Brain Dump on Violence in Video Games. Oh boy...
I'm going to get this out of my head because I'm drowning with the amount of bullshit that is currently going around in there.
I'll try to keep it simple. This is going to be a long one. Ready up? Scroll down a page or two so you get to the bottom of it if you don't want to read the
Dad last night brought up the question "Matt, what video game allows people to pour petrol on others and light them up?". My initial response was "Uhh... I'm not sure what you mean, where did you see this?"... his response "It was on the TV a while ago".
I already had a argument with him on this topic before (the first argument stemmed from GamerGate and that really didn't go down well) and it always ends up with him thinking he knows what's right and I'm wrong. As much as I respect Dad, he's in the wrong on both arguments. And since I make games as a hobbyist game developer, while I have a thick skin, it sometimes stings and makes me frustrated.
He simply doesn't understand the violence in video games argument. Most AAA titles now coming out have a gore/violence filter, or even have parental controls on Xbox and PlayStation to limit what (younger) players see.
In video games, there are two things. There's scripted events, and then there's user-controlled events. For example, in Skyrim, you can use a weapon to hack and slash enemies. There is no gore, apart from blood on yourself or the enemy when you get hit. Skyrim is a M-rated ESRB and a PEGI 16 game at best (kudos to my friend corrodedsoul for helping me with those ratings).
Apart from the opening scene where you do see someone's head get chopped off on the cutting block, you can't slice a bandit's head off in-game. By the way, that's vanilla Skyrim I'm talking about and yes, there are 3rd party mods out there that do bring dismemberment back in the game, they have to be installed manually and are not included with the base game.
Grand Theft Auto 5, that game that Target Australia pulled off their shelves due to the game supposedly forcing you to shoot a hooker after having sex in the back seats of a car when it's been confirmed the game does not force you to do that as it's up to the player, allows the player to decide what they will do and what they won't do. Don't like a mission? No probs, just stop the mission and go walk around the streets of wherever you are in the game.
I do not believe that violence in video games is turning the next generation of gamers into violent people. I believe it's the extremists in the world and their sickening acts of terror that is causing the violence issue.
Hell, I was under 18 when I first picked up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. I enjoyed the game, even though it depicted a fictional war against US and Russia at the time. Call of Duty 1, 2 and 3 told a recreation of the WW1 and WW2 stories (well, okay maybe not 100% accurate but still enough to see soliders fight for their country).
Modern Warfare 2 does have two things that I didn't personally like. One mission has you as a undercover US solider acting as part of a russian crazyman's group. This crazyman goes on and shoots people in airports. "Whoa, that's showing violence against civilians", you say, but at the start of the mission, this popup appears:
WARNING: This mission contains disturbing elements.
Do you wish to skip? You will not be penalized in the game completion rating.
Yes, I wish to continue / No, please skip
See that? That's a bloody "Hey! This mission may offend you, what do you want to do?" prompt right there. Originally, I skipped the mission since I knew what was coming; but in a second play through I bit the bullet to see what that part of the campaign was about. And yes, if you shot anyone who were civilians, here's what you got:
Mission failed. You shot an innocent civilian.
So while MW2 actually showed you the violence, you were a witness. I don't even think the other AIs shot innocent people either, it was just the crazy man. Ultimately you got busted (somehow, I never found out what cue plays before you get stabbed and kicked out of the van) and left for the national police to attend the scene. The other part of MW2 was when that cigar guy (not Captain Price, the other bad guy, General whathisname) put fuel over Roach and set him on fire. For some reason, that triggered me to have hatred for him. Luckily, he gets owned in the face with Soap's epic slowmo kill.
The point I'm trying to get across is that while video games shows violence to minors, the child needs to learn that what they see SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED in real life, or SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. I play Call of Duty, Battlefield and other supposedly "violent" games (not really, CoD/BF is like MA15+ at best, to relax, de-stress and unwind. Does that make me run out onto the street with a gun and start firing shots?
No, it does not. Why, you ask? Because if I fucking did, I'd be charged and likely jailed.
There's also ISIS and all the related terrorism groups going around showing propaganda encouraging younger people to sign up to fight with them, because its "cool". It's not cool, it's fucking disgusting and who would want to do such a thing?!
So, what am I ultimately trying to say? If you're going to use "oh videogames are violent and teach kids a bad message" then please go do yourself and your kids a favor: sit down and play some Super Mario or Mario Kart with them. Spend some quality time with them. Go play Minecraft on the Xbox and build some stuff with them. But do not use that argument with me as like I've said above, I'm sick and tired of people using this fucking excuse every time someone gets shot or hurt. Give me a break.
What I believe today is that violence in video games is only a tiny blip on the radar when all the news today is about extremists causing devastation and havoc.
I don't know if it's just me being mister grumpy pants but I won't talk about this again, at least publicly. Maybe. I don't know.
That's my brain dump, I'm done with the subject, now you know what my views are when people give me this excuse.
coburn@tumblrpost~$> logoff
PS. If you take offense with that what I say, please understand that this is my opinion and mine alone, not anyone else. I'm entitled to my opinion, take it with a grain of salt if you don't agree with it.