Is beating a hooker to death to get money back supremely mysogynistic?

[JanMichael]

Or is enjoying a game where that's acted out pretty much the same?

I've seen posts that say that the stealing and killing is better on screen than real life, at least in that it satisfies some pretty fucked up urges.

I don't personally have any urges like that and think if one does they might be smart to seek some serious existential psychotherapy:-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. When I play RPGs I tend to be chaotic good. (I can't say lawful good

simply because yes, I bash chests open and take what's inside. But other that that I am a real goody two shoes)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. In World of Warcraft we call people like you "CareBears".

I used to be more carebearish but somehow I became bloodthirsty instead.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. :^P I don't Play WarCraft.. Just NeverWinter Nights, Dungeon Siege and

Knights of the Old Republic

[Jara sang]

9. Ever play Age of Kings?

I love that game. I love to do cavalry attacks on villagers, especially if you come across an isolated camp of wood cutters. It is too fun, the mayhem and the carnage.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. I was always a Starcraft/Broodwar guy, still play that sometimes. My wife

was an Age of Empires/AOK player. We'd play that via network sometimes and she'd totally kick my ass.

We used to be kind of even at Starcraft, but then I became obssessed and got a lot better and she couldn't beat me anymore.

AOK is a great game, but the pace of it seems too slow for someone weaned on SC/BW.

Yea, she was always raiding my worker/treecutter guys with her cavalry and mounted archers, sigh...

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Wait, I can think of a time when my evil side comes to light

When I play games like SimCity my inner Republican urges me to gouge people for money and stiff them on services.

Seriously!

:blush"

[Briarius]

2. nah, that's just being a cheap bastard

:evilgrin:

[Elidor]

3. It's bad strategy

The time it takes to beat her could be better spent killing people with more money.

[distantearlywarning]

12. Now that's the truth.

Hookers never have much.

[Deja Q]

5. No. I just like the hooker.

:crazy:

[philosophie_en_rose]

6. Sex is much worse than murdering a hooker.

:eyes:

Apparently, exploiting and murdering women is fine. But if two adults have sex, then we're all damned to hell. /sarcasm.



I can't believe the hypocrisy.

[Chicago Democrat]

11. Its just business...

no mysongeny involved.. Could be a gay hooker? " A Mangina"

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Ask the potential victim. I'll bet she'd rather you use the videogame. -nt

[JanMichael]

14. Holy shit. You think the millions of geeks that play those games really...

...WANt to commit those acts?

Oy vey:eyes:

[JVS]

15. Some would call it thrifty.

[Elidor]

23. LOL!!!

:rofl:

[elshiva]

16. ??? I guess this is about videogames, but beating a hooker

to death is murder and not funny. Don't think I ever heard of this game, used to play Final Fanasty or Street Fighter back in the day, so what do I know? :shrug:

[CanuckAmok]

17. Did you ever beat a hooker *at* Final Fantasy or Street Fighter?

How about "Street Fantasy"?

[elshiva]

26. No. Was that Chinese Girl in Street Fighter a hooker??

She was hot, but I don't think she was, just a single girl avenging her father or something.
I beat up a lot of monsters in Final Fanasty.

[CanuckAmok]

27. Hey, avenging one's father costs money.

n/t

[elshiva]

28. Yes, but there was no evidence to say that she was a hooker.

She could have been rich, inherited her daddy's fortune?

[JanMichael]

18. I didn't intend to be funny.

I think it's some sick fucking behavior even if in cyber space.

[ghostsofgiants]

22. Grand Theft Auto

[swag]

19. Enjoying a game where it's acted out is superior because nobody is killed

Easy question.

Easy answer.

[JanMichael]

20. So these people would do it in real life if not for the games?

Wow:crazy:

That's pretty sad.

[swag]

25. No, nobody said that.

If you make an assertion, please back it up with evidence.

My post does not offer any premise for your dubious conclusion.

[Redstone]

30. But the problem (for me) is that a desire to "act out"

such revolting stuff is, well, revolting.

Virtual or not, I find the idea of taking pleasure in that kind of thing disgusting.

And it is true, God damn it, call me any kind of name you want to, but it is true that when kids get desensitized to violence in a virtual world, that bleeds over to the real world.

Three words: Iraqi civilian casualties. A lot of our kids are coming home traumatized by shooting up cars full of civilians, but WAY too many of them don't seem to mind it.

Redstone

[swag]

35. 10-4 on a desensitization problem with violent video games,

but to blame Abu Ghraib on video games is classic post hoc fallacy, not to mention Kefauver-style hysteria.

