The Interview

  I conducted this interview with my roommate Greg. He is twenty-four years old and has been playing shooters for twelve years. This is a clip of one of those games.

What kinds of shooters do you play?

I play a lot of video games and only some of those are shooters. Halo, Timesplitters, and Team Fortress 2 are some of my favorite first person shooters. However, there are games like the Grand Theft Auto series, where shooting is involved, but it isn't the whole scope of the game.


How do these games depict violence?

It varies from game to game. In some, you're killing aliens so it isn't very realistic to begin with. In others, the game is cartoonish, so the depiction of violence follows suit. Sometimes killing is something you have to do to complete and objective: kill this guy, take this point. To be honest, in hectic multiplayer games you're moving so fast that you don't really have time to stop and notice to what extent they show blood or gore. You just shoot someone and move on.

Describe the way you feel when you get a kill or shoot someone in these games.

If it's a multiplayer game you feel good, because you've just tested your skills against another person and passed. There's no remorse or time to feel bad because that's the point of the game: to kill. But take a game with a well crafted storyline and it can actually be quite emotional when a character dies or you're forced to kill someone.

Do you think violent FPS games have an impact on the way people see similar acts in the real world?

Maybe if you're a moron. I've been playing so called "violent" games since I was 12 and I'm not desensitized to images of gore or brutality. In fact, I think these games are helpful as an outlet for stress and anger.


*On that note, we watched the following clip*

What kinds of things go through your mind when watching a clip like this?

This is awful. How could you watch a clip like this and not be moved? Obviously, when someone sees this their first instinct is to wish they could have done something to help or stop this kind of thing. The hard part is to know you can't and use the knowledge you gain by watching to change things that may happen in the future.

Compare the things you see here with what you see when you play a typical game.

Obviously the game companies want to make something fun to play and realistic to a point. No one wants to play a game where your soldier loses a limb and has to battle the VA paperwork to get health benefits. Does this mean they gloss over the real impact of war and violence Yes. Doe that make them irresponsible? No. It's entertainment. It should be up to our politicians and our newscasters to show us the real face of these things, yet they fail us daily.

Would you change anything about games you play? Will you continue to play these games?

I wouldn't change anything about the games and I will continue to play. If anything, it would be nice if everyone who plays them was educated enough to know the difference between what they see on the screen and the true destructive force of violence in the real world.

Where do you think violence in video games is headed?

It seems to be going in both directions. There are games coming out where the blood and gore is over the top and fans can't get enough. But, there are companies out there who don't have to use violence to make a good game. Believe it or not, despite what politicians want you to believe, not all video games are hyper-violent bloodfests.  

Regarding the Pain of Occupy Protesters

     We're discussing pain, what it means to photograph pain, and what seeing others in pain can accomplish. The Occupy protests are the embodiment of all of these ideas. The protests are pain. They are the manifestation of the pain felt by many from an unjust system. There is a sense of sadness and loss created by the knowledge that such potential will be wasted to muddled goals and overwhelming capitalist dominance. With new technology, we see more photographs of people in pain than we would have in the past. "In an era of information overload, the photograph provides a quick way of apprehending" complicated situations like the Occupy protests (Sontag 22).  In Oakland, this is more evident than anywhere else as police crack down. What can these images accomplish?
     Consider this image, with the caption 'Police arrest protesters who refused to disperse near City Hall in Oakland, California early November 3, 2011. A general strike called by Occupy Oakland shut down the port'.

     That is exactly what we see: police in riot gear arresting a man, his mouth bloody from some unknown action. His mouth is open, looking as if he is calling out to anyone nearby, perhaps someone out of frame. Yet, it is hard not to imagine he is calling out to the viewer at home. The photo comes to us from the United Press International website. In the past, UPI was a large player in the news game with trusted names like Helen Thomas in their ranks. Today, UPI has fallen on hard times and is now owned by News World Communications. In ways, this is similar to our once great nation, reduced to a shell of its former self. Still, there may be hope yet for both United Press International and the United States of America.  UPI has found a niche market and somewhat distinct flavor, influenced by ownership interests outside of the United States. America, on the other hand, has the Occupy protests.
     To a supporter of the Occupy protests, photographs such as this one tell the whole story. The eye is drawn to the men and women of law enforcement, a part of the 99%. Instead of joining the movement, they are deployed in their riot gear, looking more like something out of a third world conflict than peace keepers in an American city. They stand all powerful over the protester, as the interests they serve stand all powerful over the American public. To a supporter, the overwhelming use of force shown in this photo and on occasional news stories is a sign that their cause is just. All of this and no one has even mentioned the pictures of Scott Olsen, which tell the same tale in more graphic and vivid detail.
     To those opposed to the Occupy demonstrations, photographs such as this one tell the whole story. If the photo could inspire some to feel compassion, "surely they would also foster greater militancy on behalf of" those who are content with the status quo (Sontag 18). These are troublemakers, working hard to bring down everything we hold dear. They are lazy beatniks, having nothing better to do than incite violence. We see young people and minorities, people who usually sit on the sidelines and the people who are marginalized by the mass media. The opposition never sees images of these groups and when they finally do, it is in a negative light. They are being arrested or breaking shop windows. To the anti-Occupy forces, this is a dangerous man being arrested and put where he belongs.
     On photo, two interpretations. Still images have the power to hold so many meanings at once. They have the amazing ability to persist. The only question is which view will stand the test of time and make it to the history books.

Works Cited

Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. Picador USA, 2005. Print.