WAR -- it's really fun! Or so says the videogame industry. But I say NO!

I've had numerous disagreements with people who argue that videogames don't make people more violent, or that violent TV/movies aren't unhealthy for people, etc etc.I take the viewpoint that mediated violence (or in most cases mediated ULTRAviolence) is unhealthy for humans in society because it promotes only the best of violence and downplays the true horror.

The worst of videogame violence includes: Players get multiple lives, guns are portrayed as really cool, dead bodies 'vanish', dead bodies produce 'coins' &/or 'experience', killing animals & dogs for coins/exp, etc.  Besides these failed representations of warfare violence, there's being killed by people on the same side (so-called 'friendly fire', a propagandistic term), the scarred landscape of war, the lack of any real backstory to the piles of dead corpses, the tragic loss of potential when people are killed, and the whole foundation of wargaming as entertainment which damages human perspectives by decoupling atrocity from morality.

For healthy people, playing a game where you shoot people in the head all the time may at best do nothing besides create some desensitization at violence and killing.  But for people with mental health issues, or going through personal tragedies, or with terminal diagnoses and nothing to lose -- these 'games' could be like practice arenas to hone their skills at violence before unleashing their violence on the real world.

When a young kid went to their highschool in my old neighborhood (El Cerrito, CA) with a rifle, a samurai sword, a chainsaw, and a bag full of pipe bombs -- it seems clear that this kid was inspired by videogame violence.  Luckily this kid was taken down by a brave teacher when their chainsaw wouldn't start.  But this kid may have been studying killing by playing killing videogames as much -- OR MORE -- than learning anything in school!

What's the solution?  Encouraging the videogame / entertainment industry to put more R&D into other entertainment aspects of the fantastic, such as --> exploration, experimentation, discovery, acquisition of new skills, sport, fitness, amazing feats, amazing teamwork, and more.

The most gory violence is actually *THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR*, rather than the highest.  We can all do so much better than this epic lacking of creativity.

PEACE  - rekzkarz