that's the point I was making with regards to wargames, shooters, rpg's, or other similar genres. why be able to kill someone and not have it be "realistic"? it's ok to allow a younger audience to destroy life, but because it's meant for a younger audience, then play down the destruction to their level? I don't think so. Maybe that's why the argument for video games making children violent could possibly have a strong position. Because games aren't realistic enough. If people want cartoons they should be watching Nickelodeon. Either give kids the respect and knowledge of being able to depict real life from video game, make games as real as possible when those games have real life themes, or don't give the kids those games in the first place. Games always have to take away one simple effect of "realism" to be playable, the repercussions of their actions. GTA would be a short and extremely difficult game if the first time you were arrested by the cops you got thrown in jail, and sent to execution. But maybe that could be the premise for a very good rpg. Make the cops tracking you down part of the game play, and you have to outwit them. As with Sin City, which is an amazing movie, it was directed that way because it was trying to be as "true" to the comic books as it could be. Although visually stunning and fresh, it does remove the viewer from reality at times through it's use of those visuals. There's a lot of other people like me who enjoy movies and games that at times make you cringe and say "oh, that's gross."
the violence in video games is what makes them sell. it's the ability to do things that no sane person would do in real life. the experience of being "bad" and unlawful. and your example of Civilization as being non-violent, just because you don't see blood and gore, it still has violent undertones. racing to be the first civilization to produce a nuclear weapon? and then using it on another society? can't get more violent than that.
I think the real argument people are trying to get at is the level of graphic violence and gore that we continuously see in video games. To me, a game isn't all that it can be if it doesn't have blood and gore of some sort. Making a blood on/off setting in a game is ridiculous. You're still shooting someone, but because you don't see blood, that somehow takes away from the level of violence? What did you just shoot that person with then, a bean bag round? They still died onscreen, and then their body mysteriously disappeared. I want more realism.
I think with the new legislation trying to be forced upon game makers, an Adult only rating above the current M, these people who are blaming the video games for kids being violent are just shooting themselves in the foot. An adult only rating would allow developers to go above and beyond what we currently see, as supposedly it would only be available to adults. And with every new system coming out, the graphics becoming more and more realistic, it's only a matter of time before we won't be able to decipher "real" footage from computerized. I can't wait.
I've been playing video games now for over 20 years. I have never been in a fight, attacked anyone, abused animals, etc... Why is it that video games become the scape goat? Is it because parents cannot accept the fact that they failed at raising their child so they must place blame elsewhere?
Why is it that 16 and 14 year old children take shotguns from their parents houses, go up to a hillside, fire upon passing traffic, kill two motorists in the process, and it's GTA's fault?
Maybe those kids should've had 1) better adult intervention and supervision, 2) a better grasp on reality, 3) if they don't understand reality, then maybe psycho-therapy should have been sought, 4) not having such readily available firearms in the house, 5) an ass-whipping once in a while to teach them right from wrong.
But like I said, it's the video games' fault. Because I always imitate what I see in video games. Just the other day I thought my town had turned into zombies and I was the only survivor. Oh wait, I was passing by a George Bush rally, guess it really did happen.
actually, the day with the most reported cases of spousal abuse happens on the same day year after year. guess what day that is? Superbowl Sunday. Just a coincidence? probably not.
and did so on the same day my slim PS2 bit the dust, 9 months old, and giving me the same old "disk read error" bs as all the other PS2's out there. Sony has continued to fail to produce a reliable product, and on top of that, their customer service sucks more than a black hole. the only problem I had with the xbox is that it won't accept burned audio. but the 360 has solved that problem with direct mp3 transfers from your pc. I'll be more than happy to use my ps2 as a door stop, that is when I get it back from Sony in 2 months, and it burns out again 1 day after it's 90 day limited warranty has passed.
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that's the point I was making with regards to wargames, shooters, rpg's, or other similar genres. why be able to kill someone and not have it be "realistic"? it's ok to allow a younger audience to destroy life, but because it's meant for a younger audience, then play down the destruction to their level? I don't think so. Maybe that's why the argument for video games making children violent could possibly have a strong position. Because games aren't realistic enough. If people want cartoons they should be watching Nickelodeon. Either give kids the respect and knowledge of being able to depict real life from video game, make games as real as possible when those games have real life themes, or don't give the kids those games in the first place. Games always have to take away one simple effect of "realism" to be playable, the repercussions of their actions. GTA would be a short and extremely difficult game if the first time you were arrested by the cops you got thrown in jail, and sent to execution. But maybe that could be the premise for a very good rpg. Make the cops tracking you down part of the game play, and you have to outwit them. As with Sin City, which is an amazing movie, it was directed that way because it was trying to be as "true" to the comic books as it could be. Although visually stunning and fresh, it does remove the viewer from reality at times through it's use of those visuals. There's a lot of other people like me who enjoy movies and games that at times make you cringe and say "oh, that's gross."
the violence in video games is what makes them sell. it's the ability to do things that no sane person would do in real life. the experience of being "bad" and unlawful. and your example of Civilization as being non-violent, just because you don't see blood and gore, it still has violent undertones. racing to be the first civilization to produce a nuclear weapon? and then using it on another society? can't get more violent than that. I think the real argument people are trying to get at is the level of graphic violence and gore that we continuously see in video games. To me, a game isn't all that it can be if it doesn't have blood and gore of some sort. Making a blood on/off setting in a game is ridiculous. You're still shooting someone, but because you don't see blood, that somehow takes away from the level of violence? What did you just shoot that person with then, a bean bag round? They still died onscreen, and then their body mysteriously disappeared. I want more realism. I think with the new legislation trying to be forced upon game makers, an Adult only rating above the current M, these people who are blaming the video games for kids being violent are just shooting themselves in the foot. An adult only rating would allow developers to go above and beyond what we currently see, as supposedly it would only be available to adults. And with every new system coming out, the graphics becoming more and more realistic, it's only a matter of time before we won't be able to decipher "real" footage from computerized. I can't wait.
I've been playing video games now for over 20 years. I have never been in a fight, attacked anyone, abused animals, etc... Why is it that video games become the scape goat? Is it because parents cannot accept the fact that they failed at raising their child so they must place blame elsewhere? Why is it that 16 and 14 year old children take shotguns from their parents houses, go up to a hillside, fire upon passing traffic, kill two motorists in the process, and it's GTA's fault? Maybe those kids should've had 1) better adult intervention and supervision, 2) a better grasp on reality, 3) if they don't understand reality, then maybe psycho-therapy should have been sought, 4) not having such readily available firearms in the house, 5) an ass-whipping once in a while to teach them right from wrong. But like I said, it's the video games' fault. Because I always imitate what I see in video games. Just the other day I thought my town had turned into zombies and I was the only survivor. Oh wait, I was passing by a George Bush rally, guess it really did happen.
actually, the day with the most reported cases of spousal abuse happens on the same day year after year. guess what day that is? Superbowl Sunday. Just a coincidence? probably not.
and did so on the same day my slim PS2 bit the dust, 9 months old, and giving me the same old "disk read error" bs as all the other PS2's out there. Sony has continued to fail to produce a reliable product, and on top of that, their customer service sucks more than a black hole. the only problem I had with the xbox is that it won't accept burned audio. but the 360 has solved that problem with direct mp3 transfers from your pc. I'll be more than happy to use my ps2 as a door stop, that is when I get it back from Sony in 2 months, and it burns out again 1 day after it's 90 day limited warranty has passed.