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In a single quick check of the forums, there will almost always be two or more people discussing games - the characters, the plot, the graphics…whatever.
Characters in games are treated like real people. Discussions on aspects of Snake's character (or how attractive Yuna is) seem to crop up all over the place. Gamers seem to be able to relate to the characters they play, forging a link between themselves and this fictional being. And they enjoy it.
Throughout history, people have always wanted to be someone else, to be doing something less menial than the same old repetitive tasks they do day in, day out. Until the invention of the modern computer game, cinema was the biggest medium for this. Before that, people read books to escape from real life.
Games are the latest form of this innate escapism, allowing people of any age, sex or creed to become a spy; a killing machine; even a god. Logically, as the interactivity of these escape routes increases, people will want to be become more and more immersed in worlds of their choice. As games become more epic (like the truly stunning Final Fantasy series), real life will seem more and more boring compared to the opportunities offered by the shiny discs. (This sounds like a drug :( )
The recent (and substantial) increase in graphics technology continues to paint unbelievable landscapes for us - games like Unreal 2 look so stunning it worries me. What happens when designers finally get to a point where they can create real-world locations with textures that genuinely are photo-realistic? Surely this just makes games more fodder for the "Games rot your mind and make you violent" brigade…if games seem like the real world, what will stop people getting mixed up between reality and virtual reality? Own up - after playing GTA3, the next time you saw a parked car you wondered how easy it would be to hotwire it, didn't you? I know I did (I must hastily add here that I have never stolen a car or shot a police officer :) )
I would be interested to know what you guys think on this. As games become more real, will the difference between reality and non-reality become a gray area? Or am I just being paranoid?
Characters in games are treated like real people. Discussions on aspects of Snake's character (or how attractive Yuna is) seem to crop up all over the place. Gamers seem to be able to relate to the characters they play, forging a link between themselves and this fictional being. And they enjoy it.
Throughout history, people have always wanted to be someone else, to be doing something less menial than the same old repetitive tasks they do day in, day out. Until the invention of the modern computer game, cinema was the biggest medium for this. Before that, people read books to escape from real life.
Games are the latest form of this innate escapism, allowing people of any age, sex or creed to become a spy; a killing machine; even a god. Logically, as the interactivity of these escape routes increases, people will want to be become more and more immersed in worlds of their choice. As games become more epic (like the truly stunning Final Fantasy series), real life will seem more and more boring compared to the opportunities offered by the shiny discs. (This sounds like a drug :( )
The recent (and substantial) increase in graphics technology continues to paint unbelievable landscapes for us - games like Unreal 2 look so stunning it worries me. What happens when designers finally get to a point where they can create real-world locations with textures that genuinely are photo-realistic? Surely this just makes games more fodder for the "Games rot your mind and make you violent" brigade…if games seem like the real world, what will stop people getting mixed up between reality and virtual reality? Own up - after playing GTA3, the next time you saw a parked car you wondered how easy it would be to hotwire it, didn't you? I know I did (I must hastily add here that I have never stolen a car or shot a police officer :) )
I would be interested to know what you guys think on this. As games become more real, will the difference between reality and non-reality become a gray area? Or am I just being paranoid?
As long as gamers can draw a line between reality and VR, then it's OK.
It may be a fine line at the moment, and there's every possibility that poeple may become too obsessed with their games at any time and try and "become" their favourite character, but hopefully we will have built enough game time to protect ourselves from doing so.
It may be a fine line at the moment, and there's every possibility that poeple may become too obsessed with their games at any time and try and "become" their favourite character, but hopefully we will have built enough game time to protect ourselves from doing so.
Yeah, I guess so.
What I'm trying to say is that, while the media (i.e. press) is guilty of making suggestions to individuals who wish to emulate what they've seen on TV (or read in the paper - whatever), I think that games bring the violence a lot closer to home by putting you in the driver's seat (in GTA3, this can be taken literally) :) .
Obviously, I can understand that 99.9% of computer gamers are perfectly normal people. It only takes someone who plays a game too much and ends getting influenced by it to pose a risk.
But yes, the papers should understand what their stories could suggest to people, and the potential hazards in taking the reader through a crime step-by-step (and thus revealing the methods used to commit the crime).
I appreciate your opinion though :)
What I'm trying to say is that, while the media (i.e. press) is guilty of making suggestions to individuals who wish to emulate what they've seen on TV (or read in the paper - whatever), I think that games bring the violence a lot closer to home by putting you in the driver's seat (in GTA3, this can be taken literally) :) .
Obviously, I can understand that 99.9% of computer gamers are perfectly normal people. It only takes someone who plays a game too much and ends getting influenced by it to pose a risk.
