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General Discussion / Videogame-Induced Pacifism?
« on: April 12, 2012, 03:56:04 pm »
I grew up with video games. Most of my childhood and adolescence were spent stomping on or shooting a variety of virtual monsters. I immersed myself in the worlds of Mario, the lone wanderer, Gordon Freeman and Master Chief.
Once in a while, probably after watching me mow down counter terrorists in counterstrike, my parents would come to me and voice their concern for my sanity with the usual remarks:
"Now don't go thinking that shooting someone will solve anything,"
"Son, are you upset at something?"
"Why don't you go outside?"
Between their (reasonable) concern and the numerous news stories written about how violent media was destroying the moral fabric of America's youth, you'd think that the "gaming generation" would grow up and begin to bunny hop down the street, busting out a flamethrower after every disagreement.
We all already mostly agree that violent media doesn't make people violent, and this topic has been discussed to death probably everywhere on the internet. But another interesting question arises... has videogame violence generally made gamers more opposed to violence?
My videogame-playing friends have expressed similar feelings now that most of us have grown up into generally well-adjusted adults. Video games seem relatively existential, in that while you may become immersed in the action, you're still generally aware that you're playing a game and you will usually know that it isn't really that important. Does that perspective cross over into our perception of the real world?
The absurdity of violence in games like Postal and DOOM seems to have made real world violence look even more absurd. Violence seems to belong on a screen, and not in the real world at all. This may just be part of the maturing process, but it seems strange that a culture so obsessed with fictional violence would reject it in real world affairs.
I'm guessing most of us here enjoy violent videogames. I'm also guessing that most of us here also play dwarf fortress, maybe one of the most "violent" (as far as ASCII goes) games in existence. How do you feel about real world violence compared to media violence? Do you believe that videogames have affected your attitudes towards violence in general?
Once in a while, probably after watching me mow down counter terrorists in counterstrike, my parents would come to me and voice their concern for my sanity with the usual remarks:
"Now don't go thinking that shooting someone will solve anything,"
"Son, are you upset at something?"
"Why don't you go outside?"
Between their (reasonable) concern and the numerous news stories written about how violent media was destroying the moral fabric of America's youth, you'd think that the "gaming generation" would grow up and begin to bunny hop down the street, busting out a flamethrower after every disagreement.
We all already mostly agree that violent media doesn't make people violent, and this topic has been discussed to death probably everywhere on the internet. But another interesting question arises... has videogame violence generally made gamers more opposed to violence?
My videogame-playing friends have expressed similar feelings now that most of us have grown up into generally well-adjusted adults. Video games seem relatively existential, in that while you may become immersed in the action, you're still generally aware that you're playing a game and you will usually know that it isn't really that important. Does that perspective cross over into our perception of the real world?
The absurdity of violence in games like Postal and DOOM seems to have made real world violence look even more absurd. Violence seems to belong on a screen, and not in the real world at all. This may just be part of the maturing process, but it seems strange that a culture so obsessed with fictional violence would reject it in real world affairs.
I'm guessing most of us here enjoy violent videogames. I'm also guessing that most of us here also play dwarf fortress, maybe one of the most "violent" (as far as ASCII goes) games in existence. How do you feel about real world violence compared to media violence? Do you believe that videogames have affected your attitudes towards violence in general?
