Games = Violence ?!

[Fappy]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

Well I mean... John McClain is a true American hero after all. Can't deny that.

My hero is John 'Mad Jack' Churchill.

Wikipedia him.

So he was the last true Bard? What a fucking boss.

Never heard him described as that, actually. Are we talking about the same guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Yeah, think about it. He wields a sword and bow and matches into battle playing music. He's a fucking Bard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Fair enough.

He's basically God in my eyes.

In his retirement, he was on a train, when he alarmed everyone by throwing his briefcase out of the window. When asked about this, he stated that the train had passed by his back garden, and he'd thrown it over the fence so he wouldn't have to carry it from the station.

He's the kind of crazy that's just plain charming. How come we never hear about any eccentric characters from any modern wars? There was that French priest in WWI who merced an entire trench full of soldiers after soloing no-man's land. Like a boss.

My great grandfather, for whom I am named, fought at the battle of the Somme. Lived through WW1, WW2, and remained a total bro until the end of his days, at which point my mum was 20.

I like to think he did some cool shit during the war.

My step-grandfather fought in Korea and was haunted by it until his death. He had some crazy-ass stories but took most of them to his grave. In one of the only stories I know there was an airstrike on the ship he served on. He leaped off of the ship to dodge a shell and was knocked unconscious. He woke up beached and alone only to find out later he was the only survivor of the attack.

 

[ParanoidEngineer]

In PDC once (for those who don't know that learning how not to go on killing sprees and have sex without getting HIV) my teacher said "Okay, so who could think of an extreme headline about violent videogames for children?" I put my hand up and suggested "Children play computer games, are totally unaffected by cartoon violence which is about as realistic as Lord of the Rings performed by gazelles." I was excluded for not realising that my teacher was right and VIDEO GAMEZ R BAD. And yet I later found out his favourite movie of all time is Saw VI. Not only is that full of far more gruesome things than video games, but it's also the worst of the series. I can only hope he got fired.

 

[The Funslinger]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

Well I mean... John McClain is a true American hero after all. Can't deny that.

My hero is John 'Mad Jack' Churchill.

Wikipedia him.

So he was the last true Bard? What a fucking boss.

Never heard him described as that, actually. Are we talking about the same guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Yeah, think about it. He wields a sword and bow and matches into battle playing music. He's a fucking Bard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Fair enough.

He's basically God in my eyes.

In his retirement, he was on a train, when he alarmed everyone by throwing his briefcase out of the window. When asked about this, he stated that the train had passed by his back garden, and he'd thrown it over the fence so he wouldn't have to carry it from the station.

He's the kind of crazy that's just plain charming. How come we never hear about any eccentric characters from any modern wars? There was that French priest in WWI who merced an entire trench full of soldiers after soloing no-man's land. Like a boss.

My great grandfather, for whom I am named, fought at the battle of the Somme. Lived through WW1, WW2, and remained a total bro until the end of his days, at which point my mum was 20.

I like to think he did some cool shit during the war.

My step-grandfather fought in Korea and was haunted by it until his death. He had some crazy-ass stories but took most of them to his grave. In one of the only stories I know there was an airstrike on the ship he served on. He leaped off of the ship to dodge a shell and was knocked unconscious. He woke up beached and alone only to find out later he was the only survivor of the attack.

Christ.

I never got to find out any of my great grandfather's stories. I just respect that he probably saw some shit, and managed to stay upbeat for the rest of his life.

 

[Fappy]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

Well I mean... John McClain is a true American hero after all. Can't deny that.

My hero is John 'Mad Jack' Churchill.

Wikipedia him.

So he was the last true Bard? What a fucking boss.

Never heard him described as that, actually. Are we talking about the same guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Yeah, think about it. He wields a sword and bow and matches into battle playing music. He's a fucking Bard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Fair enough.

He's basically God in my eyes.

In his retirement, he was on a train, when he alarmed everyone by throwing his briefcase out of the window. When asked about this, he stated that the train had passed by his back garden, and he'd thrown it over the fence so he wouldn't have to carry it from the station.

He's the kind of crazy that's just plain charming. How come we never hear about any eccentric characters from any modern wars? There was that French priest in WWI who merced an entire trench full of soldiers after soloing no-man's land. Like a boss.

My great grandfather, for whom I am named, fought at the battle of the Somme. Lived through WW1, WW2, and remained a total bro until the end of his days, at which point my mum was 20.

I like to think he did some cool shit during the war.

My step-grandfather fought in Korea and was haunted by it until his death. He had some crazy-ass stories but took most of them to his grave. In one of the only stories I know there was an airstrike on the ship he served on. He leaped off of the ship to dodge a shell and was knocked unconscious. He woke up beached and alone only to find out later he was the only survivor of the attack.

