From: Alex Ramonsky (alex@ramonsky.com)
Date: Wed Jun 12 2002 - 23:36:35 MDT
>
>
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>But is bottling up those primitive and potentially dangerous parts of
>ourselves really healthy? The leftie pshrink world says that people
>should act out their emotions, play out their fantasies, no matter how
>immoral such acts may be under primtive patriarchal ethical systems. How
>are first person shooter games any different from you and I swatting at
>each other with foam bats, or couples playing out bondage scenarios?
>
>Mike
>
>
Oh good, I was starting to think of myself as a virtual violence
maverick...I use computer games for exactly this reason. If I'm angry, I
go blast the crap out of something...note the 'something'. It has to be
non-sentient and I have to know it's play; that I'm harming no-one.
After twenty minutes or so I feel happy again and I can go and be nice
to real people. I have removed the unpleasant hormones from my system by
venting my anger on something that can't feel it and isn't even aware
it's going on. If game characters were sentient I couldn't play any
game...what right do I have to play with another sentient being, even if
it's a non-violent game.
Pre-computers? I used to go out with a sledgehammer and demolish bits
of our garden shed (which we wanted rid of anyway) or a hand-scythe and
mercilessly slaughter millions of innocent metre-high weeds. Add a bit
of creative visualisation and it's just as good. Then I graduated to an
air pistol and cardboard box targets, which suffered horribly that
humans might not.
I do get testosterone poisoning from time to time and in the future,
perhaps I'll work it out on the holodeck (only with non-sentients!). If
we have a strong hormonal set, aggression needs to go somewhere. Some
take it to football matches, others go to war, some humans take it out
on other humans. Anger won't just go away, surely it is best to channel
it into games where nothing sentient gets hurt?
...And risking my non-existent reputation here, there's nothing wrong
with a game of kinky hostages with the missus, either (as long as it's
with absolute consent from both parties. Play is play. And creative play
is vital for teaching us survival skills when real life throws
unpleasant surprises at us. We know what _not_ to do if we've practiced
it in VR before.
I'd like to see more games where people get to work out what to do if
they're the victims; example, your character in game gets on a plane
which is hijacked. The object of the game is to get out alive and save
as many others as possible. You have no weapons and are an ordinary
civilian. You can converse with the kidnappers. If you die but you still
save some guys, you get points...come on game-writers, give us some
practice runs that might actually save real lives one day!
Ramonsky
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