Post by The Legendary Simple Starfish on Feb 17, 2010 21:17:51 GMT -5
***DISCLAIMER: My opinions are very controversial, and quite frankly not everyone is going to agree (remember, I don’t like Half Life). If you have a different opinion please speak it, just don’t be a jerk about it. I felt like writing this because I thought of getting a general game discussion going, rather than the site STILL living/breathing “Staff, RPG, RPG, Staff, POSTYS *coughs*, RPG, RPG, Cbox, RPG”. Plus, I thought it would be fun. I’m no journalist. If my review sucks, say so, just again, don’t be a jerk about it. Thank you, and please enjoy the review.***
This week, because I lack the needed payment for a new game, I decided to bring up two discussions --whether video games are art, and if video games can lead to real life violence-- so you can read my excuse of journalism. Also I added a poll, so I can at least gauge who actually reads these things.
In society nowadays, art simply isn't applied to the past norm of drawing or painting on a piece of paper. With all the other media sources out there we've got ourselves a multitude of different forms of artwork, movies, music, even the little design on the Kool Aid packages; but what about video games? Art is vibrant, beautiful, has personality, it speaks a message about something; that can't be sad for most or all video game titles.
But, under definition, art is simply the creation of an object or something along those lines by man. In which case, video games easily fall under that category. But some speculate that games don't speak a message like movies or artwork do, nor do they have any personality. I on the other hand, disagree. Video games are bursting at the seams with art, the covers of a game is art, the characters are artwork, everything in a game in my opinion is art because it was created by people. It may not be pretty, but that doesn't make it art. Heck, they thought Van Gogh's artwork was utter rubbish when he first started painting, years from now they could say that Too Human and Mario Party are complete masterpieces that are way ahead of their time (well, Mario Party anyway).
Some video games carry strong, bright personalities, not to mention deep messages. A game like Brutal Legend has the personality of some sort of whacked out, drug educed, metallic version of Nickelodeon. Viva Piñata has a bright, happy-go-lucky outlook on life, and always makes sure to have fun. Even Smash Bros has a quirky personality that knows when to take itself seriously and when not to. Whereas there are some more darker settings that freak you out and make you sweat a bit, Metroid, Resident Evil 4, and Dead Space to name a few. It's games like those that make me believe that video games are art.
(Artwork from Viva Piñata) C’mon, you have to admit that fox looks cute.
Games can give you outlook on ethics and morals and really affect your view of life. In a game like Mass Effect 2 (if you haven't figured it out, I make references to good games a lot) you're given the message that 'no matter how bad things get, if we stick it out and work together, we'll make it through to the end'. Themes are all based on interpretation, but you get the idea. While some certainly won't be changing anyone's opinion on whether or not games are art (I don't see Halo or Grand Theft Auto changing someone's outlook on the meaning of life anytime soon), but as a whole video games truly are art; both by definition and by example of carrying the elements of art.
It'd be no surprise to most of you that you've heard that people think violent video games (ala Gears of War, Call of Duty, and yes even Metroid) lead people to go on killing rampages throughout mini-malls and ultimately kill themselves because the video games made them do it, OR they make people participate in dangerous acts of stupidity, do drugs, rape, and other destructive decisions. It's one of those reasons your parents didn't let you buy Battlefield: Bad Company and instead gave you The Fairly Odd Parents: Shadow Showdown. Unfortunately for Ms. Clinton, I disagree.
I will admit that games nowadays are extremely gory and violent, I mean just look at that (see picture below)! I can't even help myself that every time I think of Gears of War, Madworld or Call of Duty: World at War of a bunch of gore and guts all over the place. And yeah, in some games you do commit some pretty nasty crimes: in Pokemon you abduct poor animals from their habitats for your own enjoyment, in Mario you jump on people, and genocide in general is a felony. However, these are the few reasons I can even imagine that would influence someone to go out and drive 200mph down a road shooting people with a rocket launcher as you pass.
(Artwork from Gears of War) Over-the-top? Nonsense!
A game is not it telling you that killing people is cool, and if you want to be a smart-alec about it games never tell you to go out and run over your neighbor's puppies with a go-kart. You aren't playing Halo or Smash Bros when all of a sudden a message pops up onto the screen that reads "Hey kid, stop playing this game! Go out and shoot some aliens and beat up the local Eskimo population." If games did that they would already be banned; but they don't. Who's to say that video games have more of an effect on a kid just because they play Metroid or Call of Duty to become a suicidal maniac, rather than the fact that people treat him like dirt or the music he listens to certain music? I don't see anyone banning Van Halen or Motley Crue from the radio just because they talk about sex like it's a drug, and I don't see TV being banned because it has the same exact images of violence, gore, and Glen Beck.
