Desensitised

[Gooble]

Right, all these annoying anti-gaming idiots keep going on about how games desenstise people to killing/death etc. I've never believed in that, but recently I've noticed it's kind of happened to me.

I'm currently 17, and up until recently, graphic violence/gore/people dying has upset me. I've just finished up playing HL2:E2, and at the end it was almost as though I knew what was happening was sad, but I just didn't really feel any proper emotion; thinking back, at the end of Halo 3, it was about the same thing.

I've also started watching more horror films lately, and the gore (i.e. flesh eating viruses, beheadings etc.) just don't seem to bother me at all, and I'm typical a relatively squeamish person.

So I guess, summing up: do any of you think that gaming has desensitised you to certain things?

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I once watched a movie in History class that depicted the decapitation of a woman. The camera had a point of view from the blade of the guillotine as it was falling down. And when it reached the neck, there was a huge explosion of blood that covered the entire screen.

For some reason, it reminded me of Resident Evil 4.

 

[GothmogII]

Yup, the upside is I can enjoy most things horror related as just entertainment, the downside is I'm rarely -scared- by any of these things.

Violent media does tend to desensitise you to other violent media...as these are most usually fictional, it's not really such a bad thing imo as it makes things that would have made you feel ill or squeamish more accessable to you. Though, I guess it's problematic whereby it crosses over into how you percieve real world violence. And actually I think it already has, maybe it's just me, but you notice how the news media is saturated with violent stories, and that, maybe only a few people around you will react with anything more than a "oh how terrible' or 'that's shocking!' with maybe a shake of the head. Then poof! On to the next thing.

As for video game violence translating into real world violent actions...well, I've seen my younger brother get completly and uttlerly pissed when he's having a tough time with a game. Anyone in the room talks and they get a stream of verbal abuse, as if it were their fault he was doing badly. He's fine the rest of the time *shrug* But, I'd never think that it would cause him to go out and kill someone...maybe start tossing things around though ^^'

 

[Xaositect]

Simply put: No.

I watched violent films and read violent books too, so if there is any "desensitising" going on, its not limited to games. Of course, violence is a real world thing anyway, and nothing the entertainment industry can ever do compares to what is really going on around the world.

People really need to stop with this bullshit. This world, heck even life itself, is fucked up immeasurably. Most types of entertainment merely mirror that just for consistency.

Life desensitises you to violence/death/killing etc. - not video games.

 

[Saskwach]

Ever since playing GTA 4 I have a very...lax attitude towards grand theft auto. I'll often daydream about stealing that car that so totally looks like a Feltzer. It's actually at the point where you mentally catch yourself just before you sriously consider doing something really embarassing or stupid.
So, yeah, quite desensitised.

 

[Rockyroadkill423]

Whenever I am confronted with the thought that general media (and I say that because I think that violence on TV is just about as bad, if not worse) might be desensitizing me, I then try to imagine what it may be like to actually witness a real-life horror scenario, such as a bloody car accident, a murder, zombie fight, etc. It is after thinking about that that I realize how much I would NOT be able to handle myself in such a situation. I honestly don't believe I would be able to just turn away and keep walking, or muster up the courage to shoot another creature (human or not, war-time or not) without doubling over and puking, and that makes me feel better about myself playing violent games, it's because it's not real, as much as you get to immerse yourself into the universe, it's not real. I have yet to use this argument against my mother, who's always going on about violence in video games and how it's desensitizing the youth >_>

One of these days, I'm going to try an experiment in some game and personally give every enemy I brutally murder a name and at least some thought into their families back home from wherever they came from and see if that makes me feel guilty any, or if it's still too unreal to make any impression.

Just think of that Combine soldier's children!

 

[MattyDienhoff]

I don't think so, but then, I've never really been a particularly emotional person. It's not that I don't care about anything (even though it may appear that way to some people). I do, I just don't really show it. That's just the way I am.

Nevertheless, even if one is desensitized to gore/violence, whether it's from exposure to violent media or even real-life events, I don't see how that has any significant relation to whether that same individual cares about real-world victims of violence or not. For example, just because I don't balk at images of bloodied victims being dug out of the rubble after the Sichuan earthquake, that doesn't mean I don't feel for them or empathize with them, because I honestly do.

I don't believe that becoming acclimatized to something can change one's perspective of whether that thing is right or not if their perspective on the matter has already been established. On the same note, I think it's fair to assume that although some medical personnel who start out squeamish eventually 'get used' to the sight of blood and gaping wounds and the like (as much as they can, anyway, some people never do), that doesn't necessarily mean they no longer feel for the people they treat, although that may sometimes be the case. I guess what I'm trying to say is, insensitivity to gore and violence and lack of empathy are two seperate concepts that may, but don't necessarily go together.

EDIT:

One of these days, I'm going to try an experiment in some game and personally give every enemy I brutally murder a name and at least some thought into their families back home from wherever they came from and see if that makes me feel guilty any, or if it's still too unreal to make any impression.

