War is Fun
The notion of war as entertainment – and the idea that there might be a functioning military entertainment complex – is not the stuff of fantasy. On the contrary, there is a long and well-established history of collaboration between the military, entertainment, and even the education industries.
Research findings have established that public concerns about the potential links between violent video game playing and incidents of mass violence (i.e. school shootings) are not supported. Similar concerns were registered in the 1980s about violent Hollywood movies and the research produced similar results. But that is not to say that we should not be concerned about developments in the gaming industry and how they might impact the social development of young people.
In his book “War Play: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict,”, CUNY professor, Corey Mead, documents the history of the military and the gaming industry. Mead writes about how they evolved together rather than separately – a fact that appears to not be well known. Even more interesting, he traces a path that reveals the history of the military’s engagement with education innovation and computer based learning.
But Not for Girls
If recent trends are an indicator, the normalizing of violence (especially gender violence) in video games is culturally problematic, even if the effects as such cannot be quantified and measured. Military themed video games in particular are noted for their enforcement of gender norms in role play as well as scripting. Women who violate gender norms are almost always punished and/or sanctioned; both in the game and in society. Thus we see here how art imitates life.
Self-identified “gamers” on Twitter have been actively debating these issues, with some arguing that there’s no room to debate social issues and issues of political correctness in the arena of game play, which is designed solely for entertainment purposes. Others argue, alternatively, that it’s impossible to draw a rigid line between “game playing” and real life. This especially holds true in a medium that aims with every new release to constantly challenge that boundary.
Discussion Questions
What do you think of the way war is portrayed in games, movies, music, and television?
Do you think violent video games are responsible for school shootings and other incidents of mass violence?
Do you think that violent video games have a corrosive social impact – that they might incite acts of violence among young people – or do you think such fears are overblown? What does the research say about this?
What happened when Amy Schumer’s character decided to play a military themed video game?
What is she saying about gender roles and violence with respect to both gamer culture and military culture?
How/why do video games appear to normalize misogyny and gender violence? Is this a reflection of the people who design/create the games? Or is it merely a reflection of sub-cultures they are trying to simulate (i.e. military)?
Why is misogyny being used as a marketing tool to sell video games to young males? What does this say about the significance of violence to the socialization of young males in our culture?
I play a lot of video games and video games that they put out now, is so gruesome that makes me wonder what is the objective of the video game companies. I remember playing “Contra 3” for the Super Nitendo. There was these two main characters that had to save the world. They wasn’t fighting against other humans, they were fighting aliens who had invaded the Earth and wanted to take control. The games now has you fight in other countries that are allies in real life, making sacrifices for yourself, and killing civilians because this is what happens in the real world. We understand that some of the events that plays out in the video games are actually really, but the people who are getting exposed to these terrible deeds are young children who should not be learning about the situation. It’s like the video games try to recruit youngsters before they can even think what they really want to be when they grow up or what talents they have in life. Instead they learn to hate one another that doesn’t agree with themselves and to only solve it by only have one mission, to kill.
I think war is portrayed in games, movies, music and television to have impression that war and shooting guns are fun, but i think that war is a big thing. IN games they try making everything fun, and when you kill someone you get points, for killing more people. It doesn’t emphasis the seriousness of reality of how people are dying. I think that for some people who are really into the games can get the mindset that shooting is okay, when its not.
Looking at what Amy Schumer said it discusses gender roles. I like how they discuss what happens to females in the military. I like in the Invisible wars and how there wasn’t any justice for females who have been sexually assaulted and traumatized. This skit did a good job in showing this in the game and it shows how in the military women are looked down upon .
