Video Game Violence OH NO!!!! uh, no.

[Longdan]

That's your engrams acting up.  You need to give Xenu a call.

[Jack Nastyface]

So not to play devils advocate, but what about the impact that violent video games have on modelling perspectives and ideas (thought imitating art, if you will)?

The whole premise of advertising, for example, is based not just on product promotion (New and Improved Forumla!) but also with product familiarity, identity and patterning.  Ask us to identify a flavoured gelatin desert, and most people will say "Jello".  Or disposable tissue paper for seasonal cold and flu hygene..."Kleenex".

So perhaps the question really is:  Does playing violent video games change our associations, ideas and believes (perhaps even subconsiously so) about guns, violence and war...and what effect does this patterning have, if any, on outward behaviours.

Similarly...porn may not "rot your mind" but does it / has it changed attitudes about sex and sexuality.  Before you answer...consider the following real-world examples from my professional life.   In the past, I did some IT work at a local public health unit where sex ed and sex health is provided.  During lunch hour, I asked some of the nurses if they see changing attitudes towards sex in young people.  Their answers included jaw-dropping real-world examples of young guys (15 years old) asking if their girlfriend was "normal" because she had pubic hair (something most porn stars don't have)...and another question from a girl who asked "do I always have to do it in all three holes" because - guess what - many porn scenes include oral, vaginal and anal intercourse.

Heres another one to ponder:  I'm one of the "old guys" on the board...did ANY of you other "old guys" ever know girls in high-school or university who would have ever done a "girls gone wild" stunt (ie:  flash a camera and THEN sign a freaking waiver form)?  I would say that part of the reason why the GGW phenomena ever succeeded was because of changes towards sex and sexuality by young women.  Girls USED to find out about sex by reading Judy Blume's "Forever" (young love leads to intimacy).  Now they can porntube whatever they want, and the copy of Forever hidden between the mattresses has been replaced by a copy of 50 Shades.

So is it impossible or unrealistic to think that violent video games (and movies, etc) have an effect on our perception of the role of violence in society?  Movies and books have certainly altered our POV in other areas. Every one knows the Daltons, Jesse James, and Billy the kid...but who can name me ONE lawman outside of Wild Bill Hickock, Wyatt Earp (and friends) and Pat Garrett?   So why do we know who the psychopaths are...but not the heroes?  Isn't THAT a form of behaviour / identity shift?

Just typing out loud,

Jack Nastyface

[LongBlade]

Good point, Jack.

Not sure I agree, but you could be on to something.

However, the streak about violence probably runs deeper than mid-20th Century visual violence. Most of the stuff we see is artificial. Could it have an effect? Sure.

But contrast that to, say, the Black Plague where 1/3 of Europe died a gristly death. To the survivors that wasn't something they could change the channel or walk out of the theater to get away from it.

I'm not saying you don't have a point. I am saying that, as compared to other points in history, mankind has seen worse. SoM and Gus are our resident historians. They can probably better tell us how many mass murderers were (or were not) spawned from the Mongols, Saxons, diseases, et al of real life.

Comparatively speaking I'd take an FPS game over my village being burned to the ground.

[W8taminute]

Mankind has indeed seen worse like you mention LB.  That was without the benefit of playing violent video games as well.  If we were to totally remove all violent video games and while we're at it all violent movies, books, radio shows, etc.  Would man stop being violent?

[Longdan]

My point was there was lots of violence before video games.  Now there are lots video games.  There is still violence
but not so much.  When I grew up the Three Stooges pummeled each other continuously, Sgt. Chip Saunders greased
thousand of "Krauts",  Col. Savage bombed "Nazi" cities, sundry heroes blasted "dirty japs", Marshall Matt Dillon and his
colleagues blasted hundreds of juvenile delinquents and black hats and legions of cowboys regularly dispatched tens
of thousands of "Injuns" and "Mezkins", all between supper and bedtime.  I probably witnessed a few thousand TV murders
before I went to kindergarten.  I had a dozen toy guns and played violent games the whole day long imitating those shows.
Fortunately I never saw a bare tit on TV.  This was where the "Peace Generation" hippies and all that came from.