[Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: church and paintball
Paul Rumelhart
godshatter at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 1 22:57:36 PDT 2007
Ellen Roskovich wrote:
>
> *Video games? Don't get me started! Fantasy and reality. . . some
> never get it.*
>
If they "never get it", then they have a problem already. If the line
between fantasy and reality is already blurred for them, then any
stimulus might set them off or cause an accident. A video game, a
physical group game like paintball, a good book, a movie, or simply
their imagination can do it. The problem is not the video game as
"enabler", it's their inability to determines what's real.
I'm fed up with the Jack Thompsons of the world (google him if you don't
know who he is). He thinks Grand Theft Auto is a "cop killing
simulator". What gets me is the people that say these things have never
played a video game more complicated than solitaire or bejeweled in
their lives. Frankly, it makes me wonder if they are the ones with the
problem with discerning fantasy from reality.
I've played many video games. I've shot fireballs at cacodemons, blown
up gangsters cars, shot soldiers with a sniper rifle, run over aliens
with an all-terrain vehicle, run over pedestrians for points, beaten up
a female ninja while playing as a purple-haired schoolgirl, and have
even chased a random person around a map with a baseball bat just for
the fun of it. I've also jumped off of multi-story buildings, tried to
take on a tank with a hand gun, fired a rocket launcher at my feet, and
have reversed direction in a Nascar race just to see what the player
death animations or crash scenes look like. Now, many of you are
probably nodding your heads because you've found that that explains much
about me you could never quite put your finger on, but I'd like to
believe that it's actually changed my real-life violence quotient
exactly jack-all.
To tie this into a subject Ted has mentioned in another post, many male
junior high students get more real-life exposure to
establishment-sanctioned violence by playing football. Personally, I
don't have a problem with that either, but it's more realistic than
video games because you are actually hitting people with your body
instead of pressing left on the left thumb joystick while simultaneously
holding down the A and X keys.
Here are the only times I can think of when video games have intruded
upon my normal reality:
1. Sometimes while playing Quake with a group of friends my adrenaline
levels will rise, especially if they keep lobbing grenades at me from
high places.
2. I've found it best not to go for a drive immediately after playing a
couple of hours of Need for Speed without a break as I tend to drive
more aggressively than normal.
3. I've sometimes had dreams where I am running around a map in Quake,
with the pixelated graphics and everything. Usually after a multi-hour
session of Quake has just been completed.
4. When I've just finished playing Tetris, I keep trying to make the
shapes in my visual field drop and interlock with each other for a few
seconds.
Anyway, I guess my main point is that people know where the line between
fantasy and reality is: it's one of the most fundamental concepts they
ever learn. Children below a certain age will not and people with
actual specific psychological problems may not. Everyone else does,
since it's a survival trait. You may pretend that the red glowing
burner is cold, but reality has a way of asserting itself in those kinds
of situations.
Paul
> *Here's a "team-building exercise" Ellen-style: put your team in a
> canoe with a paddle and a life jacket. You don't hold your own, you
> lose your paddle. You still don't pull your weight, the other team
> members throw you overboard. Wow! Bet we soon have an award winning
> team!!*
>
> *Hey, folks, don't get too uptight. . . it's just "fantasy". . . .*
>
> *Ellen A. Roskovich *
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: /Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com>/
> To: /vision2020 at moscow.com/
> Subject: /Re: [Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: church and paintball/
> Date: /Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:13:39 -0700/
>
> In my opinion, as long as you have a good grasp of the line
> between fantasy and reality it shouldn't be a problem. In that
> respect, it's like video games.
>
> I've played paintball, and it has more in common with the old
> games we used to play in the woods as boy scouts than it does with
> actual military training or conditioning. You know it's not real,
> which completely changes the dynamic. Nobody is drilling you,
> telling you how you might just kill somebody if you screw up,
> nobody is making it plain that other lives may one day depend upon
> your performance. It's just fun.
>
> A lot of companies use it as a team-building exercise, because (if
> you want to win) it forces you to rely upon someone else and to be
> relied upon to achieve a goal. It also enhances your
> problem-solving skills. I see no conflict with religious groups
> doing the same thing, myself.
>
> Paul
>
> Ellen Roskovich wrote:
>
> *Dancing and making joyous noise is a far cry from slithering
> around in the bushes, taking pot shots at your buddies and
> keeping score on how many kills you have.*
>
> *Call me a fuddy duddy if you wish. No, I'll even do it for
> you. . . I'm a fuddy duddy. I do not like organized "games"
> that condition people to kill off their fellow humans. *
>
> *I would cringe at any group organizing this activity for kids
> and it would have opened the door for "discussion" at our
> household.*
>
> *Ellen A. Roskovich*
>
> **
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: /"g. crabtree" <jampot at adelphia.net>/
> To: /<vision2020 at moscow.com>, "Mark Solomon"
> <msolomon at moscow.com>/
> Subject: /Re: [Vision2020] church and paintball/
> Date: /Sun, 1 Jul 2007 07:26:41 -0700/
>
> Absolutely! Any time the Churched strip off their sack
> cloth and ash and venture forth from their cloisters I
> worry that they might have something resembling a good
> time. Next thing you know they'll be dancing and making a
> joyous noise and goodness knows we can't have any of that.
>
> g
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Mark Solomon <mailto:msolomon at moscow.com>
> *To:* vision2020 at moscow.com
> <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, July 01, 2007 5:32 AM
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] church and paintball
>
> Does anyone else find this as disturbing as I do? (I'd
> post a link to the full story, the rest of which is a
> straight business story about paintball, but the
> Tribune is a subscriber only website.)
>
> Mark
>
> *********
>
> *Aiming for fun, with a license to thrill*
>
>
> By Elaine Williams of the Tribune
> Sunday, July 1, 2007
>
>
> Church groups are among the most frequent customers of
> FTW Paintball, a store that recently opened in Lewiston.
> The organizers find that playing paintball is a way to
> create relationships among their members, said Marty
> Frostad, owner of the business.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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