Christ.

I never got to find out any of my great grandfather's stories. I just respect that he probably saw some shit, and managed to stay upbeat for the rest of his life.

And that's the thing. Up until his final moments he was one of the happiest old men I had ever seen. We called him "Grumpy" as an ironic alternative to grandpa.

 

[The Funslinger]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

Well I mean... John McClain is a true American hero after all. Can't deny that.

My hero is John 'Mad Jack' Churchill.

Wikipedia him.

So he was the last true Bard? What a fucking boss.

Never heard him described as that, actually. Are we talking about the same guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Yeah, think about it. He wields a sword and bow and matches into battle playing music. He's a fucking Bard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Fair enough.

He's basically God in my eyes.

In his retirement, he was on a train, when he alarmed everyone by throwing his briefcase out of the window. When asked about this, he stated that the train had passed by his back garden, and he'd thrown it over the fence so he wouldn't have to carry it from the station.

He's the kind of crazy that's just plain charming. How come we never hear about any eccentric characters from any modern wars? There was that French priest in WWI who merced an entire trench full of soldiers after soloing no-man's land. Like a boss.

My great grandfather, for whom I am named, fought at the battle of the Somme. Lived through WW1, WW2, and remained a total bro until the end of his days, at which point my mum was 20.

I like to think he did some cool shit during the war.

My step-grandfather fought in Korea and was haunted by it until his death. He had some crazy-ass stories but took most of them to his grave. In one of the only stories I know there was an airstrike on the ship he served on. He leaped off of the ship to dodge a shell and was knocked unconscious. He woke up beached and alone only to find out later he was the only survivor of the attack.

Christ.

I never got to find out any of my great grandfather's stories. I just respect that he probably saw some shit, and managed to stay upbeat for the rest of his life.

And that's the thing. Up until his final moments he was one of the happiest old men I had ever seen. We called him "Grumpy" as an ironic alternative to grandpa.

Yeah. With some people, you've just got to wonder what's going on behind their eyes.

This guy I know has a live in grandpa, and to be perfectly honest, they treat him like complete shit.

They screw with him when he's on his meds just to see his reaction, and he once told me that he'd laughed at his grandfather, because he saw him crying to himself. When he asked him why, he said it was because of all the friends he'd lost in the war, and all the things he'd seen and done.

 

[Fappy]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

Well I mean... John McClain is a true American hero after all. Can't deny that.

My hero is John 'Mad Jack' Churchill.

Wikipedia him.

So he was the last true Bard? What a fucking boss.

Never heard him described as that, actually. Are we talking about the same guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Yeah, think about it. He wields a sword and bow and matches into battle playing music. He's a fucking Bard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Fair enough.

He's basically God in my eyes.

In his retirement, he was on a train, when he alarmed everyone by throwing his briefcase out of the window. When asked about this, he stated that the train had passed by his back garden, and he'd thrown it over the fence so he wouldn't have to carry it from the station.

He's the kind of crazy that's just plain charming. How come we never hear about any eccentric characters from any modern wars? There was that French priest in WWI who merced an entire trench full of soldiers after soloing no-man's land. Like a boss.

My great grandfather, for whom I am named, fought at the battle of the Somme. Lived through WW1, WW2, and remained a total bro until the end of his days, at which point my mum was 20.

I like to think he did some cool shit during the war.

My step-grandfather fought in Korea and was haunted by it until his death. He had some crazy-ass stories but took most of them to his grave. In one of the only stories I know there was an airstrike on the ship he served on. He leaped off of the ship to dodge a shell and was knocked unconscious. He woke up beached and alone only to find out later he was the only survivor of the attack.

Christ.

I never got to find out any of my great grandfather's stories. I just respect that he probably saw some shit, and managed to stay upbeat for the rest of his life.

And that's the thing. Up until his final moments he was one of the happiest old men I had ever seen. We called him "Grumpy" as an ironic alternative to grandpa.

Yeah. With some people, you've just got to wonder what's going on behind their eyes.

This guy I know has a live in grandpa, and to be perfectly honest, they treat him like complete shit.

They screw with him when he's on his meds just to see his reaction, and he once told me that he'd laughed at his grandfather, because he saw him crying to himself. When he asked him why, he said it was because of all the friends he'd lost in the war, and all the things he'd seen and done.

