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Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by rsr, Aug 12, 2013.

  1. I am da bawss

    I am da bawss

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    Well, this was just in the news :

    Police: Australian baseball player killed by Oklahoma teens -- just because
    http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/20/justice/australia-student-killed-oklahoma/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


    Does make you wonder how violent video games and violence in movies/TV have hugely desensitized our generation.

    That was the whole idea of my previous example when US Army started realistic training excercises to desensitize recruits to the idea of crossing that moral threshold to kill someone. "Killing" used to be such a taboo morally that soldiers were afraid to hit someone back in WWII. Now it has degenerated to the point that kids are out to kill people because they are bored.

    I think this raised the question how if sex games become mainstream what effect they will have on desensitizing our generation and our children.
     
  2. Photon-Blasting-Service

    Photon-Blasting-Service

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    $Bs2SMEGhw3.png
     
  3. npsf3000

    npsf3000

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  4. squared55

    squared55

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    As tragic as that is, I don't see any indication in the article that video games were involved.



    I also recall during Canada's last election that crime was at an all time low (the Conservative party wanted to introduce a "Tough on Crime" bill), while COD was smashing sales records.

    The Romans didn't have video games. Those who burned "witches" at the stake didn't have them either. Nor did Hitler.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2013
  5. NTDC-DEV

    NTDC-DEV

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    If you see everyday on the news a bulletin about a car theft, everyday read online articles about car theft criminal organisations and hear everyday on the radio stories about people who got their car stolen, will you think that there is a LOT of car theft 'suddenly'?

    Yes, of course.

    It's called mass media public opinion manipulation. Or sensationalism. It sells, so why wouldn't the media do it? After all, they are a corporation caring about profits no?

    The fact might still be that there isn't more car theft than in the past but you will still be more fearful of it than before.

    Ignorance is bliss and most people will just believe whatever they hear without questioning. Those kids who killed for the fun? How do _we_ know that some crazy kids didn't kill for the fun 10 years ago? Or every year but it wasn't reported as such?
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2013
  6. Ocid

    Ocid

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    Yeah because theres a sudden epidemic of kids killing just for the fun of it. 1 case doesn't prove anything.

    Go back through time and you'll find the same thing has happened in the past before vidyagames.
     
  7. Dabeh

    Dabeh

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    If I had a cent for every time I heard this and there wasn't a credible source to back it up...
     
  8. pcg

    pcg

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    gotta love this thread.

    You should make it a sticky.

    (Sorry, couldnt resist).
     
  9. Uttpd

    Uttpd

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    That.
    The impressionable youth in the last century alone add to be horrified with comics, then Movies &TV, then music( with Punk followed by Heavy Metal) now is video games.
    I´m looking forward to he next generation-gap excuse.
     
  10. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

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    Violent video games do not make violent kids.

    Money is in either natural stress from growing up, bad parenting, bullies at school, pressure at school, etc. So many factors can stress a kid, and they WILL channel their violence one way or another.
    Before videogames, I've heard many kids would do terrible thing to insects, or even small animals such as birds or cats. Doesn't Bart Simpson carry a slingshot? They were popular bird killing machines back then.

    Thinking videogames are the source of violence... is like a kid who draws a violent doodle, and parents blaming the doodle. That's bad parenting, man.

    Of course it would be better also resorting to art forms, such as music, painting, etc... or even having someone to talk. But nothing is as practical, instantly available as a videogame, while not involving harming others, or self-harming. All in all it's a great stress releasing therapy.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  11. landon912

    landon912

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    I see violent video games as an anger absorbent. I know many people who use video games to get rid of anger and I have found that it works fairly well. I think it's a little bit better to kill in a video game then go torture cats or people. Just my humble two cents ;)
     
  12. Dabeh

    Dabeh

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    Just going to say that there has been experiments with "letting out your anger". The test subjects that were kept in a quiet environment were less likely to be aggressive than those that were allowed to vent their stress/anger.

    If those people would be "torturing cats or people" if there weren't games; then they need help and not a game.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  13. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

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    Just because someone isn't expressing their anger doesn't mean they don't have any issues. In fact, what studies show is that people who "keep it in" too long, eventually snap, and kill everyone with an uzi, so to speak.