I think war is romanticized in games, movies, music and television. It gives the impression that war and shooting guns are fun when its quite serious. These “missions” in video games make people think war is a game when it actually isn’t. In combat one’s life and the life of others are in imminent danger and video games impact the way people view it. It simply removes the reality of the situation. People are dying and it shouldn’t be celebrated. I feel as though the media targets children, dominantly young boys, into joining the military. In fact, during the credits of the Call of Duty Franchise games the army’s website is suggested to peak it’s gamers interest. Im not certain if violent games are responsible for school shootings and other incidents of mass violence. I do believe that being pre-disposed to violence in media like video games at a young age can alter children’s grip of reality. Some may have issues distinguishing reality from fantasy. Others may think violence is a normal thing and act on the normality of it. In theory, violent video games may have a negative social impact. Some studies suggest that violent video games may cause violent acts among young individuals. When Amy played the video game it illustrated the misogyny that often happen in the military. Her character was sexually assaulted, asked numerous times if she wanted to report it, and the court “assassinated” her character with victim blaming. Amy’s parody gives light to sexism in the gaming world. She is stating that both military and gamer culture influence males to act on misogynic behaviors. This video exemplifies the mere fact women are commonly sexualized and victimized in both spheres. Unfortunately this leaves the impression that it’s okay.
I personally do not believe that violent video games are responsible for school shootings and other incidents of mass violence. There has been studies done to prove the faultiness of that correlation. However, although there might not be a direct correlation I do believe there can be an influence for individuals perhaps, when played at such a young age. The addiction of these video games might potentially cause that child to even be more prone to being interested in joining the military. Although there is no actual evidence, no one can really measure one’s thought process or what is really going on in one’s mind.
In terms of the Amy Schumer skit, I felt it gave a very interesting perspective on gender roles. I liked how they showed what happens to a female in the military, and this really took me back to The Invisible War documentary we saw in class. In how females are sexually assaulted yet get no justice or say. Schemer bluntly says how unfair females are being treated in the military culture. The male’s get more privilege and say, The skit did a very wonderful job putting this in perspective using a game. It goes to show the respect and culture of a female opposed to a male in the military.
The way that war is portrayed in our media and video games is in a very heroic and violent way. As if this is something to strive for and take example from. It is also very sexist in the way female characters are represented.
Although violent, video games are not responsible for school shooting and other mass violence incidents no matter how violent the video games might be. Most peoples fears regarding the impact of video games are wildly overblown. This has already been proven by scientific research and there is no argument to be made.
Amy Schumer’s experience was very different than the guy’s experience. While the guy’s role in the game was pretty straight forward such as playing as a soldier, doing things that soldiers do. Amy’s experience was a different. Her character was raped in the barracks and had to deal with all the injustices and road blocks that woman deal with in the military after such a horrific act. She is trying to portray a realistic view of the military’s culture and the gamer’s culture, which are both very sexist and negative towards women. Misogyny and gender violence is furthered in video games by the fact that most of the time women are assigned to support roles and often their characters in game are dressed in very demeaning ways. I think this is not the direct intentions of the video game makes but rather a reflection of a sub-culture. Instead of fighting against misogyny, video game makes actually use it to get more sales.
I do think that violent video games are responsible for school shootings and other incidents of mass violence because the violent video games are a bad influence to people. Some people that play violent video games end up taking out all there anger towards the game. This is bad because instead of killing someone like in the video game call of duty, the person may actually kill someone that they are really anger with. Violent video games is a way in which a person can actually commit a crime if they decide to do it in real life. Children shouldn’t be playing these violent video games because it’s a bad influence for them and they don’t have the appropriate age to do so. If people play with these violent video games then they are learning how to kill or shoot someone. This shouldn’t be happening because instead of learning something good you are just learning something bad which may lead to something you may regret.
There’s quite a bit of empirical research that has been conducted on this very topic – looking at the link btween video games and violence – thus far, none of it demostrates evidence of a statistical correlation between playing video games and school violence. This is not to say that the games are not implicated in other problems i.e. desensitizing people to violence. It’s just that there is presently no empirical evidence to support the school violence/video game playing link.