Just think of that Combine soldier's children!

That sounds like an interesting idea, I might try playing GTA3 like that after.

That's a heck of a first post.

 

[TheDon]

A common misconception is that videogames are what cause the desensitization, but it isn't the events of the game, its the concept of violence. You wouldn't expect a navy seal to worry about blood or gore, but you would expect most other people to react in fear. Now while I believe there is nothing wrong with videogames, there are some things that playing does to your perception of reality, namely the fact you see horrible things happening in game and have to be completely focused on your mission. Usually people know when fight or flight is required, but sometimes when you are exposed to a constant level of violence or perhaps alot of violence at once, your body(this is a theory based off of a few sources) and mind adapt because it takes the violence as a natural(and constant) occurrence that it must be prepared for, making you more calm in situations most people would flip out in.

The reason that you probably don't worry about horror is because you have seen so much knowing it is fake, instead of tricking your subconcious into thinking you need to be scared and run away, so to speak, you find yourself not worrying about it.

And as a follow up to the first paragraph, you won't become a killer from playing pac-man and not even from the Grand Theft Auto series. They just make you calmer in violent situations, its other situations that cause a violent rampage. In the case of the VA tech shooter he was mentally imbalenced. And in the case of terrorists, they are usually brought up in a violent envirionment so violence is nothing to them.

As you can see videogames don't really cause the problems, they simply change your reaction to certain events. Take that anti-gamers.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

A common misconception is that videogames are what cause the desensitization, but it isn't the events of the game, its the concept of violence. You wouldn't expect a navy seal to worry about blood or gore, but you would expect most other people to react in fear. Now while I believe there is nothing wrong with videogames, there are some things that playing does to your perception of reality, namely the fact you see horrible things happening in game and have to be completely focused on your mission.

Good point, it makes me think about playing as a black op in Operation Flashpoint. Sneaking around behind enemy lines, acutely aware that one mistake and you'll surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned - beyond help. You don't think about that four-man patrol that you waited until just the right second to gun down, the exact moment when you know they won't have a chance to fight back. You don't think about who they are or whether they had families. You have to be totally focused on staying alive and achieving your objectives, so you don't pay any mind to the enemy you kill, they're just shapes on the horizon that you drop, one by one. The fact is that they're just soldiers doing their jobs like you're doing yours. The fine line between duty and murder. This is a purely philosophical and irrelevant concept in the case of a game, but something every real soldier who's ever killed someone has thought about, I bet.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I had a really interesting chat with a friend of mine who researches on lab rats all day about this. The guy literally kills rats by suffocating them, gauges their heart status, the efficacy of the chemical he's injected them with, and does this for months on end. He's testing a medication that would save people's lives if they were having a heart attack and were able to take it in time.

What's ironic is that he gets really offended by violence in video games. His complaint is that the violence is totally meaningless. You gun down...hundreds of zombie in say Doom, right? His problem was that none of those things have identity, have personality. There's no meaning to their death, they're just obstacles. It's not that the game is desensitizing you, it's that it's disconnecting the idea of there being meaning to violence.

It's not that every death needs to be tragic, it's just that games are kinda unbalanced. Take Star Wars. By making them all clones, we the audience don't really care when dozens of stormtroopers get shot. But there's also the scene of losing Vader, Han getting frozen, and all those other moments that still keep loss and meaning active.

His issue is that video games don't have much violence except the meaningless kind. I think to him killing the rats has purpose and utility for a greater good, while in video games it all just seems kind of senseless.

 

[TomNook]

Desensitised my ass, I was watching I, Claudius the other day in latin class. Watching Caligula doing a cross dressed strip tease was one of the most disturbing things I've seen to date(it even ranks above when he cuts open his sister's stomach to eat his baby).

 

[Vidiot]

This must be why I'm rubbish at survival horror games... I see El Gigante in RE4 and my first thought is "*shrug* I think I can take him." I'm pretty sure I've trained the "fight or flight" response out of myself as far as videogames, and in real life, that training has helped me in first aid situations where everyone's freaking out about the blood, but nobody's putting on a bandage, finding a tourniquet, etc...

EDIT: Historically, as late as 100 years ago, you'd still see a body in an alleyway or ditch and it wouldn't be all that uncommon depending on where you live and how heavily populated the area. I think that we still have that same bloodlust that humanity displayed in roman times and earlier, we just simulate the violence. Instead of paying to watch real people die for no good reason, we pay to watch imaginary people die for a pretty good reason, letting us feel good about ourselves and still watch things die... from a good safe distance. (check out the lyrics for Tool- Vicarious)

 

[GothmogII]

Humm, thinking though, videogames -are- slightly different than other forms of media like books and movies, as the player is in some modicum of control. I doubt it has as much more effect over any other media in terms of causing a body to act out or mimic actions they can take out within the game. As in, a person who -is- influenced say to commit a robbery having done so/seen in a game, would probably be just as influenced by a book or movie too. Then again, this person may already be imbalanced in some way and perhaps not representative of the gaming ?community? in general. Actually, would it be fair to say that those who do get attention are really quite rare, or...well in my opinion, sometimes just using games as an excuse as to why they acted they way they did?

