Video Game Violence: How Long Can You Watch This Video Without Feeling Uncomfortable?
October 30th, 2007 | by Ginnie | (Visited 7,456 times)
I was reading an article that inspired a blog post when I caught an ad on the side of the page. It was about the controversy over the video game Manhunt 2. Manhunt was a seriously violent game (as you’ll see from the video below), but it’s from the people at RockStar who brought you games like Grand Theft Auto, so violence is to be expected.
Ironically, I’m the last person to complain about violent games. I used to love using the chainsaw in Doom (for PC) to see that waterfall of red pixels. Grand Theft Auto was also my first game on my Playstation 2. I grew up as a teenager playing violent video games, don’t have a criminal record, and while I have to admit that the internet definitely expanded my horizons and showed me some great and some terrible stuff, I still manage to do the things everyone else does.
Manhunt Executions - Are you feeling uncomfortable now? How about now?
Watch this video and ask yourself that question. When do you start becoming uncomfortable?
( recommended by a reader )
I’ve seen real executions before. Most kids on the net have. I’ve seen the ones that were quick, I’ve seen the ones were not, and I’ve seen the ones that left me walking away from the computer feeling empty and numb inside. I’ve seen animals abused, murdered, and tortured as well. Violence and death can inspire amazingly positive emotions in us, just as they can incite us to declare our own desires to perform the same acts in return as revenge.
But what happens when it’s not real. When you’re watching one of those videos with people choking on their own blood and then realize it’s not real at all.. you’re playing a video game.
My Personal Beliefs On Video Game Violence
I’m somewhat of a Libertarian regarding political beliefs. I believe that the less government that intervenes in my day to day actions, the better. The War on Drugs hasn’t stopped anyone from using drugs. It’s only forced me to give more of my paycheck to house pot smokers with violent criminals. The War on Terror hasn’t caught Bin Laden. You see where I’m going. Essentially, I believe that we over-govern solely for the ‘feel good factor’ of hearing that “something is being done”. Even if nothing really ends up getting done. At least I don’t have to feel obligated to help change anything. I believe more in personal responsibility.
The same goes with video games and violence. Democrats and Republicans alike will scream “But think about the children!!”, but the truth is that bans on violent video game sales follow the same logic that was supposed to stop kids from buying drugs. We all know how well that worked.
But I have to admit, I watch that video and it makes me think, “This is terrible”. But so what? I don’t teach my children to curse, or allow it. But they know that I know that they’re going to hear it, and that Dad’s instructions are to realize that those people are just holding themselves to a lower standard and allowing extreme emotion to affect their vocabulary. Silly, but it helps show that they need to be responsible for their actions.
You can’t hide your kids from anything out there, you can only teach them how to deal with it when they encounter it.
Video Game Violence And Controversy
Because the election year is nearing, everyone is stepping on the podium to tell us what they’d do to make sure that buying games or that perhaps even MAKING games like this should be illegal (because we’ve obviously proved that making things illegal makes the problems associated with them go away).
Other Links On Video Game Violence And Its Effects
I ran into these articles on my search for some more meat and I thought the one from the APA was extremely authoritative and enlightening:
Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked (PBS)
Video game controversy (Wikipedia)
Does game violence make teens aggressive? (MSNBC)
Reality Check on Video Game Violence (LiveScience)
Can A Video Game Lead To Murder? (CBS News)
Video Game Violence Goes Straight to Kids’ Heads (Forbes)
I think we’ve almost conclusively found that video game violence does not beget real violence, but it’s still hard to think when someone’s just gone so over the top with a game that it just becomes gaudy. In the end I’d argue that violence in video games is less about being bad or dangerous, but more about being over the top and tacky.
Although I’m also the kind of Type-A personality that will go through and want to see all the sick and twisted ways someone can be killed in a video game. It’s less about the violence and more about the mental challenge of knowing you’ve “seen it all” and “experienced/beaten” the game.
What do you think? When did that video become too hard to watch? When did you start feeling thoughts run through your mind about who should be playing a video game like that?
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Awesome! Had a sandwich while I watched, Roast Beef & Provalone…good stuff.
this one is also brutal.. it’s for the punisher:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5wXQc_L76mA
The last execution was a bit gory, but I have seen far more realistic executions in movies. This video was a good example of how violent some games are these days, but it’s still obviously all computerized; the blood doesn’t even fall realistically.
