I have a speach tomorrow.
I can't come up with a subject that isn't cliché, so I guess I have to go with violence in games.The problem, my point of view. I don't know if I am for or against violence in games. The only thing I know is that I don't get it. What is the fun of being the bad guy, killing cops, stealing cars etc. What is the fun of blowing someones head off? It is different when you play the good guy, still I wouldn't care if there is just a little gore or a whole lot of it in these cases. As long as it doesn't get too real, there is nothing against it. But where is the fun? Why is it cool to take a samurai sword and chop someone into pieces? One look at my games, and you'll see I'm not a fan of that. But there are plenty of people that do like that stuff. Next point. Is there any harm? Most people that act violently after playing games were most likely nuts to begin with, I agree on that. Still I think that some games shouldn't be available for young people, especially realistic ones. They might not be old enough the realise the difference. I believe that at a certain age, there is no danger in violent games anymore, this is different for young people. They learn by imitating. For example: isn't it true that a lot of sexual offenders were sexually offended by someone (do I say that right.)What are your opinions?
Consider this. Whether you're hacking somebody to bits or floating through the sky with teddy bears by your side, games allow you to do things you wouldn't or couldn't normally do. As for why the violence tends to win out over cuddlies, I'd have to say that it's probably because violence is a quick and easy path to emotions.
It's much easier to convince someone that they hate that evil-alien-guy than it is to cinviunce them that they care about the well-being of a fluffy cute thing. The latter takes more effort on the part of the developers, so if they can get away with just tossing in some senseless violence and still get you to buy the game, then they never need to do anything else.I think the real issue is not over why the violence <i>is</i> there, but why the <i>other</i> aspects are missing. Personally, I don't really care if a game has no violence, or if it has ridiculous amounts of blood, gore, and dismemberment, as long as the <i>game</i> is good.In reference to the possible harm done, and your point about sexual offenders, there may be some stock in that, but not neccessarily in the obvious way. Unless the player is already terribly unbalanced and has no concept of the difference between reality and make-believe, seeing some <i>make-believe</i> violence in a video game should not trickle through their brain and lead them to behave violently in <i>reality</i>. It <i>will</i>, however likely desensitize them to it some, as any input tends to do eventually, but that's a completely different issue.The actual harm that is more likely is to the quality of <i>future</i> games. What you see is what you expect is what you get. Problem is, as the violent (but otherwise pointless) games are easier to make, they become more common. Then everyone expects exactly that, and they forget that they <i>can</i> have something better, which leads to them waiting for the next one, which leads to them getting the next one, which leads to companies not bothering to make better games, since they can just release yet another (cheap to make) practically empty game.So, yeah… <i>My</i> opinion, put simply, is that violence in games doesn't matter. It's just one of many aspects of a game, and in many cases is used as a crutch, when developers can't come up with a more unique way to keep a game interesting.Oh, by the way… Speech has two 'e's.Yeah, video games should let you escape form reality. How? Not by fantasy, but by Alternate Reality. In real life, can you call your boss a 'fuckin asshole' and blow his ass into a million pieces? No. That's why it's fun, you can take your anger out on people, and not get in trouble for it. It's like a stress ball, what's so fun about squeezing the hell out of a ball?
I think it can be harmfull for children tough, they still have to learn what is accepted behaviour and what is not. When they see a realistic game with lots of violence, they might think this is normal.
Also I don't really think people getting more insensitive towards violence is a good thing.Violence in games is not the problem.
It's that damn rap music. Duh.I do dislike Violence in games, because it makes it seem like games are the problem, or the makers are just little kids who do not know how bad violence is. It's more or less the rap music doing all the work.I think TaleriaKNT just wrote your speach for you :P
You're right, the children <i>will</i> think it's normal… for there to be violence in games. As long as they're not seeing it in real life, too, then it really shouldn't matter.
PS: @Alpha_Man: Hey, did you know that rap is spelled with a capital 'c'? ^_~