But yes, the papers should understand what their stories could suggest to people, and the potential hazards in taking the reader through a crime step-by-step (and thus revealing the methods used to commit the crime).
I appreciate your opinion though :)
Small Frog wrote:
>
> I think this is a bit of a contradiction. While I agree with you (I
> only said this to promote discussion), surely the job of the media is
> to bring stuff like this to our attention? If they did not, we could
> accuse them of being lazy.
Not really because I am really expanding on your initial point of relating things to games to relating to life events in general.
The thing is the media over the years have tended to glorify events to much, things like the school shooting in USA. OK - it happens once and it's a one off tragic event. What makes another person go and do the same thing ? Where did the initial idea come from ? Studies show that people get the ideas for their crimes from reading about other people doing the same thing, the idea is garnered from the media or stories or even sometimes videogames. What I was saying is that the sole responsibility should not be on vidogames though that is what some people try and do.
The media and other forms as just as responsible. I think my point makes more sense now ?
>
> I think this is a bit of a contradiction. While I agree with you (I
> only said this to promote discussion), surely the job of the media is
> to bring stuff like this to our attention? If they did not, we could
> accuse them of being lazy.
Not really because I am really expanding on your initial point of relating things to games to relating to life events in general.
The thing is the media over the years have tended to glorify events to much, things like the school shooting in USA. OK - it happens once and it's a one off tragic event. What makes another person go and do the same thing ? Where did the initial idea come from ? Studies show that people get the ideas for their crimes from reading about other people doing the same thing, the idea is garnered from the media or stories or even sometimes videogames. What I was saying is that the sole responsibility should not be on vidogames though that is what some people try and do.
The media and other forms as just as responsible. I think my point makes more sense now ?
No it doesn't desensitize you - the first time I shot someone in the knees in MGS2 I had a huge attack of guilt, and started only using tranquiliser guns to shoot them. Weird.
nh wrote:
> Yes - I think you are getting a bit paranoid.
>
> The biggest culprit is the media - If nobody had ever read or heard
> about certain events happening somewhere else would they really get
> the seed of the idea in their own mind ?
>
I think this is a bit of a contradiction. While I agree with you (I only said this to promote discussion), surely the job of the media is to bring stuff like this to our attention? If they did not, we could accuse them of being lazy.
>
> Games will always be that - games - as they become more realistic it
> becomes easier for us to imagine we are actually out there on the
> pitch scoring the winning goal for England in the World Cup final -
> something we have always dreamed of and acted out one way or another -
> we just do it on a videogame now.
>
>
I know - but the imagery in games (particularly violent games) is becoming sophisticated enough to look very very real. At the very least, this desensitizes a player to violence - at the worst it could affect their actions. I like violent games as much as the next man. I just wonder about where they're going.
> Yes - I think you are getting a bit paranoid.
>
> The biggest culprit is the media - If nobody had ever read or heard
> about certain events happening somewhere else would they really get
> the seed of the idea in their own mind ?
>
I think this is a bit of a contradiction. While I agree with you (I only said this to promote discussion), surely the job of the media is to bring stuff like this to our attention? If they did not, we could accuse them of being lazy.
>
> Games will always be that - games - as they become more realistic it
> becomes easier for us to imagine we are actually out there on the
> pitch scoring the winning goal for England in the World Cup final -
> something we have always dreamed of and acted out one way or another -
> we just do it on a videogame now.
>
>
I know - but the imagery in games (particularly violent games) is becoming sophisticated enough to look very very real. At the very least, this desensitizes a player to violence - at the worst it could affect their actions. I like violent games as much as the next man. I just wonder about where they're going.
Yes - I think you are getting a bit paranoid.
There will always be the anti games brigade who try and pin all of lifes ills on videogames but 99% of the people who play them are essentially normal people.
There are people in society who have mental problems and these people generally need some kind of trigger - nowadays it may be games that are blamed - in the past Black Sabbath songs have been blamed - Books and novels have been blamed.
The biggest culprit is the media - If nobody had ever read or heard about certain events happening somewhere else would they really get the seed of the idea in their own mind ?
The Sun say's that GTA3 is full of mindless violence and encourages kids in Manchester to steal cars so that's what the public believe - total tosh.
Games will always be that - games - as they become more realistic it becomes easier for us to imagine we are actually out there on the pitch scoring the winning goal for England in the World Cup final - something we have always dreamed of and acted out one way or another - we just do it on a videogame now.
When I was a kid we used to play wargames - using various things to immitate guns - branches, hockey-sticks and we even used toy guns, now we do it on our PC's and consoles. Just because we pretended to shoot each other as kids didn't mean the majority of us grew up and actually started shooting people with real guns.
