Oxymoron

I must admit, I'm starting to wonder why might I take pleasure from running over, shooting, chainsawing (yada yada) other characters in a game. It may be fantasy violence, but why am I fantasising about violence?

Exactly what is 'cool' or 'funny' about it? If we find it cool or funny, can't that be anything other than desensitisation? A lot of folk come out with the 'just a bit of fun' argument, and will swear blind that (GTA:VC or whatever it is) is doing them no harm. Except... what if the whatever functioned in such a way to convince the user that no harm was being done?

Are we the best judges of what is good and bad for us? Leave a kid alone in a sweet-shop and they'll eat themselves sick. Are we convincing ourselves that we're responsible adults and therefore we can handle anything, and then (metaphorically) guzzling all the sweets (explicit violence and sex and hell, maybe even drugs).

I don't know the answers to these sort of questions. What I do know is that humans are not very good at asking and answering real hard questions about themselves, and will spout any amount of BS and clever (or not so) argument to avoid doing so.

LordSnooty

Why is that terrible? Nobody's forcing you to do it.

The game allows you freedom to do whatever you like. If you want, you can give up crime and become a taxi driver.

Besides which, how is a game in which a prostitute is killed (in ridiculous comic-book fashion) any different from a film in which a prostitute is killed?

There's a difference between fantasy and reality, and some people need to realise that.

Paul

LordSnooty

Unless your son is mentally disturbed, playing violent games or looking at porn will not harm him in any way. You can wrap him in cotton wool if you like, but he'll never thank you for it.

Those that are effected by this sort of thing are always mental to begin with. You don't find any sane, normal people that decide to go psycho after playing GTA, any more than one might go around chopping people's heads off after watching Lord of the Rings. Give the lad some credit!

Paul

LordSnooty

Because violence is a part of human nature.

It's good to take out your stress on a computer game. As long as you aren't blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, who actually cares?

I've played violent computer games all my life, and it hasn't done me any harm. Three years in a maximum security mental hospital aside.

Paul

Oxymoron

Just speculating...

It's terrible, because prostitutes really endure the most atrocious violence from their customers and their pimps.
In the UK, there's just been an arrest of a guy suspected of slicing and dicing prostitutes and putting the bits in refuse sacks. So it's horrible because it's topical.

It's terrible because someone else is getting pleasure out of imagining making others suffer and die in the context of fun. As ever, the context is important. I might feel uncomfortable living in a world with others taking enjoyment in such a way - such lack of empathy screws with our implicit social contracts.

There are many reasons why it might be terrible. You are most unempathetic to not understand them. Now isn't that interesting, given what I speculated about empathy just above?

As ever, the context is important.

Yes. But the boundaries blur and shift. After all, fanatasies reflect what we wish were real.

Oxymoron

So, it would appear, is believing in God.

LordSnooty

This is ridiculous. If I heard about a prostitute being murdered, I would think it was absolutely terrible.

But the thing is - GTA VC is a game. It's not real. I don't care if a computer generated prostitute is beaten to death with a golf club in the name of amusement.

I might lack empathy for computer generated pixels, but that doesn't carry into the real world. Empathy has nothing to do with it.

Paul

Novowels

It's a good thing those kids aren't playing Bubble Bobble anymore, or they'd be turning into dinosaurs and capturing their enemies in bubbles. Then popping the bubbles to reveal delicious fruit.

I'd love to see that one come up in court.

The most interesting thing about the whole "pick up prostitute/have sex with prostitute/kill prostitute" thing was that the first time I heard of it was on the news. I never even thought about trying to do that. Now, I don't own the game (or a PS2 for that matter) but my friend Karl does and he absolutely loves playing it. I'd never seen/heard of the prostitute-scenario before everyone started their little hissy-fits over it.

Thank Mothers Against Videogame Addiction & Violence! Great idea!

Jagged

I'm interested in knowing how old all of you guys are. Will you tell me?

Novowels

Physically, mentally, or emotionally?