Another thing, as I mentioned before. Has anyone else noticed incidence of 'violent' tempers in relation, I realise in general that videogame violence is normally in reference to violent activites i.e. assault, murder, suicide etc. Or addiction etc. But, I'm thinking should not losing one's head count? I can recall as a child myself literally pulling my hair out whilst playing a particularly frustrating game. Even throwing things about the room in an angry fit. This aspect of how I played games only really mellowed into my late teens, however, in consideration this may have been just my own mental state in combination with the games themselves. Although, I've noticed the same with other younger game players, hell, all you have to do is play any online game and you're likely to get an ear or eyeful of that kind of anger. Only real consolation is that they're probably half way across the world and unlikely to be throwing their controller/keyboard at your head

 

[Drugar]

If anything has desensitized me to violence, it's the eight o' clock news, not video games.
I can mow down hundreds of people in GTA, burn cities because their faction slighted me in some random way in Rome: Total War, throw random villagers against mountains to see them bounce in Black and White, but none of that even slightly compares to reading the newspaper and noticing yet *another* random rape/murder/torture of an innocent person.

Life is densensitizing me, not video games. If anything, games sensitize me (is that even a word?) because it's a safe environment to care.

 

[WlknCntrdiction]

i can play increasingly disturbing games and watch blood fly left right and center without so much as a flinch or care but sit me in front of, oh lets say Saw 3 and im hiding behind the cushions(which actually happened lol).
i can handle it in games cause i know they're just a mass of polygons, even when graphics get to such a point that you cant tell them apart from real life i will still not be scared cause i know its not real, what gets me about horror movies though is that they are grounded in reality(somewhat)cause they are real people being "killed", it doesnt help that i know out there somewhere are sick fucks like in Saw who do that kind of stuff, and that honestly frightens me

 

[cleverlymadeup]

well here's the thing that's kinda funny about it all. if you aren't desensitized to violence and blood on some level when you end up getting thrust into a situation where there is a lot of blood and gore, be it a car accident, crazed gunman, accident at work or other tragedy, you will freeze up and become about as useful as tits on a nun.

i'm not saying you won't freeze up, soliders sometimes snap and do this after multiple times seeing combat and death, but the chance of you doing that is less likely and if you are unharmed you can start to help those who have been injured

so frankly the desensitization isn't that bad of a thing, it's just society thinks violence is bad but there are good things that come out of it.

like really would you like to go into a hospital bleeding and dying and have a nurse go "omg they're bleeding i can't handle this"? i'd say no you want one who shrugs it off and gets to work on stopping your bleeding

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I would have to say no. Whilst I have no problem with red polygons flying about the screen. I do feel shocked if a character that has been developed enough to be likeable gets killed off by surprise.

 

[Larenxis]

Definitely. I started out neutral towards violence, then hated it for a month or so, then loved it. I like ridiculous violence. Like one punch knockouts, and carrot stabbings. Mostly it's been movies that desensitized me, but games have played a part. I think I liked seeing combine zombies catch fire a little too much.

 

[AntiAntagonist]

In my experience being desensitized isn't a one way street, and isn't something that a person can measure easily.

I used to play many violent games, and still do. I can watch man violent mediums and be unabashed about relating the content (but I diplomatically avoid this). However there are certain things that make me very squeamish that have more to do with specific violence. This means the difference between 'disconnected violence' (battlefield, melee, etc) and 'connected violence' (sadism, torture, guro, etc).

I also practice martial arts and find that the prospect of striking or throwing to defend myself acceptable, but have trouble with joint locks. The idea of hurting someone with a joint lock is very disconcerting. I figure in the heat of the moment I could defend myself, but if there was a lull I'd think too much.

As for GTA, I have had to mentally catch myself from driving like a fool (too fast or drifting, not sidewalks). The last ticket I received was about 6-7 years ago, so gaming hasn't changed me that much.

The OP also mentioned emotional desensitization. Don't forget that sometimes a story might not speak to you even though it is intended to be emotional. People might cry for Aeris, but not bat an eye for... that antagonist at the end of Rainbow 6 Vegas 2. Obviously you could cry, but if the story telling is deficient or you aren't in the mood you won't.

PS: The two forms of violence I mentioned (connected & disconnected) aren't specific terms, just labels I made up for clarity.

 

[Telperion]

I like shooting imaginary bullets at pixels & polygons.

I don't like shooting real bullets at living creatures, because I think a proper butcher's cleaver, a sharp knife or a massive amount of electricity are much more humane ways of killing living creatures. Besides that I'm not really all that much into sports hunting, and I certainly don't feel like shooting fellow human beings just for the hell of it.

As for death: both of my parents died within two and a half years of each other, so I'm thinking that's had a lot more to do with desensitizing me to death than anything else. Once you lose your parents before you turn 30-years old it sort of changes things.