A word about violent video games, guns, and killing people.
Because it's been bugging me for a while.
If you have ever had the occasion to hold an actual real live gun, whether it was a handgun or a rifle, you already know the following; if you haven't, well, I'll let you in on a little secret:
Holding a gun and holding a controller feel NOTHING ALIKE. No, not even arcade guns. (Arcade guns do have some similar heft, but they're still nothing like a real gun.)
A real gun is heavy, is (usually) cold, is accompanied by a particular scent (or it should be, if it has been properly cared for).
A controller is cool to begin with, then warms up, weighs little, fits in the hand differently. There may be vibration when firing an on-screen weapon, but there is no kick, no recoil; there's nothing pushing your hand(s) back into your body or shoving your shoulder back.
There's no sighting, with a controller--there may be a reticle for targeting purposes, but it's part of the screen, the game, not the gun.
A gun may have a laser pointer on it, to aid in targeting; a rifle may have a fancy-pants scope with all kinds of useful marks alongside the reticle. To use them, however, you must bring your arm and your eye and your gun into alignment. As I said, not something you do with a controller.
There are a few things you can learn about shooting from playing games -- leading your target, for example. If you know that your ammo travels relatively slowly, you can pick a spot ahead of your target, fire at that point, and if you've timed it right your ammunition and your target will arrive at the same point at the same time, resulting in a hit. Ta-da!
As for violent video games... I don't know about anyone else, but around this house they haven't managed to increase the number of gun or gun-related crimes. Mmm... Well, okay, so there is perhaps a slight uptick in snagging loot that someone else wanted, but it's A) part of the game and B) is usually accompanied by the offer to return it if it was something they really wanted.
My brother and I tend to play games on a one-by-one basis--for instance, we traded off playing Skyrim over the course of about eight months before we really played much of anything else. Currently, we've been playing Borderlands 2 in co-op mode, again, pretty much to the exclusion of other things.
Do you know what playing Bl2 makes me want to do? Especially when it comes to guns? (Because if there's one thing that the game is lousy with, it's GUNS.)
Hint: it's not destructive.
Give up?
Here it is: it makes me want to build guns. As in putting together pieces of PVC and wood and plastic tubing to make replicas of the guns in the game. Not to kill anyone with, not necessarily for my own cosplaying purposes, just because they're pretty nifty-looking and because I think that people who build stuff like that from games are AMAZING. Especially when they do a great job.
So there you have it. Guns and violent video games: causing very little havoc in this household since before forever.
If you have ever had the occasion to hold an actual real live gun, whether it was a handgun or a rifle, you already know the following; if you haven't, well, I'll let you in on a little secret:
Holding a gun and holding a controller feel NOTHING ALIKE. No, not even arcade guns. (Arcade guns do have some similar heft, but they're still nothing like a real gun.)
A real gun is heavy, is (usually) cold, is accompanied by a particular scent (or it should be, if it has been properly cared for).
A controller is cool to begin with, then warms up, weighs little, fits in the hand differently. There may be vibration when firing an on-screen weapon, but there is no kick, no recoil; there's nothing pushing your hand(s) back into your body or shoving your shoulder back.
There's no sighting, with a controller--there may be a reticle for targeting purposes, but it's part of the screen, the game, not the gun.
A gun may have a laser pointer on it, to aid in targeting; a rifle may have a fancy-pants scope with all kinds of useful marks alongside the reticle. To use them, however, you must bring your arm and your eye and your gun into alignment. As I said, not something you do with a controller.
There are a few things you can learn about shooting from playing games -- leading your target, for example. If you know that your ammo travels relatively slowly, you can pick a spot ahead of your target, fire at that point, and if you've timed it right your ammunition and your target will arrive at the same point at the same time, resulting in a hit. Ta-da!
As for violent video games... I don't know about anyone else, but around this house they haven't managed to increase the number of gun or gun-related crimes. Mmm... Well, okay, so there is perhaps a slight uptick in snagging loot that someone else wanted, but it's A) part of the game and B) is usually accompanied by the offer to return it if it was something they really wanted.
My brother and I tend to play games on a one-by-one basis--for instance, we traded off playing Skyrim over the course of about eight months before we really played much of anything else. Currently, we've been playing Borderlands 2 in co-op mode, again, pretty much to the exclusion of other things.
Do you know what playing Bl2 makes me want to do? Especially when it comes to guns? (Because if there's one thing that the game is lousy with, it's GUNS.)
Hint: it's not destructive.
Give up?
Here it is: it makes me want to build guns. As in putting together pieces of PVC and wood and plastic tubing to make replicas of the guns in the game. Not to kill anyone with, not necessarily for my own cosplaying purposes, just because they're pretty nifty-looking and because I think that people who build stuff like that from games are AMAZING. Especially when they do a great job.
So there you have it. Guns and violent video games: causing very little havoc in this household since before forever.