buffer-overflowed's Journal: Something I wrote last night

on violence in video games, in response to the often heard line that "I grew up on them, and I'm ok." Basically, posting that kind of crap is asking for an echo chamber, and I'm just a bit sick of echo chambers at this point.

Original comment. My reply/thread with replies.

Thought I'd share, because no one seemed to want to talk about my initial tangent. I'm tempted to pick apart my responses and detail out where I used internet-flame rhetoric in a few of the replies.

Here's the meat for those that don't feel like clicking the link:

Huh? They did not have the types of games when I was growing up that they have now. So I can't really weigh in and say "I played violent games, and I'm ok."

About the most violent thing I can think of that I played was Doom. Which is comically cartoony compared to stuff like Manhunt or the newer GTAs. Or hell, any modern FPS. Mortal Kombat is also NOTHING compared to what we have now. Go back and play it. Not only are the situations found within ridiculous, but the graphics are downright tame. I've seen better gore effects in foreign low-budget horror flicks(which I also watched growing up, and apart from a sick sense of humor, I'm pretty well-adjusted). There's also looney tunes. None of this is in the same league as some modern games!

We just didn't have the tech to produce violent situations with as much realism as we can now. We don't have as much now as we will next year, and we won't have as much then as we will 5-6 years from now. Now, does this matter? Maybe, maybe not. We know that exposure to violence during certain stages of development effects people(and even later in life, PTSD and the like). The extent to which simulated or indirectly viewed violence(IE: via the news) does is still up in the air(with current data pointing to it not being statistically significant[but hey, neither is 2nd hand smoke!]) because psych is such a voodoo art soft science(and the professor quoted here isn't a developmental psychologist). Now, as the line blurs between reality and gameplay due to improved physics, graphics, AI and a miscellany of immersion techniques, this could very well change. That's tangenital however.

Now, believe it or not, that was just a big tangent on the "I played violent games growing up and I'm FINE" argument I keep seeing. No you didn't, at least not compared to what's out right now.