fucktoyprincess
Posts: 2337
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I'm not a big personal fan of violent games. I do think they desensitize people to real violence in the real world. With that said, I don't mind games that are couched in some kind of reality that is fundamental to the human experience. In other words, a game where one plays a cop/military person who is trying to shoot down "bad" people and save innocent people - I mean this is a reality that exists in the world, and I don't have a problem with that being represented in a game, and people enjoying the experience of playing the game. But I would be lying if I said certain games don't bother me. Because they do. I'm not calling for a ban. I am just not buying them for my nieces and nephews (even the ones who are 18 and older). What do I find bothersome: games that reward you for domestic violence, games that reward you for killing cops, games that reward you for killing innocent people or raping innocent people. Are these humorous? Do they desensitize? There is ample evidence in psychology to show that things that people find funny can also be things that they find seriously disturbing. And there is ample evidence that violence on the screen desensitizes people to real violence. With all this said, the other thing that research shows is that normal children and adults have a very strong ability to separate reality from fantasy when viewing games/other media. In other words, cartoon violence is, in fact, processed differently from viewing a violent scene in a movie that is very very realistic and graphic. And the more absurd a set up, the more differently we process it. Warner bros. roadrunner cartoons are not likely to cause violent behavior in a child, for example. So, the above game might more naturally fall into absurd cartoon violence category, but I'm not sure. And to be clear, while I support the First Amendment, I don't think its existence means we stop thinking about the implications of screen violence, particularly the implications for children.
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~ ftp
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