Video games have been around a long time, and although the quality of the graphics has improved significantly over the years, we're still talking about "fake" reality that is easily understood by even children, and I don't buy any argument that a "disturbed mind" may simply be driven by said games into a murderous rage, or even become detached to the point that it makes such urges more likely. At this point in video game technology, the realism is still not there. That brings me back to my previous question:
Let's go back to my belief that Hollywood garbage is much more influential to a “disturbed mind”, as you put it. Why not start at that level? Movies are many more levels above video games as far as realism is concerned. That would be a logical place to start, wouldn't you think?
I’ve been playing these sorts of games since the early 90’s beginning with Wolfenstein. I did not notice a desensitization effect in myself until the late 90’s. I don’t know if the earlier games were too cartoon-like to cause the change or if it was related to increases in the nature of the violence, or some combination of improved graphics and more extreme violence, but it has happened several times over the years. I’ll start a game and be uneasy about the violence involved(sometimes even disturbed about it) and by the end of the game I’m not bothered by the violence at all. And over the years there’s been a steady progression in the intensity of the violence that it takes to create that unease. I don’t know if that has any carryover to violence desensitization outside of games or not—I haven’t really thought about it enough to decide. I will say that even with the ingame desensitization, I am very confident that playing these types of games have not made me a more aggressive or hostile person. I’ll keep playing and enjoying the games, but my experience has made me wonder if they could cause catastrophic problems for someone with underlying mental illness.