Interview with a gamer

I had an interview with a college student about the violence in videogames, and about violence in real life, how they differ and what feeling they induce. The interview was done with Doug Walter.

me:  what violent video games have you recently played?
doug: Halo,Call of Duty, grand theft auto and Uncharted.
me: would you recommend these games to other people?
doug: yea
me: why were you drawn to those particular games?
doug: my friends were playing them
me: did the violence, gore, or blood bother you at all?
doug: no not really
me: what makes you give that response?
doug: because its not real its just a videogame
me: do you find other games with absolutely no violence boring?
doug: not at all
me: do you think that because of all the violence on television, and in the movie theater, you are more accustomed to violence, and consider it a social norm?
doug: yeah, but not all movies need to have violence for us to be entertained.

After this interview, I had him review a clip (below) on YouTube of real violence, in real life, and had another interview about the YouTube clip in comparison with the videogames.

 me: how does this clip make you feel?
doug: happy to not be in egypt
me: is your emotional response to this different from your emotional response to the video games you play?
doug: i see a video of that happening and its sad but its on tv, if it were happening in front of me itd be a stronger response but my response is kind of the same.
me: why do  you think that is?
doug: because it is not actually happening in front of me, the video and call of duty is all happening on a screen so its a loser grip on what is happeing. i have trouble acepting that that is reality.
me: could you put yourself in the shoes of the people from the YouTube clip being harmed?
doug: nope
me: could you put yourself in the shoes of the people getting harmed in your video games?
doug: not at all
me: do you understand the consequences of violence?
doug: yeah, i understand them morally and legally, but its hard to put myself in their place.
me: after having this interview, would you still recommend the video games you play to other people?
doug: yeah because it is not real.

Images,can you believe what you see?

         This top image was taken in Monroeville, it looks like a fairly normal picture, there is nothing to special about this photo, it was just taken while I was driving back from Monroeville mall during sunset. Of course i think this photo is beautiful, I love how the clouds and the sky play off of each other. However, as much as i like this photo, I have the power to change what it looks like. The bottom photo has been altered, it has been photo shopped. As you can see the clouds look more like waves, the overall color of the photo is tinted blue. The pixels in the photo are more film grain. To a viewer of the second photo, it would seem as if it were an image out of a movie, it would seem Dr. Seuss like. Or perhaps the viewer would think it is a picture from a comic book. Depending on how I would like to alter the photo, it would change what the viewer saw. I can control the thoughts of the viewer in a way.  It is great that artists have the ability to alter their photos to look a certain way that is more eye appealing, however, Photoshop is not just for artists, it is for everyone. In my opinion, this is possibly a bad thing. The images we see every day, on the television, in the newspapers, in magazines, online, any photo you see, how can you be sure what your seeing is actually real? The images in magazines of women are all photo shopped, to make the neckline of the woman longer and slimmer, to make the woman bustier, and skinner in the waist, to make her eyes larger and her lips more full. Altered photos can even make you think negatively of someone. For example, the O.J. Simpson picture on the front of TIME. The photo on the left was the first photo shopped image, clearly he looks darker than his actual skin. 

  

         Just looking at the image screams “he did it". There was such a controversy they had to change the image on the left hand side. The image on the right side is not much better, they took a not so appealing picture of him in the first place, put a dark black shadow behind his face, with a blood red color background. as you can see, it is easy to make a picture into something that you want it to be. However, I submit that altering photos in a sense is altering the truth. You need to be smart, and not believe everything that you see, because in today’s world, everyone has the power to change what you see.