Feelings on Video Games


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17 minutes ago, mirkwood said:

You were the one saying they had issues after serving in combat and still playing video games.  The guys I know don't have the issues you are saying.  Why you want to argue that is beyond me.

 

Comments like this show you are the one having the problem. 

 

Are you projecting?

One of the issues I have as a movie reviewer is that I'm growing tired of having to see "horror" movies. 

You see, a lot of "horror" directors these days have decided to ignore any semblance of subtlety in their works and go straight to violence and gore. 

...In other words, the kinds of things I could see on a daily basis if I wanted to dip back into my own head for a while. 

Yes folks, if I wanted to, I could have just about everyone in this discussion projectile-vomiting merely by reciting some of what I've been through in life... like the time I had my stomach pumped... or the time I skinned myself alive. 

I guess a person could indeed say that when it comes to raw violence and gore in and of itself, I'm rather immune simply because I've dealt with so much of it. 

Thing is, that doesn't mean I'm some mindless drone who accepts it all passively. I still comprehend what's going on, and whether it's appropriate for the setting and rating. For example, "Deadpool" works because the comics are just that over-the-top and the film had a good writing team to keep it all in perspective, but "Don't Breathe" was a straight-up video nasty with no excuse for being what it was. 

As far as violent games go, I've been playing them since middle school. I actually played "Doom" back when it first came around, and coincidentally am playing it now as time permits; I got a bundle of vintage titles off of Steam. 

 

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I am definitely not OK with the gore-fests (e.g. Mortal Kombat).  I have a real problem with virtual depictions of cruelty.  I can't even stand to watch the Simpsons because of the violence on the Itchy and Scratchy Show.

But Metal Gear Solid, Goldeneye, and the Tom Clancy games are not about blood and guts.  To me, playing these games is more like playing paintball (or capture the flag or dodgeball) with my friends than anything.

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28 minutes ago, DoctorLemon said:

I am definitely not OK with the gore-fests (e.g. Mortal Kombat).  I have a real problem with virtual depictions of cruelty.  I can't even stand to watch the Simpsons because of the violence on the Itchy and Scratchy Show.

But Metal Gear Solid, Goldeneye, and the Tom Clancy games are not about blood and guts.  To me, playing these games is more like playing paintball (or capture the flag or dodgeball) with my friends than anything.

That's the key right there. Balance. I don't play the GTA series for the same reasons you don't play Mortal Kombat. 

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1 hour ago, Ironhold said:

It's "healthy" to someone who is fully capable of separating fact from fantasy. 

It's really that simple. 

Oversimple, I think. The "rational" part of our mind is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I suspect that much of our brain does not -- cannot -- distinguish between reality and "artful" depictions. That is why pornography (or storytelling of any sort) works: Our brains accept the input as reality, with our surface-level rationality understanding the unreal nature of the input.

To put it another way, I don't think any of us "is fully capable of separating fact from fantasy", at least not on a mental processing level.

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6 hours ago, mirkwood said:

You were the one saying they had issues after serving in combat and still playing video games.  The guys I know don't have the issues you are saying.  Why you want to argue that is beyond me.

 

Comments like this show you are the one having the problem. 

 

Are you projecting?

No, not projecting. Going back now and reading Ironfists comments, I think he is on to something. Probably just escapism is all- and I'm talking about the war vets and cops who play violent video games. I suppose it helps cool the jets after work. I used to just come home and go to sleep, but different strokes for different folks. So long as one can separate fact from fantasy it should be all good. I'm sure there could be at least one in the crowd who is PTSD'd out and can use some venting although I don't know if that's the kind their medical professional would rec to them. Theres always one or two around. People always say oh yea all my buddies are good. I used to say that too because I knew them, worked with them everyday and then all of a sudden they are out on FMLA and then gone. We lose (medical retire) 1 or 2 a year to that and in almost every instance, no one but the family knew about it. They controlled it at work and melted down at home. I have I think about 7-8 friends who ended up with PTSD med retirments and not a one (fellow cops) did anyone even suspect beforehand.

I'm wondering if people who have repetitive exposure to violence, are routinely assaulted, routinely have to use force and injure people in many cases (and deal with the brass) need to be spending even more time exposed but with the ability to do whatever they want sans consequences. I'm thinking eventually someone is going to reflexively act in real life with a response that is only acceptable in a game. Some may say "well what are they really being exposed to?" Beats me, but strap a heart monitor on them and be prepared for an eye opener. We get guys in a virtra trainer who will experience serious spikes in HR and many say they had auditory exclusion...that is from a fake scenario. Granted it is more realistic than a vid game, but it is a game. No one goes in worried they are gonna get shot up.

For the benefit of other readers : Video games are used to train cops (FATS, VirTra, Imarksman etc) ,but the roleplay is supervised. It is a method of conditioned response. It is like when the military went from bullseye rifle targets to human silhouettes because MOST soldiers were not actually shooting the enemy. The percentage of soldiers who reported actually killing someone in combat went up significantly after that change. Fast forward to the 2000s, we have video simulators for cops and military. Used for the purpose of not only conditioning for a response to a threat, it conditions for the proper response. It has been proven to be effective. How a video game may influence that conditioning down the road is anyone's guess. I'm assuming we will hear something sooner or later because we all know the limited time cops get on their simulators. The time playing call of duty or whatever is exponentially higher. 

