Are You Game?

Continuing on with the violence theme we also looked into gaming. Not being a big fan of computer games myself I must admit I may have let my mind wander slightly here, but thinking about the violence that is featured in games you notice it is very similar to the violence featured in film. The range of gaming has definately progressed greatly over the last 30/40 years; we were shown an early depiction of violence from the 1970's game Deathrace. Seeing how much gaming has improved with characters now looking very realistic, it also makes the violence seem more real.
Sticking by what I said in my previous post I don't believe film violence really influences people, however game violence differs slightly. Insted of watching a person hurt or kill someone in a film, you are actually able to personally control the character to do this within a game. You're the one who has the ability to cause pain. It seems much closer to the real thing.

A film I watched a few months ago on this topic was Gamer, starring Gerard Butler.


 


Set in the future, it shows a world in which people are placed in a gaming environment with their actions controlled by other humans. To involve real people in violence for entertainment I feel is definately a step too far.

And yet the popularity of these types of games seem to be soaring. A scary possibility perhaps? Or just harmless fun?