/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/
|
|
|
/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/ |
 | Re: I think you missed the point | |
| Posted By: deathmonger | Date: 9/21/04 2:31 p.m. |
| In Response To: Re: I think you missed the point (Bob-B-Q) : despite my alarmingly detailed firearms knowledge. Welcome to the club. Now if only my last history test was over the Kalashnikov weapon system… As for the whole videogame violence issue, I this sums up my thoughts pretty well: This is a game ; that is, a symbolic representation of conflict played according to rules for purposes of amusement and recreation. We use mice and keyboards to push pixels around a screen just like you use a racket to knock a tennis ball into the other court. Only in an FPS, you're knocking the opponent into the other court, and air time counts. Why ? Because it's more fun this way. People I've sat down to try it have let out gleeful cackles the first time they dropped an opponent, after earlier tut-tutting the bloody flying carcass that marks a direct hit. I've also had newbies grok the idea of "real-time network" for the first time while trying to hit me with the grenade launcher, and that gives me almost as much warm-fuzzy as getting a three-fer. Games that simulate friendly dinosaurs and flying carpets are not going to grip you as much as those that simulate being chased with a flamethrower . But when your virtual body goes up like an overdone marshmallow and you hear a bloodcurdling wail (different sound than when a rocket hits you: attention to detail), you can stop, catch your breath and have a sip of iced tea before you tap the regenerate button. It's only a game. Shooter games let you do things virtually that are impossible in real life. That's part of the appeal. Other parts, of course, are fun and challenge. And the realism? Well it seems realistic, and that's good, because the less you have to suspend your disbelief, the more you can concentrate on playing a game, and the better you play, and the more fun it is. But in fact it's not very realistic at all. The accusation that FPS games are "murder trainers" is really complete BS. If you behaved in a real situation as you do in an FPS, your team would die very quickly. Ask someone who's been in the military or on a police SWAT team. You do not go in guns blazing, shooting at every door and window. Fire control and ammunition discipline are essential to real combat operations, not to mention order of battle, and they're almost completely absent from FPS games. As to the aesthetics of blood as portrayed in FPS games, it's not pretty. I'd rather look at the splat from a rocket than, say, Barney, or a 7-11 storefront, or , God help us, Donald Trump, but it's still no thing of beauty, and I suppose I have dehumanized myself to some extent by looking at all those carcasses flying across my screen. But in life there are essential things and peripherals, and games are the latter. My concern is for kids who for lack of parenting or other reasons make games, violent or otherwise, the core activity of their lives. My own kids are going to be kept pretty busy, and when they are able to safely cut down a tree and properly sharpen the ax afterwards, I'll let them play Marathon. OK, Susie, this is a SPNKR. Don't use it in corridors... | |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| Replies: |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
| Problems? Suggestions? Comments? Email maintainer@bungie.org Marathon's Story Forum is maintained with WebBBS 5.12. |