    Of course when people have big issues, they might need treatment. But there's not such a thing as a person without issues.

    When angry feelings are suppressed they often emerge later on, usually in an excessive way in response to a minor event related to an earlier anger-provoking experience. Suppressed anger is also thought to contribute to passive-aggressive behavior such as getting back at people indirectly without telling them why or confronting them directly. It also fuels cynical or hostile behavior, leading children to be excessively critical and fault-finding.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  14. Dabeh

    Dabeh

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    Well yeah, but I don't mean being quiet in the sense of "keeping it in", I mean not playing games or punching your pillow. If they were given proper help and not left to their own devise, then they may not have done these things. I don't think anyone in a 5 minute experiment will be "keeping it in" long enough to crack.
     
  15. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

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    The whole point is, while channeling anger in a detrimental way is wrong, it's not wrong to channel your anger. Playing videogames is not a substitute for treatment, nor is the best way to channel anger, but it's practical, and harmless. It's a substitute for other means of anger that are harmful for others, or the very person expressing anger. Ultimately the best way to deal with anger would be tackling the problem, knowing what's the real source of violence/anger, getting treatment if needed, expressing it in a constructive way... but that is a long process and it's not as versatile as a quick videogame match.
     
  16. Dabeh

    Dabeh

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    Now I get into the issue where I think, do I make a distinction between a punching bag and a video game?

    Anyway, just randomly googled and found this which I haven't read til now:
    http://whyfiles.org/118anger/3.html

    I wasn't really talking on the "mass murderer" scale, I'm just talking about the some random guy here, one that is likely to have a brawl with you but not cut your throat because you two have a dispute.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  17. goat

    goat

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    I think it's cheaper and looks better to hire real people and as immature as that industry can be much of it is more mature than the average game and game studio, but then I don't plumb the depths of any industry. For those police and help agencies that do, kudos.

    There's a strong argument to be made the children's games are more mature than mature games. At least the creators of children's games are forced to try and behave in a more restrained and civil manner. The sum of the laws in various legal jurisdictions are such that they more or less state: "You must be mature before we allow strangers seeking to make big profits from you and your children (when those strangers can sneak in sufficient vague but provocative advertising to channels your children frequent, you know a demographic that's perceived to be easier to influence) to legally provoke your immature base instincts and behaviors". Given that the definition of maturity, violence and pornography vary so much from jurisdiction to jurisdiction; it is up to you to figure out a means to avoid it's pervasion presence everywhere since it's unreasonable to ask those seeking to become rich to exercise restraint in their pursuit of such wealth. Yes, makes so much sense that does.

    Since when does being mature mean that strangers are allowed to bombard you with crudeness, violence, gore, and sexuality?

    At any rate, since pornography is legal for quite a large audience, and since it's well known, pornography led the adaption of VCRs, web development and DRM (and later the beginning of it's abandonment); pornography makes for a really underserved market in gaming but one that's ill suited for gaming. You'd stand a better change of doing a risqué but not vulgar 3's Company spoof in game format with game play humorously designed to get Jack, Chrissy, Janet, or the Ropers out of one of their quandaries.

    If one is going for realism, which despite more realistic appearing graphics of today, clearly they aren't (Hey, who ate all the chips?! I don't know, get off the couch and go buy some more! I think Eric Snowden stole them!), porn and/or violence is/are really, really, really not good subject matter for games.

    As far as violent games being a vent for preventing violent behavior that's ridiculous. That was the initial justification for legalizing pornography in Denmark and subsequently it was found that legalization of pornography led to increased violence of a sexual nature. Quite frankly it exposes those that would have never fathomed to entertain such thoughts as presented in violent games and pornography to entertain those thoughts. Most reject them as a condition of who they are as human beings but a small minority don't and seek more and more material of a increasing violent nature and when pornographic, it turns to more dehumanizing activities that the creator seeks to 'sexualize' but clearly the behavior is undesirable and destructive.

