This article was shared on my Facebook feed by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. Take a moment and read it, I'll wait.
It's certainly interesting.
First off I'd like to say that I'm extremely happy to live in an age where, both through technological advances and sophisticated narrative, videogames are capable of eliciting such a visceral response, however negative.
Then I'd like to open this up to discussion. I'll post some questions and I won't attempt to answer them, in the interest of having an open discussion.
Have you ever been 'triggered' by a game?
How about a film or television show?
Given that a videogame elicited such an emotional response, and that art is meant to provoke such a response, can we call this game a work of art?
Are games art?
Is someone justified in feeling angry at/violated by a game or its developer due to a PTSD triggered reaction?
Is it okay for a game to intentionally provoke such a response if the aim of the narrative is to provide catharsis?
What if it doesn't?
Is evoking helplessness a valid goal of a work of art?
Why/why not?
Is there anything the industry can do to prevent such a response?
Should they?
Does warning players that a game may provoke an intense emotional response due to specific stimuli 'spoil' portions of the game?
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Edit: Thinking about it. I'd say Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan could count for me. I still can't watch BHD, or the beach scene in SPR. And the ending turns me into a bawling baby every time.
As for a game that did that...well, I do get emotional at certain points of my favorite RPGs.
This article was shared on my Facebook feed by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. Take a moment and read it, I'll wait.
It's certainly interesting.
First off I'd like to say that I'm extremely happy to live in an age where, both through technological advances and sophisticated narrative, videogames are capable of eliciting such a visceral response, however negative.
Then I'd like to open this up to discussion. I'll post some questions and I won't attempt to answer them, in the interest of having an open discussion.
Have you ever been 'triggered' by a game?
How about a film or television show?
Given that a videogame elicited such an emotional response, and that art is meant to provoke such a response, can we call this game a work of art?
Are games art?Is someone justified in feeling angry at/violated by a game or its developer due to a PTSD triggered reaction?
Is it okay for a game to intentionally provoke such a response if the aim of the narrative is to provide catharsis?
What if it doesn't?
Is evoking helplessness a valid goal of a work of art?
Why/why not?Is there anything the industry can do to prevent such a response?
Should they?
Does warning players that a game may provoke an intense emotional response due to specific stimuli 'spoil' portions of the game?
I haven't been traumatized in my life enough to be triggered by anything I guess. Works of art effect me emotionally, but I've never had that moment where I relived an experience from myown life and walked around shell-shocked all day afterwards.
As re: are video games art, I just don't know what to tell you. I think it's much more useful to define the differences between good art and bad art than quibble about what is or isn't art. The people who produce video games are obviously creative types, going through the creative process as they create something out of nothing (if I use the word create a few more times, that sentence will have meaning :P), but I have yet to see a video game that should be alongside the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, y'know?
If seeing someone gets choked in a video game gives you flashbacks, I think you should be angry at the [redacted] who actually choked you, rather than the designers of said video game. I also think that any video game where the main character gets chocked to death right in front of you should have violence warnings all over it.
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I mentioned this over in the Halo Reach thread a long time ago-- I had no idea how the game was going to end. After POA took off, I was a little surprised to hear gunfire in the distance and to realize there was still some game to play.
I was completely caught off guard by what happened next: me fighting to the death, my death. I don't care how nerdy it sounds, but I was weeping at the last. I was most surprised, though, at how proud I felt. It was a super-weird experience I've never had with a video game before.
I have a friend who is hardcore into Reach and has talked at length about that aspect of it.
@HD- My reaction was much the same, it's not the designer's fault and there are warnings about that sort of stuff. Specifically, for Tomb Raider, the ESRB rating summary warns about everything mentioned in the article. Nonetheless, it's something I didn't think I'd hear about videogames.
Meat, have you heard about the use of video games/3D environments/virtual reality as therapy tools? Long story short, it doesn't surprise me at all that video game would get that kind of reaction, no insult to the art form.
I guess my question is, does the ESRB rating warn about everything in the article? From what I read, there was no warning that said, "This video game contains choking; if you've been choked, you could have a flashback." Don't get me wrong, I think choking falls within the greater classification of violence.
I think the customer should be educated as to what they're buying, but that shouldn't undermine the artist's vision, or whatever you want to call it.
The ESRB rating summary specifically says choking, yes. Not the warning on the box, but the summary on the website.
Well, that's where you get into some weird territory; you may disagree, but I don't think the extended ESRB rating summery on the website is fair warning to the consumer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely sure the consumer deserves fair warning of the content if they went ahead and bought the game without doing their due diligence.