Honestly, I don't see how the whole genre can even be scrutinized for it. Sure there are a bunch of violent games out there, but that's what the rating system is for so ten year old Johnny and his eight year old brother won’t play Grand Theft Auto or Gears of War. Those who are mentally unstable to begin with (ie. have a disorder or have special needs) shouldn't even be playing most video games at all, unless it's Wii Fit or a rated E title. I don't always agree with the ESRB system --Halo in my opinion should have a T rating-- but 90% of the time they get it right; the ratings are there for a reason and unfortunately some people are too ignorant to see that. Frankly, I don't see many (if any) Nintendo titles encouraging people to be thugs, and neither do a lot of games for that matter. Games like Viva Piñata and the Lego series aren't going to turn kids into xenophobes or serial killers; if anything those games have a positive message.
Poor hammer bros, they never stood a chance.
In some point in time or another, a gamer probably played video games while still living with their parents (or still do for some of us). I know not everyone is lucky enough to be raised in a good neighborhood or a good set of parents who cared, but your parents know what they're talking about. You may not always agree on whether or not rap was a good thing for America, but your parents know what's right and what's wrong. They then pass that information onto you and you have the choice of accepting it or dismissing it, and regardless of either you're gong to end up seriously thinking about it when you get older.
But most importantly, it's common sense. Although there are some boneheads out there in the world, and you don't have to travel to far to find them, but people know right from wrong. People know that every Mario title is about as realistic as the likelihood you win the lottery without even buying a ticket: nill to none. People know that getting a kill streak in Call of Duty won't grant them a helicopter so they can kill more people with it. Most people understand that when you kill someone in a video game, whoever they killed wasn't a real person. Whereas in reality if you kill someone they don't come back to life, you just took away a living being from the world and from their loved ones. Yes, I play a lot of shooter titles, I've played Halo, Gears, Brutal Legend, you get the idea. But never did I think that murdering people in real life was fun. It may have made me think that laser tag or paintball sounded fun but there's a clear and obvious difference.
The point is, video games don't cause people to become bad people. Games can give strong messages, but rarely in games do they ever display a negative message that hoping along rooftops of skyscrapers 150ft off the ground is a good idea (ala, Mirror's Edge), or hanging out with that blue hedgehog who is more-than-not on steroids is a good decision (sorry Sonic, well, not really). Why can games turn people into bad people when they can't turn you into good people? Games can give influence but it won't make you do something that involves foul play. Seriously, I don't think anyone who has a functioning brain and isn't under the age of nine is capable of understanding that wild, talking piñatas are a rarity these days........ *sigh*
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....Oh look, you read this far! Or you just skipped to the bottom. In which case, get outta of here you lazy pile of Wiimotes and Balance Boards. If you actually liked reading this and surprised I actually made a new topic, good news. While I probably won't be buying anything new until March *waits patiently for Pokemon/Just Cause 2/Red Steel 2* I'll at least try to manage on bringing in new topics for you to discuss. Feel free to express your opinions and thoughts. I'll be back next week, so with that I leave you. Now where did I put that John Edwards sex tape?
This week, because I lack the needed payment for a new game, I decided to bring up two discussions --whether video games are art, and if video games can lead to real life violence-- so you can read my excuse of journalism. Also I added a poll, so I can at least gauge who actually reads these things.
Video Games = Art (?)
In society nowadays, art simply isn't applied to the past norm of drawing or painting on a piece of paper. With all the other media sources out there we've got ourselves a multitude of different forms of artwork, movies, music, even the little design on the Kool Aid packages; but what about video games? Art is vibrant, beautiful, has personality, it speaks a message about something; that can't be sad for most or all video game titles.
But, under definition, art is simply the creation of an object or something along those lines by man. In which case, video games easily fall under that category. But some speculate that games don't speak a message like movies or artwork do, nor do they have any personality. I on the other hand, disagree. Video games are bursting at the seams with art, the covers of a game is art, the characters are artwork, everything in a game in my opinion is art because it was created by people. It may not be pretty, but that doesn't make it art. Heck, they thought Van Gogh's artwork was utter rubbish when he first started painting, years from now they could say that Too Human and Mario Party are complete masterpieces that are way ahead of their time (well, Mario Party anyway).
Some video games carry strong, bright personalities, not to mention deep messages. A game like Brutal Legend has the personality of some sort of whacked out, drug educed, metallic version of Nickelodeon. Viva Piñata has a bright, happy-go-lucky outlook on life, and always makes sure to have fun. Even Smash Bros has a quirky personality that knows when to take itself seriously and when not to. Whereas there are some more darker settings that freak you out and make you sweat a bit, Metroid, Resident Evil 4, and Dead Space to name a few. It's games like those that make me believe that video games are art.
(Artwork from Viva Piñata) C’mon, you have to admit that fox looks cute.
Games can give you outlook on ethics and morals and really affect your view of life. In a game like Mass Effect 2 (if you haven't figured it out, I make references to good games a lot) you're given the message that 'no matter how bad things get, if we stick it out and work together, we'll make it through to the end'. Themes are all based on interpretation, but you get the idea. While some certainly won't be changing anyone's opinion on whether or not games are art (I don't see Halo or Grand Theft Auto changing someone's outlook on the meaning of life anytime soon), but as a whole video games truly are art; both by definition and by example of carrying the elements of art.
