I like video games

[TerrorDæmonum]

I like video games, but sometimes I wonder about the morality of them. Does anybody have any prepared answers or thoughts?

Linking video game violence to real violence or saying they are for children will be ignored. Video game violence does not have any relation to real violence and video games are for adults, at least, the ones worth playing.

[ServusSpiritusSancti]

In my opinion, violent video games should be avoided. I don't think it's good for someone to constantly fill their mind with stuff like that.

I have no objection to other video games, though, such as Mario or sports games, so long as someone doesn't become obsessed with them or continually lose their temper over them.

[TerrorDæmonum]

In my opinion, violent video games should be avoided. I don't think it's good for someone to constantly fill their mind with stuff like that.

What counts as violence in video games?

I have no objection to other video games, though, such as Mario or sports games, so long as someone doesn't become obsessed with them or continually lose their temper over them.

Mario is very violent, isn't it?

Is this violent?

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3d_1RajcEw[/yt]

[Lyubov]

Play the latest incarnation of the Civilization series. Found Catholicism and work on converting heathen countries.

[Ben]

Don't get the appeal. But perhaps I'm too old to appreciate them.

I like Tetris.

[TerrorDæmonum]

I like Tetris.

That is one game with a negative effect.

[The Harlequin King]

Video games are a digital expression of pre-existing forms of entertainment. What is a strategic war sim but a more evolved form of chess? What is a first-person shooter but a more sophisticated form of playing "cowboys and Indians"/"cops and robbers"? What is a single-player RPG, if not the ability to watch a movie but decide for yourself where the plot goes?

Video games themselves, like guns, are morally neutral things. One can object to the content of specific games, but one cannot object to video games themselves without condemning entertainment itself. And if a person were to condemn video games in and of themselves, then let their kids play chess, Risk, cops and robbers, or act out a play, I'd call that person a hypocrite.

[tmw89]

Let's start by outlining what physically happens when we play videogames.

In order to play a videogame well, one must develop a coordination between inputting commands to the game via a device - proprietary "controller" for a console, or mouse/keyboard/joystick/whatever for PC - and observing/reacting to primarily images on a screen (audio is usually a secondary concern.)

No matter what one's achievement within the videogame, with the exception of motion-dependent games on Wii/Wii U/Xbox Kinect/PS3 Move one is sitting down and pressing buttons for long amounts of time in order to see something happen on a screen.  This by itself can be problematic, viz. sloth.

Insofar as violence in videogames, Pæniteo, I used to think like you, but have since taken a reconsideration to the knee.  Think:  what is the merit of any man - 20, 30, 40, 50 years of age, whatever - sitting down for an hour or more and pressing buttons on an input device effecting the display of violent images on a screen?

[Lyubov]

I like Tetris.

I have Korobeiniki (the Tetris theme) as my ringtone. I wish that I would get some phone calls so I could hear it more often. 

[Ben]

I like Tetris.

That is one game with a negative effect.

This is interesting:

Another 2009 Oxford study suggests that playing Tetris-like video games may help prevent the development of traumatic memories. If the video game treatment is played soon after the traumatic event, the preoccupation with Tetris shapes is enough to prevent the mental recitation of traumatic images, thereby decreasing the accuracy, intensity, and frequency of traumatic reminders. "We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards," summarizes Dr. Emily Holmes, who led the study.[5][6]

I'll remember to play next time I'm mugged!

[TerrorDæmonum]

I'll remember to play next time I'm mugged!

Violent video games are, interestingly, also used in treating PTSD in soldiers I think.

The physical benefits of video games aside though, the moral question is what concerns us individually, especially those who play them or have children who want to.

[Ben]

I like Tetris.

I have Korobeiniki (the Tetris theme) as my ringtone. I wish that I would get some phone calls so I could hear it more often. 

Ha!

Ringtones are fun, and make for receiving calls a more pleasurable experience. You can also program the phone so that certain people ignite certain sounds.

[ServusSpiritusSancti]

Mario is very violent, isn't it?

Stepping on mushrooms isn't exactly violent. 

If anything, it's cartoon violence, which is generally harmless. By violent, I mean games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto.

I never play shooting games, period. Only sports and racing games.

[TerrorDæmonum]

Mario is very violent, isn't it?

Stepping on mushrooms isn't exactly violent. 

But this makes it very slippery, according to how one perceives the "violence".

To me, Halo is not violent most of the time. FEAR on the other hand is rather violent, but very impersonal about it.

What degree of realism is necessary for it to be unacceptable?

If anything, it's cartoon violence, which is generally harmless. By violent, I mean games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto.

Then it is up to personal perception, and it is clear that people are "desensitized" to violence, if only video game violence, so the level of acceptability is how much one is desensitized...

[tmw89]

Pæniteo, no thoughts on my post?