I am speaking as an indulger of violence and gore. There is a physical stimulation, an adrenal reaction when I am creating bloody messes in Fallout 3 or watching a person get sawed in half in High Tension. We like violent games because the more realistic they are the more they stimulate us.
To people that cite the fact that they are still able to feel something when they look at images of people who have been violently killed I have to question how proud one can really feel about this. Whether violence between people has been reduced throughout the world or not, the fact that we are constantly exposing ourselves to violent stimulus and even simulating them ourselves shouldn't worry us as much about how the player will then act out violently himself but how he views all of the pain and suffering of others; essentially, the player's ability to feel compassion.
People suffer every day whether it be from poverty and hunger or disasters or suicide bombings. These are true tragedies but we are able to ignore them all too easily till the images are plastered in front of us. Sure this isn't solely from violent video games but it is certainly among the factors contributing to an overstimulated, desensitized society.
You can talk all about the instinct of man to be violent and the survival of the fittest and all sorts of nasty aspects of human nature but shouldn't we try a little harder to cultivate the parts of our nature that make us a more loving, caring and generous society?
I guess I should just speak from my own experience and that is that I will continue to expose myself to these stimulations for the time being but there is a part of me that wishes I actually didn't feel the addictive urge to watch guts splatter across the screen.
Slashdot Mirror
I am speaking as an indulger of violence and gore. There is a physical stimulation, an adrenal reaction when I am creating bloody messes in Fallout 3 or watching a person get sawed in half in High Tension. We like violent games because the more realistic they are the more they stimulate us.
To people that cite the fact that they are still able to feel something when they look at images of people who have been violently killed I have to question how proud one can really feel about this. Whether violence between people has been reduced throughout the world or not, the fact that we are constantly exposing ourselves to violent stimulus and even simulating them ourselves shouldn't worry us as much about how the player will then act out violently himself but how he views all of the pain and suffering of others; essentially, the player's ability to feel compassion.
People suffer every day whether it be from poverty and hunger or disasters or suicide bombings. These are true tragedies but we are able to ignore them all too easily till the images are plastered in front of us. Sure this isn't solely from violent video games but it is certainly among the factors contributing to an overstimulated, desensitized society.
You can talk all about the instinct of man to be violent and the survival of the fittest and all sorts of nasty aspects of human nature but shouldn't we try a little harder to cultivate the parts of our nature that make us a more loving, caring and generous society?
I guess I should just speak from my own experience and that is that I will continue to expose myself to these stimulations for the time being but there is a part of me that wishes I actually didn't feel the addictive urge to watch guts splatter across the screen.