    I've viewed porn and I've viewed violence (one VCR tape as a young teenager called 'Faces of D (you'll have to guess if you don't know already)') and as I've matured I've left the violence go, even the Wolf3D and Doom type violence. It really is very, very difficult to avoid if one watches any television, the internet (every when severely restricting the sites one visits to Facebook and LinkedIn: two 'family' and 'business' oriented sites), or reads the newspapers. I can happily say I've cut way back on these things. Needless to say, 'Faces of D*' shouldn't be offered as entertainment to anyone at any age. I do know to avoid bears more that the average person and I'd never trap a small defenseless monkey in a table top while it spun in circles while tourists sat in a circle around it and beat it on top of the head as it shrieked in terror. The porn, it's mostly boring really once you reject descending the stairs into the realm of sexualizing dehumanizing behavior. Honestly, I've one of these folk that think sex and violence shouldn't be linked as codependent behaviors as our media so other does. I certainly disagree that violence is more acceptable as entertainment then run of the mill sexual pornography although both are boring because they lack the wit (and the sympathetic ear required to entertain audiences of all ages) of the average Disney cartoon movie. Yes I say this despite the obvious truth the a planet full of nuns and monks would cease to be a violent place rather quickly but that thought isn't involved in the media's thinking.

    Careful!
     
  18. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

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    I think you shouldn't forbid an individual from punching a bag. The problem here is not punching the bag, but using other people as punching bags. You should allow channeling anger in positive ways, and forbid doing it in harmful ways.

    Ultimately if people pursue aggressiveness after releasing stress by punching a bag, only shows that there's a desire to channel anger. All you know, if there is a desire to express anger, there's an origin for this matter. But it doesn't mean the punching bag is the origin of this anger/violence.

    Again, it's like when kids draw violent doodles. Thinking the doodles make the kid violent, and forbidding him to make violent doodles, isn't tackling the problem.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  19. goat

    goat

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    And allowing said violent doodles to serve as entertainment for other children or mature adults only exacerbates the problem.
     
  20. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

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    How does that applies to playing video games, though?

    You don't make an issue better by not expressing emotions. Artists talk about this the most, but not everyone has the patience to express their emotions through some art form.

    "Painting is nothing more than bleeding on the canvas."
    ― Andrew Hamilton

    "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you."
    ― Maya Angelou

    “It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”
    ― Rose Kennedy

    “Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.”
    ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
     
  21. squared55

    squared55

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    A brief list of things thought be corrupting our youth:

    TV
    Movies
    Comic Books
    Rock Music
    Dungeons and Dragons

    And now video games. Once again, I'd like to direct your attention to this graph:



    If we're so worried about people having their feeble minds influenced by outside sources, then maybe we should ban:

    -Things that depict people driving at excessive speeds, such as NASCAR races or Hotwheels.
    -Any sort of drug use foul language
    -The study of history, as people might be tempted to try human sacrifice, or start World Wars
    -Pictures of people enjoying themselves at the beach, so they don't get sun cancer and drown.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  22. derf

    derf

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    It must be mentioned...Bonetown!
     
  23. goat

    goat

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    All of that sounds trite were I to try and pretend to 'internalize' those sentiments.

    Mr. Hamilton should have try bleeding on the canvas then rather then painting. I'll bet, Van Gogh, one of the few artists to have been able to say something like that and sound halfway believable, would have never had spoken so tritely about his emotional turmoil and would have loved to have traded painting to avoid it.

    Maya Angelou must be euphoric then because she never shuts-up.

    I can assure you Rose Kennedy is dead and her wounds are gone. That she was famous and lost famous children doesn't make her suffering any more harsh then those unknowns that lost loved ones in similarly unjust circumstances. Wounds heal or they are fatal. Life is fatal for all but you'd be a fool to live your life as if it were a wound. It's an insult to innocence.

    And I've never had a root canal such that I asked the dentist not to numb the pain on my next visit to the dentist because the pain was so bad once the numbing agents administered to me wore off. Remind me to avoid doctors with J.K. Rowling's philosophy.

    If people want to live in a world where using the past to create new wounds in the present and trite entertainment out of suffering they assuredly can't fathom then it is wrong.