Video Games VS. Violent Actions and Hilary Clinton
It'd be no surprise to most of you that you've heard that people think violent video games (ala Gears of War, Call of Duty, and yes even Metroid) lead people to go on killing rampages throughout mini-malls and ultimately kill themselves because the video games made them do it, OR they make people participate in dangerous acts of stupidity, do drugs, rape, and other destructive decisions. It's one of those reasons your parents didn't let you buy Battlefield: Bad Company and instead gave you The Fairly Odd Parents: Shadow Showdown. Unfortunately for Ms. Clinton, I disagree.
I will admit that games nowadays are extremely gory and violent, I mean just look at that (see picture below)! I can't even help myself that every time I think of Gears of War, Madworld or Call of Duty: World at War of a bunch of gore and guts all over the place. And yeah, in some games you do commit some pretty nasty crimes: in Pokemon you abduct poor animals from their habitats for your own enjoyment, in Mario you jump on people, and genocide in general is a felony. However, these are the few reasons I can even imagine that would influence someone to go out and drive 200mph down a road shooting people with a rocket launcher as you pass.
(Artwork from Gears of War) Over-the-top? Nonsense!
A game is not it telling you that killing people is cool, and if you want to be a smart-alec about it games never tell you to go out and run over your neighbor's puppies with a go-kart. You aren't playing Halo or Smash Bros when all of a sudden a message pops up onto the screen that reads "Hey kid, stop playing this game! Go out and shoot some aliens and beat up the local Eskimo population." If games did that they would already be banned; but they don't. Who's to say that video games have more of an effect on a kid just because they play Metroid or Call of Duty to become a suicidal maniac, rather than the fact that people treat him like dirt or the music he listens to certain music? I don't see anyone banning Van Halen or Motley Crue from the radio just because they talk about sex like it's a drug, and I don't see TV being banned because it has the same exact images of violence, gore, and Glen Beck.
Honestly, I don't see how the whole genre can even be scrutinized for it. Sure there are a bunch of violent games out there, but that's what the rating system is for so ten year old Johnny and his eight year old brother won’t play Grand Theft Auto or Gears of War. Those who are mentally unstable to begin with (ie. have a disorder or have special needs) shouldn't even be playing most video games at all, unless it's Wii Fit or a rated E title. I don't always agree with the ESRB system --Halo in my opinion should have a T rating-- but 90% of the time they get it right; the ratings are there for a reason and unfortunately some people are too ignorant to see that. Frankly, I don't see many (if any) Nintendo titles encouraging people to be thugs, and neither do a lot of games for that matter. Games like Viva Piñata and the Lego series aren't going to turn kids into xenophobes or serial killers; if anything those games have a positive message.
Poor hammer bros, they never stood a chance.
In some point in time or another, a gamer probably played video games while still living with their parents (or still do for some of us). I know not everyone is lucky enough to be raised in a good neighborhood or a good set of parents who cared, but your parents know what they're talking about. You may not always agree on whether or not rap was a good thing for America, but your parents know what's right and what's wrong. They then pass that information onto you and you have the choice of accepting it or dismissing it, and regardless of either you're gong to end up seriously thinking about it when you get older.
But most importantly, it's common sense. Although there are some boneheads out there in the world, and you don't have to travel to far to find them, but people know right from wrong. People know that every Mario title is about as realistic as the likelihood you win the lottery without even buying a ticket: nill to none. People know that getting a kill streak in Call of Duty won't grant them a helicopter so they can kill more people with it. Most people understand that when you kill someone in a video game, whoever they killed wasn't a real person. Whereas in reality if you kill someone they don't come back to life, you just took away a living being from the world and from their loved ones. Yes, I play a lot of shooter titles, I've played Halo, Gears, Brutal Legend, you get the idea. But never did I think that murdering people in real life was fun. It may have made me think that laser tag or paintball sounded fun but there's a clear and obvious difference.
The point is, video games don't cause people to become bad people. Games can give strong messages, but rarely in games do they ever display a negative message that hoping along rooftops of skyscrapers 150ft off the ground is a good idea (ala, Mirror's Edge), or hanging out with that blue hedgehog who is more-than-not on steroids is a good decision (sorry Sonic, well, not really). Why can games turn people into bad people when they can't turn you into good people? Games can give influence but it won't make you do something that involves foul play. Seriously, I don't think anyone who has a functioning brain and isn't under the age of nine is capable of understanding that wild, talking piñatas are a rarity these days........ *sigh*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
....Oh look, you read this far! Or you just skipped to the bottom. In which case, get outta of here you lazy pile of Wiimotes and Balance Boards. If you actually liked reading this and surprised I actually made a new topic, good news. While I probably won't be buying anything new until March *waits patiently for Pokemon/Just Cause 2/Red Steel 2* I'll at least try to manage on bringing in new topics for you to discuss. Feel free to express your opinions and thoughts. I'll be back next week, so with that I leave you. Now where did I put that John Edwards sex tape?