The whole idea of violent video games leading to school shootings theory – in my opinion doesn’t stick. I can totally understand why there’s no evidence backing up the theory but I also can understand how people may feel that way. I don’t think it sticks because when parents allow their child to play such games I think they need to know the mindset of their children and proceed with caution or regulate what games they allow their kids to engage in. That’s not to say if you have a troubled kid that you shouldn’t allow him to play xyz game but I think parents should be conscious of their children and how they perceive things and to even take notice if behavior changes in any fashion if they do play violent games …. Some kids aren’t capable of deciphering between things at certain ages …. Same goes for movies and television and what not …
The whole idea of violent video games leading to school shootings theory – in my opinion doesn’t stick. I can totally understand why there’s no evidence backing up the theory but I also can understand how people may feel that way. I don’t think it sticks because when parents allow their child to play such games I think they need to know the mindset of their children and proceed with caution or regulate what games they allow their kids to engage in. That’s not to say if you have a troubled kid that you shouldn’t allow him to play xyz game but I think parents should be conscious of their children and how they perceive things and to even take notice if behavior changes in any fashion if they do play violent games …. Some kids aren’t capable of deciphering between things at certain ages …. Same goes for movies and television and what not …
My previous comment was sent by accident. This is my actual statement:
Although I am not much of an enthusiastic “video gamer” myself, I do know of people who consistently play them and I, also, do know that they may not completely be what determines the violent acts that are now happening in our society today. However, I do think that the gaming industry can be one of the influential factors. It is incredibly so that, even if we were to try to minimize or even remove all video games from the public, there’d still be other influences such as music, TV shows and even films that would come out and practically promote an equal or even a greater amount of violent acts, and possibly even creating a greater amount of audience. However, I do see a minor difference in the components that video games acquire, unlike any other entertainment, that may be what encourages outside violence.
When an individual plays a video game, I feel as though they are becoming extremely involved in the action that is taking place inside these video games. They are becoming a participant, leaving them in control of their outcome and only leading them to build affection… affection toward the violence. They learn to advance in particular techniques, strategies and even acquired guidance through specific tutorials in order to “conquer” certain missions. They are using live, effective methods that help them form an idea of what and how things occur in the real world, encouraging them to think, they too, can be a part of war. Thinking, they too, know what it takes in order to build armament, acquire aim, and gain endurance. Not only are they hands on, only becoming more knowledgable of the facts, these players are being guaranteed rewards. Weather it be simple little coins, to access to new exclusive weapons or advancing onto a new level in the game, these players are starting to grow a sense of accomplishment. Once one feels they have achieved, they only want to achieve more only building up their frequency to enhance and execute these operations in order to receive that sensation again, even if it meant doing it in real life. More severely, in video games, characters are likely to be labeled and classified to do certain things, soon enough becoming a players “favorite”, becoming one a player thinks he can accomplish his duties with, becoming one a player thinks he can even be HIMSELF. These characters then become idolized and worshiped, looked upon with prosperity and respect, just as the players desire to be looked upon within society.
Although I am not a “video gamer” of any sort, I personally do think that the gaming industry can be an extreme influence on todays violence. It is so that, even if we were to try to minimize or even remove all of these video games from the public, there’d still be other influences such as music, TV shows and even films that would come out and practically promote an equal or even greater amount of violent acts, and possibly even creating a greater amount of audience. I do see an effective method that video games use that may be what encourages outside violence.
When an individual plays a video game, I feel as though they are being extremely involved in the action that is taking place inside these video games. They become a participant, leaving them in control of their outcome and only leading them to build affection… affectionate toward the violence. They then learn to advance in particular techniques, strategies and even guided through effective tutorials in order to “conquer”. They are using live, effective methods that help them form an idea of what and how things occur in the real world, encouraging them to think, they too, can be a part of war. Also, in video games, characters are likely to be labeled and soon enough being a players “favorite”, being one a player thinks he can accomplish his duties with, being one a player thinks he can even be himself.
I do believe that video games have to do with school shootings and killings of other people. I say this because when people play yess games they take all of their anger out on these people in video games. If people had real guns instead of playing video games they would just go outside and shot people as they would on the video game. I think that young children should not play these types of games because when they get older they will think that it is okay to play with real guns and kill innocent people.
What happens when Amy Schumer’s character decides to play a military themed video game?
What is implied in her comedic critique about gender roles and violence with respect to both gamer culture and military culture?
How/why do video games appear to normalize misogyny and gender violence? Is this a reflection of the people who design/create the games? Is it a reflection of sub-cultures they are trying to simulate (i.e. military)? Or are the games in this case nothing more than a product – a product designed to appeal to young males? If the latter holds true, what does this say about the importance of violence in the socialization of young males in our culture?
