Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!olivea!uunet!ora!ambar From: dl2p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Douglas Allen Luce) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: computer games & women/girls Message-ID: Date: 23 Apr 91 18:31:36 GMT References: <13947@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> <7060003@hpdtczb.HP.COM> <14193@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> <19171@cs.utexas.edu> Sender: ambar@ora.com (Jean Marie Diaz) Organization: O'Reilly and Associates Inc., Cambridge MA Lines: 49 Approved: ambar@ora.com bradley@cs.utexas.edu (Bradley L. Richards) writes: > While many newer games are still very violence oriented, there are > also many (Tetris, Klax, et al) which are not. They're bloody few. I go through arcades at times, and am upset by the lack of quality vid out there. The prevailing theme in the video market is "killing things." These games all follow the same general scenario ("kill things") with minor plot twists. These games seem to be less interesting in premise and much less fun to play. The animation is not always so hot, and the "realism factor" that seems to be important lacking. (such as the connection of a weapon with an opponent's head and the death of that opponent -- usually the weapon just looks/"feels" like it's flying through air, and the opponent is magically influenced to die. No solid thunk and obvious damage) What really gets to me is how popular these games seem to be. A new death dealing vid was installed near a Klax in one arcade I visited. There was a huge (young male) crowd watching the (not horribly fresh) carnage on the one machine, and no one was even remotely interested in Klax. Although I generally fool myself into thinking I'm less war-monging than my fellow penis owners, there are things that I cannot bring myself to connect in with my sex, but I would if describing anyone else. I get an immense kick out of the video game "NARC." For those not so inclined, this game plots the player as a narcotics law enforcement officer armed with machine gun and occasional bazooka. The main object is to kill "undesirable elements of society" and confiscate cash and drugs. The depiction of violence is extreme: the video characters bleed quite a bit, and when hit by a bazooka, they become emblazoned, and flip into the air and divide into several component members, each landing on the ground and quickly burning to ashes. I play this game as often as I can (although it's no longer vogue in the arcades). I also recently saw the film Akira. This is a beautiful Japanese movie which is extraordinarily violent, complete with showers of blood from thought-wave obliterated humans. I loved every minute of it, and plan to watch it again to catch the details. What I can't seem to get at is the reason I enjoy these things so much. Do they tie into my gender in a physiological way? Do they have to do with my uncontrollable inclination to dominate? And are computers seen as tools of domination?