Why do We Find Violence So Entertaining?

The @ecotrain question of the week asks:

Why do you think so many computer games are based on extreme violence? Do you think it is healthy or unhealthy?

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In the simplest terms, they are based on violence because that's what's popular. Supply and demand. Whether it's healthy or not is completely down to the individual.

Is there something wrong with people who enjoy violent games? It doesn't seem that way, unless they have other underlying issues already.

We have a competitive nature and all games throughout time involve sort form of competition or challenge, even if it's just challenging yourself to do better each time, beating your best score or time. This competitiveness is likely an evolutionary development which was part of our survival instinct. Fighting has been a competitive sport for as far as we have recorded history and a form of entertainment for the audiences watching.

If we disregard the barbaric entertainments such as the gladiator fights and executions, much of this entertainment fighting is done by people who choose to do it, whether it's jousting competitions or martial arts tournaments. In the last century, people have placed restrictions on these types of sports in order to reduce harm and loss of life, yet underground fighting still happens. There are still those who want the violence and it's not just the audiences.

With the arrival of moving pictures, audiences started to be able to enjoy violence as entertainment without the risk to people, but there would still be those who want to experience the fight for themselves. The advent of video games and their advancement to look more and more realistic has given a wider range of people the chance to experience the fight with no harm to anyone around them, including themselves. So suddenly we have a risk free way to experience violence first hand, without moral implications, without fear of harming ourselves or the guilt of harming anyone else.

Looking at it from this perspective, there is now little surprise to for me as to why violent video games are so popular.

Healthy or unhealthy?

Playing any video game excessively can be unhealthy, whether it's violent or not. Limiting screen time for the sake of your physical and mental health just makes sense however you look at it. Screen time is addictive, whether it's video games or social media.

Whether a violent video game is any more unhealthy is likely down to the mental stability of the person playing it. There is no evidence that playing violent games makes someone more violent. In fact it can be something of a stress reliever. When playing video games, the player disconnects it from real life, so they don't feel the reality of violence as they would if they encountered it in reality. We all know what the reality of war can do to people and how many soldiers have come back with PTSD. There are those few who are revel in that violence; they are generally enlisted into special ops and would probably be considered as mentally unstable in civilian life. So I wonder if those who feel the violence more realistically on screen are the ones who prefer non-violent games, or the ones who are more likely to be influenced by them, because they enjoy that violence in reality as well.

Now when it comes to young children there is a higher likelihood of them acting out violence, because they learn through imitation. So it makes sense that there are age limits on certain games. If you're constantly bombarded with violence at a young age then it is likely that you could start to normalise it, just like a violent household would, and it would certainly not be a healthy environment to raise young children. However, I would hope that most parents wouldn't be exposing young children to this kind of violence and that by the time they are more likely to encounter it they would be emotionally stable and know the consequences of violence.

It's easy to try and blame things like films and video games for violence in real life, but the truth is we have plenty of real world issues that are not going to go away because we've decided video games might be unhealthy. There are many things that we can enjoy in moderation, but become problematic when we overdo them or get addicted. I believe video games are in that same league.

~○♤○~



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I think because you are killing bad guys.

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I think that it lets people do things that they aren’t allowed to normally for various reasons. There’s lots of fun games that aren’t as violent as the call of duty types but they still employ the fighting and killing of monsters and stuff. With anything, it depends on the individual of course! Some are extremely addicted while others aren’t bothered by it at all.

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Ah yes. That urge to do things you're not normally allowed to do.

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Probably because we all occasionally wish we could pummel the absolute crap out of whoever happens to be giving us a hard time at any given stage, but we're smart enough to know that it's not a good solution for any problem, and when we watch/play violence the small bit of our brain that can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy gets satisfied.

Also depends on how far you want to push the definition of "violence". Looney Toons can get pretty gruesome when you actually think about it XD

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Ah yes, the joy of cartoons white you can survive anything! 🤣 Just goes to show how long we've been exposing children to violence for in the form of humour. Has it warped our fragile little minds?

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I'm not sure if it's any better or worse than when it was perfectly normal to settle slights to pride with duels to the death or when glory and honour was based around how many enemies you slaughtered on a battlefield but in meatspace with actual death or just different.

