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When you suppress this strong urge to fight, it is like suppressing the urge to have sex. But you know what happens when natural urges are suppressed? Unnatural, twisted things can happen, like a priest molesting a child.
Are we naturally violent? or competitive? Well I think that when you look at most other mammals then there is clear territorial battles and a dominant male/female. However as we have the ability to think clearly and are in that sense very different from other primates, we can analyze why we do things and what the results are of those actions etc. I think most behaviour is clearly conditioned from young, we need affection and love to survive, that is for sure. It may be natural for 50 year old dominant humans to have sex with a fully matured female at 16, but social culture defines what is right and wrong. It is interesting that even though something is natural, it may be wrong now we have vast coginitive ability. There is no instruction manual to life, so who knows.
I only look at the effects of doing such actions and whether they benefit our levels of happiness in a sustained way. Violence does not seem to deliver on this front, to me anyway.
Me too, and Perfect Dark to a lesser extent. We worked out that we'd wasted about 1,000 hours playing multiplayer Goldeneye after school, time we could have spent been going out chasing girls and contracting herpes.
I remember going into Woolworths and seeing Goldeneye for £59.99 and thinking, I will soon have that, looking at the back of the box and being amazed at the graphics. I wanted to construct something so that the two of use could not see our part of the tv, as it was obvious where the other person was, and especially when they were sneaking up on you. That is one drawback of split screen FPS.
That's what they used to say about actors and storytellers, I'm sure.
There's nothing unhealthy about violent video games, but there can be something unhealthy about why you play it. However, this is not something for a third party to decide.
I used to play Doom like a fiend. I'm afraid the only discernible effect it had on me was wasting my time.
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/papers/2001-video-games/freedman.html
"It may well be that further research will indicate that playing violent video games is harmful. For the moment, however, there is no such work and no scientific reason to believe that violent video games have bad effects on children or on adults, and certainly none to indicate that such games constitute a public health risk."
Fair enough. Smoking wasn't considered dangerous until recently, either
Studies have shown that playing video games can increase heart rate and blood pressure, as well as decrease prefrontal lobe activity while the person is playing the game.
Another great source of this is neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg's studies on brain waves and meditation, and how certain thoughts cause you to have negative brainwaves, even certain words, like kill, hate, etc. His books are really great. He does studies on Buddhist monks. This information is especially in his book "How God Changes Your Brain." But don't let the word "God" keep you from reading it.
Here is an excerpt from it: "When you listen to angry speech--in a congregation or politcal forum--specific parts of your brain begin to mirror the angry content of the speaker. All you have to do is see a harsh, angry, or contemptuous face in a picture, and the same neural reaction will be triggered, because the circuits involving the human amygdala are particularly responsive to the emotional expression in other people's faces...Even watching violence on the news, or taking in a violent movie, will make you feel more angry, aggressive, negative, and powerless."
Thank you. This is closer to what I was talking about.
My personal takeaway from this thread: As of today (and subject to further studies), we can't say that playing violent video games is bad for our brains, but we can't say that it's good either. It appears to be an unmindful waste of time that people derive pleasure from, with some marginally useful side effects (such as improved hand-eye coordination). It fits right in with the rest of samsara. All in all, that's a pretty accurate description of my own computer game playing history...
Now, let's talk about studies of meditation that show all sorts of great side effects, from lower blood pressure to increased pain resistance and improved concentration
Next you'll be crying for the families of the pawns you take in chess, or working out a reparations package for the guy you beat at Monopoly.
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Ahahahah! That made me laugh so hard. I think so long as your actions in the realm of video games is purely for enjoyment and fictional, there's no harm done, so long as it doesn't have an impact on you. Which is another question all together. So, pretty much I think it depends on the person.
Comments
Are we naturally violent? or competitive? Well I think that when you look at most other mammals then there is clear territorial battles and a dominant male/female. However as we have the ability to think clearly and are in that sense very different from other primates, we can analyze why we do things and what the results are of those actions etc. I think most behaviour is clearly conditioned from young, we need affection and love to survive, that is for sure. It may be natural for 50 year old dominant humans to have sex with a fully matured female at 16, but social culture defines what is right and wrong. It is interesting that even though something is natural, it may be wrong now we have vast coginitive ability. There is no instruction manual to life, so who knows.
I only look at the effects of doing such actions and whether they benefit our levels of happiness in a sustained way. Violence does not seem to deliver on this front, to me anyway.
I remember going into Woolworths and seeing Goldeneye for £59.99 and thinking, I will soon have that, looking at the back of the box and being amazed at the graphics. I wanted to construct something so that the two of use could not see our part of the tv, as it was obvious where the other person was, and especially when they were sneaking up on you. That is one drawback of split screen FPS.
There's nothing unhealthy about violent video games, but there can be something unhealthy about why you play it. However, this is not something for a third party to decide.
I used to play Doom like a fiend. I'm afraid the only discernible effect it had on me was wasting my time.
Fair enough. Smoking wasn't considered dangerous until recently, either
Thank you. This is closer to what I was talking about.
My personal takeaway from this thread: As of today (and subject to further studies), we can't say that playing violent video games is bad for our brains, but we can't say that it's good either. It appears to be an unmindful waste of time that people derive pleasure from, with some marginally useful side effects (such as improved hand-eye coordination). It fits right in with the rest of samsara. All in all, that's a pretty accurate description of my own computer game playing history...
Now, let's talk about studies of meditation that show all sorts of great side effects, from lower blood pressure to increased pain resistance and improved concentration
Ahahahah! That made me laugh so hard. I think so long as your actions in the realm of video games is purely for enjoyment and fictional, there's no harm done, so long as it doesn't have an impact on you. Which is another question all together. So, pretty much I think it depends on the person.