I know you know this, just educating the reader on police and military training.

Not that y'all need supervision, but just thinking out loud here that current gun carrying cops probably don't benefit from the additional mental conditioning the games offer. Kinda like porn compared to the real thing for a lack of a better descriptor. I would just think they get enough violence at work. Maybe not.

Anyway, enjoy the games and I'll enjoy my fishing

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I'll begin by saying this:

1. I was wired wrong to begin with, and the stuff I've lived through hasn't helped. If we wanted to get into details, we could be here all night... assuming nobody passes out first or gets stuck puking. 

2. I come from a military background, and have a sibling who worked as a counselor at a juvenile detention facility. I know how these things work. 

 

That being said - 

You seem to be under the impression that most such games are all about violence for the sake of violence. 

In reality, a lot of these games - like the classic "Doom" titles - are all about strategy

Let's take "Doom". You play as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps; different sources contradict each other on his real name, but most people just call him "Doomguy". You're part of the USMC garrison on Phobos, Mars' moon. At first it seems like glorified baby-sitting duty guarding a bunch of civilian contractors as they establish a colony for later human habitation. Then some of the contractors uncover the remains of an ancient civilization that used to live on the planet... remains that include what seems like a deactivated portal. One of the geniuses decides to poke it with a stick (so to speak), and it roars to life. Before you know it, you're the last living person on the planet. Near as you can tell, the reactivation of that portal was the signal for someone to invade. 

That leaves you with your meager gear - an M1911, 50 bullets, and a set of brass knuckles - plus whatever you can scavenge to clear out the colony and figure out what's going on. As you progress, however, you realize that the entire Milky Way is in danger, and that Earth itself could fall if you don't figure out what's going on and report back to *someone* in charge so they can organize a defensive strategy. 

That, however, means surviving, which in turn means using your noggin. The kind of macho heroics you presume everyone displays will get you killed over and over again. Instead, you have to strategise on the fly as you meet new monsters and pick up new supplies. For example, some levels allow you to "telefrag" powerful opponents... that is, if you can find a teleporter, you can teleport right into them and kill them without firing a single shot. You can also frequently get the enemy monsters fighting each other, and in fact at least two levels in the original games are based around it while other levels encourage it. 

 

 

Oh, and did I mention that the main organized body of "Doom" fans keeps time records for each level? And that one of the time records is for the "pacifist" run in which you don't kill people? There are only a handful of levels where you must specifically kill everyone in front of you to beat the level, and even then those levels merely require you to take out the big bossman... and often, you can get their subordinates to do it via infighting. The only boss in the game you *must* kill with your own hands is the Icon of Sin, and that's because of how the Icon itself is designed. 

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53 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

You seem to be under the impression that most such games are all about violence for the sake of violence. 

Ok- well I am specifically referencing games that are pretty much just killing sprees like call of duty for example. Any gamer knows the types of games Im talking about. Not Harry potter or some strategy game go find treasure chests or whatever. Im talking hard core killing. 

Warning for those who get triggered--

Like this:  

 

 

Edited by paracaidista508
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I counter the above with this: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/BigMacDavis1/playlists

YouTube host "Big" Mac Davis primarily hosts a series of "walkthroughs" in which he plays various video games level-by-level, offering commentary on both the level itself and the game as a whole. Very little cursing above and beyond what's in the games themselves, and usually only when something's gone absolutely pear-shaped (such as a game-breaking glitch or a critical enemy spawning in a place they don't normally spawn). If you load each series of videos as a playlist instead of as a video unto itself, then the next video will begin once the previous one ends.  

The game I'm playing now is TNT:Evilution, a semi-official "Doom" sequel that came about when ID Software was so impressed by a "game" several fans put together on their own time that they purchased the game from everyone. While the game is legitimately challenging in places, it's obvious that many of the levels were designed by amateurs, something he talks about as appropriate. For example, one level infamously contained a programming mistake upon launch which meant that one of the key cards you needed to finish the level was tagged as multi-player only; some players were able to use an exploit that allowed them to skip the half of the level the key card opened up (meaning they only played the beginning and end quarters of the level) if they didn't mind giving up all of the power-ups and ammunition that entailed, but others were stuck in place unless they knew the cheat code that would give them all the key cards for each individual level. A patch was quickly issued, but a few people still have the original goofed version of the game. 

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Also, about the guys not wanting to date - 

This is another thing that's person by person. 

Some may legitimately not be interested in dating. It happens. 

Others may not know how to go about it, or may be too shy. 

Still others may be confused. The so-called "social justice" movement has done a *lot* to confuse people, especially young folks, about what is and isn't supposedly appropriate when dealing with the other sex. A lot of kids aren't sure of what to do anymore, while others are legitimately afraid that something bad might happen (one can't spit without hitting a story of a false rape charge) and a few might have even sworn of dating all together because of one reason or another. 

Then you have people who may have had bad prior experiences with women and/or may have been social outcasts *before* they got into their present lifestyle. 

You'd need to get to know each one of them to figure out who is who. 

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