Why are games usually about fighting / crime / anti social

jimbo45

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Hi there

I'm NOT a gamer so I'm hoping somebody might explain to me the reason why so many people get enjoyment out of pretty well all the games I see -- usually involving Fighting, repelling invasions, shooting things, blowing up planets etc, Destroying stuff, or generally Anti Social behaviour.

Now I'm NOT a KILL JOY and if this is what people want to do in their spare time then although by me it's a shame but it's your choice - - but it would be really nice to see some really challenging games that involved USEFUL and incredibly difficult stuff to do like modelling a FAIR economic society, solving a lot of the current world issues, or generally getting involved with stuff ultimately beneficial to mankind. The amount of Brainpower used in solving these types of problems I'm sure would benefit everybody -- after all anybody can destroy or shoot things, it's much much harder to CREATE stuff.

Even the name of games suggests criminal activity -- for example Grand Theft Auto. Doesn't say much for the future of the Human Race though if this sort of stuff is what the majority want to do - even if in a "Virtual" rather than a "Real" reality.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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I hear ya mate! It's disconcerting at times!
I remember what my father, (RIP)(a WW2 survivor), said watching my kids play these blood, guts and goar games:
"You have no idea what suffering and death is all about!"
 

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I play first person shooters as well as MMORPGs. I guess it's a shame then by your standards, even though FPS games are known to increase a persons reaction time and decision times.
 

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Hi there

Sometimes fast reaction isn't what's needed in some situations -- obviously in a fighting scenario you need to be lightning fast -- but other issues need one perhaps to ANALYZE a problem and evaluate alternative outcomes - which aren't always best solved by racing against a clock. Obviously if you want to stay alive then you have to shoot faster and more accurately than the other guy / army or whatever.

@Edwin - My Dad was in Berlin and Eastern Europe also after WWII - doing things like getting info on the Russian H-Bomb and space programs and involved with getting to German scientists before the "Ruskies", and with some prisoner exchanges at the Glienicke Bridge between the Old W and E Berlin. (Now a Tourist attraction -- well some things change for the better !!).

www.glienicke-bridge.com - Bridge of Spies

Anybody if they were caught "in the Zone" as they used to say would simply be left at their own peril -- that's far more dangerous than any of the "Games" and if you did get caught - well don't even THINK about what would happen.

Cheers
jimbo
 
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The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games

Shooting games actually decrease dementia, so old people should play a lot of games like that.
Games represent the real life, since people are violent by nature, it is the gender, they like the most.
Todays life is all about fast thinking, you have a split of second to reply, to act, it is the definition of IQ.

I have played games for 20 years and I have played only 1 anti-social game GTA, it seems like people use it as an example all the time, even though it is just one game of tens of thousands. I would prefer to play strategies like Age of Empires or adventures or simulations, but they take too much time, people do not have.
 

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Hi there.
Actually the best way to prevent dementia is to USE the Brain frequently solving puzzles and doing analytical things. Exercise also helps.

You'll usually find University professors, Music composers, crossword addicts etc are the groups least likely to get dementia.

After a while shooting etc just becomes INSTINCT which doesn't actually require ACTIVE thinking use of "the grey cells". Devising strategy and being able to prepare for scenarios several steps ahead DOES keep the brain active.

I'm not out here saying people shouldn't play these games -- to me it's such a shame that the emphasis is on this type of stuff when more strategic games would have infinitely more social merit -- as well as being fun too and could spill off into the community improving everybody's lot. The fact that people appear not to have time these days is also a rather sad reflection on modern trends -- maybe we should all step back a little --for example what's so special about the 5 day 40 / 37.5 hr week. This was devised when the majority of jobs were done in production lines in factories. We could use a different model totally these days --but again another topic for a different forum.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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That helps too, but new studies prove, that old people need to improve their memory and FPS games help.

Playing FPS Games Is Able To Prevent Dementia ~ Clicks Technology

FPS games are also about strategy, I know where the enemy will probably be without seeing or hearing him.
It is not just shooting, you have to create a strategy, evaluate a terrain and much more, it is not rambo style.
 

