The State of Play - Violence and Videogames

mozen writes "The BBC has an article up discussing the effects of videogames on the mind and how the media are reluctant to talk more openly about violent games. From the article: 'People who've grown up with Mario see him keeping pace, running and jumping along the building tops that streak by on a train journey. At best, it's a pleasant daydream — a happy reminder of a pastime you enjoy, and at worst, it's a mild distraction. Until, that is, you swap the games around. What if my screen dreams aren't of something so patently harmless as Puzzle Quest? What if they're of the stealth kills in Manhunt?'"

Comments

Obsession

[Sefert]

It's a funny thing, obsession. Sure, I've had some delicious fantasies of siting down that scope after too much Battlefield 2. And frankly, I'm ok with that. This article really is indirectly talking about the obsessive nature of humans to do too much of what we like. There's been tons of articles floating around the net about 'internet addiction', and I'm sure everyone reading this article knows at least someone that does something way too much. Personally, I think this modern day tendency to associate the activity with the addiction is irritating. People don't have MSN Messenger addiction, or video game addiction. They've just got a problem with balancing their life. And perhaps they need therapy to make that happen, but don't label the symptom as the problem.

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[account_deleted]

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Maybe because they've lost?

[MikeRT]

After years of holding the industry back, video gamers are now old enough to be working professionals. Most of us who were in our late preteen and early teen years when Mortal Kombat was making so much controversy can now vote, pull down a serious income and are in short, starting to come to power. We make up the largest demographic of video gamers and it's a little hard to say that video games are primarily for children when most of the people who play them are at least 17 or 18 now.

I look at this, the victories on beating gun control and the increasing legal protection of self-defense as a bit of a reprieve for sanity and to some extent, masculinity in America. The fact is that a lot of women, especially (essentially primarily) middle and upper class women are scared shitless today of anything that reeks of traditional male ideas or interests. You see it everywhere from mostly female schools going batshit loco over a 6 year old **drawing a picture of a gun** to the attacks on violent video games (which are mostly enjoyed by men).

Now I'm not saying that women in general are like this. Most of the working class ones I've known are not like this, and I do know a a fair number of middle class women who aren't. However, a lot of the middle and upper class ones do find a serious problem with anything remotely dangerous or genuinely masculine. Anyone who has worked in a typical corporate environment should have met quite a few of those by now.

In some areas, I think we're seeing a return of sanity. There used to be a time where blaming violent games on every crime involving some punk was reasonable. Today it isn't. There used to be a time when saying stuff like "I wouldn't trust myself with a gun, so I wouldn't trust a stranger with one" sounded reasonable. With some of the stranger, more violent crimes and general shift in attitudes, now you need to explain why you aren't dangerous if you are so unbalanced that holding a gun would make you scared.

I'll remain a little positive until proven wrong about where things are going.

Re:Maybe because they've lost?

[brkello]

This is such a confusing comment. I agree with you on the video game part of your post...but the rest comes off as "bat shit loco" to me. You are basically blaming gun control on women. This is obviously something you care about since the majority of your post focused on that rather than video games. Were you rejected by some girl who thought you were too masculine and now have become bitter?

The whole stereotype of masculinity is a joke anyways. Are you more of a man because you go out blow the crap out of a deer with a shot gun? Are you more of a man because you get in to fights in bars when you are drunk? If women are afraid of a guy like that I say good for them. That has more to do with stupidity than masculinity. There are plenty of male administrators that freak out about stupid things as well. And quite frankly, it seems the lower the IQ of the girl the more likely she is going to be attracted to the "masculine" type. Broad generalization? Of course, but no more than you were doing.

Quite frankly, I trust myself fine with a gun. It's the rest of the world out there having guns that scares the crap out of me.

Games in my head

[hansamurai]

When I used to play World of Warcraft, I would go to sleep at night with my priest or rogue's actions running through my brain. I would constantly see myself playing, doing basically the same thing over and over, either running around or doing the typical battle moves that I would use against every enemy. This bothered me incredibly as I wasn't really sleeping, I was more in between and it was stopping me from falling asleep.

Something similar happened the night before I got married. I had been playing Meteos (a puzzle game for the DS) for a couple of hours to help calm me, and by the time I did go to bed, I was playing the game in my head. Along with the emotions of the coming day hitting me, I had such a hard time falling asleep. I got about as much sleep that night as the next night.

And I've also played Puzzle Quest in my head. I hate puzzle games!

Re:happens to me all the time

[Reziac]

I don't "act out" any of the behaviours learned in DOOM (tho I sometimes have fun dreams set in a DOOM environment). But I have noticed that playing DOOM (which I still do), and becoming GOOD at it, also made me a much better driver, because it made me more aware of ALL the moving and hazardous objects that my vehicle might intersect. And I've always been good at maps and navigation, but DOOM improved my ability to peg my location on and keep track of the map in my head.

On the other end of things, even speaking as a hunter, I fail to see how killing hellspawn on the screen equates to killing anything in real life. (Roast pinkies... eugh!!)

Tho if your workplace is invaded by hellspawn from that hole in the basement, I'm your man :)