Video Game Experience and Violence
Name:
Institution:
Course Code:
Video Game Experience and Violence
I have interacted with video games for long since the era of using joysticks to guide Pac-man in his quest for food and evading ghosts. Today, video games have become more complex with the development of highspeed processors and sophisticated gaming equipment like consoles and Nintendo Switch. Graphics become realistic by the day, bringing gamers closer to the action at unprecedented degrees. Playing violent video games like Resident Evil7 Biohazard and Call of Duty on modern machines takes the sense of realism in brutality up a notch. The excitement and hyper-realism in the video games depict a significant sense of violence that could be detrimental to kids and compromised adults.
I strongly support the notion that video games provide a more intriguing entertainment experience than movies. The dominance of movie and theater is arguably being trumped by video games, even from a gross revenue perspective. I believe that the movies produced in the last decade haven’t been significantly interesting to the point of seizing one’s imagination or enveloping them in imaginative worlds for weeks. Contrary, video games typically nurture my imagination and give a “complete” experience. Creators use direct impression vividness in gaming designs to transfer their imagination to consumers. For instance, the game Last of Us gives me a magnificent experience through the integration of realistic sound, graphics, and captivating action pieces.
Furthermore, video game experience results in a closer interaction with violence than movies. The hyper-realism aspect particularly in contemporary 3D gaming gives me a deeper interaction in the imaginative world of violence. In this context, playing video games is arguably a more active act of indulging in violence, compared to watching films, where the viewer is in a more passive capacity. Therefore, I’m likely to develop aggressive behavior from playing video games, rather than from passively watching military violence in a film. Video games reward players for damaging property, killing innocent civilians, fighting police, and using a wide range of weapons, including knives, flamethrowers, guns, and swords. Consequently, I could argue that I acquire a more profound understanding of the technicalities and realistic experiences of violence through playing games like Call of Duty, Last of Us, and Resident Evil7 Biohazard.
In the last decade, “violence” films like Redacted and “spy” movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, have demonstrated the United States’ engagement in the war on terror. Some of the films have been more commercially successful that others, but they all provide opportunities for understanding the dynamics of contemporary politics. In this context, watching such films is both entertaining and educative, by grabbing my attention and providing somewhat dramatic versions of events, national identities, and international relations. Movies give me an idea on acceptable conduct from US agencies, individuals, and other states in the occurrence of military or terror violence. Despite twists and lack of accuracy in details, films also expose humanitarian issues like prisoner abuse, which are part of America’s war against terror.