Are you affected by sins you have committed in games in real life?

I would like to start by saying that i am not a psychopath; i am fairly left-wing, pro gay rights and all sorts of other politically correct awesomeness all up in your arse. In real life i treat other human beings with respect, i don't murder people or hunt them for sport, i like animals and think violence should only be used as a last resort.

In computer games however i tend to behave like the most socially-degenerate piece of [redacted] that you could ever pray not to meet. I am not just talking about games like GTA that are impossible to play without committing outrageous fictional acts, but rather games that give you a choice, or games have not been designed around the concept of an evil player having riotous fun.
This thread is about more than being an S.O.B. in games though (we all know that they are not real, and most of us know that people who do terrible things in games are extremely unlikely to do the same in real-life; the things they do shouldn't reflect on them poorly as a person), it is not about other people judging you, it is about you judging yourself

Below is an example from my real life to clarify what my ramblings mean:
A few days ago i started playing through the original Deus Ex for the second time in my life, and i said to myself at the beginning (in my head i said to myself, i don't tend to talk to myself when i am alone; as i have already stated: i am not a pschopath) as i created a new save file:

"Mark*, the last time you played through this game you murdered everone that you possible could, even (or rather, especially) the innocent NPCs and NPCs on the same side as you, this time how about you play through as a decent person? "(this particular FPS affords you a great many ways to take down hostiles non-lethaly as well as offering many moral choices)

I got as far as the second level before unleashing crowbar-pwnage on one of those weird-voiced orphans that asks you for chocolate, as well as crow-barring homeless people like some deranged mentalist obsessed with ethnic cleansing...
By the New York level i was referring to my character as Billy-Bob homeless-slayer and purging the streets of all life (including non-homeless NPCs and police NPCs like human anthrax
On my way to college today i bought the Big Issue off of a homeless man and only acknowledged this as odd about ten minutes later; i have never done this before and didn't even read it, just threw it in a recycle bin. I've most of today wondering if my conscience made me do this; do i feel guilty on a level i didn't know affected me?

My question to you is thus: do you ever find yourself atoning for sins in computer games in real life (either consciously or subconsciously) or are you completely detached from your actions in games?

*Yeah, i'm not sure why i need to state my own name to specify whom i am talking to inside my own head either... not exactly helping me not sound like a nutter. Oh well... when i'm rich (or in an asylum; i'm not fussy) my psychotherapist can tell me

-and yeah, i know: TL;DR, i get carried away sometimes ; )

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

Nope, I'm a pretty depraved person irl as well. But seriously, go out and get some fresh air or something, you neckbearded vidya addict.

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

How dare you accuse me of having a neckbeard!
Ok then, have you ever found yourself going out of your way to be evil in games that aren't designed to allow you to be? (sending neighbours cheap furniture in Animal Crossing so that you can buy their expensive original furniture cheap? Have you spent time running around Delphino Island in SMS and squirting those weird blob people or purposely built a hell-on-Earth in a theme-park/zoo building game?)

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

Yep. Especially on Hitman: Blood Money, I'm a fucking danger to all society.

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

And do you connect with your character, do you feel as though you are the character, or is the character (ans the entire game) just a medium for you to run riot and have fun? When you massacre innocent NPCs are you rewriting the character as a sociopath or have you just not thought that much about it?

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

Hey punk ass gangsters what you lookin at?
You think you can front with me? You better watch your back
Because I have a lot of guns and I can shoot them good
I'm a menace from society, a boy on the hood
I'm invincible like Bruce Willis in the movie Invincible
I'm invisible like, well I'm not really invisible

I'm bad like the movie Attack of the Clones
I'm dangerous (dangerous) like a fire in the nursing home
Old people burning, old people burning (Put your hands up)
Old people burning, old people burning (That's kind messed up)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC03hmS1Brk

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

"Moderasian; from now on this will be my background music of choice when slaying NPCs"
That was what i was going to go with, but the more the song goes on i think that it would be better as the soundtrack of my life...
Also: http://www.cracked.com/blog/exploring-the-mysteries-of-the-mind-with-the-sims-3
This is obviously a comedy article, but how many of us haven't done this or an equivalent in a game to satisfy our sick needs to hurt binary-beings?

