Virtual War Crimes ???!!!

[Watchman~SPARTA~]

Interesting read if only for the fact that those that conducted the evaluation almost certainly have no real concept of gaming and the typical gamer.

 

BBC Report on Gamers & their war crimes

 

Good to see our tax £/$/? being put to beneficial use........

[custard~SPARTA~]

The same kind of twats make kids wear safety glasses when they play conkers, madness

[MedicSN6]

Yeah pretty ridiculous. When will people realize that if the humanitarian organizations had their way and no human ever died except for natural reasons, the world would be so overcrowded it would tax the planet to its breaking point. What makes me laugh is that many of the humanitarians are also the very same people that are at the top of the environmentalist movement as well. It is almost like having two different side of the same coin. Only one side can be up at a time. Balancing on the edge is very difficult; maintaining the balance, nearly impossible.

 

My personal rationalization given the article, an all laws in general, is not that you cannot or should not do something because there is a law that governs the subject. Laws are merely in place to punish those who have done something that society, in whatever shape or form, has deemed 'bad.' Because there is a law, it does not mean that you may not or cannot do something. It does however mean that you should not do it. It is a matter of popular opinion what is good and bad and right and wrong, not a matter of action. The real bummer is that people more often look towards the consequence of law rather than the actual moral/immoral aspect of the action, and even then it is after the fact instead of before. Then we have people such as career criminals who look at neither, fulfilling personal gratification and weighing the pros and cons of any action whatsoever.

 

The stark contrast between a fiction world and the reality we live is one of night and day. If we were to examine all formal types of fiction based entertainment ranging from pornography, cinematography, novels (especially fiction and romance), video games, tabletop games, and even card games, we will see that they are all a release from reality allowing the user to fulfill fantasy. In order to do this, the user must already have the understanding, even in seeking it out, the difference between reality and fantasy.

Is not a trip to Las Vegas a reality based fantasy? A trip to a real location where you are at the least tempted to do many things you would normally never do in your life back home. Even then it is popular opinion and marketing that makes the trip and whatever you do there "okay." What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Isn't it the same as playing a video game where you would role play certain actions that you would never do in real life? But within the confines of the game, you are allowed to. What happens in ArmA 2, stays in ArmA 2.

 

How often have we heard that a gamer has physically acted out killing in real life, after playing a game? Three times if you count that Chinese guy who's buddy stole some WoW item form him and he killed him because of it. The other two were of Columbine High School and Cho at Virginia Tech. Even those examples are perfect storms of multiple facets of neglect, rejection, mental illness, and disobedience at many levels and from many personal interactions. While those events are extremely tragic they allow for focusing. What is displeasing is that instead of focusing on the direct causal factors such as lack of parenting and schoolyard bullying because no one wants to blame a parent or school system who has just lost a child, no matter the reason. I believe the parents are directly to blame for their lack of attention and because of it, their inability to recognize any sign of danger, especially in the Columbine incident. Instead, the media and society in general look for the easy out. And in all of these instances, these people played video games.

 

What they don't tell you is that 68% of American households play video games. (http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp) That's nearly seven out of ten. So when the media says that video games cause real world violence, keep in mind the billions of people who play video games and don't commit any crimes. Games are designed to do just this. People play these games as entertainment and to live out experiences they may never have experienced any other way. It is personal responsibility, free will, and an ethical code to base the prior on, that prevents people form living out otherwise unethical behavior. For these two firms to reach the conclusion that games permit virtual crimes, more specifically 'war crimes,' is absolutely true. What they have lost sight of is that it is virtual and not real. The day we start punishing people for things they never did, is the day society has taken a turn for the worst.

[Haloelite]

(Tyrant) Capture of humanity

(Tyrant) Conqueror of all

(Tyrant) Hideous destructor

(Tyrant) Every man shall fall

 

that is all.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Haloelite~SPARTA~

[KalXen~SPARTA~]

War, violence & chaos actually inspire creativity such as games, movies or books.

[Haloelite]

the tyrant in this scenario are the soccer moms of the world.

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

What really makes me sad in this case is that it's likely that the people who did the study are relatively intelligent people with a fair amount of resources at their disposal who could have spent their time and money doing some sort of research that would have been helpful in some real-world-application kind of way. I recently finished Grand Theft Auto IV, during which time I committed unprovoked virtual acts of depravity that, in real life, would render me incapable of posting this message, since I'm assuming I wouldn't have Internet access from a prison cell or the gas chamber.

 

Since that time, I have committed, um, let's see, ZERO acts of depravity in real life (the incident with the sheep was consensual), so, by using the same kind of logic that is found in these "cause-and-effect" studies, one could argue that devoting 40 or so hours of one's life to playing GTA IV or similar fare has been shown to reduce criminal activity by said participant. Oh, and I also consumed large amounts of caffeinated beverages and foods high in carbohydrates, watched American football every Sunday (a relatively violent sport), and probably wanked off once or twice, so all of these activities should also come highly recommended as methods to curb any inclination towards socially unacceptable behavior.

 

The same kind of twats make kids wear safety glasses when they play conkers, madness

 

I had to look up what Conkers was. Closest thing to it in my childhood was "Apple Wars", where all the boys would take the apples from the school lunch, split into two groups, and throw the apples at each other until all of the apples and/or our faces had been turned to mush. Several visits to the school nurse were involved, but I don't seem to recall anyone getting into any trouble for it.

[ScUD]

After I played MW2, I DID have the sudden urge to kill people, come to think of it.

[Cylawyer~SPARTA~]

Was that your video I saw online ScUD?

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

What really makes me sad in this case is that it's likely that the people who did the study are relatively intelligent people with a fair amount of resources at their disposal who could have spent their time and money doing some sort of research that would have been helpful in some real-world-application kind of way.

 

I've met many many "intelligent" people who were dumb as a box of rocks.

 

 

I recently finished Grand Theft Auto IV, during which time I committed unprovoked virtual acts of depravity that, in real life, would render me incapable of posting this message, since I'm assuming I wouldn't have Internet access from a prison cell or the gas chamber.

 

That's sort of anecdotal, though. I could probably find examples of many kids who play that game in their formative(?) years who probably use it to either (1) take their aggression out, or (2) fantasize about real killing. If one exposes themselves to something too much, it's natural that they would start take on similar ideals.

 

Its like listening to too much emo music will turn you into a p%$#y, playing too many unproductive violent video games will affect some kids. Most likely, it'll be relatively harmless like desensitization, but I'm sure some kids who are already predisposed to that sort of behavior, it might help along.

 

that's, of course, just my opinion

[MH6~SPARTA~]

As someone who has played every manner of violent video games since turning five, I can safely conclude that any and all peoples who think playing violent video games will make you more violent are severely misguided. Look at the parents, not the kids.