These are Not Your Father's Video Games

[thekinetic]

It's all stupid anyway, oh yeah you can slaughter and maim in them but show even the slightest nudity and everyone flips out! Oh yeah ignore the disturbing behavior and bunch your panties over a naked human body but I blame religious zealots and otherwise way too uptight people for that. O.o

[Kreutz]

It's all stupid anyway, oh yeah you can slaughter and maim in them but show even the slightest nudity and everyone flips out! Oh yeah ignore the disturbing behavior and bunch your panties over a naked human body but I blame religious zealots and otherwise way too uptight people for that. O.o

Boobies=bad, brains exploding=OK

America maintains a culture of death, a tectonic shift in what we consider "bad" is in order.

[dorminWS]

I grew up in the 1950s and early 1960s, so I guess my frame of reference may differ from some of you. Back then, the “good guys” were Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, The Sisco Kid and the Lone Ranger. They all carried guns and nabbed bad guys. Guns were prominently featured in their stories. In fact, in some cases, guns were almost characters in the story (the Rifleman’s carbine, for instance, or those shiny six-shooters the cowboy heroes all carried and twirled so artfully – and don’t forget the Lone Ranger’s silver bullet) Sometimes they even SHOT bad guys. But they usually either knocked them out with a clean right cross or shot their gun out of their hand and then turned them over to the law. When on rare occasions the bad guy actually got shot, he typically grabbed his side, turned discretely away from the camera, and slumped quietly to the ground; vanquished by the forces of good. I never saw any blood, and I certainly never saw any blood, brains, guts or gore splattering on the walls or rocks behind the bad guy. This was also pretty much true a little later when “COMBAT” (which was based upon soldiers fighting in the European Theater of World War II) came along. It sure was a far cry from “Saving Private Ryan”.

So things HAVE changed; and I think there can be no doubt that gratuitously gory and violent movies, TV and video games MUST be desensitizing those who are constantly exposed to their violence, killing and gore – at least compared to old f@rts like me. Of course there are other factors, too; like much more permissive parents who supervise their children less closely, all the drugs that are getting prescribed to kids so they can “cope” with the world they live in (when did kids GET so emotionally fragile they needed this?) , the entitlement mentality, the victim mentality, and all the other circumstances we have already discussed since the Newtown shootings.

Does all or some combination of this make most of us mass murderers waiting for a place to kill dozens? No; I don’t think so. But I do think that for that vanishingly small part of us that are predisposed to do such uninhibited evil, that it would probably help push THEM the rest of the way over the edge. I don’t see how it could be any other way.

[sboyajian]

When I was a kid my mom wouldn't let me play D&D because she heard stories of people getting so immersed they'd stab people.

I've now played D&D, games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, I've watched movies with more violence then probably necessary. To date I have killed zero people and have plans to kill zero more. Oh well, I guess entertainment is still entertainment to some of us.

[TheGodfather]

Anyone play Counter Strike?

One of my all time favorites that I still play.

[SilentServiceVet]

I played video games starting with the Atari 2600 in 1983. Graphics stunk, but it was still awesome and new. Less time & money spent at the arcade.

Started building my own computers in the early '90's. As soon as I got high speed Internet in '97, I started playing games like Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, and Team Fortress Classic. Since then, I've played probably every major title ranging from Call of Duty to Grand Theft Auto (Agree with Kreutz -- GTA's soundtrack is simply awesome). As others suggested, I play to relieve stress and not once have I have a random thought to commit a real crime -- not GTA, not murder, nothing. I still play computer games today, albeit much less frequently due to having a life and a wife, e.g. I have my priorities straight.

Note: the U.S. Army created perhaps one of the better fps' (first person shooters) of it's time back in the early 2000's. It was called "America's Army" and was meant to simulate what it was like to join the Army. It was actually a very good recruiting tool. You had to qualify on your weapon, go on patrols, etc. It no longer exists, but was a sign of the times.

To me, blaming guns, video games, or Hollywood, are all cop-outs. Evil is evil, and will manifest itself regardless of how much people might wish it away or outlaw it.

[9mmjhp]

i don't see how you can make an argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people" then turn around and say that video games are the problem. isn't a video game just another inanimate object being used as a scapegoat? if anything is to blame it is bad/lack of parenting or mental illness that turns people into criminals. that or just the plain old fact that some people are inherently evil

Guns are not interactive and suggestive the way video games are. Gun=tool, violent video game=interactive teaching of behavior through redundancy. Why else would so many teaching tools be formatted as games? Humans are by nature predators..... Both eyes facing forward, etc.... Violent behavior is a human trait. That behavior can be suppressed or released at will. Video games that are violent have the potential to suggest that it's okay to be violent to "win" at whatever you endeavor may be.

Can you see now?



Having said that, I do play FPSs on a regular basis.

still don't buy it. guns are extremely interactive, as are video games. you are practicing/honing skills when you use either. both are perfectly safe when the user knows the proper rules/boundaries. i agree violent behavior is a human trait, but you could say that any number of things has the potential to suggest it's ok to be violent to win. people cheat at sports, steal other's belongings, bully others just for fun, etc. what separates the animals from civilized society is that most people have at least one person in their life who strives from day one to do their best to make sure this new person becomes a respectable, caring, polite, level headed member of society. if you don't have a good role model, thats when you turn to the wrong things and people to learn about life from. why are all these crimes being committed by boys high school or college age? its arguably the most impressionable time in a young mans life. at this age you make the choices which turn you into the man you become. if anything this should be a wake up call to all parents out there, new, old, or future that something is going wrong-pay more attention and raise your children right. a gun is an inanimate tool, but an improperly raised child is potentially a human powderkeg waiting to explode on its own free will

[9mmjhp]

just ask any stripper or prostitute what their relationship was like with their father growing up, i guarantee 99% will say either absent or abusive

[TheEggman]

..." a gun is an inanimate tool, but an improperly raised child is potentially a human powderkeg waiting to explode on its own free will"

I believe that we have a "Quotable quote here.

There is A LOT of concise wisdom in that statement!

A gun is an inanimate tool, but an improperly raised child is potentially a human powderkeg waiting to explode on its own free will.

Thanks - I Like It!