Video Games and Censorship

[That Middle Aged Guy]

Most likely many of you are gamers.

I am a life long gamer.
If you were with me you might remember some of the different levels of censorship they used to employ.
The long fought battle to get more blood and gore into video games.
Everything from simple blood particles to dismemberment to pornographic content.
All these things have been unleashed in our games, our media and our music.

And for many of us it's probably safe to enjoy.

But just look at some of the monsters out there today.
After seeing some of these creatures myself.
I'm actually willing to side with caution here.

Yea the government wants our guns, they want our freedoms.
It's silly we know, we know what they are up to.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious about these kinds of things.
If you think about it even such a simple thing as this is relatable to any issue we face.

I enjoy my gore my porn my whatever I want.

But at some point is it pollutive ?
Thoughts ?

 

[shiv]

With the increased realism of modern video games, VR porn, AI that can generate anything imaginable, the things people and therefore children are going to be exposed to is going to get more realistic

Generally, I am of the stance of zero censorship. I think the parents need to be responsible for what their kids are exposed to. There are many controls available today that can be used to limit what a kid can be exposed to

Outside of that, there are worse things that can happen to kids other than what kind of media they consume. Sexual abuse, alcoholic/drug addicted parents and being subjected to physical violence are examples

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

With the increased realism of modern video games, VR porn, AI that can generate anything imaginable, the things people and therefore children are going to be exposed to is going to get more realistic

Generally, I am of the stance of zero censorship. I think the parents need to be responsible for what their kids are exposed to. There are many controls available today that can be used to limit what a kid can be exposed to

Outside of that, there are worse things that can happen to kids other than what kind of media they consume. Sexual abuse, alcoholic/drug addicted parents and being subjected to physical violence are examples

Hey good to hear it.

If you want to discuss more lets pry. If not great response...

You said there are worse things such as drug addicted parents and being sujected to physical violence are worse things. True.

So if these are bad things. Is it responsible to include these kinds of things in video games ?

 

[TheFiend]

Hey good to hear it.

If you want to discuss more lets pry. If not great response...

You said there are worse things such as drug addicted parents and being sujected to physical violence are worse things. True.

So if these are bad things. Is it responsible to include these kinds of things in video games ?

...yeah, ya know, that is a rather observant query.
At first glance one may not immediately notice the glaring relevance of what you've highlighted here...or at least I hadn't noticed it until reading your words.
I'm actually surprised too. Considering how obvious it is and already should've been, yet somehow it was not-obvious, tbh I'm unsure of the appropriate term for such a thing.
Maybe paradoxical perhaps(¿...?)

Regardless, with respect to the query itself, that is definitely a tricky one to answer aye.

While I do agree with @shiv , that parents need to be responsible, or rather more parents ought to be moreso thereof subject matter which ultimately they either allow or deny exposure to their children—*for whom the parents are fundamentally responsible unto.

