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gamasutra.com - 7/1/2009

News - Opinion: Can Games Become 'Virtual Murder?'

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[ In a thought-provoking, charged opinion piece, writer Benj Edwards asks if advances in video game technology toward photorealistic gaming experiences make virtual killing more and more disturbing. ] You know, I used to laugh at the term "murder simulator" when it was bandied about by ...

Blog Reactions

Technology: Games blog | guardian.co.uk:  Will photorealism make murderers of us all?

Blue's News:  Op Ed

Thunderbolt Games latest articles:  It’s up to us to shape the industry

GameSetWatch:  Opinion: Can Games Become 'Virtual Murder?'

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Will photorealism make murderers of us all?
Technology: Games blog | guardian.co.uk — ... As gamers, we adopt a natural knee jerk reaction against those who whom seem to be promoting videogame censorship. But journalist Benj Edwards, writing in Gamasutra earlier this week, made some interesting points about the future of game violence. His argument is that, as game visuals approach photorealism, and as the physics of combat increase in accuracy and authenticity, onscreen murders will become almost indistinguishable from the real thing - or at least, we will become so inured to graphic suffering we will be unable to register fear, horror or revulsion when confronted ...

Op Ed
Blue's News — Gamasutra - Can Games Become 'Virtual Murder?' . If, in this hypothetical future, we're capable of stripping away our empathy and compassion to murder a 99% realistic virtual human (and maybe even enjoy it), will we be psychologically any different from people who actually murder those of flesh and blood? Having perhaps unintentionally trained ourselves to become cold-blooded killers through systematic desensitization, will we be emotionally capable of doing the same thing in waking life? ...

It’s up to us to shape the industry
Thunderbolt Games latest articles — Header image It’s up to us to shape the industry Opinion by Matt Wadleigh , published on Thursday 2nd July 2009 Benj Edwards, a freelancer for Gamasutra, recently wrote an opinion piece for the site that really got me thinking. The article, titled “Can Games Become Virtual Murder?” , wonders out loud about the direction our industry is headed as violent video games become more popular and improvements in technology make games more realistic. The piece is pure opinion and includes no evidence to support the claims, but the goal of Edward’s argument isn’t to say that something bad is happening, just that it might and that we should all ...

Opinion: Can Games Become 'Virtual Murder?'
GameSetWatch — [This piece has already got scads of feedback in its original Gamasutra form, and on Slashdot, but nonetheless, it's worth reprinting here - Benj Edwards asks if advances in video game technology toward photorealistic gaming experiences make virtual killing more and more disturbing.] You know, I used to laugh at the term "murder simulator" when it was bandied about by knee-jerk opponents of video game violence some years ago. Preposterous, I said: video games are video games -- easily distinguishable from reality, and reasonable people know ...