Demonic Video Games

Originally posted by LoneGunMan

Its about a post nuclear war world. I dont find any enlightenment in that.

So do you never read fiction? Never watch any television or movie?

Fallout 3 is not just a post-apocalyptic world, that is simply the setting. It is not about the violence; the violence is simply part of the world, as it is part of all worlds. The story is actually about doing what's right, improving the world and setting an example for people. The way it plays out people even heed your example whether because you are good, or inspite of your evil.

But you wouldn't know because you categorize it as junk along with all other games.

I used to play Quake online and have fed my mind and soul way too much junk. So I know violent gaming.

There is a vast, vast difference between the game play of Quake, and Fallout 3. F3 and many other games now are not simply "violent games", just because they have violence in them doesn't mean anything.

I have been and seen it all. I am just trying to pass on what I know.

Your worst day is my every day on the job.

Here you go assuming things again.

Enlightenment begins with cleaning the mind. Then listening to when the soul says this isnt right. Then trying to change no matter how hard change is.

So your soul didn't once try to warn you that calling me an unfeeling human was wrong?
Didn't once tell you that your narrow-mindedness makes you look more condescending than you would probably like to be?

Sounds like a pretty lame game developed by geeks with a social disorder.. I can imagine a few disturbed preteens might find it funny.. but I doubt that it will ever be a "popular" game like GTA (which is my favorite video game of all time, the whole series. You don't consider me evil do you?)

Originally posted by plutoxgirl
reply to post by Skyfloating

 

S&F to you OP

These "games" are disgusting.

I can't understand adults enjoying any of them. I guess it says a lot about who they are

1

Really gotta love these moral superior types.

Don't forget to contribute when they pass the plate at mass.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Because it makes for a good discussion

No, it makes for a pointless discussion that has been done to death, including in courts all over the world.

Besides, you seem to change your mind what your point actually is in every single post. Clearly you don't have one, and just needed some random crap to post about, so you pick a game that's... what... six years old?

Originally posted by Skyfloating
Out of touch with which reality? Yours? I hope so.

So you admit it's childish humor, and then when I say it's childish humor, you change your mind again. Nice.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
25% find them questionable (me)

I'm sorry, I thought you found them 'demonic'.


[edit on 21-8-2009 by Clickfoot]

I don't get it. What's wrong with pissing on cops and smoking life restoring crack?

Why are you (apparently) so worried about 'the children' when you know yourself that this is juvenile humor?

I am sorry... WHAT?
"Juvenile humour"?

Would you show me the "humour" part of it, please?
(No, really: I am not kidding.)

And "juvenile", as in pertaining to youth...?
I am not exactly Methuselah, but I don't recall the humour in my "juvenile" days revolving around things such as the ones described in the OP.

Making it a category ("juvenile humour") implies this is widespread "humour".

Is it?

IF it is, then we are all in big, BIG trouble.

How anybody can compare 'fall out III' to 'postal II' is beyond me.

Obviously these people are talking about something they know VERY little about and have played neither.

Myself i take no pleasure from games such as hooligans: Storm over Europe or Postal I or II, as they are basically just trash. Bad coded, unimaginative, deliberately offensive no brainers of a game.

Whereas Oblivion and Fall out III are great examples of sandbox style RPG and are deemed leaders in the field of that particular genre.

Please people stop jumping onto the bandwagon.

It's like comparing Pulp fiction to Cannibal holocaust.

Originally posted by LoneGunMan

My world of belief? Brother I am a Pagan and a Shaman. I am a warrior of what is right. I am a Witch and an ordained minister. I have been raised in the worst neighborhoods you can imagine. I have been where no one should go. I have seen what few can handle.

I used to play Quake online and have fed my mind and soul way too much junk. So I know violent gaming.

For a guy on such a righteous crusade against these evil video-gamers, may i suggest you change your USER NAME from lonegunman to flower-sniffing pagan or something, as people who have suffered a loss at the hands of a gun man (lone or not alone) may find your name very offensive.

I of course jest, but your hypocrisy shows no bounds.



[edit on 21-8-2009 by mr-lizard]

Originally posted by mr-lizard
Whereas Oblivion and Fall out III are great examples of sandbox style RPG and are deemed leaders in the field of that particular genre.

I'd forgotten about Oblivion. It's toooooo big and I kept getting lost on quests, so started killing everyone and eventually was asked to become a part of that evil guild (cant remember the name, but a dude just appeared to me and noticed I was bad), and I was forever hunted by the law.... hmm..

Might reinstall that too..