Is it responsible allowing, insofar as is within an adult individuals capacities to independently determine, whether so intentionally or instead another consequence of parental dereliction, the exposure to a dependant developing individual by traumatic real world experiences...of course which I'm sure most people will generally agree that "no", it would indeed be blatantly irresponsible, yet obviously not so easy to answer when instead the same/or relatively similar objective context has become integrated within the widely available and now variably "normalized" artificial representations of such. Like, some people might argue from positions whereby asserting video games aren't real, thus resulting in no real world consequence for real world participants/witnesses from these artificial representations, so therefore no biggie.
Whereas alternatively others may argue from positions drawing attention upon video games requisite psycho-cognitive induction inter/re-activity aspects, &/or simply upon the fact video games are specifically designed to basically function as powerful psycho-cognitive immersion stimuli.
Admittedly I currently lean more towards the latter, although I still enjoy gaming, yet I, ahhh...dunno really....I guess I just no longer consider video games as being like inconsequential toys, or just something we fuck around with for fun or to kill time aye.
Right now, if I were one responsible for dependant developing individuals....by the gotts I would be like a hawk with respect to any potential exposure points with digital content. In hindsight, video games back in the day, eg: the late '90s-early '00s, probably weren't that bad since they usually existed on cartridges or disks, so the software & the content pretty much never changed, we got exactly what we got the day we bought a game, no less & no more. Whereas nowadays it's common for video game software to either require some degree of part/or full-time connection via the internet or even exist anywhere from partially to fully online as well.
I bought/& downloaded a few digital versions of games for my PS3 a good while ago which I still haven't bothered jammin' yet.
@shiv might actually recall this too, coz it was his excitement for one particular game (can't remember the title) which influenced my decision to purchase it. Tbh the only game title I can recall buying, was Dying Light 2, though I haven't jammed it either.
No doubt during the time since each game was released, purchased and downloaded, numerous updates and whatnot would have occurred, so then I wonder, how different might those games that I bought well over a year/possibly closer to two years ago, be compared to their current states(...?). Generally I'd anticipate the more overtly presented stimuli, eg: the audio/video, top most psycho-cognitive layers like the primary narratives, characters, etc...would likely appear unchanged overall, butt underneath all that, for all I know there may have been all sorts of changes made through updates, bug fixes & patches, to add-ons, extensions or whatever else. I wouldn't even know if, for example, let's say Dying Light 2 had some sort of disastrous core bug eventually discovered that required a major overhaul, resulting with it pretty much being a largely different non-physical product than what I'd originally purchased. I just wouldn't be aware. On the other hand, I'd probably be aware if a software developer climbed in through a window to switch the physical copy of a product I bought from their brand~with an altered version, or at least they'd first have to run it by me. Which, in a somewhat figurative sense by contrast, essentially amounts as being like a layer of defense from what we now have to deal with as "normal", which is (imo) simply remote intrusion.
Like, my PS3, if it weren't completely disconnected from net, it would not only be just an entertainment device or basically a toy that I can't be bothered playing with anymore. That PS3, when connected , would provide a means for any mother fucker with the necessary techno wizardry skills, to gain remote access via a digital portal into my real world property, which could potentially be exploited to my detriment without my ever even becoming aware of it occurring.
Although this hypothetical scenario is probably overly paranoid and unlikely in most cases, which would instead merely be automated system, software or perhaps spyware updates & that sort of shit, but still, I just ain't keen on the idea that some unknown cunts from some far away place are freely able to access my property, whether it's the operating system within the console, or a games software, both of which I legitimately own, and regardless if the software is either stored on a device I own on my real world property or stored somewhere else. To me, I consider there really being no fundamental difference beyond the physical vs the non-physical with respect to tangible property and intangible digital property. I ain't lettin' no cunt fuck with my shit without my express approval.

Now, if I also had parental responsibilities, I'd quite likely be several orders of magnitude more paranoid than this too... I'd potentially be seen as "the mean parent" or whateverthefuck because "it's not fair", "all the other kids have mobiles/computers/gaming consoles/etc"...they may perceive this as "punishment " or if they're retarded kids they might simply believe it to be "child abuse". Eventually—hopefully, they may possibly begin to comprehend the harsh realities of the real world that could easily at any moment be projected directly to anyone, which is what I would be doing everything in my capacity to shield the kids from until they are no longer fully dependant upon me, adequately equipped and able to face the unpredictable realities of our transient physicality experience....hmmm, I may have strayed a little too far off topic.

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

>Whereas alternatively others may argue from positions drawing attention upon video games requisite psycho-cognitive induction inter/re-activity aspects, &/or simply upon the fact video games are specifically designed to basically function as powerful psycho-cognitive immersion stimuli.

Holy Cow man, your a beast, crazy response.

Late 70s early 80s people were killing themselves when their character died in D&D. Back then the immediate response was. "what a bunch of low life pussies" I guess my point is the game doesn't necessarily have to be so graphically intesnse to have a life changing effect.

So if people were influenced that much by D&D then how much more can they be influenced by games like GTA V. Obviously that is the one that stands out the most in terms of warping society. It's influence is far beyond what most of you will probably consider. How it is changing the world isn't within the scope of so many important people because they are caught up in old wars.

 

[shiv]

Look at violence in Middle Eastern countries where they’ve never touched video games in their lives.

What about the extreme levels of drug violence in Mexico? While video games and other media are proliferating to some of these third world countries now, this media had little to no influence on what led to the situations that exist in these countries now

Then you have the situations in Ukraine and Palestine.

You also have the extreme level of sexual assault in places like India.

Look at violence throughout history. Were they influenced by books that contain depictions of violence? Even the Bible is full of violence.

•••
When you compare crime in the US or other developed countries compared to many other places across the world, you might be able to argue the volume, but it’s a stretch to dispute the difference in magnitude.

There are many, many more and complex factors that drive violence in a society than the media it consumes. It can also be argued that this kind of media can reduce crime in the real world by providing an outlet that doesn’t harm an actual human being

I’m not trying to make the argument that sex and violence in media is moral or ethical, but there has always been crime and violence as long as humans have existed

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

It is a difficult subject to nail down. Since the target "censorship" is far reaching beyond video games.

