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I grew up on 90s video game violence. Doom, Mortal Kombat, Duke Nukem, etc. I've found that over time, the type of violence that disturbs me is the one that is

I grew up on 90s video game violence. Doom, Mortal Kombat, Duke Nukem, etc. I've found that over time, the type of violence that disturbs me is the one that is the most realistic. I had friends growing up who joined the military because they _loved_ games like Call of Duty and Counter-Strike. Many of those friends came back with severe cases of PTSD. Mortal Kombat 11, Doom (the reboot), are not for everyone. But It's much harder for me to associate that kind of violence with reality.

bgeeek 7y ago
I think I was more disturbed by the news on TV when I was a kid, which was long before even remotely realistic games started appearing. There are so many depictions of violence in everyday life be it video games, the news, movies, music, and even art. I wonder if they had the same conversations back in the day, e.g. battle of 1066 etc, etc.
- save_ferris 7y ago
  Same, I've been fascinated by the role of violence as entertainment throughout history, but I struggle to find good reading material about it. Unfortunately, whenever I ask around for recommendations or research on this topic online, people assume that I'm anti-violence.
  - baby 7y ago
    I'm wondering what would happen long term if art and other mediums banned violent material. I know it is censorship. I'm just wondering if we would become a more peaceful society or if this would not have much effects.
    - teh_infallible 7y ago
      I’m pretty sure we’re inundated with violent entertainment because powerful people want us to kill each other. Ever wonder why this stuff is considered ok, but a glimpse of a woman’s nipple is not?
      - krapp 7y ago
        >I’m pretty sure we’re inundated with violent entertainment because powerful people want us to kill each other. If there were any evidence of a correlation between violent entertainment and actual violence, or that all "violent entertainment" was somehow being created by "powerful people" with some organized agenda, you might at least have a rational premise upon which to base this conspiracy theory. Human societies have been violent, and their entertainment has been violent, since the dawn of language. If anything, there's far less violence in modern entertainment... there just happens to also be more of everything as well. >Ever wonder why this stuff is considered ok, but a glimpse of a woman’s nipple is not? Christianity.
      - XorNot 7y ago
        It's because violence is much easier to explain then sex. In western civilisation most people can get through life and never even come close to having to make decisions about directly committing violence. The answer of: just don't is in fact entirely adequate - not necessarily complete but almost always the right answer. Whereas almost everyone "does" sex at some point. But in depicting it the exact same act takes on a huge number of implications depending on context - including violence. Ergo it's not actually so surprising it's rated the way it is - conversely I still agree the blanket R or whatever is not really helping overall.
        chii 7y ago
        I reckon it's more that the American puritan values are very much pervasive - so much so that people don't even realise they have it.
        watwut 7y ago
        Female nipples exist outside of sex scenes too. Movies from countries where nipples are not censored have them in non-sex scenes occasionally. But also, I am not sure how much your explanation makes sense. Germany has more censorship on violence and less on sex or naked things and their experience with sex is pretty much similar.
  - dreinhardt 7y ago
    There is a good episode of Dan Carlin‘s Hardcore History podcast that might serve as a starting point: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-61-blitz-painfotainment/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-61-blitz-...
- majos 7y ago
  Same, I played a fair amount of Goldeneye as a kid with no problem, but around the same age I saw a news clip of the execution of Nguyen Van Lem and remember being seriously disturbed by it.
wodenokoto 7y ago
That's the whole point of the article - the final output might not be realistic enough to be actually disturbing, but the process to get there has required many people to absorb a lot of very, very disturbing content.

bgeeek 7y ago

I think I was more disturbed by the news on TV when I was a kid, which was long before even remotely realistic games started appearing. There are so many depictions of violence in everyday life be it video games, the news, movies, music, and even art. I wonder if they had the same conversations back in the day, e.g. battle of 1066 etc, etc.

save_ferris 7y ago
Same, I've been fascinated by the role of violence as entertainment throughout history, but I struggle to find good reading material about it. Unfortunately, whenever I ask around for recommendations or research on this topic online, people assume that I'm anti-violence.
- baby 7y ago
  I'm wondering what would happen long term if art and other mediums banned violent material. I know it is censorship. I'm just wondering if we would become a more peaceful society or if this would not have much effects.
  - teh_infallible 7y ago
    I’m pretty sure we’re inundated with violent entertainment because powerful people want us to kill each other. Ever wonder why this stuff is considered ok, but a glimpse of a woman’s nipple is not?
    - krapp 7y ago
      >I’m pretty sure we’re inundated with violent entertainment because powerful people want us to kill each other. If there were any evidence of a correlation between violent entertainment and actual violence, or that all "violent entertainment" was somehow being created by "powerful people" with some organized agenda, you might at least have a rational premise upon which to base this conspiracy theory. Human societies have been violent, and their entertainment has been violent, since the dawn of language. If anything, there's far less violence in modern entertainment... there just happens to also be more of everything as well. >Ever wonder why this stuff is considered ok, but a glimpse of a woman’s nipple is not? Christianity.
    - XorNot 7y ago
      It's because violence is much easier to explain then sex. In western civilisation most people can get through life and never even come close to having to make decisions about directly committing violence. The answer of: just don't is in fact entirely adequate - not necessarily complete but almost always the right answer. Whereas almost everyone "does" sex at some point. But in depicting it the exact same act takes on a huge number of implications depending on context - including violence. Ergo it's not actually so surprising it's rated the way it is - conversely I still agree the blanket R or whatever is not really helping overall.
      - chii 7y ago
        I reckon it's more that the American puritan values are very much pervasive - so much so that people don't even realise they have it.
      - watwut 7y ago
        Female nipples exist outside of sex scenes too. Movies from countries where nipples are not censored have them in non-sex scenes occasionally. But also, I am not sure how much your explanation makes sense. Germany has more censorship on violence and less on sex or naked things and their experience with sex is pretty much similar.
- dreinhardt 7y ago
  There is a good episode of Dan Carlin‘s Hardcore History podcast that might serve as a starting point: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-61-blitz-painfotainment/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-61-blitz-...
majos 7y ago
Same, I played a fair amount of Goldeneye as a kid with no problem, but around the same age I saw a news clip of the execution of Nguyen Van Lem and remember being seriously disturbed by it.

wodenokoto 7y ago

That's the whole point of the article - the final output might not be realistic enough to be actually disturbing, but the process to get there has required many people to absorb a lot of very, very disturbing content.