I think that war is portrayed as cool and fun in movies, music, and games. These things make war seem like anyone can handle combat. In reality, war is terrifying and the opposite of “cool” and “fun”. There are a lot of things in my opinion that cause events like school shootings to happen. Violent video games may be the reason sometimes, but they do not turn people violent. These games may incite acts of violence onto young people, but thats the case with anything. Violence may be incited on a person for many reasons like family violence or bullying. I do not think video games are a direct source of violence. When Amy Schumer’s character decides to play the video game, she gets assaulted by a soldier. She reports the incident and the assaulter does not receive punishment. What is implied in her comedic critique is that things like this happen all the time in the military. In the gamer culture, if this happened in real video ages and they got away with assault in the game, they might think it is ok to do in real life. In the military culture, the belief may be that what ever happens in the military, stays in the military. Video games appear to normalize gender violence because it is popular among gamers. As bad and sexist as that sounds, sexism sells in video games. It is a reflection of the response from the gamers. Take Grand Theft Auto for example. This game is built on top of violence, drugs, and weapons. In this game, the main character, who is always a male, can literally do anything they want including assaulting women. How is this game so popular? Male gamers who play this game feel masculinized and powerful. This socializes male gamers to potentially acting this way in real life.
I definitely feel that war and violent video games have a correlation to how violent the youth in America has become. I would not go as far to say that they are the reason school shootings happen but they may have a little to do with them. Take the video game Grand Theft Auto for example. In this game you are the player and you can go around stealing cars, shooting up malls, and other crazy violent illegal activities. I feel like kids who play games like this are more likely to impose violence on society because of how much they are exposed to it. The trailer we watched in class the other day of the new Modern Warfare video game blew my mind. They are starting to make video games look like real movies even using real actors and extensive plots. I do not really like where the warfare video game industry is headed but I guess it doesn’t really matter because of how much revenue the game makes.
I am not big on video games. But I have watched my brothers play call of duty. In my opinion, I believe the games were designed as entertainment for the older/mature audience. Although, research has indicated that violence is not linked to playing warlike video games, I do believe war games have some influence toward the socialization of adolescents who play the game. Young people imitate what they see and/or hear. For instance, they will act out parts that they’ve seen or played and say things like “I learned that from Call of duty or I learned that move from watching WWE. I have mixed feelings of video games promoting violence. There’s a lot of violence and crimes that happen in poorer neighborhoods, so playing violent video games for people of lower socioeconomic status is a norm for their neighborhood. They are used to seeing violence or hearing about it constantly. As opposed to surburan areas, there’s not much excitement that goes on there. So violent video games played by adolescents in that neighborhood may influence their behavior to some extent. It’s considered a norm for males to play war games because it ties into their dominance, power, and masculinity, but it is unacceptable for females to engage in that entertainment. Why is it acceptable for males and not females? When females play those games, they are scrutinized or frowned upon because they are supposed to be playing with barbies and dollhouses. It seems to be a double standard.
I think the way war is portrayed in games, movies, music, and television is somewhat glamorized. They try to make it look as realistic as possible, it becomes a popular and cool especially among boys, and to make it interactive they can play it live and talk to other gamers through headsets. I feel like war is portrayed as an okay thing, when it is a serious issue and not something that should be played around with. I don’t think these violent video games are the main cause of school shooting, or other incidents of mass violence. I believe these violent video games definitely trigger something in the mind and give more incentive to become violent, but I do not think it is the main cause.
Amy Schumer’s choses a woman character in the military themed video game and as soon as the game starts it does not allow her to leave the barracks and one of the men sexually assault her. After that she is asked if she is sure about pressing charges, then is lead to do paper work, and then sit through a trial which the man was found guilty of the act, but the chief disregarded it. Amy becomes pissed off at first because they did not allow a woman character go out and fight and instead has to stay behind and gets treated unfairly.
Violent video games are marketed more towards the male gender, hence where you see all this mass violence coming from. Women particularly are not looked at as fighters, or violent and that is why these games are not targeted, or really made for them. Gender role definitely play a big part in todays violent video games and it so happens to be male dominated.
