[lbo-talk] Belated invasion: Vietnam, the video game

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Todd:
> 
> Oh, come on, Woj.  It's hardly an American thing; I see that sort of
> behaviour all the time in role-playing games here in Canada (and I see
the
> same thing with other gamers around the world): big
> guns/swords/lasers/robots/whatever.  It's a pleasant fantasy that
comes from
> feelings of powerlessness and anxiety, I think; almost every
adolescent and
> pre-adolescent gamer goes through this sort of thing in gaming, and
some DO
> grow out of it . . . .  What's wrong with playing at being tough just
for
> fun? To get your mind off your problems?

It is the matter of degree to which this attitude poisons not just a
single person's mind but entire collective consciousness.  Some time ago
I had a chance to look at the results of a study conducted by the
criminologist Dane Archer at UCSC - in which he asked US and British
adolescents to provide a likely outcome of a fictitious scenario
involving some sort of conflict.  The outcomes supplied by British
adolescents featured a great deal of emotions and verbal exchanges -
while those supplied by US adolescents featured mainly gory violence,
usually involving weapons.  

Of course, representativeness of the sample is a serious concern - but
the picture of people infatuated with violence - or rather violent
spectacles - seems to me like a fair picture of the US society.

Wojtek