I have had a problem with many video games since their inception. To kill something seems wrong. Especially in a game. I learned to shoot from my grandfather, who stressed safety a lot (he lost a finger to a hunting accident in his teens) and I have no problem eating the occasional turkey or venison my cousins sometimes gift me. But none of this was a game. The time in the woods could be, and usually was, pleasant, but it was never a game.
Yet many video games stress kills, either of beasties or 'the enemy', whoever or whatever that might be. My darling daughters love to play WOW (and the name, World of Warcraft, says it all!) so I watched them one time. It appalled me. The entire purpose of the game is to kill or bash as many other beings as possible to get you to another place, level etc. There is no real skill, or reasoning or anything to make this a redeeming value. I hate that they
play it.These girls are adult now, and I certainly tried to teach them about the sanctity of life. But somewhere there is a short-circuit that allows them to differentiate between this 'game' and reality. They understand at some level that it is a game. But I hate that killing is a game to them. Maybe it is because neither my husband nor I actually hunt and they have never had to watch or help skin the rabbit or whatever for the dinner pot. Maybe then killing would be more real. We never allowed them to point even pretend guns at people. But they have no problem bashing that large green hairy thing to death on the screen!
On the other hand these are the same girls who will guide the spider into a jar and release it outside rather than squash it, so maybe there is hope.
I'm with you on this. I thought Grandpa lost a finger in an accident at work. Well, I think he was missing two...yes?
ReplyDeleteWill you be Riff Raffing, by the way?
Heidi
Well. -_-;; I had a well written carefully explained explination about this... but it was too long for your comment space (apparently over 4,096 characters) and it wouldn't let me copy and paste and then it deleted it and now i'm annoyed. grr. perhaps i'll come back to it, most likely i won't. here's some major points for discussion ;-) lol
ReplyDelete1) Video games in general improve hand-eye co-oridination as well as reflexes.
2) WoW is significantly less about the number of kills (for most of us) and more about what we've achieved in game. What level we are, what kinds of new abilities we have, how we can best help groups we're in, etc.
3) Video games are merely a newer form of media; movies have had graphic violence for years, tho admitedly more graphic in recent years. Books have had graphic violence for centuries depending on what you're looking at. Saying that a person will behave in a certain way because of video games is much like saying that a person will behave in certain ways because of the books they read. I don't this that's a very fair or valid statement, personally.
and now, discuss!! lol <3MND
p.s. you're dancing elephants in the top right corner make me think of "One elephant went out to play, out on a spider's web one day... he had such enormous fun, that he called for another elephant to come, OOOHHH EEEEEELLEEEPHAAAAANT!!!!" lol ^.^ good times ^.^ <3
ReplyDeleteHmm.... I never thought of the ability to not have media cause you to go out and kill things as a "short-circuit" before... I always thought the people that COULDN'T tell the difference between media and reality needed to be locked up and kept away from the rest of us for safety purposes lol.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I did want to point out the veiled compliment to the "darling daughters". Apparently the can take a game as intricate and complicated as World of Warcraft and make it appear to take "No real skill or reasoning". Good for them, they must be great at the kind of constant "adapting on the fly" that WoW demands from its player base ^_^