 

Re: Are you affected by sins you have commited in games in real life?

to answer the original question: 'Are you affected by sins you have committed (this is the correct spelling, not comitted) in games in real life?'

No.

 

I think there might be something wrong with anyone who feels directly attached to their actions in a video games. Seriously, why should I feel bad that I was dancing at whoever's funeral in Fable 2? Why should I care if I knock out every character in Mass Effect? Why should I care that I had sex with a hooker in GTA and then killed her?

These actions are pretty bad in real life, but it's a god damn video game. Video games are something to escape reality.

 

Lol amateur psychiatry.

Video games are fun. I'm just well adjusted enough (hurr) to separate a game from real life.

 

Yes, I am affected. Every time I play a Visual Novel, at least one girl always gets the short end of the stick. And I feel bad about that.

 

Yes, it's the reason why I'm here.

Video game wise I'm in my own little world...which I don't get enough of because I am here ranting about it


Still, I don't let my past sin's stop me, just acknoledge them, learn and then move on.

 

Novel style games like Hotel Dusk are better at melding the characters mind with that of the player to the point that it sometimes feels like a bonding experience. Does the tight (usually extensive) scripting of these games mean that you feel more or less responsible for your characters actions do you think?

I think that Metal Gear Solid for the PSX was a good example of blending the action/visual novel genres; the fight with Psycho Mantis was the biggest mind-f**k i had ever experienced in a game in my life up to that point (google it or watch it on Youtube). I loved shooting rats in that game. The first time i shot too many and got the call from the in-game female operator telling me off for killing rats i was so shocked that i dropped my controller and felt genuinely ashamed.

 

"Psychopath"? I've always defined that term as "one who does not have the emotional capacity for empathy, and thus for love." And then of course, you have the people who define "psychopathy" as Narcissistic Personality Disorder... Fools! They are totally different things, I say! Those with NPD consciously adore themselves, which psychopaths lack the ability.

Am I affected by the things I do in Overlord II, The Sims 3, and Fable II? Of course! I've loads of fun!

Not to say that I can't distinguish reality from fantasy and that I am not bound by social mores. In fact, I consider myself a very altruistic person with a great deal of empathy. One of the people I admire most is Ghandi.

 

About the title's question, my answer is no.

It's just a video game not real life.

I never cared what I do in a video games as long as it makes me can finish the game, if the only way to go is doing an evil act, then I will go for it without problem.

 

I've actually never thought of this, but your actions are observed by the high power, so I'm guessing yes you are affected, it's just so far according to you you're very gentle in life <<< just to some up everything he said. I would say most people are different online or in games as they are in real life. But I believe there is an effect for what you do in games, just may not be in a violent for may be in another form like being pro gay <<<< something I would disagree with in my opinion but yea I believe you will be affected. Every action has an equal reaction <<< normal physicas

 

Nope crowbar-pwnage for EVERYONE

 

No, video games don't influence my real-life.

I know the difference between GTA and the real world.

No stars to get rid of if you run someone over. Only jail-time.

 

[me=hYpNoS]was half asleep when he posted this[/me]

XD

I missed the games part...

I'm always ripping people's heads off and a whole bunch ofm other things that games allow you to do...msot sadistic thing I done in a game was a game in halo me and a mate play...

"Body bounce"


Basically, with the sticky grenades, with throw as many we can onto a dead player/enemy and see how far in the air it goes...epic stuff.


I even made a piece of art, just shooting an alien corpse and making some abstract art from the blue blood...

I'd post a shot if I can find it...


THe point is in real life I'm full of regret, but in games...I really don't give a damn.

 

It's always fun shooting at some dead corpse ass while shouting hemorrhoids.

And no the sins I commit in games never effect me in real life.