2011, brainwashing game almost perfect

[Buddy]

What exactly are war video games doing to the brains of individuals who play them? Is it just desensitizing them to violence or something beyond that?

Seems to me a person would be training themselves to easily slip into a state of disassociation where excitement and adrenaline can flow and increase with the amount of destruction and death involved.

I can imagine that from a war-monger's point of view, someone running do-it-again pleasure loops of virtual death and destruction would make good fodder for a real war, OSIT. And the best thing about it is the players are training themselves, and some of those, at their own expense!

Diabolical if intentional.

 

[Leon1]

Yes I agree Bud, like a feedback system. It feeds on itself. When the food or addiction or whatever term one uses, is inadequate, the one has to ramp up. Very much like any other addiction which creates desperate acts in order to feed that addiction. The peacefull loving boy in the end can kill a granny for a quick fix, and some, even himself can wonder how he got there.

I had a mmmm... lets say mediocre addiction, and I broke away many years ago to that, so I can see the pattern.

Mine was Mary Warner and smoking Heroin, and far too much alchohol. At the time I believed I had legitimate reason to follow that path, based on self worth, self pity,and old wounds. I got a grip, thankfully.

Problem is these feedback systems work over a very wide range of human experiences, and there are an extremely wide range of ways that people resort to, in order to deal witrh them, that just feedback anyhow. And, it is always at the persons own expense, and I don't just mean finacially, as you more than likely know.

Good point.

 

[melatonin]

I agree that Call Of Duty isnt just a game, its conditioning to create new soldiers to fight wars.
War is cool now. Its trendy. Your a hero. Your a man. Your brave.
Rather than the truth - your a slave. Your carrying out someone elses dirty work. Your spirit will pay for it somewhere down the line. Ignorance is NO EXCUSE.

As an ritual abuse survivor who served for the military (before i brokedown) you could say that ive been extremely programmed during my life.
Im part of a 'clan' in call of duty 2 now. (an aging game but still has the best gameplay).
Im aware that playing this game satisfys something in my physce, but it isnt because i want to hurt anyone, it allows me to play out my anger against people who hurt me in the past, in a safe manner.

The guys in the clans take it so seriously. Its all about rank and scores and power fighting, rather than being a social activity to get to know someone at any genuine level.

Even worse is this - People who i knew in my past who has no previous intrest in video games now play Call Of Duty. Its gone beyond entertainment, but as a way of people virtually killing "those evil people from the middle east".
Very sad.
When i see threads like this it reminds me of how this society and world isnt going to change anytime soon. :(

Edited - Spelling mistakes.

 

[Scottie]

Another thing that amazes me: I know far too many couples where one or the other (sometimes both!) basically plays video games of varying types at the expense of taking care of and spending time with their children. I mean, WTH?!

I suppose one could argue that it's the next step in devolution: first it was TV, and now it's interactive video games.

In any case, the more I think about it, the more I understand what the C's once said about computers taking us over. It's already happened.

Q: (T) Who created the structures on the moon that Richard Hoagland has discovered?

A: Atlanteans.

Q: (T) What did they use these structures for?

A: Energy transfer points for crystalline power/symbolism as in monuments or statuary.

Q: (T) What statuary are you referring to?

A: Example is face.

Q: (T) What power did these crystals gather?

A: Sun.

Q: (T) Was it necessary for them to have power gathering stations on Mars and the Moon. Did this increase their power?

A: Not necessary but it is not necessary for you to have a million dollars either. Get the correlation? Atlanteans were power hungry the way your society is money hungry.

Q: (T) Was the accumulation of this power what brought about their downfall?

A: Yes.

Q: (T) Did they lose control of this power?

A: It overpowered them the same way your computers will overpower you.

Q: (V) Is it similar to them gaining a life and intelligence of their own?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) You mean these crystalline structures came to life, so to speak?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) And then what did they do?

A: Destroyed Atlantis.

I'm not so sure it's going to happen like it does in the movies - like SkyNet and Terminators. Somehow I think the idea of "gaining a life and intelligence" means something a lot different than what we might think at first. If there are multiple realities, and we choose the one to focus on in a manner of speaking, then what message do we send to the universe when we choose to live inside an artificially intelligent world inside a computer? What are we "saying" when we escape from this life and its pressures by battling fake trolls or fake space aliens in a fake world using what amounts to fake self-serving technology - while all the while, our fake governments create their fake wars to kill fake enemies to gather fake wealth and fake power for themselves? How can we even criticize our leaders if we ourselves are engaging in the same pursuit of The Ultimate Fakeness?

