Say Bye Bye to Jack Thompson

[al1uk]

where you refuring to the study with the children and the violent cartoons? What they conlcuded from that is some kid react to the cartoons miss jugdeing them as reality, but what he's trying to make is that a mature adult can be influnced by such a thing. I dont know of any study of violent video games that tested on a mature adult, I do know there was one on adalesence and it came back inconclusive because some where affected other had no affect.

Errr..... You lost me with the first line . I did an A-Level (UK system) in psychology. I think you're refering to the Bobo doll (a doll that bounces back upright after being hit) studies where an adult would hit a Bobo doll in front of children, and then observe their reaction afterwards. I don't need to remember that stuff anymore:wink: 'cos I finished my A-Levels, and Psychology ain't my line of study. No disrespect to your achievement in psychology. Btw, what country did you study in, 'cos most of these studies were done in America.
This other study relating to TV violence found that ppl who watch violent tv, are less violent!!!

[Hakira]

Errr..... You lost me with the first line . I did an A-Level (UK system) in psychology. I think you're refering to the Bobo doll (a doll that bounces back upright after being hit) studies where an adult would hit a Bobo doll in front of children, and then observe their reaction afterwards. I don't need to remember that stuff anymore:wink: 'cos I finished my A-Levels, and Psychology ain't my line of study. No disrespect to your achievement in psychology. Btw, what country did you study in, 'cos most of these studies were done in America.
This other study relating to TV violence found that ppl who watch violent tv, are less violent!!!

I studied and still am studying at RIT in america. Yes most of the studys are done here, I think this is because we have something of a progressive welnes thing... Its like we take a active role in seeking help in dealing with our problems... be it with proscription drugs or thearapy.

As for the study I was mentioning was a older APA study on violence and kids... Kids and violence
(note: this link might not work its a google cache)

This study was done back in the '90s, but they did find a link with agression in kids and violence.

I still cant find anything about adults and violence... I keep seeing things for kids...

[Nikos]

Even though I don't feel offended by violence in games, don't you find games like Doom 3 just too violent? It somewhat distracts from the good parts of the game. Yeah, well, exploding heads with brains and blood splattering all over the place looks kinda funny on screen (whenever that happens, I just look at my pal who sits right to me and he just grins with eyes rolling), but you have to wonder why they put that in. The game would be actually more dark and terrifying without that stuff. Designer's choice of course; that's just my own opinion. I think true horror comes from hinting about what *could* happen, without actually make it happen. That's why FEAR isn't as scary as it could be. (And Quake 4 is just fast-paced action; no horror at all.)

[Hakira]

Even though I don't feel offended by violence in games, don't you find games like Doom 3 just too violent? It somewhat distracts from the good parts of the game. Yeah, well, exploding heads with brains and blood splattering all over the place looks kinda funny on screen (whenever that happens, I just look at my pal who sits right to me and he just grins with eyes rolling), but you have to wonder why they put that in. The game would be actually more dark and terrifying without that stuff. Designer's choice of course; that's just my own opinion. I think true horror comes from hinting about what *could* happen, without actually make it happen. That's why FEAR isn't as scary as it could be. (And Quake 4 is just fast-paced action; no horror at all.)

Doom 3 was designed to be like its predicessor with just a tad bit more storyline thrown in. I never found the exploding heads all that scary, Although I did find it scary when your on hard and all you see is exploding heads... But that scared is just the effects of way to much on the screen at one time and trying to servive. Its things like that what, in opinion, make the game scary, also there are alot of things you miss if you dont play the game in 5.1 - 7.1 surround sournd systems. The game in my case is much scaryer because you hear things aproching from behind you and sometime I mistake it for something actualy behind me. The other aspect of the games scaryness is its playing with the unknown, because the way the story is told you never know, one of the worlds gouverments could be doing this... and if you play it fully out and read everthing and listen to the people, you find out that the creations are trying to get to earth...

I cant comment on FEAR yet because I still havent played it. Its it like Doom 3 in game play or is it something diffrent.

As far as Quake 4, I was never ment to be scary, just horably fast paced. Q3 is something that I religusly play at any of the LAN partys that I through. Quake 4 is just an update to the series, I dont know if it adds any story to it, but realy you dont need any its just fun being fast paced...

[Nikos]

The scarry parts in Doom3 -- and I mean the really scarry ones -- are those where suddenly the lights go off, everything turns to red, voices are whispering in Latin, and the weird noises kick in. It always made me jump and turn on the lights; at moments I was thinking I'm having a heart attack! The exploding heads aren't scrarry. Why should they be? It's just gore. And they have overdone it a bit. Too much blood and gore makes it somewhat unrealistic. Blood on the walls is scarry. Exploding heads is just funny.

