I have seen many pictures of REAL severed heads, REAL serial killer crime scenes, and REAL dead bodies... and I have to tell you... IT IS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ HORRIFYING, SICKENING, and DOWNRIGHT DISTURBING to see even still images of real violence. One of my friends showed me a picture of Nick Berg's head while I was eating and I spent about an hour in the bathroom.
  But I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ digress.
  
  Case in point: NO. JUST ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ NO. Media violence (video games and movies) will never, AND I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ MEAN IT.... NEVER desensitize you to real violence. Never.
  
  The discernment between fantasy violence and real violence is crucial. Another point: If you don't have a clear understanding of the differences of fake, glamorous, media violence, and real world violence, then AND ONLY THEN can playing video games be harmful. If you play a game and think that in real life, you running over people in a car GTA-style or getting headshots on real people No Russian style is cool and enjoyable, CHECK YOURSELF INTO A MENTAL INSTITUTION. That is a big point. Discernment is the key to keeping your mind safe.
  
  ................................................................................................................................
  
  And yet I continue.
  
  Staying on the subject of desensitization: I said previously that video game or media violence will never desensitize you to real-world violence. However, it wouldn't be correct to say that video game or media violence would never desensitize you to violence IN GENERAL.
  
  They do desensitize you. BUT THEY DESENSITIZE YOU TO VIDEO GAME AND MEDIA VIOLENCE!!!! I have played over a hundred M rated games in my life (only 15 years people!) and I though I may have been when I started play, I am currently never disturbed or affected by the violence, blood, or gore that I see in let's say, Sleeping Dogs, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Hitman, Manhunt, Crysis, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Borderlands, Dishonored, Just Cause 2, Arkham Asylum, DOOM, RAGE, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Halo, Saints Row, Far Cry 3, Battlefield 3, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, OR ANY OTHER VIOLENT GAME.
  
  And is that a big problem? NO! It is not. I can discern fantasy (fake) from real (REAL). It would be a big problem if I couldn't. Being desensitized to game violence and not being able to discern reality from fiction, THEN I WOULD BE A DANGER TO SOCIETY. Give me access to guns and BOOM. Next Sandy Hook tragedy.
  
  ................................................................................................................................
  
  Another thing I have to address, is video game violence translating to real-world violence on your part and I think that is just bollocks. They have never been linked to causing real world violence in any of the poorly run studies on the effects of games. They have however, been linked to causing AGGRESSION. Oh ♥♥♥♥. Batten down the hatches and bury your PC.
  
  But wait. Let's define AGGRESSION. It doesn't necessarily mean violence. "Hostile or violent BEHAVIOR or ATTITUDES toward another; READINESS to attack or confront" - From Google.
  
  Games have been linked to AGGRESSION..... and all I have to say... is so?
  Wait wait wait. Wombat? How can you simply say "so?" about hard evidence that supports their argument?
  
  Because I say this: Competition causes AGGRESSION. That means any form of sport, hobby, academic activity, or what have you that is mildly competitive can cause aggression.
  I can get aggressive towards you when you rouse me from my sleep in the middle of the night. I can get aggressive towards you when I see the U.S. National Debt. I can get aggressive towards you when I see that Obama won re-election. I can get aggressive towards you when get a failing grade in school. I WILL KILL YOU BECAUSE YOU SPOILED THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ENDING OF THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SIXTH SENSE.
  Why single games out?
  
  Competition is what causes the so called AGGRESSION.
  
  ................................................................................................................................
  
  Many "normal" and accepted things cause aggression but since video games are relatively a new medium, the previous generation of people are unfamiliar with it. And with unfamiliarity comes fear. With fear, comes generalization and assumption. History repeats itself.
  
  In the times of the seperatists in England, non-Biblical books were looked upon as hell spawn. Theater was shunned and deemed frivolous in Puritan times. Rock and roll in the 60s was taboo and the secret pleasure of our parents. Television was looked upon as evil as well.
  
  ................................................................................................................................
  
  Another thing that makes games bad that is NEVER brought up in these debates is obsession and addiction. On their own, wihtout addiction and obsession, games are relatively harmless, if even beneficial. Sports, love, watching movies, dancing, playing an instrument, and many other activities that are considered "good" can easily be perverted or corrupted through obsession or addiction.
  
  Drinking moderately is harmless. An addiction to alcohol is not. You see where I'm going?
  Playing sports is harmless. Loving someone is harmless. Focusing on work for school is harmless.
  
  I am trying to get at the fact that anything, no matter how good, can be perverted and instantly turned bad through addiction or obsession.
  
  Rule of life: Addiction or obsession of anything, including games, to the point where said activity crowds out your academic duty or social life, to the point where you disregard your health to participate in said activity, then, and only then, that activity is "bad".
  
  I want to see more discussion on curbing obsession and getting rid of addiction to video games, since that is growing problem.
  
  ................................................................................................................................
  
  Another thing (when will he stop?): People, in particularly politicians, newscasters, and your parents, see footage from one violent game, and BAM. They generalize all games as murder simulators and all gamers as gore-loving outcasts.
  
  They assume and generalize because they are seeing how the games are marketed. It is no wonder they go ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Games are marketed with violence. Look at Dishonoreds "Creative Kills" trailer or the Hitman "Put hits on your friends" Facebook promo. Look at every single game trailer for an M rated game in the past few years. THEY ARE ALL MARKETED THROUGH VIOLENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  But that doesn't mean the games are worthless, mindless, press A to rip off head gorefests.
  Bioshock was a very violent game, but look at the story. It was fantastic and it had so many "mature" themes like colonialism, the whole "A man chooses, a slave obeys" theme, objectivism, and even religious themes intertwined with the story! Sleeping Dogs was my favorite game in 2012 and it had very brutal martial arts violence and environment kills, but look at the story. Though somewhat stereotypical, I cared more about Wei, Winston, Peggy, and even Dogeyes than I did for characters in LOST.
  