How many of you have ever done paint balling or Laser quest - It's all about playing out fantasies and videogames are just another way of doing it.
There will always be the anti games brigade who try and pin all of lifes ills on videogames but 99% of the people who play them are essentially normal people.
There are people in society who have mental problems and these people generally need some kind of trigger - nowadays it may be games that are blamed - in the past Black Sabbath songs have been blamed - Books and novels have been blamed.
The biggest culprit is the media - If nobody had ever read or heard about certain events happening somewhere else would they really get the seed of the idea in their own mind ?
The Sun say's that GTA3 is full of mindless violence and encourages kids in Manchester to steal cars so that's what the public believe - total tosh.
Games will always be that - games - as they become more realistic it becomes easier for us to imagine we are actually out there on the pitch scoring the winning goal for England in the World Cup final - something we have always dreamed of and acted out one way or another - we just do it on a videogame now.
When I was a kid we used to play wargames - using various things to immitate guns - branches, hockey-sticks and we even used toy guns, now we do it on our PC's and consoles. Just because we pretended to shoot each other as kids didn't mean the majority of us grew up and actually started shooting people with real guns.
How many of you have ever done paint balling or Laser quest - It's all about playing out fantasies and videogames are just another way of doing it.
You're just being paranoid. Sure at the rate it is going you do expect photo realistic graphics but i thought it would still be a bit obvious not to get the real world mixed up with the virtual world. As you said, you looked at a car and thought how easy it was to hotwire it. But you didn't try to. That is what the difference is, we know not to because in the real world we have rules of the law, in games we can break these rules without much consequences.
In a single quick check of the forums, there will almost always be two or more people discussing games - the characters, the plot, the graphics…whatever.
Characters in games are treated like real people. Discussions on aspects of Snake's character (or how attractive Yuna is) seem to crop up all over the place. Gamers seem to be able to relate to the characters they play, forging a link between themselves and this fictional being. And they enjoy it.
Throughout history, people have always wanted to be someone else, to be doing something less menial than the same old repetitive tasks they do day in, day out. Until the invention of the modern computer game, cinema was the biggest medium for this. Before that, people read books to escape from real life.
Games are the latest form of this innate escapism, allowing people of any age, sex or creed to become a spy; a killing machine; even a god. Logically, as the interactivity of these escape routes increases, people will want to be become more and more immersed in worlds of their choice. As games become more epic (like the truly stunning Final Fantasy series), real life will seem more and more boring compared to the opportunities offered by the shiny discs. (This sounds like a drug :( )
The recent (and substantial) increase in graphics technology continues to paint unbelievable landscapes for us - games like Unreal 2 look so stunning it worries me. What happens when designers finally get to a point where they can create real-world locations with textures that genuinely are photo-realistic? Surely this just makes games more fodder for the "Games rot your mind and make you violent" brigade…if games seem like the real world, what will stop people getting mixed up between reality and virtual reality? Own up - after playing GTA3, the next time you saw a parked car you wondered how easy it would be to hotwire it, didn't you? I know I did (I must hastily add here that I have never stolen a car or shot a police officer :) )
I would be interested to know what you guys think on this. As games become more real, will the difference between reality and non-reality become a gray area? Or am I just being paranoid?
Characters in games are treated like real people. Discussions on aspects of Snake's character (or how attractive Yuna is) seem to crop up all over the place. Gamers seem to be able to relate to the characters they play, forging a link between themselves and this fictional being. And they enjoy it.
Throughout history, people have always wanted to be someone else, to be doing something less menial than the same old repetitive tasks they do day in, day out. Until the invention of the modern computer game, cinema was the biggest medium for this. Before that, people read books to escape from real life.
Games are the latest form of this innate escapism, allowing people of any age, sex or creed to become a spy; a killing machine; even a god. Logically, as the interactivity of these escape routes increases, people will want to be become more and more immersed in worlds of their choice. As games become more epic (like the truly stunning Final Fantasy series), real life will seem more and more boring compared to the opportunities offered by the shiny discs. (This sounds like a drug :( )
The recent (and substantial) increase in graphics technology continues to paint unbelievable landscapes for us - games like Unreal 2 look so stunning it worries me. What happens when designers finally get to a point where they can create real-world locations with textures that genuinely are photo-realistic? Surely this just makes games more fodder for the "Games rot your mind and make you violent" brigade…if games seem like the real world, what will stop people getting mixed up between reality and virtual reality? Own up - after playing GTA3, the next time you saw a parked car you wondered how easy it would be to hotwire it, didn't you? I know I did (I must hastily add here that I have never stolen a car or shot a police officer :) )
I would be interested to know what you guys think on this. As games become more real, will the difference between reality and non-reality become a gray area? Or am I just being paranoid?