    Sometimes, in art, it is better to acknowledge the speaker/work is that of an artist without a clue as to how things would be in the real world. I mostly see the 'real world' referenced in art when artist seeks to justify violence and gore in their work. However, you must then ask yourself the question what's the real reason because you know in most every case the artist did not experience that themselves and can't speak authoritatively on the subject and so it all boils down to a crass scheme to gain notoriety and make money. As a child I gathered used hypodermic needles in public commons so that others wouldn't see and perhaps even attempt to emulate that behavior but I'd be lying if I pretended to know what it was like to shoot-up with heroin and the type of mind that would risk their physical and mental health and the safety of those around them for a few minutes of 'not being bored'.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  24. squared55

    squared55

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    Rose Kennedy didn't say the fact that "she was famous and lost famous children didn't make her suffering any more harsh then those unknowns that lost loved ones in similarly unjust circumstances."

    Not experiencing agony does not mean you are euphoric. I'm not overjoyed because I don't happen to be tied to a medieval torture device right now.

    They were referring to emotional pain, not physical pain.
    I have personally held my pain in as long as I could ("numbing" it, so to speak). To put it bluntly, it was quite horrible.

    I am quite aware that shooting someone is wrong. It does not stop me from aggressively clicking on a set of pixels. And the fact that the "artist" doesn't have a "a clue as to how things would be in the real world" is irrelevant. In fact, were this the case, it's all the better that they unleash their thoughts through an artistic medium rather than the real world.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  25. goat

    goat

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    Yes, it is very relevant that you are 'clicking on pixels' and not actually shooting someone. I've never seen hoards of people protesting you participation in video games even though they'd be horrified if that thought for a second you were participating in the same activities in the real world. That says enough. How could you think such behavior would be tolerated any other way? A valid outlet for your 'emotional suffering?' Please, who do you take me for?

    I'm glad you can experience the emotional agony of your pixel victims and your euphoric emotional release as you avenge the victims in pixel heroic might during your game play. Something tells me it's more likely you are nestled in a couch full of chips crumbs, belching soda and beer as you ignore everyone around you.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  26. squared55

    squared55

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    ...
    Re-read what I said. Especially the last sentence. I also don't recall taking you for anything.


    I actually can't stand it when the "pixel victims" show pain; I feel sympathetic, and tend to stop playing. When I played Mass Effect, I did everything I could to keep everyone possible alive. I never said I felt heroic, or euphoric. I don't drink soda or beer either, nor do I eat chips. I am sitting on chair, not a couch, and I recently finished playing some tennis. Please do not insult me and do not put words in my mouth.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2013
  27. Dabeh

    Dabeh

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    While it may not be applicable to you(and likely isn't imo); it is applicable to a lot of other people.
     
  28. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

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    The problem here is the fear of people taking violence in videogames to the real world. The whole premise against violence in videogames, suggest if the player can't feel empathy for a virtual character, he'll translate this to the real world, and start killing/harming people.

    Studies aside, there are little things we can establish absolute facts. For one person/community, being violent in a virtual world, can make them more violent in real life, while others it might be the opposite.

    But even if statistics favor one reaction or another, bottomline, the problem is not that this violence is nurtured by violent videogames. Violent people aren't made by violent videogames, violence is the result of real life problems.

    I don't buy this theory where if you ask problem-free person to play a violent game such as mortal kombat, his desire to punch and hurt people will suddenly arise... I'm sorry but to me it sounds silly to even say that (or type it).

    If anything, wanting to play violent videogames is the result of previous unresolved issues. And who doesn't have any issues? No matter how trivial or life scarring, to some degree we all have some isses, from problems at work, freaking traffic, family issues or health issues, we can never fully escape stress.

    I can't stress enough that the point is not that playing videogames replaces dealing with our problems, but rather it's not the origin of them. It does relieves stress, and while it doesn't really solve your problems, being relaxed might just make them easier to deal with.
     
  29. squared55

    squared55

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    Perhaps, but that number pales in comparison to the couple hundred million people in which this is not the case. In addition, being a couch potato is not exclusive to video games; any form of home entertainment from TV to books can cause this behavior.

    It's also worth noting that my personal limit for violence in games is rather low compared to most gamers. If it was up to me, games like GTA wouldn't exist.
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2013
  30. MarkrosoftGames

    MarkrosoftGames

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    Did you mean BoneStorm? Just look how violent ThrillHouse turned out..

    edit: lol nevermind i just googled bonetown, and i might google it again later too