Are War Games desensitising us?

[SAS]

An interesting question raised by a recent BBC article asking if playing games based on war and historical events, causes us to be detached from the actual event.

Conflict Vietnam and ShellShock, for example, both riff on familiar imagery, or clichés, of Nam: naive newbies, counter-culture rock music, jungle ambushes. But it does it in a way that is somewhat neutralised and detached from history's realities.

The full article can be read here. What do you think? Post away...

 

[Sockstuff]

Are War Games desensitising us?

Maybe

 

[tris-]

i think thats another load of crap, made up to try and ban something else. when they start using words like "exploit" and "ethical", it pisses me off. this is a game ffs. ethics and stuff should never come into it. take Fable for instance - you can get women drunk, make them follow you to a back alley and kick the crap out of them... no one cares though, because its just a game.

if anything, playing games like CoD or Soldiers make me think about what exactly did happen.

 

[Dillinja]

OK, so if games are doing this to us, why not ban movies aswell? Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket. Yeah, ban 'em all. They look much more real than any game ever could and they are portraying the Vietnam conflict also, so if anything, they will be more desensitising?

But, no. For some reason, they are only pointing the finger at computer games once again, which leads me to believe that, like tris said, they just feel like complaining about something/trying to get something banned.

Just another bunch of out-of-touch old timers, who have probably never laid a hand on a control pad in their whole lives, felt like doing some "research" into people who play these games. What they fail to realise is that most people are probably already desensitised to events such as Vietnam and WWII for the reason that I stated above, movies.

 

[Escape]

Games are a little more involving than movies... specially war games which are becoming very atmospheric (CoD is a game which needs to be played with the volume up, it just wouldn't be the same without sound). So war games aren't about killing the enemy, it's about the full experience and being made to feel like you're there.

That doesn't happen if you're watching Private Ryan, FMJ etc... because you're detached from the characters. In a game, you are the character.



I don't see anyone suffering psychologically from playing strategy games, like the Total War series(those're almost educational!) or flight simulators. But, basing a game on a war which is still happening is kinda sick. It's like: You've read the papers, you've seen the news, now play the game!

 

[nath]

ethics and stuff should never come into it.

Hey, I've got a great idea for a game where you play a lecherous old man, lets call him leisure suit jim. Throughout the entire game, he's trying to pick up hot 8yr old girls to take back to his love nest and have his way with him.

So when the bbc and everyone else hunts me down for making an absolutely sick game, at least I know I'll have you on my side, right bud?

 

[Alliandre]

Hey, I've got a great idea for a game where you play a lecherous old man, lets call him leisure suit jim. Throughout the entire game, he's trying to pick up hot 8yr old girls to take back to his love nest and have his way with him.

So when the bbc and everyone else hunts me down for making an absolutely sick game, at least I know I'll have you on my side, right bud?

I doubt you could get enthralling game play for anything but child molesterers, so he probably wouldn't..

I think there should be some thought towards ethics, but no more so than there are in films, etc.

And I have to say they're no more/less desensitising than other things such as films.

 

[nath]

Well, I enjoyed manhunt a great deal and have absolutely no desire to go out cutting peoples heads off with a bit of wire...

I think there should be more ethics when it comes to computer games because they're not a passive experience like films are.

 

[Conchabar]

hah this is almost funny .. playing a game in no way invites physical violence in real life or in anyway messes with our phsycy.. how does a game make us depict war in any form accept violent, people die(no i dont want to die),killing ppl(no even after a game of cs i dont want to go up to sum1 with a weapon and shoot them repeatively in the chest), or in any way shape or form make us think war is a picnic and ppl dont get killed. in all honesty games for eg like vietcong dont really show what its like at all.. in fact if sum 1 is dumb enough to belive that a game is the complete depicition of reality there already a headcase. playing a game or watching a movie is not really much diffrent.. lets see u watch a movie for eg terminator do u instantly want to go round with a big fuck off mg and start fireing it around? no.. you just think its funny cool..

lets see we feel more attached to our chr in a game then when watching one of the heroic actors(name any film).. no i wouldnt say so at all its exactly the same accept u decide what you kill and where u go.. in a movie its all scripted so much to say that half the time u will be shouting at your tv saying for eg.. dont look behind you damit or MOVE dont bloody stand there and w8 for it to kill you..

This is nothing but another attempt to get a take a hit at the gaming comunity imho

 

[SAS]

After playing games like medal of honor and vietcong I appreciated more what the guys had to go through. Although games would never simulate fully the horrors of war they can give you a taste of it. Imagine playing vietcong with no respawning. When you die you can't play the game no more, in fact you won't see anything or anyone ever again because you'll be dead.

The beach landing in medal of honor... I spent an hour hitting the save button after every footstep I made up the beach because the german machine guns kept wiping me out causing me to reload saved games again and again. When I finally made it to the beach head I relaxed but then thought of the guys who ran up the real beach with real bullets blazing at them. It brought me a step closer to what they had to face.

 

[tris-]

Hey, I've got a great idea for a game where you play a lecherous old man, lets call him leisure suit jim. Throughout the entire game, he's trying to pick up hot 8yr old girls to take back to his love nest and have his way with him.

So when the bbc and everyone else hunts me down for making an absolutely sick game, at least I know I'll have you on my side, right bud?

i will go back to fable example then. get a woman so god damn drunk she can hardly walk, make her follow you then kick the fucking shit out of her in some dark place where no one can see.

if you wish, you can make this be the only thing in the game you do. or marry someone, buy a house then fuckin kill her, smash the fuck out of her with what ever you like. make her fall on the floor and kick her. even do this as many times as you like.



do you even think for a second this is a bad thing? i can bet you wont. :kissit: when its a current event on the news you will be like you are now.
war is all over the damn place and now because of this, they are picking on games. wait till domestic violence is all over the place, you will be saying fable is bad?

 

[old.Tohtori]

PEople, people. Put dow the torches for a while and read the article again.

The man wasn't "attacking" games like they usually do. He wasn't saying games make us go and kill people or that manhunt makes us eat puppies. He was just stating that games nowadays, even though not portraying a "real" image of war(hey come on men jumping over b-17s with jeeps!), they still help in making the topic less contraversy to discuss.

Perhaps it is now slipping into history where it can be talked about more easily and commercially exploited.

Society has become so accelerated now that any real-world experience is exploited almost immediately, given the commercial imperative.

But in the same breath he sayes:

For us gamers, that means a variety of options for our next virtual tours of duty, ethical questions notwithstanding.

So i don't find it an attack on gaming, more like a discussion starter/bring-up-pointer.

Atleast that's how i saw it. And come on:

"Conflict Vietnam is available now on Xbox, PC and PS2. ShellShock: Nam '67 is available now on Xbox, PC and PS2."

Would he really advert games if he hated them so?