tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post1377087176880755090..comments2024-03-29T03:57:26.974-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: Violating TaboosGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-9025301178733314872016-04-18T10:22:04.750-04:002016-04-18T10:22:04.750-04:00Ask the question another way: how much violence in...<i>Ask the question another way: how much violence in video games do you suppose is targeted against men? My guess is that the answer is "far and away most of it," which the #2 position being held not by women but by monsters -- aliens and zombies and whatnot.</i><br /><br />A topic near and dear to my heart. I will tell you, one of the recurring complaints I see against most video games is how "all the antagonists these days are Nazis, zombies, or aliens" and how that just goes to show how uncreative the video game industry is. Well, like any whipped dog, the industry refuses to approach anything even resembling a controversial antagonist, because they will be accused of base racism if they try. And if a game developer attempts to use, say... the Russians as the bad guys, then you've alienated a pretty big part of your global market. Aliens are safe enemies, because it's not like there's an anti-alien defamation league. Zombies are <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=resident+evil+racist" rel="nofollow"><b>normally</b></a> a safe enemy to choose, because they're just like the rest of us, only dead. And Nazis are a safe target, because... well they're Nazis. Now pick another group to be enemies for a story in your head. Unless they are pasty white, speak with no discernible accent, and live in a fictional country (think SciFi world or fantasy kingdom), then chances are someone will make the accusation that you're a racist. And there's enough of the special-snowflakeism out there that your game is going to suffer economically because of it.<br /><br />So does anyone really wonder why it is that game designers keep going back to the Nazi/Zombie/Alien trough?MikeDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08116809134355184859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-5010497389793120362016-04-16T21:13:11.463-04:002016-04-16T21:13:11.463-04:00I was there, remember? :) I was there, remember? :) Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-58365392177906245912016-04-16T20:42:42.939-04:002016-04-16T20:42:42.939-04:00"They are positively delighted to train women..."They are positively delighted to train women to blow themselves up in the furtherance of their cause. "<br /><br />They aren't the first Muslim Brotherhood spin-off to do this. Al-Qaeda in Iraq used animals, children, dead babies, captive men under threat to their families, and people of limited mental ability as "suicide" bombers. Islamists have no problem murdering the innocent in the process of murdering their neighbors.<br /><br />It's one of the reasons why the Iraqis were willing to side with the Americans to throw Al-Qaeda out. <br /><br />ValerieValeriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06032764121907652017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-39397242034144730152016-04-16T16:59:16.981-04:002016-04-16T16:59:16.981-04:00AVI..."I'm guessing that seeing actual wo...AVI..."I'm guessing that seeing actual women that you know getting blown up in combat will have far more effect in desensitising young men - not to women, but to the enemy."<br /><br />An interesting point. I do think most American/Western men will react with even more anger at seeing the violent killing of women who are members of their group (however, group may be defined) than at seeing the violent killing of men in their group....how much of this is inborn vs acculturated, I don't know.<br /><br />An interesting example can be found in the memoirs of Austrian naval officer Captain von Trapp...yes, the real person who was the prototype for the Captain in 'The Sound of Music.' At the beginning of WWI, his attitude was strictly professional, he felt no personal animosity toward the enemy; on the contrary felt great sympathy for the Allied seamen it was his duty to drown. But after seeing the suffering of Austrian women and children as a result of the 'Hunger Blockade,' his attitude changed greatly.<br /><br />I don't think Captain von Trapp committed any war crimes as a result of this personal sense of anger, but then he was a man in his mid-30s and by all accounts an extraordinarily decent individual. Younger and less-balanced people may seek revenge much more readily.<br /><br />Review of the memoir:<br /><br />http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/43171.htmlDavid Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-52349028568686484222016-04-16T15:08:06.402-04:002016-04-16T15:08:06.402-04:00I'm guessing that seeing actual women that you...<i>I'm guessing that seeing actual women that you know getting blown up in combat will have far more effect in desensitising young men - not to women, but to the enemy.</i><br /><br />It may do that, if the taboo holds. For us, seeing women we known blown up is enraging because we have a strong taboo against violence directed at women. Members of Boko Haram, on the other hand, are only too glad to have the enemy killing their women instead of their men. They are positively delighted to train women to blow themselves up in the furtherance of their cause. <br /><br />What keeps us from getting to that point is the underlying moral structure that people are busily dismantling. It's gone far enough that some younger members of our culture are amused by the idea of playing a character who can think of sleeping with a woman and then killing her over pocket change. Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-36744046021672821142016-04-16T11:35:13.588-04:002016-04-16T11:35:13.588-04:00So a possible dip in empathy immediately after pla...So a possible dip in empathy immediately after playing a video game, with no information as to how long that dip lasts or if it affects behavior in any way, is supposed to tell us what, exactly?<br /><br />I'm guessing that seeing actual women that you know getting blown up in combat will have far more effect in desensitising young men - not to women, but to the enemy. Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-39554716060778633282016-04-15T20:19:52.088-04:002016-04-15T20:19:52.088-04:00I've seen some version or another of GTA that ...I've seen some version or another of GTA that a friend had, and it was, well, the player is in the role of a thug. So yeah, everybody is a target in that game. <br /><br />But nice catch with the cognitive dissonance of demanding nice treatment of women while at the same time expecting them to function as infantry. <br /><br />Eric Blairnoreply@blogger.com