I cant comment on FEAR yet because I still havent played it. Its it like Doom 3 in game play or is it something diffrent.

Totally different, I'd say. It's a mixture between an FPS, Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Worth a play. The graphics aren't as good as Doom 3, Half-Life 2 or Quake 4, but still very nice (especially the shaded water).

As far as Quake 4, I was never ment to be scary, just horably fast paced. Q3 is something that I religusly play at any of the LAN partys that I through. Quake 4 is just an update to the series, I dont know if it adds any story to it, but realy you dont need any its just fun being fast paced...

Q4 adds a story. It's even a good one, with 3D cut scenes that add to the game. By the way, the multiplayer part of Q4 has nothing to do with the single player one. On multiplayer, it's like Q3 Arena. On single player, it's almost identical to Doom 3. The graphics are better AND with more FPS than Doom 3 though; they must have optimized the engine quite a bit. Not as scarry as Doom 3 though; some parts of it are scarry, but most of the time it's regular action like HALO and such.

[al1uk]

It always made me jump and turn on the lights; at moments I was thinking I'm having a heart attack!

Now you're just exaggerating

[Nikos]

Now you're just exaggerating

Yeah, well, with the "heart attack" part. But I really paused the game and turned on the lights (and the radio) at some points.

[Lord Delmar]

Heh, very few things scare me in real life. won't go into the reasons...just not much does. Though, I will say this. I picked up a copy of Doom 3 about a month after it was released. Had a few other things to do that day and ended up getting home around 10pm. Girlfriend had to go into work late and it had just got through storming. I figured I would install and play it for a few hours and then go to bed. Got it installed, put on the headset (very nice set that covers your ears). Started playing and didn't think much about it. Now, let me set the scene for a sec. The house is empty and dark (save for one light on, on the other side of the house) and the last remenents of lightning are flashing off in the distance outside my window. I got to the part where the voices started whispering about "They took my baby" and the light on the other side of the house flickered along with the lights in the game. I stopped right there. Saved it, logged out, turned on the lights and watched Adult swim til it went off the air and exhaustion made me pass out in my chair. Looking back it is funny as hell, but Doom 3 is not a game I will play at night much anymore unless I'm looking to get creeped out. Very good adrenaline rush and definitly cures the need to sleep for a while.

[Hakira]

Yeah, well, with the "heart attack" part. But I really paused the game and turned on the lights (and the radio) at some points.

Nope, I know your not exaggerating, I have done the same thing... I think at one point I got so freaked out that I saved my game and went and watched anime and read web comics...

[NetSoerfer]

This is a (translated) part of a review of F.E.A.R. - when I read it (after having finished the game) I literally agreed with every sentence. It describes what you get with F.E.A.R. pretty well.

(...) F.E.A.R. scares. Or, more precisely: F.E.A.R. shocks. With short, subtly placed, meanly timed moments of terror that play virtuosically with our primal fears. With dark corridors, menacing shadows on the border of one's peripheral vision, voices coming from nowhere. With disturbing images, mysterious visions. And with a little girl in a red dress, surrounded by an aura of death.

It's these moments that put F.E.A.R. above the mass of uninspired shooters. Here the story - although surprisingly unpredictable and with few clichés - almost becomes circumstantial: Once again a big (psychotic) ghost the government called, but then couldn't get rid of gets out of control and runs amok. The First Encounter Assault Recon, a special unit for extra delicate situations is sent in to get him under control. But that's just the prelude to the real horror... In order to get even the last one to panic the developers reached deeply into their (pyro)technical bag of tricks - requiring potent PC hardware. Bombastic particle effects, aggressive artificial intelligence, Matrix-style Slow Motion fights and a brilliant soundscape constantly had us on the verge of panicking. (...)

Everyone who loves a good scare should definitely have a look at this game. Check out the demo from www.whatisfear.com, it gives you a good idea what to expect without spoiling any of the surprises.

...I think at one point I got so freaked out that I saved my game and went and watched anime and read web comics...

...I got to the part where the voices started whispering about "They took my baby" and the light on the other side of the house flickered along with the lights in the game...

...But I really paused the game and turned on the lights (and the radio) at some points...

That's exactly what F.E.A.R. is like. I finished it at a friend's sometime at night and had to walk home (which takes about an hour). I think I looked over my shoulder looking for a little girl in a red dress more than I looked ahead. I honestly don't recall any computer game that's scared me soo badly.