Posts from philosophy

Don't be so sensitive.

It’s not about the games. It’s about the people. Right now, the entire Russian ethnic group is going through a period of senile dementia. This means that most people are behaving this way. There would be a reason to, and one could eliminate all those who disagree. But the game should help to release aggression, not accumulate it.

But agree that giving games like postal to children under 14, or even 15 years old, is simply not reasonable. Up until the age of 9, a child's consciousness is forming, and during this period they are very impressionable. Later comes puberty, which is even more own frightening. This period is harder for me to explain (I am not a psychologist), but I believe those present understand me. Yes, people are different, but in such cases it is better not to take risks. Children start smoking as early as middle school simply because they want to seem adult and "cool," without realizing that smoking is even more harmful for them than for adults. The organism is still forming. At this age, children already consider themselves adults and try to be like them in everything. They see an adult man swearing—meaning it's great, meaning it's allowed. In postal, it's not just violence; you can relieve yourself on people, and as far as I've heard, they award points for killing ordinary people—peaceful citizens. This is something more than a simple "release of aggression."

Yes, such games are definitely harmful. Those who disagree, please look at the results of Bandura's experiments (he's a psychologist) with children regarding the influence of observed examples on aggressive behavior. But not only these games are harmful. Television is harmful, books are harmful... damn it, all our literature and history are harmful! All games are harmful in which aggression is manifested in ANY WAY (of course, to varying degrees), including our beloved heroes! Who doesn't know the jokes about the "doomer" who goes outside and gets under a car, being sure that he recently saved? Who has NEVER experienced a similar altered state of consciousness after playing for hours? So, Postal can easily induce such an altered state in which you'll slash everyone around you without thinking! Regarding the period of senile dementia in the Great Russian population, I tend to agree with AlexeyPunk; and even more than that - I believe that a period of senile dementia is coming for the inhabitants of all economically developed countries. And this dementia is connected to the fact that the inhabitants of these countries are gradually becoming more and more detached from real life - there are no serious problems (threats to life from wildlife, threats of famine) for them, so people are starting to "go crazy from being too comfortable." Only God knows what this will end with... :(

But not only such games are harmful. Television is harmful, books are harmful... damn it, all our literature and history are harmful! All games are harmful, in which aggression is manifested in ANY WAY (of course, to varying degrees), including our beloved Heroes!
Who doesn't know the jokes about a Doom player who goes outside and crawls under a car, being sure that he recently saved the game?

There are just such individuals, but not everyone is like that.
In our technological age, humanity is beginning to split into geniuses and underdeveloped individuals.

But you have to agree that giving games like Postal to children under 14, or even up to 15, is simply unreasonable. A child's consciousness is formed up to the age of 9, and during this period, they are very impressionable.

If a person is born with mental disorders, anything can trigger violence, starting from games and ending with going to church. And the presence of such people only reflects the state of the country. Not far from me lives a guy (I think he's about 17) who killed his father because when he came home, he saw his father sticking his mother's head into a burning oven. Did this make him crazy? People do such things not because they have a good life; games are just an excuse for politicians. In "Boomer," there's a brilliant phrase: "It's not us, it's life." :(

Added after 6 minutes
Personally, I played through the entire Postal just to see the "harmfulness" of this game, which I had heard about many times, but I never once felt the desire to kill anyone. But when I see that red, overfed face of a well-known comrade on TV, talking about the problems of the heating season, I get that desire.

There are also such people.

2 Wiz, you know, right now, the topic of the harm caused by games is politically very beneficial to some representatives. They are building their pre-election campaigns on fighting violence, tailoring statistics to fit this narrative, and so on. And all these idiots... there was a precedent where, in the US, a guy's sentence was reduced for shooting people because they acknowledged that GTA was to blame for his actions. For example, I want to see how many people are killed and maimed by teenagers after they get drunk on fake (or real) vodka. I'm more than sure that this is thousands of cases, but they just keep quiet about it, while they shout about the violence in games at every corner. It's easier to fight this than to actually ban the sale of alcohol to children and teenagers.

Well, alcohol sales are prohibited, but we both know Russian teenagers:D. "I'm not buying it for myself, it's for my dad's corporate event." And this is just one example:D. But seriously, Russia needs censorship now more than ever. For games, television... One way or another, spending too much time in front of a computer is harmful.

Everything is good in moderation.

Still, I am studying to become a social pedagogue, and also an ethnologist, so I believe I have the right to draw some conclusions. 1 - A child is impressionable not just at 8-9 years old, but all the time they are a child. Rousseau even had a theory to isolate a child from society in order to raise them into a worthy member of society. But in our time, such things would not work, and even then, they didn't work. Now it is impossible to isolate oneself from society. 2 - The reason for the behavior similar to the examples above is not so much in society or parents, but in the children themselves. Firstly, they do not know how to draw conclusions. Not at all. And they don't want to learn. Secondly, they do not have enough strength to act differently.

So, to prevent them from behaving like that, we should avoid such games and fight against them (wow, I sound like a mother goose:D). However, there are games that can even be beneficial for a child. And it's not just those "learn the alphabet with us" type of games. Even "Sid Meier's Pirates" is quite educational in terms of 17th-century history and more. It's great when developers can combine educational and entertaining aspects. Although, it's quite challenging. Another example is "Rome: Total War," also a war game, also with deaths, but at least people don't engage in bestiality. Plus, it features the history of ancient Europe.

In the end, they've already banned it in California... First games, then movies, then books, then paintings... And suddenly, all that's left is "Teletubbies":). But seriously:
1) We need to control that "adult" games don't end up on store shelves! Let them sell them online!
2) Wiz is right – not all games are harmful. Take... Let me see what's at hand... Here! Quests! They develop logic (I'm talking about QUESTS like "Syberia," not quests like "Stirlitz").
Again, it all comes down to SELF-AWARENESS! It's not just the games that are to blame; it's the person who can't (or won't) distinguish between the virtual and the real...

How many people died because of this...

It’s not about the games, it’s about the people! I would never go around attacking all my neighbors, even if I played games like Postal or Quake all day long. Games like Total War or Pirates are not for that kind of people. Even if you give them these games, they won’t play them. And if they do, they won’t change their behavior. Bans won’t lead to anything good. It’s just that the time has come when most people in Russia and Western Europe are born as sub-passionaries. This is a law of nature, and you can’t fight it. But you can use it to your advantage. These people should be assigned to the lower levels of society, engaged in socially useful work, and not allowed to rise above janitors and loaders.