Game Violence and Morals

[ABlipinTime]

@FllMtl Novelist
Yeah, Yoshi said it right: the game will tend to affect you more when you play and aren't aware of it. Plus, it's easy to ignore the cinematics when you aren't playing - the gameplay is more interesting in most cases anyways.

But I do acknowledge your point and agree with you: watching still affects you. To a large extent, you can critically think about what the game is saying, but that doesn't give us an excuse to go watching, say, Left for Dead. Thus, there are games I won't watch, and some games I might watch and shouldn't I should make a better effort to avoid. One set of games in particular is Touhou. Why watch it? - *Ooooo pretty*. Why not? - If you want to know, you'll have to PM me.

[Jingo Jaden]

@FllMtl Novelist
Yeah, Yoshi said it right: the game will tend to affect you more when you play and aren't aware of it. Plus, it's easy to ignore the cinematics when you aren't playing - the gameplay is more interesting in most cases anyways.

But I do acknowledge your point and agree with you: watching still affects you. To a large extent, you can critically think about what the game is saying, but that doesn't give us an excuse to go watching, say, Left for Dead. Thus, there are games I won't watch, and some games I might watch and shouldn't I should make a better effort to avoid. One set of games in particular is Touhou. Why watch it? - *Ooooo pretty*. Why not? - If you want to know, you'll have to PM me.

Because it involves magic, witchcraft, and pretty much everything that made the tooth fairy concept satanic and wrong?

Any other moral advice? What about children who practice with sticks as if they were swords? Or bananas as if they were guns? Should they be subject to re-education of some sorts? What about books? Should Don Quixote be taken off the shelves? I mean, it is only the best example out there of why an imperfect character makes so much more a perfect story. If detailed murders are too much for writing and art. Then I fear we may no longer distribute the bible, and a lot of historically important chapels will need to be closed down. I mean, if it directly affects you, or dangerously indirectly turns you over to what you are watching, reading, playing or anything such, then I am afraid news reports are also a great no-no, and extremely violent games and shows. Such as Tom and Jerry or super mario should be banned instantly. I mean when you logically break it down. Mario is crushing his foes under his body-weight, and usually Jerry is succeeding to mutilate Tom in the worst ways imaginable. As far as killing zombies in order to save human beings go? Shame on me.

If a persons faith is buckled from injustices, be them from fictional means or even real ones, is it not a lack of faith that is at fault? Should our faith be as a piece of cloth, able to be swept away by any forces or influences? Should we treat everyone based on said example as this was a universal standard? Should magic, when dumbed down to the level of flying dots be considered spiritually harmful? Would it be better if the girls were walking along the streets with a machine gun? Or is the concept deplorable itself, which is more about girls trying to dodge various projectiles of different sizes than any representation of evil?

Peoples limits are objective, but I frankly see more trouble with a person who feels GTA threatens their faith, and a Christian who plays GTA on a daily basis. As for anyone who practice unlawful violence, my contempt would always be abundant.

[Yamamaya]

Some awesome points.

Pretty much took everything I was going to say Jingo. Bravo.

First of all, there's one massive reason why one might avoid playing the Touhou games. The sheer difficulty of the game. If you want to keep your sanity intact that is.

Another thing I'd like to add is that studies have been unable to prove a direct connection between playing violent video games and violent behaviors. At best, they find a correlation(as in happening at the same time) between "aggressive behaviors" and violent/action packed video games.

Plus, I believe the phrase, "the game affects you" doesn't really mean anything. Everything you do affects you in some way. And it's not always some big moral change. For example, eating affects you by satisfying your hunger.


Edit: I believe you meant, "People's limits are subjective" not "People's limits are objective."

[Nate]

Uh I'm pretty sure his distaste for the Touhou series comes from the whole demons/witchcraft thing and not from violence or anything. I disagree with him completely (because if you play the games all you're going to see is a sprite dodging fifty BILLION bullets, you're not even gonna know the significance unless you read the extra material which the game doesn't contain), but it's his choice. If he doesn't wanna play the Touhou games he doesn't have to, and he doesn't have to validate his reasons to anyone.

[Yamamaya]

Uh I'm pretty sure his distaste for the Touhou series comes from the whole demons/witchcraft thing and not from violence or anything. I disagree with him completely (because if you play the games all you're going to see is a sprite dodging fifty BILLION bullets, you're not even gonna know the significance unless you read the extra material which the game doesn't contain), but it's his choice. If he doesn't wanna play the Touhou games he doesn't have to, and he doesn't have to validate his reasons to anyone.

No one said he has to play Touhou.

We were simply questioning his reasoning in general.