Right after I shave my head, bang nails into my skull, don a leather outfit and torture people who open my puzzle box, in hell. "No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.."

Oops, that's pinhead - almost forgot it's just a movie!!

Psychopathy (pronounced /saɪˈkɒpəθi/[1][2]) is a psychological construct that describes chronic immoral and antisocial behavior.

The psychopath is defined by an uninhibited gratification in criminal, sexual, or aggressive impulses

Some observed traits in psychopaths and also observed in this thread:

Cruelty to animals

Inability to distinguish right from wrong

Callous/lack of empathy

Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom

Irresponsibility

Source




[edit on 21-8-2009 by Skyfloating]

Originally posted by Marrr
I don't get it. What's wrong with pissing on cops and smoking life restoring crack?

Its beyond me how this post gets several stars. I must be in the wrong neighbourhood here.

reply to post by Vanitas

Would you show me the "humour" part of it, please?

On the surface I'd say it could be a form of schadenfreude, the mostly unintentional delight in the suffering/misfortune of others. Though more on the social parody/slapstick end of the spectrum. It's a common human emotion, and a spin-off of sorts from envy. At least pertaining to Postal 2 anyhow, I think it may have something to do with striking a chord in it's players wherein you just get fed up with the structure and rules and restrictions of society and it allows you to "let off some steam" by acting out against it in an exaggerated and cartoonish virtual environment by disregarding social taboos and killing parodies of common social stereotypes.

We all express schadenfreude to some degree or another. For example, if you've ever smirked, smiled, or laughed at this commercial - that's schadenfreude, and it's the same basic humor in Postal 2, though not on the same level of offensiveness.



What's funny about seeing someone suffer head trauma, electrocution, and bludgeoning? Yet most people think it's cute and funny. The delight in the seeing the misfortunes of others....

reply to post by Skyfloating


It's called a sense of humour. Being silly.

"If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done."

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951)

Maybe if you climbed down from your pedestal of holy righteousness, you could crack the ice from your face with a hammer and find it in yourself to crack a smile.

Or not?

reply to post by Skyfloating


It's ok man. Everyone has things that are over their heads every day.

reply to post by mr-lizard


It would be taken as humor if some in this thread hadnt already admitted that they dont care for the law or would prefer anarchism...for real.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
reply to post by mr-lizard

 

It would be taken as humor if some in this thread hadnt already admitted that they dont care for the law or would prefer anarchism...for real.

It's not illegal to be an anarchist. I think you are making false assumptions here. What is wrong with challenging the status quo?

Why all teh hassle over 'Demonic video games'?
What about all the world war 2 video games in which you can play a German Nazi soldier and try to 'WIN' the war for Germany?
Or the current spate of 'Battlefield' series taking place in the Middle East? Surely that would train kids to hate the Arabs?

Get over yourselves , their 'VIDEO GAMES'. the're make believe, ok so they're set in a real world setting or 'near to accurate' setting,, the pixels on a game designed to entertain people, in exchange for money the designers make these games to please the audience, if there wasn't a demand they wouldn't make them would they?

I play games all the time mainly Vegas 6 , and Left of Dead, doesn't mean I want to hunt down and kill terrorists or that I'm hoping theres going to be a Zombie plague soon.

reply to post by mr-lizard

How anybody can compare 'fall out III' to 'postal II' is beyond me.

It's sensible in the context and constraints of which I was framing the comparison in. I wasn't trying to compare the games on the merits of coding, controls, soundtrack, graphics, genre, or even as a similar title in any regards at all. The only similarity I was correlating between them was the presence of morally repugnant content, and the two entirely different ways they are presented to the player for entirely different purposes. It's the differences I was highlighting, not comparing similarities.

Here are some other opinions.

scienceblogs.com...

ResearchBlogging.orgAlthough not all games are equal, there's plenty of evidence that playing some violent video games can cause aggressive real-world behavior. Sites like addictinggames.com offer popular games whose sole point is to play the role of a hit-man or even to torture animals. Over 85 percent of video games include violence. When these statistics are combined with the results of studies showing that aggressive attitudes and even actions can be increased after playing violent games for as little as 20 minutes, it's possible that we have a major problem on our hands. Another potential problem of video game violence is widespread activation of a phenomenon that has been observed in many other domains: desensitization. Some desensitization is undoubtedly good: for example, a surgeon who exhibited the natural disgust and revulsion at seeing human entrails probably would have a hard time doing her job. Desensitization means that after seeing the gore of an operating room many times throughout her training process, she can overcome that natural revulsion to human innards and is prepared to do her job when it counts. [snip]

More...

www.psychology.iastate.edu...