  People are seeing the ways the games are marketed and basing their opinions on their assumptions. If they familiarized themselves with what games actually are (emotional, well written, works of "art" that touch on so many themes and subjects) then their position would be demolished.
  
  ................................................................................................................................
  
  And I am done!
  
  Please, feel free to debate me about my position and tap out your opinion on the word buttons.

[Combatd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaF9nbLo8as I usually refer this video to those who think video games are extremely bad.

[Firebunbun]

...First?

(I really don't know how to respond... this is something I more expect to see on some serious discussion board. I really personally think that the way the media shows us horror story after horror story is what desensitizes us.)

[誰がｗｏｍｂａｔ]

This is a great video from Jim Sterling about this. BUT BE WARNED.
***THERE IS FOOTAGE OF BUDD DWYER'S SUICIDE*** in the following video, but Jim gives you a good heads up or warning about when it is going to appear and there are time-stamps in the description to skip it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wh9QrPDnv0&playnext=1&list=PL8B35CA833DCDA9A4&feature=results_video

[誰がｗｏｍｂａｔ]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Flickerflare™:

...First?

(I really don't know how to respond... this is something I more expect to see on some serious discussion board. I really personally think that the way the media shows us horror story after horror story is what desensitizes us.)

Do you agree with what I said? Did I make sense? Did you get what I was saying?

Cuz otherwise my hour's worth of typing would have been in vain! :)

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

You are preaching to the choir, you're better off arguing your points on an anti-violence board. You will probably not find any gamers here who will outright disagree with you.

[誰がｗｏｍｂａｔ]

Początkowo opublikowane przez The Rolling Cheese:

You are preaching to the choir, you're better off arguing your points on an anti-violence board. You will probably not find any gamers here who will outright disagree with you.

Suggestions?

[誰がｗｏｍｂａｔ]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Combatd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaF9nbLo8as I usually refer this video to those who think video games are extremely bad.

Hilarious, HILARIOUS.

[ActFolant]

Love Penn and Teller.

But i'm surprised they didn't touch on books and films. Seems ripe for then to go on a tangent about alongside violence in video games. :D

[BitmapBrother]

you make some very good points. But I think anyone who thinks they can relax to a "gore fest already has a problem with being desensitized. other than that I tend to agree. Just a tip for the future. if you put less swear words in your post you're point will come across much better and seem more controlled. That post makes it look as if you have been playing too many violent video games. Which kind of nullifys your post. :)

[Gimli007]

If games are the fault of violent then that's why the Julio Cesar was so violent back then :D or
any other emperor or king.
The problem is USA becuase here in europe we don't have that type of problems.

[BitmapBrother]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Gimli007:

If games are the fault of violent then that's why the Julio Cesar was so violent back then :D or
any other emperor or king.
The problem is USA becuase here in europe we don't have that type of problems.

Ok that's a load of horse right there. The problem isn't the USA or any other country. Its education in general and possibly bad parenting world wide. The fact is if parents didn't allow their kids to play games they shouldn't and stay out till all hours of the nights roaming the streets, maybe they wouldn't be stereotyped as hooligans etc.

[H3X]

Początkowo opublikowane przez BitmapBrother:

The problem isn't the USA or any other country. Its education in general and possibly bad parenting world wide.

I agree that there's not really such a thing as a country to blame, but poor education and parenting is only half the issue though, the general media is so full of horror stories of real violence that is taking place all over the world daily that just reading a newspaper, watching tv or browsing the internet we're completely bombarded with examples of people being horribly cruel to other people, thereby reinforcing the idea that this kind of behaviour is commonplace and acceptable to those ignorant enough to believe it could be a good course of action.

Onto OP's topic:
The media and marketing isn't even the problem, really. It does what it does - tries to hook you into watching, or reading, or listening. The reason there's so much prevalent violence in the mainstream media is more that those are the stories that people take interest in.. Human attraction to spectacle has always been the way we react to things like this, from gladiatorial battles in ancient Rome or before, to a fistfight in the street nowadays, to a car accident, there will always be those that will gather and watch to see what's happening. That's likely one of the reasons that games containing violent scenes and action are so popular despite all the hate for them from so many people. It's the general attitude of the people that gives the media the reason to push this stuff, and in turn be blamed for it, then the buck gets passed onto other forms of entertainment that contain violence, namely games (and/or some music).

The people that commit acts of real violence don't care about video games, or the news. Maybe they play games, maybe they read a newspaper, but neither would be the reason for them ending up as a news story etc. For example, I could go shoot a bunch of people in a game right now, but as far as I know there's no game unhinged enough to fool me into thinking it would be a good idea in real life. All kinds of derisive slurs are thrown at "violent" games, saying they glorify killing people yet all but a small few are really so disparate from real life that you'd have to be literally psychotic to confuse anything between the two.

There's absolutely nothing to draw the idea from in a game, that killing people is a good thing, they're just a form of entertainment. Censorship isn't going to win this battle by any stretch either, kids get their older siblings or parents to buy things for them that they can't, and the censorship is bypassed (see CoD online servers). Things like that will probably always happen, but the entertainment we choose isn't the reason behind it all, it's the attitude that violence is acceptable outside of a fictional platform that's the problem. Were it confined to one, gamers like us wouldn't need to go on about things like this because it wouldn't be an issue at all.

[DELONG]

violents has been a entertainment staple for 1000's of years and will be for 1000's more