Let's blame video games. Part 742.

[CreationsAU]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/techno ... 6443975410

A follow up to yesterdays article, and I like the "Top 5 most violent video game" list the most, how ridiculous!

[PirateEggs]

I was playing GTA when I was 8.
Granted, not overly proud of that fact, but it hasn't affected me in anyway that TV hasn't, I'd say TV's affected me a lot more than video games. I used to play GTA like everyday when I was 10, I would drive around and kill people for fun, run them over, pick up 'streetwalkers' and get my money back when I was done.

Games will only affect the weak minded and only if you allow it to affect you.

[Cas Bitton]

Games will only affect the weak minded and only if you allow it to affect you.

That's not how that works

[PirateEggs]

Games will only affect the weak minded and only if you allow it to affect you.

That's not how that works

Haven't had coffee yet. Worded that incorrectly. Forgot what I was trying to get at to correct myself.

[PalZer0]

I'm ashamed to be living in NSW right now.

[Submariner]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/gaming/police-commissioner-andrew-scipione-under-fire-for-video-game-comments/story-fn6saqys-1226443975410

A follow up to yesterdays article, and I like the "Top 5 most violent video game" list the most, how ridiculous!

Gears of War is a gory third person shooter where you use all manner of weapons to kill aliens.

So much violence against aliens makes me sad. We come in peace, shoot to kill.

[ChainsawMcP]

it's noteworthy because ladies of the night are all too often victims of violence, disproportionately so compared to the rest of the population. Added to which, it's the whole violence against women thing, which is a Western societal taboo.

I don't believe that's the case, I think hookers are probably in the minority of assault victims. The media just latch onto it because the word "prostitute" carries extra negative connotations for your average reader/viewer... it's all for hype.

There are a few groups that are highly represented for assaults and robberies - Petrol station and late night convenience store attendants - because they are usually working alone while there are few witnesses around - and prostitutes, taxi and pizza delivery drivers... because you can have the victim come to a location of your choosing - usually bringing money with them.

[PinothyJ]

Games will only affect the weak minded and only if you allow it to affect you.

That's not how that works

As much as I love shedding the gore in L4D2 and its analogues, the truth of the matter is that EVERY time you play a game you are affected by it.

Let me back track this process a little bit and explain. Our ugly looking brains love stories. The only way we educated the little ones before reading and writing was a thing was through stories. For reasons unknown, back then they knew exactly how to get the message across that these animals are tasty, these animals are hurty, and those guys over the river are dicks. Yet today, school consists of fact, fact, formula, fact, here is a story but we want you to analyse it instead; as opposed to delivery it in a way our brain will almost instantly absorb. The only medium that knows exactly how to educate, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is the bustling world of entertainment. Whether it is a news story, movie, tv show, album, game, book, comic, or graffiti, if you tell a story with a good guy, a bad guy and a beginning and and an end, the reader will ALWAYS (do not read sometimes, or the weak of mind, read always) take something away.

This is why no one really gives a damn about global warming: the bad guy is us - no-one want to hear that story. This is why we spend more money on ugg boots than cancer research: sure, there is a good guy and bad guy but how many billions of dollars go into a some piece of research that only increases detection by 20%; and this is only for X cancer, it does not cover the other thousand types? This is why everyone thinks that 'the Hurricane' is innocent despite having a long history of violence. This is why the public lap up WWII and 'Nam and the cold war (except for the latest 'peacekeeping' efforts, when we realised that terrorism is not one man or men but a concept that will never be beaten, then we kind of forgot that we even have people in whatever-stan). This is the reason we almost wiped a stack of shark species from the planet after seeing Jaws (the numbers still have not recovered, by the way).

At the end of the day, we cannot differentiate fact of fiction and we have a LOT of trouble tracing the origin of the knowledge in our heads. This damn annoying neural phenomenon is called source amnesia and it works very well with cryptonesia but that is another topic entirely. Couple that with the small, yet terrifying, fact that we were all brought up and educated by pop culture and you have yourself quite a pickle.

I sense some doubt well let us have a test. What do you think happens when you go to course or get arrested? What do you think happens in down in a mine? What do you think happens in brain surgery? How does a rural kid know what the city is like without going there? What do the city folk know what the country is like without growing out there? How do you hack a computer? How do you crack a safe? How do you make crystal meth? What do you do if you find yourself face to face with a shark? What can you tell me about William Wallace? Can you tell me about how to sword-fight? Can you tell me what life is like in prison? Can you tell me who wrote Bootylicious?