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We've moved from actually doing it, to pretending to do it, so maybe that's the difference? Now I'm wondering how common serial killers were when it was perfectly acceptable to kill each other. Have we created this phenomenon by ruling it not acceptable? 🤔

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Young men; we all want to be heroes. I think video games are a little like booze. They'll bring out what's already there; but they won't plant anything.
I've played all sorts of violent games since before they could even be 'graphic' and I've never attacked anyone; or even retaliated on the odd occasions I've been punched.

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They'll bring out what's already there; but they won't plant anything.

That's it exactly!

Someone was daft enough to punch you?! Were they drunk by any chance? Surely no-one who had complete control of their faculties would decide that punching you was a good idea. 🤣

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I was at a pool hall, playing and drinking with a friend of mine, who'd gone to get some more drinks. This random idiot came over, murmured something (loud music) and punched me. I just looked at him, trying to work out what was happening, and he followed it up with an elbow in the face.
I still didn't retaliate; his friends pulled him away.
The entire time, my biggest concern was that my friend would see what was happening, and jump in.
He's an absolute nutcase. Muscle and rage and loyalty and nihilism. I didn't tell him about it until the next day, because I didn't want to end up on the news.

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I guess he must have been fairly tall to be able to reach your face with his elbow. So maybe he wasn't quite as certifiable as expected. Good job your friend was getting the drinks.

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Looking back, it may have been somewhat my fault. When the ball doesn't go where I want it to, I have a bad habit of flipping it the bird. He might've been in the background, and thought it had his name on it.

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I can't watch any level of violence - am SOOOO sensitive to it! I come out of the average G rated action movie exhausted and am that person squeezing her eyes shut even in car chase scenes.

Horror movies? the idea appals me.

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I think women are generally less inclined towards violence anyway. Fiction is okay for me, because I can disconnect it from reality (except when it's sadistic or based on reality). Hubby likes to watch boxing and UFC and I can't watch them.

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I hate violence, unless it's zombies, and then I find it hilarious.

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I believe that violent video games are the product of a culture that is less and less sensitive to violence and ruggedness. It is as if people were progressively losing their sensitivity to the pain of others and the violence itself, and I think that it is part of a strategy to break humanity, that every day we human beings lose empathy, respect and tolerance towards others. All this is something carefully planned and that they instill in us little by little without us noticing. Good topic. Many blessings. Regards.

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I think we've always been desensitised towards violence, just towards strangers. The family and tribal units looked after each other and because of that closeness they empathised with one another. Over the years we've actually expanded that empathy into bigger towns and communities where we may not know everyone quite as personally. I believe one of the reasons the population has reached the levels it has is because we aren't killing one another as much as we were.

Today we have a new paradigm (at least in the western world) where many of us don't have local support networks in the way of communities and large families. We are in a situation where most people are barely known to us, yet we still try to empathise with them, while our animal instincts are saying "stranger danger." Yes, communities have been pulled apart and families often don't even live close to one another any more. Hundreds of years ago this would have been catastrophic and easily turned people against one another. Yet we are actually rising above this now.

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(Edited)
I partially agree with you that in ancient times barbarism was such that many peoples annihilated each other; it was thanks to the social contract that this was reduced and stabilized. However, living in a western country (I live in Venezuela), I can tell you that what has taken centuries to build, can be destroyed in a few years, just as it happened in my nation. Previously there were social institutions, by this I mean family, school, community, associations, political parties. The families, although matricental, were loving and offered a support, a support network, what is known as the extended family.
Since socialism-communism gained political and economic space, it dedicated itself to destroying these institutions, generating a total institutional anomie, and with that it included the family, and resulting in a totally decomposed society, where the most primary and basic instincts Of the people are those that prevail, and obviously, violence, impiety, selfishness, lack of values ​​and principles are manifested; in this way, violence is normalized, as something everyday, common, with which one must live together. An example of this I can give you with crimes against children. In my country, 30 years ago, it was inconceivable that children of one month or one year old were raped and murdered. Now, every day that is very common. We become a nursery for sociopaths and psychopaths, and that is the product of the social-institutional fracturing to which they subjected us ... and this was coldly calculated, since when a people is corrupted, it is dominated and bowed to the whim of the conqueror, as it happened with us. Regards.

