Sadistic and realistic gore/violence in contemporary games

[J T]

Ahhh, Postal 2, the game that gives you the option to be good and peaceful and never harm anyone in the game, but makes the world so obnoxious and unloveable that it is really hard NOT to kill anyone.

[Menegrothx]

I think that the GTA games also do that to some extent. While most pedestrians wont pester you (NPCs who drive cars and get in your way while you're driving are a different story... ), there aren't much of sympathetic NPCs in those games so you never really feel guilty when you kill innocent civilians.

[Erik_Twice]

I wouldn't enjoy the violence if anyone was actually harmed, but you still have to wonder, why play games about imaginary violence instead of any number of other topics?

Why date redheads when you have brunettes?

You can enjoy both JT! You don't have to choose!

[noiseredux]

Why date redheads when you have brunettes?

because gingers rock.

[alexis524]

JT,

just want to add that I agree with you 100%. I had a very long reply typed, but, decided against it since that many today are more than happy to be entertained by sadism and violence that has become more realistic with every generation (console-wise) and more acceptable.

You are also correct that we have become desensitized to violence whether we agree with it or not, we have been as a society. I did not realize how much so I personally have, until recently.

Please do not misunderstand, this is not a post about how I am right and everyone else is wrong, just another racketeer agreeing with another over a clearly unpopular stance.

[AppleQueso]

Being desensitized to violent media doesn't have a lot to do with whether you're desensitized to actual violence.

Though usually when I hear people wax on about desensitization, they're basically trying to tell you that if you're okay with watching a slasher film, you probably wouldn't be bothered if you watched your neighbor getting stabbed. Which is idiotic.

[Hatta]

Ahhh, Postal 2, the game that gives you the option to be good and peaceful and never harm anyone in the game, but makes the world so obnoxious and unloveable that it is really hard NOT to kill anyone.

That, and Nethack.

[J T]

Being desensitized to violent media doesn't have a lot to do with whether you're desensitized to actual violence.

Though usually when I hear people wax on about desensitization, they're basically trying to tell you that if you're okay with watching a slasher film, you probably wouldn't be bothered if you watched your neighbor getting stabbed. Which is idiotic.

The research on desensitization isn't anything that dramatic. There is evidence though that if a person has played a lot of violent games that they have reduced physiological responses to real violence and that they are less likely to engage in helping people who are in an emotionally intense or violent situation.


For more details...


Physiological differences: People who play violent games compared to those who don't show just as much brain activity in the amygdala (area of the brain associated with generation of emotion); however, they show decreased use of the left medial frontal cortex (area of the brain associated with inhibiting fear and aggression). Instead, the gamers showed more activity in areas of the brain associated with memory recall and working memory. Basically, gamers are having negative feelings emerge when confronted with images of real violence, but they don't have to put effort into controlling these emotions and they draw links to their memories from playing games.
[Reference Link]

Helping Behaviors: People who recently played violent games are less likely to notice sounds of violence in the real world and less likely to interpret them as threatening when they do hear them. People who watch violent media are slower to help someone in pain.
[Reference Link]

There are other studies like these, but I don't want to write a full review paper for this post.

My point is just that there are ways in which we are affected by violent media, it's just that the truth of this is often lost in sensationalistic claims about media violence as an explanation for murderers (which doesn't hold water).

It's like when you're a kid (or maybe even as an adult) and you watch a Kung Fu movie, and then you mimick the stuff you saw on screen in your bedroom, but you don't go out and beat up a bunch of random people on the street. We do learn how to model violence we see in the media, but most of us have enough social responsibility to only model this violence in a situation where there is little negative consequence.

[Luke]

There is evidence though that ...

Aliens exist.

[J T]

Aliens exist.