A Theoretical Question...

[Tharwen]

Since I started gaming, I've become more repelled by violence in games. In GTA, I don't like slaughtering people for no reason, and I can't make the 'total dick' choices in games that have a moral choice system. I play MW2 with no effect, but as soon as I actually try to imagine the situations in the game, I become horrified and return to thinking of the game objects as objects.

Maybe that's the secret of immersiveness. Give people time to imagine the situation as though they were there instead of making it more realistic.

 

[MattZero]

I think that I have been desensitized to certain amounts of violence and blood since I've started primarily playing M rated games (and watching R rated movies). But you know what nobody ever hears the good side of desensitization. I had a friend who tripped and fell through a glass table and got messed the hell up. But I didn't freak out or panic because I'm fairly used to seeing a decent amount of something relatively blood like. I was able to maintain calm get him fixed up as best I could so he wouldn't bleed out and get him an ambulance and I'm pretty confident in saying my pulse never went above normal. He's now perfectly fine, has some Badass scars to impress the ladies, I totally saved his life (probably). If I wasn't so used to seeing some big splashes of blood I'm betting I might have panicked a lot more and it might not have turned out so well.

 

[caprisun]

Yes most definitly. Dont get me wrong, i love me some video games. But it just seems to me like huge portions of the mass media are decensatising young ppl, makes it easier for 'certain governments' to invade other countries and kill ppl without to much civil unrest at home.

 

[Lucifron]

No.

However, I'm fairly sure that shocking and disturbing images have made me more resilient to shocking and disturbing images.

 

[Yopaz]

I think if you gave a gamer a gun and said, "shoot this man" most people wouldn't be able to do it. I know I would never EVER be able to shoot someone, even though I must've shot thousands of people in games over the years.

Not to be redundant, but I think everyone is right. Real violence is totally different than computer imaged violence. I saw someone's leg break in half once on the telly and that freaked me out so bad. I'm still sensitive to violence for sure.

I'd agree with you. I doubt I would kill anyone if I had to do it to survive and people getting hurt is terrible. However playing Resident Evil and seeing a head get blown off makes me laugh. I still think it got some effect though. Like if I shoot someone's head off then watch a movie where someone gets their head blown off I think I would be slightly less disgusted at the vide after playing than not. I also think that if you've seen one violent movie you would be the same. I'd say everything is dulling you. Experiences of violence makes you less sensitive to it. Someone working investigating crime scenes wont react the same way I would if I found a dead body. A porn star wouldn't react the same way if we both saw a naked woman for that matter.

 

[Flames66]

It's completely different when you know it's not simulated. I wouldn't say I have been dessensitised to even fictional mutilation as I hate seeing it in horror films.

 

[skeliton112]

Very Very Mildly. I think....

 

[SecondmateFlint]

I think if you gave a gamer a gun and said, "shoot this man" most people wouldn't be able to do it. I know I would never EVER be able to shoot someone, even though I must've shot thousands of people in games over the years.

Not to be redundant, but I think everyone is right. Real violence is totally different than computer imaged violence. I saw someone's leg break in half once on the telly and that freaked me out so bad. I'm still sensitive to violence for sure.

I'd agree with you. I doubt I would kill anyone if I had to do it to survive and people getting hurt is terrible. However playing Resident Evil and seeing a head get blown off makes me laugh. I still think it got some effect though. Like if I shoot someone's head off then watch a movie where someone gets their head blown off I think I would be slightly less disgusted at the vide after playing than not. I also think that if you've seen one violent movie you would be the same. I'd say everything is dulling you. Experiences of violence makes you less sensitive to it. Someone working investigating crime scenes wont react the same way I would if I found a dead body. A porn star wouldn't react the same way if we both saw a naked woman for that matter.

You're definitely right. I'm much less sensitive to violence than I used to be (but real violence still kinda gets to me). I might try what you said, play a game with something violent and watching a movie with something violent vs watching just the movie.

 

[GameOverGoblin]

No. the internet has already desensitized me on everything.

 

[benoitowns]

A little I guess. I mean some stuff still bothers me sometimes, and I am still scare able. But I think watching the news every day for several years has done much more than all of my lifetime gaming.

 

[Yopaz]

I think if you gave a gamer a gun and said, "shoot this man" most people wouldn't be able to do it. I know I would never EVER be able to shoot someone, even though I must've shot thousands of people in games over the years.