I have played and watched this video game a few times, although I believe it was the first one, and found it to be a bit unnerving due to the silence of the game play, but the violence within it never disturbed me. It’s all about shock value and how bloody and painful the main character can make the deaths of those he is trying to kill.
Overall, I was able to watch the entire video and not feel uncomfortable at all.
Very compelling points.
Sure, movies outdo this game in visual violence, but this doesn’t express the experiencing of playing here. Manhunt 2 has to be one of the most traumatizing games I’ve played. You’re constantly on alert, sneaking around corners and in shadows, often left with only one weapon at a time that breaks when you use it, and put in situations where guards are breathing down on you and the screen is pulsing with the warning “Don’t Move.” If you move the Wiimote at all, you’re spotted and done for. Forget hand-to-hand combat, that rarely works since being outnumbered even by two will get you beaten down. Not to mention you are left at times only with, say, a plastic bag, and the only way to kill a pacing agent is to sneak up behind them and pull the bag over their head. I’m not sure I’ll ever finish this one…
Manhunt is sure a sick game.
Sick game indeed. But because i know it is a game and not for real it really doesn’t bother me at all. If it did disturb most people then that game would never had been made.
awesome game
I used to be a Libertarian when I was young, too.
But many years of witnessing rampant human stupidity have left me convinced that the vast majority of our species is not yet ready for the libertarian ideal.
Freedom is for those who are intelligent enough, emotionally mature enough, and spiritually evolved enough to put it to good use.
Who gets to draw that line? Yeah, there’s the rub.
But almost any reasonable criterion would be better than the one we now use, which is: almost anyone over the age of 18 or 21 — no matter how emotionally warped or mentally deficient or spiritually blind and ignorant they might be.
Regarding video games: I think it’s a good way to waste your life.
What are you going to be thinking, when you’re on your death bed? (choose one)
“Damn, I sure am glad that I spent several years of my life zapping imaginary 2-dimensional bad guys with imaginary laser weapons!”
~ OR ~
“Damn, I sure wish I had spent more time walking through the verdant forests, watching the sun rise, protecting the blessed Earth, and expressing my love for my fellow living creatures in every way that I could find.”
i felt uncomfortable watching the first vid, only cuz is boring, from a bad-ass graphics game, and is quite repetitive, i play GoW, Silent Hill, GTA and i never thought or actually did anything to hurt any1.
That trully is bullshit, is a way for parents to excuse they’re fault as parents.
I think we need to stop making games like these… ust watching these scare me, and at school many play games like these and are just dying to try these moves on others as ‘jokes/pranks/bully tactics/etc.’ Many people at my school are seen doing drugs, bringing weapons to school,etc. And I dunno if it’s the movies, video gams, or songs that make them wanna try this stuff, but this needs to stop before America is officially the SCARIEST PLACE ON EARTH.
Just watching these make me paranoid… I mean I love fighting games, and gore, and fictional horror, but I DO NOT LIKE GAMES THAT TEACH YOU HOW TO KILL OR HUNT PEOPLE…. thats why there are more rapists and murderers and insaine people because the meida is telling them it’s okay to buy these games and play them! then next thing we know we forget whats reality and whats game…
Its fake. If you can’t handle that its fake then I don’t think you should be playing in the first place. Also, Jisatsu said that his school has kids with weapons who try these moves on other kids… I dunno about you but I recommend you GTFO of there and seriously call the police or something. Its not video games that make people violent or allow the perpetrations of crimes, but people like you. If you had considered calling the police or telling an adult about these incidents then maybe someone mature could talk with those people and maybe talk some sense into them. Please, help the world become a better place by acting mature and not having scapegoats for all your problems… Its not the middle ages anymore…
though i dont believe violent videogames cause violence in people.
i do believe that fantasy/generated images are desensitizing people. and they choose not to believe it because they can hold the claim of “i know the difference of fantasy and reality”
for those who dont let things influence them. good for you. though know its not like that for everyone.
some people play games as an outlet for anger.
some play games because they are entertaining.
some people can indeed get bored of fantasy and take it too reality, and those are the concerns when it comes to violent images in any media.