Yesterday it was linked on game sites that yet another article on how video games have an effect on people being more violent was released. They seem to come out every few months like clockwork these days; I feel it’s my turn to talk about this ,seeing as how I’ve playing video games for 23 years.
Let me begin by stating the following, I’m not a “normal” person and I could very well be the exception to the rule. When it comes to video games I have no problem with killing men, women, children, animals, pirates, ninjas, undead, and so on. My current favorite game is Team Fortress 2 where I enjoy head shooting people from across the map as a sniper. Now according to these studies I should be on my way to becoming a serial killer, yet in real life I’m very different.
When it comes to real life I can’t even kill a bug without feeling remorse for it, the only times that I do kill them is if they enter my room which I consider to be a bug free zone. Last night I was getting a drink from my kitchen when I saw a fly on the wall just standing there, it would have been so easy to take a paper towel and kill it. However I couldn’t do it, it didn’t seem right to me, which sounds very weird coming from a trained video game killer. When it comes to Team Fortress 2 however, I make it a habit to take out anyone I see without exception.
I guess it’s because I’ve always known that video games are different from real life, no matter how realistic they appear to be, real life is not the same. Left clicking to fire a gun does not make you a trained marksman in real life. Every time I read one of those articles saying that video games are linked to violent behavior, I laugh to myself. If that was truly the case, I should have gone postal years ago. I think the pacifist might be pushing it too far, when it comes to an idea that I’m strongly for, I will fight for it; stubbornness runs in my family. During college I remember taking a course on the concept of good and evil, and the teacher gave a lecture slamming the game industry and how it’s polluting the minds of the children out there. For my final paper I wrote an essay denouncing those claims… and got a C for it.
Getting back to my first thought, I’m a very odd person; I survived the temptation that is World of Warcraft, and can play violent video games without resorting to violence in real life. Perhaps I’m ahead of the curve, or all that insanity is finally starting to pay off 🙂
Josh
