Danny Pan

McLuhan writes that games are "social reactions to the main drive or action of any culture". Describe at least one "social reaction" that might be activated by video games. Include at least one game as an example.

I choose to talk about Carmageddon, 1) because its an interesting game to discuss, and 2) its continuing my theme of controversial video games.

The premise is simple, its a racing game. You can win by finishing your laps....or by running over pedestrians.

I'm actually kind of disgusted to think about what kind of social reaction this game may be activating in some sick individual out there. Granted there are individuals out there that take games like this too far and actually use games like this as a form of fantasy fulfillment, most of us who play super violent games like Carmaggedon are normal, sane, everyday people.

So what attracts us normies to violent video games? What kind of social reaction could possibly be activated by a game like this?

I think it has a lot to do with aggression, and our desire to "let off the steam" and alleviate the natural stress that builds when we are feeling aggressive. Aggression is our drive, it is the energy that drives us to accomplish our goals, it is (was?) the energy of our survival as human beings. Aggression is also very primitive; in the ancient days, we relied on aggression because we survived as a group by being aggressive, by claiming territory from others, and fighting others for food and materials. In these modern times, when we are expected to share, cooperate, and deal with each other in non-confrontational, non-violent ways, aggression is rarely ever "vented."

Violence/destruction is aggression at its most extreme. So being able to channel our aggression to its most extreme form, as violence, is one of the most effective ways to quickly relieve the built up aggression.

So, our need to play violent video games are not a result of our violent natures, but of our aggressive natures.

I'll add more later, maybe. sorry for submitting so late.