Google is my best friend. I average about 15 searches a day
(a conservative estimation), and value my relationship with it. Anyway, I
vaguely recall searching for ‘contentious video games’ and ‘banned video games’
one day and reading it all in awe.
As I read through the Wikipedia article (being the first
thing that pops up), I realized how different each country reacts to certain
video games that I love… and ones I wish I never knew about.
I find it interesting how simply being raised in the U.S.
has conditioned me to be apathetic towards excessive violence, sexual content,
and general vulgarity in video games. I wonder if I would feel different if I
was raised elsewhere. Would I still be desensitized towards it all?
I can see how games that are saturated in foreign affairs,
as Wagner points out about the New York Defender video game and the comparison
to Kuma/War (179), are a means of illuminating how we are conditioned. Of
course, many in the U.S. would be offended by a 9/11 related video game because
it was a traumatic event experienced on a national scale. Likewise, I understand that Kuma/War would be received negatively in the United Arab Emirates for content
involving desecration of holy places and objects.
I’m not dissatisfied by the range that I have for experiencing
(and all without consequence) activities in a safe space, known as my
Playstation 3, back at home. But I feel conflicted over how much of what our
media feeds us as far as common sensibilities is concerned. Our media
illuminates so much about our nation, but how free am I of a thinker from this
cage? Why does my moral compass tick differently about these video games?
When you say that if you lived else were you would be less sensitized to violence, sexual content, and vulgarity what do you mean? Plenty of countries have all those things. In Afghanistan stoning is illegal but is still often carried out. This is in the 'real world' too and outside the virtual magic circle. There are places were rape is commonplace as well. I feel like being in a culture were stoning and rape is the norm, you might not even consider being desensitized because it is 'natural'. If you mean countries were the internet is heavily censored that is interesting to consider too!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was referring to violence, sexual content, and vulgarity I was mainly referring to what we allow in our media and more specifically video games. I am aware that these things exist outside of our borders, but because they are readily accessible in the magic circle, I wonder if these things impact me differently because of this kind of exposure.
ReplyDeleteI am mostly going to disagree with your use of "apathetic" in reference towards excessive violence, sexual content, and general vulgarity.
ReplyDeleteI would make the claim that the US and the world is NOT apathetic towards these issues. Let me break down my use of apathetic:
a- = a prefix that means not something, lacking something or against something.
pathy = from the Greek pathos (πάθος) generally meaning emotions or feelings. Specifically pathos is used by Aristotle as one of the three appeals in Rhetoric.
So are you using apathetic to claim that the US does not have emotions regarding violence, sex, and vulgarity? I would claim exactly the opposite.
What are our highest grossing films, songs, and video games? Violent, sexual, vulgar ones. According to Aristotle, these media are properly appealing to pathos, to emotions, and that is exactly why they are so prevalent.
But what I think your actual claim is, and I am going to deduce this based on the context of your argument, is that you think the US and others do not have the PROPER emotions or perhaps do not possess feelings of a specific kind (such as remorse, regret, or morally engaged emotions).
I would also claim that our media and video games stimulate emotions that pre-exist the media. I would not claim that the media stimulates new emotions, but rather stirs up emotions that are typically considered taboo in our societal context, but not taboo in a virtual context.
I would make the claim that people are not morally upright and then corrupted by media. I would say that we are morally sumbags who suppress our immorality for the sake of society. It just so happens however that we have a very large location (virtual space and media) where people can go to act out or symbolically satisfy their messed up, darker sides.
Why else would degenerate crap be so appealing? That's my two cents.