A to Z Blogging Challenge 2015: V is for Video Game

Video games have come a long way since the days of the arcade, and the old favorites that I remember playing such as Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Galaga, Pac Man, Sinistar, and Tempest.

First person shooters are very popular. I can see the appeal to a degree, but I prefer shooting zombies or monsters to shooting people. 

Some people believe that video games promote real violence. Jim Sterling counters this argument better than I can in this video.

~DJ Aurora~

Grand Theft Auto 5 Playthrough and Comments

There has been a lot of flap about Grand Theft Auto 5 and the level of violence involved. I wanted to address this, as well as the game play itself.

I'm honestly terrible at games like this. These fellows can give you a much better idea of what it looks like to play the game than I ever could.

The graphics are stellar. It's truly a remarkable game visually. According to my nephew and his friends, the control of the vehicle and the characters themselves is smooth and easy, which makes the game a lot of fun to play.

The game is violent, and isn't the sort of thing that I'm in the habit of playing. I enjoy my games with a bit more of a story line. I'm more the sort who enjoys a slower pace and likes to solve mysteries or such. This is not a game that I would purchase for myself.

However, I do not believe that games like this cause increased violence.

Devoted gamers do not tend to be violent people. They simply like playing video games.

As I said previously, the graphics in this game are excellent. However, the game does not mimic reality. It is like being pulled into an action movie where you can control the movements of your character and of a vehicle. 

A myriad of unrealistic things happen, both to your character and to the vehicle.

The character can make jumps from heights which in reality would result in broken bones.

The vehicle endures multiple crashes which would render it useless long before your characters actually end up eating flaming death.

I recommend Jim Sterling's stellar editorial debunking the theory that video games desensitize people to real life violence. The video does contain graphic content, which is explained in the description. 

I enjoyed watching the featured play-through, and I enjoy the banter between my nephew and his friends when they play games such as this. At no point do any of them begin discussing the possibility of actually attempting such things as are seen in this game. It's simply a bit of escapism. They enjoy it because it's not reality, not because they want their reality to be like the content of this game.

~DJ Thalia~