We enjoy our freedoms. But at some point, maybe there should be a line that defines who we are and what we will not tolerate.

To be on target with you response >shiv

I'm not saying that because someone mass murders people in a game then they are thinking about doing it in real life. I'm just comming to terms with the fact that we usually aren't as in control as we think we are. The sub consious mind is a real thing. I'm sure most of you have a firm grip on that. I'm not so sure about the rest of the world.

Shooters were shooters back in the day. But now everything comes with a plot and a scenario that is no exactly just kill the enemy. At some point it becomes just as dangerous as the bible in the wrong hands.

So the argument becomes quickly... Guns don't kill people, People kill people.
And a toaster doesn't toast toast toast toast toast. (sorry can't resist throwing that joke in)

Whats my point ?

I guess my point is that we should think about the bigger pictures sometimes and not just ourselves. We have the gore we have the nudity we have drugs and violence. And whats next ?
Torture, rape, humiliation, degredation. All of the twisted humor of the dark.

I just feel like we need more lines that define who we are or else we loose ourself. You be you, but don't be that. Kind of thing.

 

[shiv]

It is a difficult subject to nail down. Since the target "censorship" is far reaching beyond video games.

We enjoy our freedoms. But at some point, maybe there should be a line that defines who we are and what we will not tolerate.

To be on target with you response >shiv

I'm not saying that because someone mass murders people in a game then they are thinking about doing it in real life. I'm just comming to terms with the fact that we usually aren't as in control as we think we are. The sub consious mind is a real thing. I'm sure most of you have a firm grip on that. I'm not so sure about the rest of the world.

Shooters were shooters back in the day. But now everything comes with a plot and a scenario that is no exactly just kill the enemy. At some point it becomes just as dangerous as the bible in the wrong hands.

So the argument becomes quickly... Guns don't kill people, People kill people.
And a toaster doesn't toast toast toast toast toast. (sorry can't resist throwing that joke in)

Whats my point ?

I guess my point is that we should think about the bigger pictures sometimes and not just ourselves. We have the gore we have the nudity we have drugs and violence. And whats next ?
Torture, rape, humiliation, degredation. All of the twisted humor of the dark.

I just feel like we need more lines that define who we are or else we loose ourself. You be you, but don't be that. Kind of thing.

Let’s say some bounding lines were established. How do you see them being defined and enforced?

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

Let’s say some bounding lines were established. How do you see them being defined and enforced?

Yea thats a big can of worms to open.
If I had the reigns I don't see any problem with it.
But then again I am not as sypythetical as most of the population appears to be.

I'm thinking the bigger question is. What happened to the censorship ?
We used to have it in the 90s. Late 80s you couldn't even use profanity in music.
Musicians would litteraly be arrested on stage for using them.

Now look where we are.
Again it's a tough subject to reason with. Since most of us are responsible with our freedoms.

 

[shiv]

Yea thats a big can of worms to open.
If I had the reigns I don't see any problem with it.
But then again I am not as sypythetical as most of the population appears to be.

I'm thinking the bigger question is. What happened to the censorship ?
We used to have it in the 90s. Late 80s you couldn't even use profanity in music.
Musicians would litteraly be arrested on stage for using them.

Now look where we are.
Again it's a tough subject to reason with. Since most of us are responsible with our freedoms.

What do you mean when you say: “if I had the reigns I don’t see any problem with it”

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

>Let’s say some bounding lines were established. How do you see them being defined and enforced?

The idea here is that video games are a big thing. A lot of kids end up using them. So these games can become a influencer. As they become more and more real to people. They just might begin to interact with others similarly to how they act within the games.

Well what your asking is to complex to just lay out. Everyone can have rage, so it's about concentrating that rage into something good instead of bad. That might be a good place to start when defining how to draw these lines or perhaps work with the existing production of games.

Gore violence and hate are all real things. So the games can teach you real world skills at the same time. For sure a tactical simulator will teach you some things about real combat. So the idea would be to make them constructive and teach people these skills. Instead of allowing flat out violence and murder.

 

[MalO]

 

[TheFiend]

But at some point is it pollutive ?

I suspect there is a pollutive point and it'd probably be relative to an individual's developmental state vs a video games content.

Problem I'm seeing is that we've apparently already taken things too far, essentially fucking ourselves over by adultification of our younger generations.
Dunno if many are aware that we don't reach physical (& mental) maturity until around mid-twenty, some say 27 is the average.

