Wednesday 25 January, 2012

Today marks the end of my requirement to play San Andreas. At first I was thrilled to play such an interesting game. Then as time wore on the shock value wore off. How many times could I run over people and still be amused? Even thought it was immature to giggle about picking up hookers it’s not so much fun after the first time. I think this final reflection on the game allows me to understand rewards and punishments in a game and how it affects the user. I can say that what you do in a game is similar to real life in a sense. Playing a game like Grand Theft Auto can be a metaphor for life. The shock of having so many options is overwhelming just like many college kids away from home. In the game you have to try the “bad” things like killing and prostitution. Then the amusement is gone. College is no different for many people. College kids find themselves with so many options that they have to try some of the “bad” ones, such as underage drinking. Does everyone at college try immoral things? The answer to the question is no. The same can be said for the game, not everyone will do bad things. With this in mind I will argue that games cannot make someone “bad”. Can a game make someone immoral? No, but if someone had predisposition for violence it could exaggerate it in the real world. This predisposition is not the games fault and would manifest in other ways. After I redirected my moral compass for the game I stuck to the missions. Those missions became rather boring. In the end the shock of the violence wore of and became expected. Am I desensitized to the real world? No, the violence on the news is still shocking. My values remain the same in the real world. I do not see, at least for myself, that an ethical framework of a game affecting me outside of it. Then again I am not a young child who could be more impressionable.

Other people have said that after a while it's not that you become de-sensitized to the violence in a game, but rather that you see past it. You start playing the game and engaging at that level (goals, rewards, gameplay, etc.) rather than the "superficial" elements (graphics, narrative).