I find it difficult to agree with the belief that violent video games are a cause for these violent acts such as school shootings. Yes, people might get excited while playing the game, however, people are are usually able to detach the game from real life. While some of these shooters might have played video games, it is difficult to believe that these games are the cause of violence. The number of people that play video games and have not committed such violent acts is greater than the number of people that have.
I feel that video games do not ave an affect on the violence that occurs in the world. It really makes me wonder if we try to blame technology for the crimes that go on every day. Those who design the games are simply showing the truth. Games like “Call of duty” show people what happens and the power of guns. I do not think it triggers those to use guns and become criminals. This is a product that attract males usually that almost want to feel “manly”. The military is looking upon as being super powerful and people feel protected. When a person is good at video games they feel powerful in a way, but not in a way that they want to go shoot up a place. Many people believed that the school shooter at the elementary school in Conn. was a huge video game player and only played violence games. I do not belive this was the reason. It is one thing to play games and shoot others in a video game, it is another to build up the audacity to go into a school and shoot anyone you see. Most of these games are rated teen which means you have to be 13 to play/buy. I think that is an appropiate age. I have babysat for kids who are 4 and 5 and playing these games. I think that is ridiculous because kids have a lot of questions to ask and for them to know about war and people killing one another is not right.
I don’t believe school shooting have anything to do with school shooting. Yes I believe violent games are more realistic then the games played before. But when you think about it games evolve just like life. First games was the snake to Mortal Combat to the games we have now. The video clip when the daughter wanted to play was crazy, I don’t think games are for male or female. School shootings are with people who either get constant picked on or have mental problems. Nothing about video games.
The military has used a long term strategy of indoctrinating the youth into believing that war is a game. By tying war to achieving self satisfaction by killing humans you make a serious decision seem banal. The constant use of violence in video games is to numb the youth so when they enter real combat they don’t freeze or have remorse. They are trying to turn the population into a possible army. They also link self-esteem and a level of masculinity to war so that the you men hyped up on testosterone feel they have to prove themselves and go into battle looking for glory. Although it is a moral corrupt strategy in terms of effectiveness it has been working and will continue to work as long as the military seemlessly blend their military mindset on the population.
I don’ think that violent video games are responsible for school shooting or other incidents of mass violence. However, it is really interesting to learn about the collaboration between the military and private corporations like IBM, Raytheon and General Electric and how they make violent video games look so realistic. I used to play a lot of video games growing up and i always thought that video games were very entertainig but now reading “shall we play a game?” by Corey Mead I’m able to see that now video games not so much about entertainment but more about leading the people to think that war and violence is normal. I remember when i used to play call of duty and honestly it made me feel like I’m in a different world because it was so realistic. but what i didn’t know is the fact that military wants us to think that killing other human beings is normal and totally acceptable.
I do not believe that video games really affect violence in society at all. I believe there could be a correlation but I dont believe it could be the cause of a mass school shooting or some kind of deviant behavior that would be seen in Grand Theft Auto. I do believe certain video games can subliminally change the perspective of peoples idea of the military and perhaps contribute to helping them join the military in rare cases, but I do not believe that people are necessarily influenced to have a craving to mimic the violent actions in video games. Some video games and its community certainly stereotype woman as was seen in the comedic video with schumer’s character, but certainly cannot trigger a mass murder incident.
I believe that school shootings do not have anything to do with violent video games. I know plenty of people who play violent video games and are not violent in society. I think it depends on the mental stability of the person if they actually decide to copy what happens in video games in real life. Video games have ratings on the back telling you what age is appropriate for the game. Kids should not be playing games like call of duty or anything with killing. Parents should play close attention to these ratings on the back before buying. I know there are people out there that are age appropriate for the games and still decide to act in inappropriate ways, and blame it on the violence in video games. I am not sure how the world can prevent this. I know they are not able to give a test to every single person who buys a game that has violence and see if they have enough mental capability to not copy what they see but something needs to be put in place so video games are not being put to blame.