In some cultures, young individuals are taught and expected to do things which "westerners" would generally consider to be far beyond appropriate for children to be exposed to, such as manual labor, though I'm not referring to child exploitation, but rather just things like being expected to assume responsibilities, eg: chores around the house, mowing the lawn and shit like that. I ain't never seen a 7yo mowin' no lawn, at least not since I was 7.
Some might consider a 7yo mowing a lawn to be near equivalent to "child abuse" or something.
They might assert that it's an example of "adultification".
Meanwhile primary school children are openly being exposed to deviant transgenderism and blatant sexualization—in public schools—by the so-called "educators".
Unlike mowing lawns, sexualizing children is an actual example of real adultification.
And unlike mowing lawns, of which whereby benefiting from developing a foundational sense of responsibility among other crucial skills, in absolute contrast, the "normalized" sexualization of children in schools only results with significant detriment to each child. I mean, it is nothing short of child abuse, and which almost guarantees resulting at the very minimum with stunting a child's proper development, furthermore only leading to the child developing variable dysfunctionality by adulthood.
Thus I anticipate within the next 20-30 years we are all going to be dealing with some pretty fucked up shit by some pretty fucked up individuals, likely whom will be afflicted with a wide range of sexual perversions as well, all as a direct consequence of these abhorrent mainstream institutional adultification rituals.

As if thats not already bad enough we also throw in video games like GTA which, for any developing individual, effectively programmes their mind with a fundamental detachment/disconnect from actual reality. Same as how children exposed to computer languages inevitably end up cognitively functioning strikingly similar to computer processes. We are already seeing this particular disaster unfolding right now too... just try dealing with any typical software developer, especially the younger ones in their twenties....in most cases I've experienced, they're overwhelmingly absurd individuals who generally lack the most basic personal & social skills, let alone possessing any more than the self-awareness of a pre-teen.
And it's these same sorts of highly capable individuals (in terms of computer programming while also severely underdeveloped in most real world skills) who are increasingly the ones involved with video game development.
Thus drastically increasing the likelihood for spreading the pervasive societal dysfunctionality.

So we've basically allowed the ideal conditions for enabling a self-perpetuating self-subverting societal disaster to manifest from within our modern civilization—which probably ain't going to turn out too good for the generations yet to come.

I think that there's at least two pollutive points relevant to the OP query.
1. being the point where we allow our developing generations to be exposed to video games like GTA—which, in my opinion, is simply adult content for adult entertainment. As adults we already know (or ought to know) the real world and we can easily discern (or should be able to) between fact vs fiction, reality vs artificiality, we are generally far less likely to misperceive, misinterpret or confuse shit from a video game as anything other than being a fictive psycho-cognitive drug.
Whereas obviously a child simply lacks real world experience and hasn't yet had the chance to fully mature as such therefore to accurately distinguish between real vs unreal. Sure on the face of it a child may, to some degree, be aware that mowing down pedestrians in a vehicle is not a good thing, so if asked whether it's ok to do that in the real world, the child might express the "socially acceptable" response, that it's not ok. Yet in a child's mind, just as it is for an adult, it is indeed a lot of fun plowing through pedestrians while playing GTA.
One obvious key difference here of course being that a child probably hasn't ever experienced first hand responsibility for operating a motor vehicle in the real world and so is therefore entirely incapable of fully comprehending anything beyond their limited experiential scope, which should be a significant concern for any reasonable adult once realizing the potential implications revealed by such a glaring fundamental truth—especially when considering that this is also only further compounded by all the other societally self-destructive absurdities we practice daily while yet moreover still largely seeming oblivious to the fact of our collectively enabling—via inaction— for those irresponsible predatory fucklets among us, the absolute freedom for seeking the "normalization" thereof that which is destabilizing the foundations of civilization.

2. Butt who knows aye. Maybe this isn't the first time the civilizations of man-kind & the hue-mans have found ourselves teetering on the brink of total collapse. Yet if so, then obviously they weren't able to alter the course in time otherwise their civilizations would still exist instead of our current one.

Anyways I'm still half asleep and prolly rambling incoherently...

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

 

[TheFiend]

Look at violence in Middle Eastern countries where they’ve never touched video games in their lives.

What about the extreme levels of drug violence in Mexico? While video games and other media are proliferating to some of these third world countries now, this media had little to no influence on what led to the situations that exist in these countries now

Then you have the situations in Ukraine and Palestine.

You also have the extreme level of sexual assault in places like India.

Look at violence throughout history. Were they influenced by books that contain depictions of violence? Even the Bible is full of violence.