Coincido contigo parcialmente en que en épocas antiguas la barbarie era tal que muchos pueblos se aniquilaban unos a otros; fue gracias al contrato social que esto se redujo y estabilizó. No obstante, viviendo en un país occidental (vivo en Venezuela), te puedo afirmar que lo que ha tardado siglos en construirse, puede ser destruido en pocos años, tal como ocurrió en mi nación. Anteriormente existían instituciones sociales, con esto me refiero a familia, escuela, comunidad, asociaciones, partidos políticos. Las familias, aunque matricentales, eran amorosos y ofrecían un soporte, una red de apoyo, lo que se conoce como familia extendida.
Desde que el socialismo-comunismo ganó espacio político y económico, se dedicó a destruir estas instituciones, generando una anomia institucional total, y con eso incluyo a la familia, y teniendo como resultado una sociedad totalmente descompuesta, en donde los instintos más primarios y básicos de las personas son los que prevalecen, y obviamente, se manifiestan la violencia, impiedad, el egoísmo, la falta de valores y principios; de este modo se normaliza la violencia, como algo cotidiano, común, con lo cual se debe convivir. Un ejemplo de ello te lo puedo dar con los crímenes hacia niños. En mi país, hace 30 años, era inconcebible que se violase y asesinase a niños de meses o de un año de edad. Ahora, cada día eso es muy común. Nos convertimos en un vivero de sociópatas y psicópatas, y eso es producto del fracturamiento social-institucional al cual nos sometieron... y esto fue fríamente calculado, ya que cuando se corrompe a un pueblo, se domina y doblega al antojo del conquistador, como pasó con nosotros. Saludos.
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That is incredibly sad. I have wondered if the evolution we've obtained over the centuries would be retained in any way, if we had a societal collapse. Having said that, I also realise that not everyone has evolved and there are those, even in a stable society, that will always turn to violence and horrific deeds. They are usually much more likely to hide it and hold it back, though.

Does this violence and depravity also give rise to it's opposite side in others who are caring? So many Venezuelans here on Hive are some of the kindest, caring people I know.

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Of course it does. Any dark phenomenon can generate a response in those who have light. That is why it is said that people grow up in crises. Of course, all this hecatomb has allowed an awareness and a paradigm shift in many Venezuelans, but evil, depravity, lack of values ​​and violence unfortunately prevail, even more so in an environment where the mode of survival is constant. I'm going to give you a simile, when you pick ripe fruit from a tree, and some of it is rotten, doesn't it happen to you that it quickly corrupts the others that are healthy? Well, something similar happens in my country; but I do agree with you, and it is something undeniable and thanks to the Creator it is happening, many of my compatriots have brought out their best and have become heroes, heroines and good people.
When I speak to you this way about Venezuela, I am not exaggerating. To many people from other countries what is happening in my homeland seems inconceivable, but it is true, nothing is made up, nothing is exaggeration. And I can say it myself, that I still live here and this is my daily reality. And I insist, all this was planned decades in advance, and what is more, we are the laboratory of what they want to replicate in other countries, hopefully and never fall into this sad, unfortunate and abominable misfortune. A hug.

Por supuesto que sí. Todo fenómeno oscuro puede generar una respuesta en aquellos que tienen luz. Por eso se dice que en las crisis las personas se crecen. Claro que toda esta hecatombe ha permitido una toma de conciencia y un cambio de paradigma en muchos venezolanos, pero el mal, la depravación, la carencia de valores y la violencia lamentablemente prevalece, más aún en un ambiente en donde el modo de sobrevivencia es la constante. Te voy a dar un símil, cuando recoges fruta madura de un árbol, y alguna de ella está podrida ¿no te ocurre que rápidamente te corrompe a las otras que están sanas? Bueno, algo similar ocurre en mi país; pero sí coincido contigo, y es algo innegable y gracias al Creador está pasando, muchos de mis compatriotas han sacado lo mejor de sí y se han convertido en héroes, heroínas y personas de bien, personas buenas.
Cuando te hablo así de Venezuela no estoy exagerando. A muchas personas de otros países les parece inconcebible lo que ocurre en mi patria, pero es verdad, nada es inventado, nada es exageración. Y lo puedo decir yo, que aún vivo aquí y esta es mi realidad diaria. E insisto, todo esto fue planificado con décadas de anterioridad, y es más, nosotros somos el laboratorio de lo que quieren replicar en otros países, ojalá y jamás caigan en esta triste, lamentable y abominable desgracia. Un abrazo.
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True words about children learning through imitaion. I am so thankful video games haven't been a part of our children's lives so far, short of a few "Dora The Explorer" education PC games.

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Dora is always a good choice! Do they improve their Spanish with her?

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