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After going thru couple of wars here, I kind of stopped playing games like that. Seeing so many dead, dieing and mutilated, including a 3 year old girl killed while siting on a potty, by Nato bomb, made all those games seam like cartoons. I still enjoy a MS Flightsim and similar games though.
GTA is not banned for my grand son but after this Stupid News & Videos - DumbassDaily : Video: Real Life Grand Theft Auto Assailant Gets Some Sweet, Sweet Street Justice/Instant Karma. I might change my mind.
 

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Hi there

Iceland is a peaceful relatively crime free country and fortunately hasn't been involved in any serious wars -- we did have a little spat with the British over fishing rights some while ago but nobody got killed etc. We used to have a US Nato base too but that's since gone (although Iceland is still a NATO member).

However sometimes you do see some horrific traffic accidents -- While I can't say I've experienced the horror of shattered bodies in a war scenario I've seen enough little kids being horribly maimed by Drunk Drivers etc. That's bad enough. I would suspect that if a lot of these gamers ever saw the "Real thing" they'd stop playing those types of games.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Iceland is a ... relatively crime free country
Except for the banks apparently....

I think TairaikuOkami nailed it really in one of the posts above - games involving long term strategy just take too long to play.
 

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Games = fun (usually), learning (sometime) so if they are not one of those they could be considered simulators.
 

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Games = fun (usually), learning (sometime) so if they are not one of those they could be considered simulators.
Many would argue they could be an addiction. Nutters mainly but such people do exist: "not like when I was a kid and had to make my own fun out of a small piece of string and a loaf of stale bread etc etc"
 

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Games = fun (usually), learning (sometime) so if they are not one of those they could be considered simulators.
Many would argue they could be an addiction. Nutters mainly but such people do exist: "not like when I was a kid and had to make my own fun out of a small piece of string and a loaf of stale bread etc etc"
Sure they can be addiction, there were already few deaths while playing for excessive time and I don't know how many family disputes because of them, A kid called police on a friend he lost a game of COD from, few shootouts for same reason etc.
 

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Well I find this place an addiction. I have a stage I have to be at right now and I am late already by 4 minutes and I've not even left home. Shame on me. As for kids, if we killed everyone under (let's say 80) then probably the planet would revert to Gaia and Lovelock would be happy ever after.

I'll get my coat on the way out.
 

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You brought up a good subject, Jim. Obviously it concerns you since you did. It's a concern of a lot of others also. As you know, there are a lot of people that try to bring peace into this turbulent world. This will be difficult to explain without getting too political, but I'll try. All I'll say is that I live in a metropolis where there are betting lotteries guessing the weekly murdered body count. Very sad all the way around. Gang wars mostly. These people are learning to shoot somewhere and I don't think they use the local shooting gallery. No, they use game simulation, which is not reality.

I'm not saying the violent games are bad. I take the stand that all things created in nature and by man are good. It's how we use them. For the good or for the bad of mankind. For selfish or non-selfish motives. For construction or destruction. Which ever way one wants to say it. However, we create and reflect our own environment. We are what we live in. We are what we eat. We are what we read. We are and do what we think. This very forum affects us in one way or another. A catch 22 if one is not careful.

Shooting games actually decrease dementia, so old people should play a lot of games like that.

Yes, a proven study shows that mental exercise is a must and people that have fast reactions actually live longer.

How Long Are YOU Going to Live? New Research Says it May Be Related to Your Reaction Time : Science : Design & Trend

New research published by the UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health in the UK suggests that a faster reaction time is linked to a longer life.

A fast reaction time is thought to be a good indicator of the heath of the central nervous system, and by extension, a good measure of the overall health of an individual.

Again, I'm not saying the violent games are bad, however, there are other non-violent games that one may use. Just wondering what makes shoot-'em-up games are so popular. I liked the MS game Tinker, but obviously it wasn't a good seller otherwise they would have written more segments or levels to it. Perhaps we've reached a point in time where violence sells better.

Games represent the real life, since people are violent by nature, it is the gender, they like the most.