Oh gawd that's awful! Grandpa's are like tamagotchis. Make them happy and they will be all smiles. Make them sit around in their own shit and they will be

 

[BehattedWanderer]

My response, that I've been able to use once: "what? Oh, no, I turned off the death cam kills in New Vegas, they kept scaring the crap out of me when Boone killed something a mile away." But usually I seriously counter with how there's far more to gaming than the hyper popular murderfests, and that a well done game can do anything a film or great book can do, but on a deeper level. Between the mindblowing settings and hundreds of worlds available, the intricate histories, tales, and character relationships, there's far more going on than just shootin' dudes in the face.

 

[The Funslinger]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

Well I mean... John McClain is a true American hero after all. Can't deny that.

My hero is John 'Mad Jack' Churchill.

Wikipedia him.

So he was the last true Bard? What a fucking boss.

Never heard him described as that, actually. Are we talking about the same guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Yeah, think about it. He wields a sword and bow and matches into battle playing music. He's a fucking Bard!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Fair enough.

He's basically God in my eyes.

In his retirement, he was on a train, when he alarmed everyone by throwing his briefcase out of the window. When asked about this, he stated that the train had passed by his back garden, and he'd thrown it over the fence so he wouldn't have to carry it from the station.

He's the kind of crazy that's just plain charming. How come we never hear about any eccentric characters from any modern wars? There was that French priest in WWI who merced an entire trench full of soldiers after soloing no-man's land. Like a boss.

My great grandfather, for whom I am named, fought at the battle of the Somme. Lived through WW1, WW2, and remained a total bro until the end of his days, at which point my mum was 20.

I like to think he did some cool shit during the war.

My step-grandfather fought in Korea and was haunted by it until his death. He had some crazy-ass stories but took most of them to his grave. In one of the only stories I know there was an airstrike on the ship he served on. He leaped off of the ship to dodge a shell and was knocked unconscious. He woke up beached and alone only to find out later he was the only survivor of the attack.

Christ.

I never got to find out any of my great grandfather's stories. I just respect that he probably saw some shit, and managed to stay upbeat for the rest of his life.

And that's the thing. Up until his final moments he was one of the happiest old men I had ever seen. We called him "Grumpy" as an ironic alternative to grandpa.

Yeah. With some people, you've just got to wonder what's going on behind their eyes.

This guy I know has a live in grandpa, and to be perfectly honest, they treat him like complete shit.

They screw with him when he's on his meds just to see his reaction, and he once told me that he'd laughed at his grandfather, because he saw him crying to himself. When he asked him why, he said it was because of all the friends he'd lost in the war, and all the things he'd seen and done.

Oh gawd that's awful! Grandpa's are like tamagotchis. Make them happy and they will be all smiles. Make them sit around in their own shit and they will be

That guy went on to become a pothead mosher douche, who does and 'likes' whatever his friends like so as to be popular.

Can't say I'm shocked.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

My go-to comeback:

"I should only feel as guilty for killing someone in a video game as you should feel for watching people die in a movie."

 

[kyogen]

Oh gawd that's awful! Grandpa's are like tamagotchis. Make them happy and they will be all smiles. Make them sit around in their own shit and they will be

Some are, but my father's father wasn't. He was an alcoholic and a wife-beater who bullied my father's mother so badly--putting her in the hospital on occasion--that she ultimately smoked herself to death (cigarettes being her rather poorly-chosen stress management tool).

If the worst thing I ever do in my life is stab a few digital demons with digital swords, I will count myself the better human being.

My maternal grandfather, on the other hand, was a happy tamagotchi. ...And he loved games--not video games, but come on, he never even owned a computer.

 

[Voulan]

My go-to comeback:

"I should only feel as guilty for killing someone in a video game as you should feel for watching people die in a movie."

I like this response. I think I'll use it sometime. I've personally never had some idiot go at me like that just because my hobby differs from there's. And in the end, the only thing different is that the violence is part of the gameplay, rather than simply watching it happen.

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

Heh. My dad once said something to me about Grand Theft Auto just being mindless, pointless violence - while he was watching Die Hard. Was funny.

yup. hypocrites. hypocrites as far as the eye can see. same with my dad. im playing dark souls, and he says "this is fucking boring. when are you gonna kill something?" i then got into an epic battle with ornstein and smough. he got up, and watched citizen kane. the irony was not lost on me, thats for sure.

 

[Madgamer13]

Greets!

I think the primary concept with Video games make you violent arguement is that it is you who is pulling the digital trigger, not some actor or someone/something that is not you. This concept runs on a basis of cause and effect, or psychological concequence. Beating a virtual old lady in grand theft auto four with a baseball bat better prepares you to do it in real life, yes? No, I don't really think so myself, but the aspect of training can come into accord.