I do not believe that video games have anything to do with school shootings or mass violence. I do feel that they do trigger some people because of the simple fact that some people take something that is so unreal, realistically. I feel that video games brings out a side in someone that hasn’t been awaken yet until that moment of violence and fear and losing. For instance my brother is 3 years younger than me and all I hear is screaming, name calling, and bombs and gun shooting coming from the basement tv because of the game call of duty. Does this make my brother a violent person and want to go do a mass shooting? No, but he does come up stairs , with such hype and excitement and sometimes anger but after he is done those feelings are also done with. its like these gamers lose their selfs in the game and they have to snap out of it and realize that they aren’t in war, they aren’t in the game, and that they are actually living real life. These games stimulate the mind and it matters to what extent that person is allowing it to go. In Amy Schumer clip i feel as if its sort of telling women to NOT join the military because they will not be treated right or equally. It sends out a message that women can not do field work so they have to be in the office doing paper work. It discourages women from joining the army.
I think that you are always portrayed as a hero in war games no matter what you end up doing, most of the it is America who is the hero in those games while other countries are discriminated. In song war is not as popular of a topic maybe because I cannot recall one but seems as if they focus less in on it during a song. In TV and movies there is always a hero or a group of heroes who were normal citizens and soldiers but they end up going into war and fighting terrorist groups or Russians since that is what Hollywood focuses on. I do not think that video games have anything to do with mass violence at all, yet video games are a waste of time which means that they seem harmless but entertaining. I think that people over react about those games such as call of duty or battlefield since it’s just a game that people play for fun and not to get violent; in fact research says that games don’t cause people to go violent. Aside from that, Amy Schumer’s character is generalized and discourages/shows that women should not go into the army by showing that a girl will get raped while serving along with having to do the boring jobs of doing paperwork while men get to have fun, shoot and kill other soldiers. Gamer culture focuses mainly on men. Video games show violence or are violent because it is fun and serves a purpose for the game or adds a story line if there is a hero and a villain. No one would buy a game without a story unless it is an arcade game, those do not need story. Most of the time games are bought by men and developers make it so that those guys feel great about themselves through playing them, while women focus on other things.
After watching these videos I feel that video games now are becoming more and more violent and not appropriate for children to be playing with. When these video games are made I feel they are meant to get kids attention so they will buy it. Unfortunately video games are made with more weapons and violence and its horrible because it is giving kids the wrong message about violence. Kids think that playing these video games are fun when in fact they are causing nothing but problems. War is portrayed in video games as no big deal and that killing people with weapons is acceptable and ok when in reality the soldiers in Iraq are fighting for our country and risking there lives everyday for us. These video games give the people armor, guns, and make people go through different rounds of killing people and tasks to get them to win the game and make it fun for kids and people playing the game. Looking at the Amy Schumer video it is very clear that women are not allowed to play video games and even though they are in the games the female characters are getting raped and they are sitting at desks doing paper work and that is just awful because in the real world there are a lot of women soldiers fighting in the war so that is crazy to me. I feel by not letting women play video games it is putting them down as people and saying that only men can do things when that is so not the case because women can do anything that men do just as good if not better. Violent video games should just be outlawed in the world because there is no need for them and all it causes is problems and it makes kids more angry and can lead to them doing things like shooting people which is crazy. Video games doesn’t teach anybody any good lessons and it should be banded. Finally sometimes people cant control how violent they get because unfortunately they have problems they cant handle and they do some not so good things like shootings and that is never a good thing at all.
I think that the violent video games normalize and maybe even glamorizes violence in society. The second commercial makes it seem like playing the video game and participating in the violence is cool and promotes a culture that men need to be violent to be socially acceptable. I don’t think that violent video games led to acts of mass violence but it does create a culture of violence that seems to be targeted at men.
Like you, I feel that violent video games normalizes some forms of violence. I also feel like video games do not have a direct relationship with mass violence or school shooting. Hundreds of thousands of children and young adults, like myself, play these games for entertainment or to blow time. If there were a direct relationship the number of school shootings would be in the thousands.
