Tech | April 10, 2010 | 17 comments

Gaming Your Brain for Violence « SpeakEasy

source: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/09/gaming-your-brain-for-violence/

Monkey_Films
The WikiLeaks video of civilian killings by U.S. forces in Iraq has inspired some soul-searching this week. The New York Times ran a story on the dehumanizing effect of military training. The reporter wrote of the leaked video:

“One reason that the soldiers seemed as if they were playing a video game is that, in a morbid but necessary sense, they were.”

Sure enough, it turns out, according to a story on violent video games in The Escapist magazine, that during World War II, only 15 percent of soldiers in that conflict who were unsupervised by an officer actually fired their weapons at people. The military had to learn how to train people to shoot others — teach them to not recognize the enemy as human. And modern video games do in part train our brains to override the instinct not to kill.

Oddly the Times story includes nary a note of worry; what about those who not only shoot at human-shaped targets on a screen, but who have actually taken the next step to killing? Do they stop? How about when they come home?

There’s no discussion of that in the Times news piece, but turn to the so-called arts section of the same day’s paper and there is a seemingly oblivious front page review of two “hard core first person combat shooter games” that prospective shooters might enjoy. We’re all “reaping the benefits of the arms race” writes the reviewer — meaning the competition between the game makers.

Advertising revenues may be benefiting, but the rest of us? Amazingly that’s the big unanswered — and even unasked — question at the Times.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Tech,   Random,   Current Tonight,   12 more
  2. tags:
    Gaming,  War,  Military,  Violence,  8 more
  3.     
    |

17 comments // Gaming Your Brain for Violence « SpeakEasy

  • Robotic091
    • 0
      Robotic091  

    • Makes perfect sense when you think of all the propaganda that the old war vids spew at the public. trying to make the japanese, germans, etc. look like some goofy cartoons

    • 2 years ago
  • boywhocould
    • -1
      boywhocould  

    • killings by U.S. forces in Iraq has inspired some soul-searching "this week"!!!

      who here can honestly say we didn't already know that effectively a murderous repression of a foreign country hasn't been taking place for decades now?

      I'm all for soul searching but don't treat a tragedy at the tail end of tragedies like its the pillar of morals we needed. we've been Amoral for sometime now.

      of course we should also all know that, we are committed to the task regardless now stopping the repression would be bad maybe worse.

    • 2 years ago
  • GodsnLiberals
    • 0
      GodsnLiberals  
    • boywhocould:

      well why don't you ask guidance from osama bin laden from for soul searching tactics??

      if you cannot handle the idea of killing..then sir i really doubt that you would survive a life in reality without those "murderous US Forces or those fascist cops"

      that kind of weakness breeds this very evil we (meaning other than you) have to face

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • artemis6
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • artemis6:

      Way +^d ! Good read. I just posted it in its own right to current. ( but YOU found it,...I will let you do it yourself and take mine down if you want to take the time! ) nice find.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • It is my understanding that some gang members join to gain more strategies in order to beat police . There have been scattered reports of military tactics used against the cops . So , yeah , this is gonna get ugly . These wars wont end , they will just shift location . We may bitterly regret we started them , if we do not already .

    • 2 years ago
  • bking74
    • +1
      bking74  
    • artemis6:

      The threat of gangs systematically infiltrating the U.S Military is not some crazy conspiracy. The army makes a real effort to try and keep former gangs members apart and during the initial recruitment process all ties to gangs are investigated, including a total ban on any gang related tattoo's. The fact remains that many former soldiers from the inner city are returning home to massive employment and using what is in fact an extremely valuable skill set that is can be transfered to the domination on the streets with ease. Also, there are several open investigation's by the Military CID into weapons being stolen from American bases and finding their way onto the streets.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • GodsnLiberals
  • reeleyes
    • 0
      reeleyes  

    • soldiers kill people,that is what they do. games help them do it. desensitize them/us from the reality , like taking a picture the lens is enough distance to make what your shooting seem unreal/palatable.

    • 2 years ago
  • treewolf39
    • +3
      treewolf39  

    • After listening to the hole video more than I should have, I was left wondering how to integrate such incredibly efficient killing machines back into the general population.

      In the video the soldiers are pretending that the group of people on the ground pose a threat. They know the difference between weapons and cameras. They are choosing to kill.

      Murder is murder no matter how you try to excuse it.

    • 2 years ago
  • bking74
    • +3
      bking74  
    • treewolf39:

      I have many of the same fears, during almost a decade in the Army, I have seen countless numbers of young men who have become desensitized. I feel extremely odd and out of place every time I go home, even though I am welcomed with tons of love from my family and friends. Boston has changed a lot in the past decade and I have changed internally in ways I can't even begin to understand. Paranoid, fear of crowds and far to quick to resort to violence. I choose a Combat Arms MOS, straight out of High School and stop at nothing until I reached my goal...becoming one of the elite in the U.S. Army (or at least what my juvenile mind considered elite) a light infantry cavalry scout. Now, I have embraced it as my career for better or worse but I have seen generation of young men cycle in and out after 2,4 or 6 years in the Army and return to a society that is unable to deal with the particular problems this new generation of killers suffer from. Massive unemployment among veterans (higher then the national average), soldiers not using their GI Bills, PTSD at records numbers leading to divorce, suicide, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse. I am at a lose on what society can do to save these young men/women's lives. It breaks my heart and no matter what your personal views are about the war these young men/women need our help and guidance. We can't afford to lose an entire generation to this violence.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • bking74
    • +1
      bking74  

    • The training practices of the U.S. Military that sometimes in effect "dehumanize" a soldier is being blown out of portion. True a certain level of calculated effort to transform the average civilian into a competent soldier changes the basic belief system and indoctrinates them to military life. This is an attempt to produce an effective soldier, capable of accomplishing the unthinkable. Of course during target practice the Military is going to use human shaped targets, what do you suggest Cow shaped targets? I also don't believe that this latest and rather tame video release is causing America to question it's morality. Civilian deaths were much more public during the Vietnam war and the current Military leadership has been extremely open concerning civilian death and the destruction of civilian property. The future of the Military is going to include many more methods of remote killing machines. This does remove a level of personal and moral responsibility from soldiers operating drones. Also some of these new super size recruitment centers include rows and rows of first person simulators, life size HMVC's and Black Hawks. The army has adapted recruitment efforts that target internet, gaming generation but the fact of the matter is simply this is the generation that is now at the age for basic recruitment. ....true confession, the first time I fired a GUA-19 in combat from a UH-60 in the big rock garden, my first sergeant told me to look down the sight and pretend the targets were nothing but stick figures. I closed my eyes and did what I had to.........

    • 2 years ago
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos