Video Violence

I get really sick of people who oppose creating an R18 rating for games [and seem to oppose gaming itself] going on and on about desensitisation. Yes, constantly exposing yourself to [sometimes very realistic] simulations of violence and nastyness does make it affect you less, but it doesn't dehumanise you.

Virtually, I've been in fucking hundreds of warzones, and when given the oppotunity, I've taken innnocent civilians and fucked shit up, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to care if someone actually starts killing people. I mean come on, who the fuck would not care about that?? The kind of person who just wouldn't care anyway, video games or no.

Paying graphic video games [or watching similarly themed movies for that matter] doesn't make people not care about things anymore. Sure it, we don't respond as massively as we otherwise would, but that's a good thing. If I had never played or seen any form of violence previously in my life and was then mugged, I'd probably completely shut down. After I've seen all of these things and had the artificial experiences, I reckon I'd deal okay. I'd still be shaken, but I'd be able to cope.

I'd also be able to cope with stabbing a careless mugger.