While a video game like call of duty could never really teach you how to properly maintain, sight and fire a real ranged weapon, a game like Company of Heroes could teach you some basic things about infantry fire and manuver, as well as tank shell penetration against hard targets.

I do think that anyone subscribing to the notion that video games can be training tools for the dangerously crazy, or that violent video games make you violent are overthinking the applications of what is essentially entertainment.

If someone wishes to be violent to another, they will brew their own type of violence in according to their feelings, or lack of such. Similarly, if anyone wants to march into the local school and shoot everyone, they are certainly not going to need call of duty to do it.

Attention should be given to the reasons why someone would resort to violence, or feel they must be deadly on their thoughts and feelings. But that'll never do, someone somewhere ~needs~ something to blame, so they go after the shiny new thing; Computer gaming as mainstream entertainment.

Pity, really.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Man am I glad I've never run into anything like that. I live in redneck central, and I've never even run into the fabled "all anime is porn"

Funnily enough it seems that people actually need SOME experience with anime in order to say that, because otherwise they'd just assume it's like western cartoons. Experience like maybe accidentally finding some pictures on the internet. I've only had one person ask me that, and that was from secondary school where we had nothing left to cover in a maths class and one of my friends suggested watching Azumanga Daioh...to the whole class. They didn't take the idea seriously. They jsut thought it was a joke response.
Other friend on table: "What's that?"
Friend: "It's an anime"
Other friend: "Anime? Isn't that cartoon"
Me: "No!...That's Hentai"
Other friend: "Oh..."

Other people just assume it's all for kids because it's animated.
I actually have a friend who's a bit of an outcast, a gamer, and recently became a brony, and he still won't give anime a chance, and finds it reasonable to generalise all of it as cutesy stupidity. Please tell me this counts as irony, because I need a word for it, because it's delicious.

Fair enough, but you either misunderstood me or I didn't write it down properly: the reaction is less "isn't that cartoon porn?" and more "Oh yeah, anime rules. Are you going to metrocon?"

I guess there's not much to do around the house out here /except/ play videogames and watch anime XD

 

[BOOM headshot65]

Depends on who you talk too. My mom is ok with me playing games, especially war games, because she knows that it helps me concentrate, and it is what got me into researching the military. My dad, on the other hand, says that I should play games because they "take up my time" and the "Distract me." This while I had a 3.5 GPA in high school and starting college in the fall, holding down a job that I work at least 24 hours per week at, AND having a girlfriend (who also likes videogames). Then again, he grew up with an atari, and he is VERY rusty. He tried to play COD one time because he had surgery and couldnt leave his chair. How bad did he do? He had to move, then stop and aim, because he couldnt do both at the same time.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

When someone tries that stunt on me, I always have one of two replies handy. On some occasions, both are used.

"Soooo, what started the first and second World War then?"

And

"Is video games the leading cause of human death? *gets a 'no' answer* Then, what is?"

Seldom do I get a reply when confronted with these questions.

 

[Olas]

Ya because there's no violence in high art.
The Iliad/Odyssey, The Oedipus trilogy, Beowulf, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Leer, Dante's Inferno, War and Peace, the Bible; none of those works have any semblance of morbid brutality or violence anywhere at all.

How about we just accept that conflict is necessary to form a narrative and violence typically results from heightened conflict.

Also is it just me or is the general public a little two-faced in their feelings towards war movies vs war video games?

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Ya because there's no violence in high art.
The Iliad/Odyssey, The Oedipus trilogy, Beowulf, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Leer, Dante's Inferno, War and Peace, the Bible; none of those works have any semblance of morbid brutality or violence anywhere at all.

How about we just accept that conflict is necessary to form a narrative and violence typically results from heightened conflict.

Also is it just me or is the general public a little two-faced in their feelings towards war movies vs war video games.

The Iliad in particular is the most brutally violent piece of media I've ever experienced. We're talking Saw levels of brutality, but in a book about a war.

 

[frizzlebyte]

I shall go with fight ignorance with a chair to the back of the head.

Also known as the "converse-inquisition" maneuver.

But no, I've never had anyone ask me that before. If they did, though, I'd probably ask them if they enjoyed hunting at all.

Where I'm from, they probably would, and I could totally school them right there.

 

[Ctmnt08]

It's "new" and that scares old media, I think.

Yes, there are people who play video games and kill. There's also millions of gamers who manage to go through their day to day lives without murdering people or even committing minor crimes.

However, our cause is not helped by the fact that games are a) interactive, and b) frequently violent. Now, I know what you're thinking: What happens if a nonviolent game tops bestseller lists? And the answer is: it will be ignored by the wider media, because young people are scary.