Friday, January 29, 2010

Violence Is A Game Mechanic(?)

[written a month ago]
As I stand in a room with my two aging grandmothers, I find that I haven't cared to listen to their discussion of family events for the last 30 seconds. I verbalize the source of my attentive apathy with tactless honestly:



Cos: Yeah... I've been killing people for eight hours.
Grandma1: ...
Grandma2: what?
Cos: I spent all night on my computer trying to kill other people.
Grandma2: [My name], don't do that, it'll get into your blood.
Cos: It already has.

*A woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's seems to look at me for the first time in awhile*

Cos: I was playing computer games. [I explain Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2]
Grandma2: It'll make you want to kill people!
Cos: I don't want to really kill people, I just want to... I dunno. I guess it's in my blood.
Grandma1: I hope you can keep those games separate from reality...
Cos: I think I can... at least see it happening. Most guys playing don't.

A buddy's "squad" (team of 5 or 6) showed me around Call of Duty last night. They are very good, very angry and play a lot. Hours.

Sounds silly if you haven't been there, but our society needs an outlet for aggression, for conflict. We find it fun, compelling, intoxicating.

I want to play!

Nighthawk: Hey, what are you doing?
Cos: trying to blog about why I want to play this goddamn game.
Nighthawk: That should be easy.











Myst and Math Blaster don't get in my blood like killing does. Yeah, I said it. The first person perspective, the near-realistic atmosphere of violence...

Here's a guess: It's impossible to design a nonviolent game that is compellingly "fun" in the same way this is. Yes, it's is a huge problem that I'm wired to enjoy the mechanics of combat.

Is nonviolence possible, or is a simulation the safest place we can keep killing?


Let's see if I can get a post a day before I let myself blow up.

-Cos

[forgot to post it]

2 comments:

RS said...

You know about this, right? http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/35/2/243

GTHAX said...

Have you tried Farmville? Holy shit what a rush. If you think crawling through a desolate Russian tundra with your .50cal silenced Barrett sniper rifle with stopping power to post up on a roof and snipe the balls off of kids in a wearhouse 400 yards away is fun... or spitting iron through the top of an office building with a fully automatic 8 round AA-12 shotgun... then you should try Farmville where you can (1) gain XP to level up (2) collect ribbons (3) decorate your farm like the Amish version of queer eye for the straight guy and (4) annoy the fuck out of your friends by sending them gifts and posting everything that happens on your shitty farm. Not to mention it is nonviolent.

http://www.cracked.com/funny-3181-farmville/