Comments | licon: Interesting article about videogames and violence

licon

Interesting article about videogames and violence

Mar 15, 2007 13:09

Seriously. I'm aware that this article has some obvious limitations, but the author's experience (and that of the military people he talked to) brings up some very pointed issues.

Underlines mine.
( Videogames: good clean fun? (warning: long) )

article

Comments 10

chanceddreams March 15 2007, 21:26:21 UTC

It is a very interesting article. It holds ground on the games in the arcade such as in the article. However, many of the point-and-shoot games are done though the control of a joystick, not a plastic pistol. There are some out there, however, that have developed this. I have to say that I am happy that he did point out the fact that, like guns themselves, the games were not solely responsible for the killings. Just because I have a skill to use a gun does not mean that I will then use that skill to kill. There has to be some motivation for me to do so. I have to make the choice to kill. I disagree that gun control laws are adequate as they are though. They are far from it. Anyone that is so desperate to have a gun that they cannot wait on the 5-day background check should NOT have a gun at all. Furthermore, I do not see a reason why someone must have be licensed to drive a car, but not so to own a gun. Like a car, a gun can be very deadly to both others and themselves, if one does not know how to use it correctly ( ... )

licon March 15 2007, 21:28:21 UTC

I suspect he was probably meaning "in the context of high school shootings", where being shot once with a .22 probably won't leave you dead or seriously injured.

chanceddreams March 15 2007, 22:30:47 UTC

See .22 + internal organs.

Not really on topic, but just me... mijven March 16 2007, 14:27:43 UTC

I stopped watching violent shows when I became a mom - I just couldn't handle it. Even the beautiful original Matrix scene with water and expended bullets falling down (filmed from below) unnerved me. Sweetie didn't even try to get me to watch Pulp Fiction when he rented it.

And in avoidance, I've acquired greater sensitivity to the topic. As a teenager and 20-something, the visual representation of violence was okay too me. Now I'm not so disturbed by gaming talk, but movies and games are frequently too fast (and too needlessly violent) for me to enjoy.

Re: Not really on topic, but just me... licon March 16 2007, 14:29:47 UTC

I've found myself becoming more sensitive to unnecessary violence and bad language. There are movies I just don't watch now. (Mind you, there are also books I can't read any more because the writing style has started to annoy me. I think I'm just turning into my mother.)

Re: Not really on topic, but just me... mijven March 16 2007, 14:58:47 UTC

Oh I hope not! Not to say your mother isn't a wonderful person but... I don't want to be mine!

Remember that scene in Farenheit 911... holoaddict March 18 2007, 19:31:05 UTC

where you see the army guys playing a video game like Soldier of Fortune with the intense graphics, great sound and music...and then you see them in their real tanks with real guns and having wired the tanks with their favourite rock and metal music to get the adrenaline going...

OMG...I stopped in my tracks when I saw that...because I did play SOFII for the longest time and just watching them out and really getting going with that music...for a time I really couldn't tell the difference...

This article is brilliant...just reinforced how we really are becomming immune to things we should be more conscious about

Re: Remember that scene in Farenheit 911... licon March 18 2007, 21:28:51 UTC

I haven't seen F911, but the angle taken by the author and Grossman is distinctly different and separate from that of normal "don't give highschoolers guns" people. They're looking at the reality, not the maybes.

negay March 18 2007, 20:25:59 UTC

What's wrong with being like your mother!!!?

licon March 18 2007, 21:27:38 UTC

Nothing, directly. But there's still that realization... :)