I won't call you any names besides Redstone, but your "three words" paragraph implies that violent video games (which I have never played) are responsible for prison torture in Iraq. Golly, I don't think that video games have anything to do with Abu Ghraib.

It seems to me that policy-makers in the White House are responsible for prison torture in Iraq. Alberto Gonzales found, at the behest of his masters, the Geneva Conventions on torture to be "quaint."

All that aside, the US has engaged in prison torture, in its own prisons, for decades upon decades - for a period that predates video games. The US prison system has long presided over death, torture, and rape, and it has long been impossible to get anyone to care about any of those victims of US custody and the US criminal "justice" system.

As a test, post a thread on DU on behalf of the ACLU prisons program or Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc. and see how much support you get. Not as tests, but as sincere posts seeking support, I posted such threads. They sank like stones with no replies.

[Redstone]

36. I didn't say that.

And My Lai certainly says that people can be insensitive to killing without having played violent video games.

I know all that.

But I worry about people who take pleasure in revoltingly violent video games (especially as the graphics get more realistic).

I still believe that it's really, really sick to revel in that sort of stuff, even if "it's only a game."

Maybe it's because I've actually seen blood and death for real. I don't know. But I do know that I sure as shit don't want to see it on a computer screen or TV, and I don't understand hwo anyone can think it's fun.

Redstone

[Redstone]

21. I agree. Though you're going to get a lot of arguments

from video-game players, I really do believe that a desire to do that kind of stuff, even though virtually, is pretty fucking sick.

I suspect the people you're talking about have never experienced any REAL violence in their lives; if they had, it wouldn't seem glamorous at all.

Redstone

[democracyindanger]

24. You've only succeeded in demonstrating a shallow understanding

of GTA:SA. Congratulations.

[salin]

29. or perhaps instead

pointing out how it appears to those to whom certain games have no appeal? A differing opinion and taste does not necessarily mean "shallow". Unless of course there is some deep metaphoric understanding that is embedded in the game. In which case, please enlighten us to the deeper, less shallow, meaning.

For some, the shallow view is taking the whole thing on face value - as is the definition of shallow (eg not deep, face value.) :shrug:

[democracyindanger]

31. Sure

From a purely gameplaying point of view, killing a prostitute for her money is a waste of time. Actually, killing a drug dealer for his money is far more profitable, and at a certain point in the game, killing drug dealers is necessary to advance the storyline. Critics take the "killing prostitutes is unfettered misogyny" line, playing it up as if it's a major goal of the whole game, when in actuality, in a freeflowing game like GTA:SA it's one of many choices a player can take--and the wholly minor rewards from doing so makes it unproductive, as pointed out in an earlier, albeit snarkier, post in this thread.

There are only two conclusions that can be made from the OP: 1) He has never actually played GTA:SA, and is therefore basing his criticisms on second-hand experience; or 2) He has played GTA:SA, and he spent most of his time killing prostitutes, believing it to be the main appeal of the game.

[salin]

32. or perhaps

finds the premise of the various ways of scoring points as being perhaps a bit antisocial altogether - and pointing out just one of those examples?

There are plenty of games out there that have different ways of "scoring points". Have your fun - but at least be aware that to some folks it does strike a chord per the whole desensitizing phenomenon.

Note - I am not suggesting any sense of censorship (as in - dont allow these games) but I do suggest that it sometimes the choices do send messages (intentional or unintentional) to some folks. One certainly has the right to do whatever, as others have the right to "read" that choice as a statement of one sort or another.

[democracyindanger]

34. I can see that

but banging the "killing prostitutes" drum is an old saw taken, quite frankly, by prudes.

It's no different than the prudish critics of Dungeons and Dragons twenty years ago. They certainly are entitled to their opinions, as uninformed as they may be. But the tradeoff is that they must defend against--or, in silence, tacitly agree with--arguments that they don't know what they're talking about.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. Convincing gamers otherwise is like talking to Prozac

The games themselves up the level of dopamine going through the brain...you aren't going to change any minds

[HEyHEY]

37. Jesus, what kind of game is that?

[DS1]

38. You can beat money out of anyone in that game

In fact you get money FOR beating people.

However, just because it's there, doesn't in ANY way mean you NEED to do it. If you beat a hooker before you have sex with her, it's you that made the choice to do so. If you have sex with her and driveway, again it's your choice. If you beat her, run her over, take her money, and shoot her friend, well, that came from your heart too. So don't blame a game just because you can't control your own actions and think these are acceptable things to do.

;-)

[RandomKoolzip]

39. What, like charades?

"Okay, 11 words! First word...rhymes with 'eating...'"