[ABlipinTime]

Hey wow, I actually came back to this thread. Surprised it's not on another page yet.

@Jingo - Rereading my post, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make there. Are you thinking that I said a person's faith is threatened watching games? because that's not what I meant.

Given your responses, I'm not really sure how well you understand what I've said. Oh well, that seems to be common for me.

Yes, as Nate guessed, it's the witchcraft element that bothers me. And fyi, there are sprites (albeit occasional) that come up in the background that have death as the theme. Not sure I could describe any of them very well, except the graveyard. However, if you edited the game and changed names of things, a background here and there, and other images reminiscent of witches, I probably wouldn't have any spiritual trouble playing the game.

@Yamamaya - If you don't believe "the game affects you" means anything, I'm not sure how I could better summarize the bazillion variables and events in life that go towards altering some aspect of you, psychologically and/or spiritually. Yeah, so it's a cliche phrase. Whatever.

@Nate - I appreciate the defense. Not something I was expecting, I'll admit. Truly, I didn't have to defend myself, but I guess I felt like giving them more trivial, tasteless generic answers to chew on as usual (because I'm too lazy to type out a legit, thorough response).

[Yamamaya]

Yes, as Nate guessed, it's the witchcraft element that bothers me. And fyi, there are sprites (albeit occasional) that come up in the background that have death as the theme. Not sure I could describe any of them very well, except the graveyard. However, if you edited the game and changed names of things, a background here and there, and other images reminiscent of witches, I probably wouldn't have any spiritual trouble playing the game.

That's fine. If playing this game makes you feel guilty, don't do it. It's a disputable matter and no answer is necessarily better than another.

@Yamamaya - If you don't believe "the game affects you" means anything, I'm not sure how I could better summarize the bazillion variables and events in life that go towards altering some aspect of you, psychologically and/or spiritually. Yeah, so it's a cliche phrase. Whatever.

I apologized if I seem overly argumentative about this. I just feel like when we talk about how things affect us, the term is a little too broad. And really, not everything affects everyone in the same way or to the same purpose.

I respect your opinion and I apologize. I'm a work in progress, just like us all.

[ABlipinTime]

Oh ok, thanks. That makes me feel less tense.

[TheMewster]

Finally! Someone who feels the same way about Touhou as I do! Now I'm less likely to be made fun of here for my opinion! God bless!

[Death Whispers]

I generally look at trailers for games before I decide to buy them. I look at the trailers to determine whether they have sex, too much violence and anything that would defame GOD's WORD in it... if it has any of the above, I do not buy/play it... Plus it helps as I have two kids so yeah...

[Seto_Sora]

LOL I guess according to the standard in this thread, I'm totally amoral. Fact is, I'm not bothered by violence, bad religion, language, and adult themes as longs as its not explicit. That would be probably where I draw the line. Also I don't like playing games where I'm evil or obviously have power from satanic elements. And I will not play horror games, just because they are unsettling.
Otherwise games like Fallout is totally ok with me. I mean, its just simulation and nothing like real life. So killing people in a game has never bothered me. grotesque mutilation however is way beyond me and I say no there. And magic? eh, really doesn't bother me much, Final Fantasy or Myst is totally cool with me. But usually the references have to be vague or it might bother me some. And adult themes are ok with me as long as they aren't explicit. For instance I have no problem with like Catherine where the character runs around in his boxers and the theme of the game is on a one night stand with one girl and what the punishment the main character faces for being unfaithful to his impregnated gf. Or like in Alice return to Madness. I guess I just don't have many things that bother me there. But the same goes for movies and anime. the thing is, I don't hint at it; I'm pretty open about my media entertainment preferences.

[Hawkeye53]

I'll pretty much play whatever catches my interest, though I avoid games with nudity (particularly if it's used in a sexually explicit way). I don't think I've ever played any games with drug use or lots of demons in it, either, but that's generally because games with that type of content in it usually are of a subject matter that holds no interest to me, rather than something I avoid from a moral standpoint.

I generally just want to play an RPG with a good storyline and strongly developed characters. I know it's fantasy and not real, so if it has a lot of violence or anything I don't think twice about it. I learned a long time ago how to ignore foul language, so I don't think much about that either. I'm actually probably more strict in my reading and movie watching habits than my gaming habits, granted I come from a strong Christian family that also loves video games. My parents made sure I understood that stuff wasn't real and we gamed together from a very young age. Heck, I started playing teen rated Star Wars and Indiana Jones games with my mom at the age of nine and I saw my first M game at 13-14. I wasn't even allowed to see a PG-13 movie until I was almost 14.