I have to totally disagree here. An infant or toddler is not violent by nature. They are dependant. We are social creatures. We yearn to be a part of a group or clan. Unfortunately mankind is selfish by nature, which in turn eventually uses violence for gain. Violence as a tool, whether emotional or physical is learned behavior. Children learn how to tease, argue and/or physically fight from parents, adults, other children, TV, or other outside sources. In other words our/their enviroment. War only begins when one nation wants what another has. It's rooted in selfishness. It's called imperialism. Seems to me to be a word that's far too accepted today.

Todays life is all about fast thinking, you have a split of second to reply, to act, it is the definition of IQ.

You think so? It took a great mind like Einstein years to formulate his theories. Stephen Hawking is another. Their works and so many others' weren't overnight endeavors. Speed is not I.Q. It's a level test. In fact, there is no true definition of intelligence. If anything, E.Q. is more important.

I'll leave with this: Peace is its own reward. ~ Mahatma Gandhi. I can't seem to find peace in a violent game.
 

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Hi there.

Thanks @ HippsieGypsie -- shows there ARE genuinely decent people on this planet -- I'm not saying stop playing these games - I am certainly not a Kill joy and have had my scrapes with authority at various stages of my existence - but I'd suggest that if you have EVER seen violence FOR REAL you might decide that these games are really not good in the long term and your talent could be better used in other types of activities (or games even !!).

Things like Aircraft training simulations can be great fun -- almost anybody can learn to fly a light aircraft like a Cessna --absolutely great fun !!!! even in a "Sim".

Cheers
jimbo
 

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It's very true about flight simulators. I was introduced to one of the first versions of MS Fs at the island airport in Toronto. I got my copy free there and was using it ever since thru few incarnations (it's, not mine). At the time some "flying time" on it was going toward your credit in flight school or your flight book if you had a license already, 10 to 1 I think it was. If you presented diskette with your flight tasks completed you would get official recognition for your flight hours on FS. That's how serious SW it was even early '80s. I still have a single engine VFR license and find FS quite challenging still, if you take it seriously and not as a game of course. Maps, positions, waypoints, airports etc are quite realistic and you can download them together with weather maps. preplanned routes etc. Way more involved than shooters. Your speed of thinking, reflexes and precision has to be on higher level than shooters.
 

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I wasn't much of a gamer myself growing up. I owned a laptop through middle school/high school and so as you can imagine it didn't have a gpu and it didn't have the fancy whistles that allowed me to play the hardcore games. I think everyone's reason for why they play a game such as that will be different and you will get varied responses some good some bad.

We just live in a world today that we see all of this happening on the news, in real life, we hear about it from others and so they make games where we can do it too I guess. I've played all the major games you are referring to such as GTA, various FPS shooters such as Battlefield/Call of Duty and they are temporarily fun and you get some adrenaline rushing yes. (I do admit I overly enjoyed Sleeping Dogs!)

But it isn't my type of game. But at the same time are the teenager games the only one? Look at Pirate101, Wizard 121 for instance. They have similar concepts just dwindled and babied down due to the age people are who play.
 

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If you want to watch horror, just watch news.
 

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And thank you, Jumbo! Decent? I try to be. Don't get me wrong. I've had my fare share of scrapes growing up amongst 5 other brothers and a load of cousins. Working construction was another experience. We weren't known to be the most civil at times. We didn't go out looking for fights as some do, but we would hold our own.

I think balance is the key word here as with anything else. Ok to play those games once in a while, but not constantly. Mix some others in too.

What really concerns me and others is that there's a great worldwide epidemic of mass shootings that is ever increasing. A majority of them happening in the U.S. Studies are showing that they are executed by young men around the age of 20. I'm not going to claim that they are due to these types of games, but I can't help but feel that they do contribute. TV shows, movies, books, etc. contribute as well. No, these are depressed mentally ill young men that definitely need help. I'm not saying censorship is the answer either. Mental health reform sure would help, though! It seems that in this country we need it!

As an old hippie I must ask > Why is violence so popular? A big money maker perhaps? A macho thing? A conspiracy theory population control thing? War for profit? What is it? Are we becoming that uncivilized?
 

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