I will readily admit that I still like some of my techy toys. I always want to make my computer better and more enjoyable to use. I justify it by saying that since I sit at the darn thing all day, it's okay. But what I really dream about is a world where there are no computers, or cell phones, or social networks.

I mean, if you think about it, how crazy is the idea of a social networking web site? Imagine if we could communicate with those close to us through the use of some psychospiritual technology - or maybe just plain old ESP? We wouldn't need any internet. Or Facebook. Or smartphones. Or computers.

No, I think our virtual worlds have already become intelligent in a sense. And I think they have already taken us over. I suspect that the point of no return has already been passed, and we are now starting to see the results of this collective choice in things like crazy weather, fireballs, and the devastating quake in Christchurch, NZ.

As to what happens to us individually and collectively, well... I think that still depends on us! If we can call down the fires of hell on our heads by living fake lives, then what could happen if we did the exact opposite?

 

[Nem]

[...] running do-it-again pleasure loops [...]

I think that's the biggest evil in almost every kind of game, telling from my experience and observation, it's just so easy to connect to a kind of virtual reality where you can "become" a hero of any sort. Your real problems don't bother you when you simply dissociate into a "world" where maybe you feel that you've got everything under control or you're someone very important ( Maybe that's why some kind of games are attractive for some kind of people, they find in games what they can't find in their real life?) and you start to like it. Then the loop starts ie. "let's have one more 'frag'!", again and again, you waste a lot of time just for temporary ease/pleasure leaving your real life degrading.

Many times I was and sometimes still am angry at myself when I couldn't resist the "one more play" syndrome and when started, lost even a few hours in a row! I had a hard time with that, hate warfare games, but other competitive, even chess, were time-leeching. What hurts is that I'm aware that this lost time could be spent on other productive activities and still sometimes I'm "pulled in the loop".

Nowadays when visually games are very attractive, let's take that Bat.tlefield, IMO for most "gamers" the idea/message behind a game is becoming less significant, what counts are the visual/audio sensations and the improved interaction with the virtual world. That's really bad I think, especially concerning mindless shooting games, cause visuals are being caught even by youngsters eyes and they become more emotionless to the scenes of violence, blood etc. But aren't our lives conditioned almost everywhere in a similar manner? That's a one big issue.

Hope I didn't go too far off-topic, my 3 cents.

 

[Ellipse]

Nowadays when visually games are very attractive, let's take that Bat.tlefield, IMO for most "gamers" the idea/message behind a game is becoming less significant, what counts are the visual/audio sensations and the improved interaction with the virtual world. That's really bad I think, especially concerning mindless shooting games, cause visuals are being caught even by youngsters eyes and they become more emotionless to the scenes of violence, blood etc.

I was thinking about the 3D glasses combined with those hight quality graphics; frightening.

As, you say, they don't care too much about the message but unfortunately, their subconscious certainly do.

 

[Dorothy Minder]

Good discussion. I definitely agree about the desensitization to violence, dissociation from "real life," and increasingly immersive and addictive fantasy envirionments.

I think these games are much more than simple training and distraction. After all, the very act of playing a violent video game feeds the STS frequency, doesn't it?

To begin with, think of all the emotions pouring off of someone playing Call of Duty or something similar -- gleeful murder, the will to dominate, fear of loss, anger in defeat, etc.

Then, consider that when most people plug into their video games, they forget themselves entirely. Even simple, "harmless" games can be frighteningly hypnotic. For example, recently it came out that people spend 200,000,000 minutes playing Angry Birds PER DAY. ( http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/02/16/angry-birds-gamers-spend-200-million-minutes-playing-each-day/ )

I like to remind myself that, in this world, the Control System will co-opt whatever consciousness I don't actively engage.

Finally, as with TV and movies, I think more and more video games are created as a kind of predictive programming. Though they introduce what initially seem like futuristic ideas or storylines, as these ideas filter into the mainstream, they create "reality tunnels" that influence and limit possible futures.

You could say that someone who plays violent video games is rehearsing, maintaining, and constantly recreating an STS existence, OSIT.