I do think gaming does effect the user’s social life and reinforces masculine gander roles that we have already been taught since birth and preschool. An example of this is when the male was making little missile or gunshot noises when playing. The male is smart enough to know that producing noise like that has no effect on his gaming outcome, but this is the same noise he learned to use when playing “Cops and Robbers” as a young child. These violent games always tap into, in this case, male’s competitive spirit. Games do so through allow gamers to compare national/worldwide stats, promotions, and the ability to unlock new weapons or locations.
I am not a video game person at all. Military culture is very secretive when it comes to sexual assault against women. They keep it behind closed doors so they can protect their image. Video games glorify war but does not show the true horror and nature of war, it makes it seem very easy to take someone’s life. Millions of children play violent video games all around the world and there is no direct evidence linking a video game to convincing a child to commit a violent crime. Who’s at fault, is something to blame the adults in the household for, or In fact, are these games nothing more than simulators to teach our children how to fight future wars.
I think people use the idea of violent video games as a way to blame something for all of the terrible things happening in the world. For example, for school shootings, I don’t think that these children are shooting up schools because they just finished playing the new Halo game. I think that these games may bring out the feelings of kids, but those kids had these terrible ideas before they turned on that video game. However, I definitely do think that video games are becoming increasingly violent, and I feel like that can’t have any good effects on our youth. The little boy I babysit for after school for half of the week comes home and goes straight for the video games. He only plays these violent war games such as Call of Duty and Halo. He then talks to me about them on the way to guitar lessons, and I feel like he talks about it like other everyday things. These games are normalizing the idea of war and violence. Most of these kids won’t ever see a true act of war, however, they play out these scenarios every day in games. In Amy Schumer’s little mini critique, she chooses to play the military video game as a woman, which ends up being ‘the wrong choice’. She gets put to a desk job instead of actual fighting positions. She is basically showing that people think that women don’t have a position in war, that they are only capable of doing desk, written jobs.
I think the way war is portrayed in games as an idea of entertainment is terrible. People are fighting over seas, losing their lives and we’re sitting at home, on the couch playing these games for fun that are actually someone’s reality… I do not think violent video games are responsible for school shootings and other incidents of mass violence. These games are supposed to be for entertainment purposes. The game does not make someone go into a school and shoot people or cause other incidents of mass violence. People need to take responsibility for their actions and it needs to be accepted that some people are mentally ill which cause them to act out in ways such as shootings. Instead of trying to blame video games for a persons actions due to a mental illness makes no sense. Research has even found that there is no relation between the two. Playing violent video games does not account for incidents of mass violence; they are not the cause! People are just mentally ill, they have to be, because no sane person would go into a school and shoot children or cause other incidents of mass violence. When Amy Schumer’s character decided to play a military themed video game when she picks the a woman soldier as her player, it ends up getting raped and when she reports it, he is found guilty but is returned to active duty instead of kicked out. Her character is also put behind a desk to do paper work. She wanted to play the game but since she chose the female character the game was different due to the belief that woman should not be involved in war. Therefore, it is implied that woman have no place in the military; it is only for men.
War is portrayed as an easy series of tasks and that anyone who can hold a controller and sit on the couch can handle. They give the gamer ample lives and armor and fake situations that give people a false perception of what war is really like. Everyone except women that is, I haven’t seen a war video game or a violent video game in years but from the last time I witnessed there weren’t many options for females characters. It is evident in the Amy Schumer video that women are not welcomed to the same types of video games as men are. Due to her being a female she was raped, her perpetrator was still allowed to continue his duties, and she was sent to do paper work; showing that those are the things women should expect when trying to do a “man’s job”, and working in a male dominated force. Violent video games give people a notion that they can have power even in situations like war. The game has so much build around the end result and killing the opponent that it takes away from the reasons for war. When you are in the game you are fighting for your own life and to conquer one person at a time, while that is not the case for most real wars, there is normally a common enemy and soldiers are generally taught to work together and fight for a main purpose or cause not to try and get to the next level or a personal best score. Video games dehumanize acts of violence which can lead kids to grow up and not be affected by violence and even give them the desire to pursue a mission or act of violence like in the video games. With that being said I do think that games can lead to school shooting and children acting out in violent ways.