Not to be redundant, but I think everyone is right. Real violence is totally different than computer imaged violence. I saw someone's leg break in half once on the telly and that freaked me out so bad. I'm still sensitive to violence for sure.

I'd agree with you. I doubt I would kill anyone if I had to do it to survive and people getting hurt is terrible. However playing Resident Evil and seeing a head get blown off makes me laugh. I still think it got some effect though. Like if I shoot someone's head off then watch a movie where someone gets their head blown off I think I would be slightly less disgusted at the vide after playing than not. I also think that if you've seen one violent movie you would be the same. I'd say everything is dulling you. Experiences of violence makes you less sensitive to it. Someone working investigating crime scenes wont react the same way I would if I found a dead body. A porn star wouldn't react the same way if we both saw a naked woman for that matter.

You're definitely right. I'm much less sensitive to violence than I used to be (but real violence still kinda gets to me). I might try what you said, play a game with something violent and watching a movie with something violent vs watching just the movie.

The sad thing is that something similar has been used to give a scientific answer that video games make us violent not too long ago. It didn't do as I suggested, it compared it to a football game and it got a different result, thus making people who plays violent games violent. Violence that is distant or maybe even not real can't be compared to real violence at all. I am a pacifist and I hate suffering, there is a difference when it's not real though. I can watch movies with some nauseating effect if they're gory, and I can play games without problems. Non real violence is dulling to other non real or distant violence, that doesn't translate directly to it being dulling to violence in general. Btw, I really enjoy this conversation, nice to agree with someone on the internet for once.

 

[Benj17]

I have slaughtered thousands of opponents and not felt a thing.
I have shot a man for looking at me funny.
I have blown a city to smithereens with a nuclear bomb and laughed.

And the other day I hit a squirrel with my car and felt bad as shit.
So no.

This

 

[S.R.S.]

I guess so in the sense that you can blow a funny fuse. I've blown my voilence fuse on AvP just last week. (did that sound dirty? it was unintentional...)

 

[SecondmateFlint]

I think if you gave a gamer a gun and said, "shoot this man" most people wouldn't be able to do it. I know I would never EVER be able to shoot someone, even though I must've shot thousands of people in games over the years.

Not to be redundant, but I think everyone is right. Real violence is totally different than computer imaged violence. I saw someone's leg break in half once on the telly and that freaked me out so bad. I'm still sensitive to violence for sure.

I'd agree with you. I doubt I would kill anyone if I had to do it to survive and people getting hurt is terrible. However playing Resident Evil and seeing a head get blown off makes me laugh. I still think it got some effect though. Like if I shoot someone's head off then watch a movie where someone gets their head blown off I think I would be slightly less disgusted at the vide after playing than not. I also think that if you've seen one violent movie you would be the same. I'd say everything is dulling you. Experiences of violence makes you less sensitive to it. Someone working investigating crime scenes wont react the same way I would if I found a dead body. A porn star wouldn't react the same way if we both saw a naked woman for that matter.

You're definitely right. I'm much less sensitive to violence than I used to be (but real violence still kinda gets to me). I might try what you said, play a game with something violent and watching a movie with something violent vs watching just the movie.

The sad thing is that something similar has been used to give a scientific answer that video games make us violent not too long ago. It didn't do as I suggested, it compared it to a football game and it got a different result, thus making people who plays violent games violent. Violence that is distant or maybe even not real can't be compared to real violence at all. I am a pacifist and I hate suffering, there is a difference when it's not real though. I can watch movies with some nauseating effect if they're gory, and I can play games without problems. Non real violence is dulling to other non real or distant violence, that doesn't translate directly to it being dulling to violence in general. Btw, I really enjoy this conversation, nice to agree with someone on the internet for once.

That's interesting to me. So, according to them, people were more okay with violence by comparing it to a football game? I have never once associated the violence of football with video game violence. No I'd like to take those same people to a murder crime scene or a war zone. THAT is real. I am more okay with violence in movies now than I was but that is because I'm a film student and I analyze everything in movies. I agree with you, I've never once had to turn my head in games like I have in movies.

And yes, I'm really enjoying this too. It's been a long time since I've had an intelligent discussion.

 

[Flishiz]

I don't think so. I've played a lot of gory and bloody games without batting an eyelash, but whenever I see someone with a big cut or broken bone I still get kind of queasy.