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Violent Video Games and Morality
Aug. 5th, 2009 09:38 pmIt's interesting how violence in video games plays with my feelings. For example, when playing Crackdown or GTA I have absolutely no problem with running over random civillians, or that they might get caught in an explosion from a grenade, no remorse at all. And why should I? They're just virtual people, two dimensional.
However when playing Fallout 3 I find it very hard to actively go out and kill civillians. Sure I have absolutely no problem in defending myself, but when it comes to killing civillians in cold blood I found myself unable to do it. I actively went out to have a bad character, and slaughtered everyone in Megaton, stole everything, and then detonated the nuke at it's centre. Surprisingly I actually had quite a deal of remorse for what I had done; it just didn't sit right with me. I stopped playing that character and went back to my good character.
But why was this? Why did I have no problem killing civillians in Crackdown but I did in Fallout 3? I think maybe it's because Fallout 3 does a much better job of engaging with the player, dragging them into it's world on a massively deeper scale than "Sandbox" games. Even the random NPCs in Fallout 3 seem much more real that those in other games.
One of the most disturbing things that I encountered during Fallout 3 was how Moira had turned out after the destruction of Megaton. I actually felt sickened by my actions and felt incredibly sorry for her.
I think this shows (at least for me) that video games aren't "Murder Training", as Jack Thompson would have one believe. If anything games like Fallout 3 help reinforce my morals.
However when playing Fallout 3 I find it very hard to actively go out and kill civillians. Sure I have absolutely no problem in defending myself, but when it comes to killing civillians in cold blood I found myself unable to do it. I actively went out to have a bad character, and slaughtered everyone in Megaton, stole everything, and then detonated the nuke at it's centre. Surprisingly I actually had quite a deal of remorse for what I had done; it just didn't sit right with me. I stopped playing that character and went back to my good character.
But why was this? Why did I have no problem killing civillians in Crackdown but I did in Fallout 3? I think maybe it's because Fallout 3 does a much better job of engaging with the player, dragging them into it's world on a massively deeper scale than "Sandbox" games. Even the random NPCs in Fallout 3 seem much more real that those in other games.
One of the most disturbing things that I encountered during Fallout 3 was how Moira had turned out after the destruction of Megaton. I actually felt sickened by my actions and felt incredibly sorry for her.
I think this shows (at least for me) that video games aren't "Murder Training", as Jack Thompson would have one believe. If anything games like Fallout 3 help reinforce my morals.