You believe the good fun action and moving hacking in Die Hard 4.0 is exatly that, just good fun, but what you did believe is when you trot off to Washington DC on your will find your own Washington skyscrapers (sans choppers exploding via cop car impact). Well, you won't. Actually, you will not find a single building in Washington above twelve stories. And while we are on locations, what can you tell me about the Louvre? You know exactly where it is and you know exactly what makes the place so la-de-da, but can you tell me about the shopping centre that makes up the entrance or the Louvre? What about the big fancy Apple store or the McDonalds with its lovely McCafe, or the Virgin Megastore that you have to shuffle through or past just to get squeeze through a Tokyo's subway system's worth of people just to catch a glimpse of the (comparatively tiny) Mono Lisa? At the end of the day we cannot tell the difference between cold hard fact and cold hard fiction.

This brings me to my original point: it does not matter how serious, silly, sexy or sacrilegious, we will ALWAYS take something away from a story. Even if it is pointless and harmless as an explosion filled fix of transformers shenanigans. Now, granted, the amount we take away is minute, but watch enough Bay films, or even a few over and over and over again and what we take away from it will slowly grow and strength some thought, fact or resolve inside us. Our brains understand stories. Correction: everything stored in the stupid looking head of yours is a story. The guys who remember π to eleventy thousand digits use stories or poems (as well as method of loci, which is similar but visual) to get it perfect every time.

To say that playing violent (or any themed) video games does not phase you at all and that you are not influenced by then is nothing short of bs. As I keep telling people again and again and again: it does not matter how intelligent you are, your brain is barely smart enough to keep itself alive, let alone give you accurate recollection of the world around you.

With all that being said though, just because smear digital blood every waking moment you are at home does not mean you are going to cut the head off your arsehole neighbour. Although, I do propose that it will subtly alter your opinion on certain topics.

Let me use an extreme example for a moment to illustrate the point. Hypnotism exists and there is science to prove that it does. In the general population there are those that highly hypnotisable, there are some that are susceptible to hypnotism and there are those that are incapable of being hypnotised. If you took that meek little friend of yours -- you know, the only person under the age of eighty that uses doilies -- who happened to be highly hypnotisable and asked her whilst under hypnosis to strip off and go on a murder spree you would get nothing. Unless the person is predisposed to such extreme ideas and concepts you will not get the results, at least not without coercion. So, if in this extreme example we cannot get that little meek friend of your to pop a few caps in the name of nudie fun, expecting video game to cause the same kind of similar, subconsciously induced reaction, even over an extended period of time, is preposterous.


Tl; dr: every time you play a game it is influencing you but if you did not have the predisposition to kill someone before you are not going to suddenly change…

[Cas Bitton]

Games will only affect the weak minded and only if you allow it to affect you.

That's not how that works

As much as I love shedding the gore in L4D2 and its analogues, the truth of the matter is that EVERY time you play a game you are affected by it.

--snip--

I really hope that was in reply to PirateEggs

If me, wow. PirateEggs seemed to imply it was a choice (or mystical powers), and re-reading it I think he got that as well .

[PirateEggs]

... gore in L4D2 ...

There is gore in L4D2? Sorry, I'm playing the Aussie version.

PirateEggs seemed to imply it was a choice (or mystical powers), and re-reading it I think he got that as well .

Like I stated previously, I didn't word the sentence the way I really wanted to, I just couldn't think of what to say / how to word it at the time. So I just left it as how I had it without adjusting.

[Cas Bitton]

Like I stated previously, I didn't word the sentence the way I really wanted to, I just couldn't think of what to say / how to word it at the time. So I just left it as how I had it without adjusting.

All good, I knew exactly what you meant dude

[PinothyJ]

I really hope that was in reply to PirateEggs

It was a reply to your conversation.

... gore in L4D2 ...

There is gore in L4D2? Sorry, I'm playing the Aussie version.

PEggs, really‽

I put my heart and soul into these posts for you damn people and what do I get in return‽


Damn kids and your Gameboys and your Playstations…

[PirateEggs]

Yeah, I saw your post Pinothy, I tried it once, and it told me Steam wasn't running. I hadn't tried since then, basically because I have only played the game a couple times and each times I accepted a game invite which launched the game for me. I'm hoping when we get the 'R rating' passed here we will get the pro-gore patch.

[PinothyJ]

Yeah, I saw your post Pinothy, I tried it once, and it told me Steam wasn't running. I hadn't tried since then, basically because I have only played the game a couple times and each times I accepted a game invite which launched the game for me. I'm hoping when we get the 'R rating' passed here we will get the pro-gore patch.

That is because you did not use the -steam switch (as detailed in the readme). Not only that, but L4D2 will not become uncut when the R rating is finalised as it requires expensive re-submitting which I cannot imagine Valve will want to throw money at for no real payoff.


So there is that…

[PirateEggs]

Not only that, but L4D2 will not become uncut when the R rating is finalised as it requires expensive re-submitting which I cannot imagine Valve will want to throw money at for no real payoff.

Forgot about that.

About the previous, yes, and like I said, I have not played the game since then, and I have only opened it twice anyway. I will try it again when I can be bothered playing the game. The gore wasn't really a problem anyway, it's just kind of stupid we miss out because our Government are useless -subtracted to retrain PG rating- ...