Fellow blogger Robert Chipman, other wise known as either Movie Bob or the Game Overthinker has posted a video with video maker Brian Schmoyer in a talk about video games and the violence that proceeds them. I don't to argue that video games are violent they are, but as a society we are violent as well. It seems to me that violence is one of those animalistic pleasures we strive from and that it shows in the world at large. Now both these men have made videos that talk about how gaming culture is and how still well to put in colorful words fucked up it is still. The Game Overthinker made two films about this (or videos to be quite honest I like using film because these guys actually put some fucking work into them rather than my shit) one discussed violence as a hole in the video game 'world', while the other reflects the culture brought around this and how it could improve, I suggest watching both as they both have very good points and very interesting thoughts on the subject. On the other hand we have Brian Schmoyer who seems to be talking less philosophically as the Game Overthinker does, and tells us about his life experience with "The Only Thing I Know", now this made my jaw drop to the floor when I watched it as it showed what happens when you take this hobby and turn it into an obsession. It makes me shocked that lives can be ruined by video games. Then it made me realize that lives could be ruined by just about anything, and its the not the subject itself that matters as much, but the community that is brought around the hobby. If there is something I can take from both of these guys are a sense of understanding about how the gaming culture works. Now I'm going to ramble on a bit about the the though of video game violence a bit since this podcast these two did main topic was the violence of video game.
Personally I don't think violence in the mass media such as video games or movies is a catalyst for violence in the real world. I am a person who likes to keep his nose out of a lot of stuff. There is has been a line that video games that have been drawn by me, due to the simple fact that you are not "committing" the horrible act. You’re pressing a bunch of buttons in a combination to cause someone to be disemboweled. Now with the modern age of motion capture hardware, it may lead to more people thinking that they will be able to do these things with no hesitation do to that they've done it before in a game. Now do I believe that will happen 95% of the time? Of course not, believe it or not we have common sense, and people to teach us what is wrong or right. Its that five percent that scars me, due to lack of common sense or no moral grounds due to bad parenting.
But what do I get out of this discussion? What I get is that there are some people out there with a moral high ground, with enough common sense, and the ability to project that common sense and moral high grounds out that can reach out and grab that five percent and smack some common sense into them. Though also pigs may fly and I will be caught in the middle of watching the next twilight saga movie (ugh that’s another discussion for another day). However, what I'm getting at with all this is that I do see these two helping out the new gamers in finding their moral compass. So thank you, Game Overthinker, and thank you Brian for at least making this seem to be worth a damn.
The game overthinker's blog
http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/
The only thing I know
http://screwattack.com/videos/The-Only-Thing-I-Know
Their talk
http://screwattack.com/videos/Brian-Bob-Overthinker-talk-Games-Violence
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