•••
When you compare crime in the US or other developed countries compared to many other places across the world, you might be able to argue the volume, but it’s a stretch to dispute the difference in magnitude.

There are many, many more and complex factors that drive violence in a society than the media it consumes. It can also be argued that this kind of media can reduce crime in the real world by providing an outlet that doesn’t harm an actual human being

I’m not trying to make the argument that sex and violence in media is moral or ethical, but there has always been crime and violence as long as humans have existed

Excellent points mate.
I have to agree with you too.

Regarding the endless violence and carnage in the mid-east, I reckon you're right. It's not the result of digital media or video games although it probably wouldn't have become such an absolute disaster over there if not for the corporate overlords establishing the parasitic death cult's terrorist state in Palestine back in the late '40s... followed by decades of our "western" warmongering shenanigans.

Shit, just the other day that modern fake Israel's military massacred hundreds of innocents, injuring thousands more simply to kill a few supposedly hostile actors in (I think it was) Lebanon.
Regardless, the reality is that the crypto-"jew" cult have gleefully been getting away with perpetrating mass slaughter upon the natives of the neighbouring nations right from day one.

As I'm sure you're well aware, the mid-eastern cultures are very different to "western" cultures.
According to G-Earth, Alabama is around 6,500 miles from the general mid-east.
While Alabama to NZ is approximately 8,000 miles and NZ to the mid-east roughly 10, 000.
Despite Alabama being geographically closer to the mid-east than to NZ, you and I probably share a lot in common on an overt level as well as fundamentally.
Perhaps the thing common between ME & Alabama would be the affliction of the "christian" branch of the ancient ME originating Babylonian desert cult, which is also an affliction shared by NZ too.

Now, as anyone with the capacity for independent thought would be aware, the overwhelming majority of corporate overlords are either descendants, converts, or subservients of the parasite cultists.
Ever since early last century, among other things, the "jew" cultists began taking over the worlds preeminent communications systems, newspapers, radio, tv, etc, and soon arose festering commy shitholes like Hollyweird.
It seems to me that although the Talmudic cultists destruction in the ME is overt, it's fundamentally no different than what they have & still are doing in the US, UK, EU, AU, SA, NZ, etc, it's the same destruction—merely done in a covert manner, slowly poisoning us from within, while hiding amongst us, concealing their inherently aberrant hue-man nature behind man-kind's, our, inherently righteous nature.

Wonder how many video games are financed by shekel goblins...

 

[weaponoffreedom]

This is a great topic.

I do not generally have an issue with freedom of whatever......but i do not see the need or positive influence of some games on the youth of today.

Too much of anything is bad, and i am sure that most would agree that "too much" has been long satisfied.

There is one thing that came up in conversation with one of my young ones when talking about GOD\religion and the like:

One of them argued against the existence of God, citing the evils in the world. A common standpoint.....while at the same time voicing the human instinct to be "altruistic" in nature and attributing humanities proliferation to that and not much else.

He grew up playing "Grand Theft Auto". Which is a fun game, IMO, something immediately hit me while watching him play online.......

One day he quit playing online, and I asked why. He noted that all anyone wants to do is "snipe you". In other words if you play online GTA, most people just go on there to kill other people and take their shit........whatever that means.......

Not too "altruistic" huh? I said. And posed the question: "If we are "inherently altrustic", then why do not people on GTA HELP each other for a common GOOD, and not strive to kill one another for private gains?........

Altruism although a thing, is NOT the nature of humans. In GTA for example, and many other social experimental games like COD.....our first instinct is not help, but to gain from others, with the least bit of effort.

Point being, I see no added value in gaming other than entertainment, but in this case, it allowed me to show someone else the error in the group think.

You can do anything.....the real question is SHOULD you?

@TheFiend will say that I am robotic in this kind of thinking, maybe so....there is a right and a wrong, not much in the grey. This topic is one that might be in the grey.

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]

Thats what I am saying. Call of duty and the like while aggressive and violent doesn't bring along to many crimial simulation with it. Some games are a criminal simulation, you play a killer and a thief every time. And it's not just a theme. Your not the good guy.

Things like this start out seamingly innocent and slowly they evolve into monsters.
Everyone is to caught up in other things to care. It won't be untill the damage is done that people consider it.

I personally enjoyed gta 5 although I never completed it. Thats just how games are for me now,. can't really enjoy them for long periods of time. But these young people grew up differently than me. They have a uncensored world from the start filled with violence. And then when they want to escape that world they turn on their video game and enter a world filled with even more violence.

 

[That Middle Aged Guy]