Past research shows that violent video game exposure increases aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal, aggressive behaviors, and decreases helpful behaviors. However, no research has experimentally examined violent video game eVects on physiological desensitization, deWned as showing less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to video game violence in the virtual world. [snip]

Even more...

www.physorg.com...

"It's already well known that playing violent video games increases aggressive behavior and decreases helping behavior," said University of Michigan researcher Brad Bushman. "But this study is the first to link exposure to violent video games with a diminished reaction to violent images." Forthcoming in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study was conducted by Bruce Bartholow, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Marc Sestir at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Bushman, a U-M professor of psychology and communications studies and a faculty associate at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR). "Most of us naturally have a strong aversion to the sight of blood and gore," Bartholow said. "Surgeons and soldiers may need to overcome these reactions in order to perform their duties. But for most people, a diminished reaction to the effects of violence is not adaptive. It can reduce inhibitions against aggressive behavior and increase the possibility of inflicting violence on others." For the study, the researchers asked 39 male undergraduates how often they played their five favorite video games, and how violent the games were. The researchers also assessed participants' irritability and aggressiveness, asking them how much they identified with statements like the following: "I easily fly off the handle with those who don't listen or understand" and "If somebody hits me, I hit back." Next, the researchers outfitted participants with electrode caps to obtain EEG data, including the average amplitude of a particular type of brainwave, known as P300, which is believed to be an indicator of how people evaluate a stimulus, such as a photograph. After doing so, the researchers showed participants a series of images. The content of the images was emotionally neutral (a mushroom, a man riding a bicycle), violent (a man holding a gun to another man's head) or negative but nonviolent (a dead dog). While participants viewed the images, their brain waves were recorded. After viewing the images, participants were told they were competing in a reaction time task with another person to see who could press a button faster following a tone. The slower person would supposedly receive a blast of noise through a pair of headphones, with the intensity and duration of the blast determined before each round by the previous round's winner. Actually there was no partner, but participants' tendency to administer long, loud blasts of noise is a widely used, reliable measure of aggression. What the researchers found was that participants who routinely played violent video games responded less to violent images, as measured by a diminished amplitude of their P300 brainwaves. But this was not true of their response to other, equally negative, nonviolent images. The researchers also found that the smaller the brainwave reaction to violent images, the less likely participants were to behave aggressively in the reaction time task by blasting their "partner" with loud, unpleasant noise. Along with other recent research, the findings suggest that chronic exposure to violent video games has lasting harmful effects on brain function and behavior. Source: University of Missouri-Columbia

I could go on for a long time but I think this makes my point. Be careful what you feed your brain.

Like the British stand-up comedian (can't remember his name) said if video games were that influential most of us older people that grew up playing pong and pacman would be bouncing from wall to wall or spending our lives in dark rooms eating pills and running away from ghosts... well some of us may do that.

Anyway though I do not think that violence in video games, movies or TV shows has a direct impact on society - in the sense of turning ordinary kids/adults into psychopaths. I do believe however that over-exposure to extreme violence as the game that was mentioned can numb people's sensitivities towards scenarios and situations that I think it is only humane to but sensitive to.

One element that in my opinion proves that is that if you look at the history of videogames and cinema you realize that the boundaries of violence keep being pushed back as time goes by. If you showed "Saw" or "Hostel" to a child or even adult back in the 50s they would probably be traumatized for life. The reason why these levels of violence are accepted nowadays is because there has been a slow crescendo throughout the decades.

Like a dosage of poison that in small increments teaches the body to gain immunities to it I think violent entertainment works the same way but on our morals and sensitivities. I assume that just as what was considered a scary 40 years ago now seems (lacking a better term) "lame", violent entertainment 10 or 20 years from now (if this crescendo is maintained) will be... unimaginably gruesome.

The reason why this upsets me is because I believe that our notions of what is right and wrong that are at the very base of how we construct our society and civilization cannot come solely from a logical/rhetorical perspective of "Yeah I know this is wrong..." but must also come from an emotional/sensitive perspective that "proves" to you that it is wrong.

My fear is that the continued investment on an entertainment industry which focus is to bombard the consumers with more and more violent imagery and situations as time goes by eventually numbs down that aspect of the human being - which I find essential to a continued progression to a more civilized humanity - that is knowing something is wrong and gruesome not because you were told so but because deep inside you feel, know and are sure without a shadow of a doubt, without need for laws or policing, that it IS wrong.

Cheers.