Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So today I got into an argument with my father over a videogame...

This particular game is called "Payday: The heist" a game where you take the role of a professional thief and rob a series of banks while battling police forces...now this is where the argument came in...

My dad wouldn't let me play it in our house on the grounds that it "promotes acts of lawlessness in our society" his words as exact as I could get them. Furthermore he considers it an insult to himself, being a law enforcement officer, that such games and other media (such as movies) exist...

My argument consisted mainly of saying that the game wasn't real and playing it did not make one a cop killing bank robber...

Now, the situation has been resolved so I'm not asking for advice, but what does Dakka think? Is it okay to kill policemen in videogames? Is it okay to break the law while participating in fiction as long as the person in question is aware of the difference between fiction and reality?

Or does such acts lessen or represent the small amount of respect one has for human life? I will let dakka judge...

Seeing how I'm the type of gamer who sits on the top of a building in GTA4 shooting at cops with a sniper rifle, I believe it is completely okay to break the law in a fictional universe.

As long as you aren't LARPing your Postal 2 game, you're fine.

Is it okay for a random cop to pop out of nowhere while you're on your last legs and pop you with a shotgun? In real life no, in videogames yes.

As long as you can separate reality from virtual reality then you should be fine. Kill the videogame cops, respect real life ones and everything should be hunky-doree.

halonachos wrote:As long as you can separate reality from virtual reality then you should be fine. Kill the videogame cops, respect real life ones and everything should be hunky-doree.

Try telling my dad that...

I am agreed with that, I don't think its the goal of video game companies to insult cops by making games where the player takes the role of a criminal just in the same way I don't think they insult soldiers by making games about soldiers killing soldiers...

I think it reduces the amount of those things. Kill a cop, why do it in real life when you have a video game?

A child doing something they know a parent won't approve of and than venting on the internet? This is new and exciting.

Ahtman wrote:A child doing something they know a parent won't approve of and than venting on the internet? This is new and exciting.

1. according to state law I am no longer a child but then there's that whole "my house my rules" thing going on and that's off topic...

2. I haven't done anything my parents wouldn't approve of...yet...

3. Not venting, I want people's opinions on the matter...

So if you have an actual opinion do please share it...

WARORK93 wrote:

Ahtman wrote:A child doing something they know a parent won't approve of and than venting on the internet? This is new and exciting.

1. according to state law I am no longer a child but then there's that whole "my house my rules" thing going on and that's off topic...

You realize that you can be fifty years old and you are still your parents child right? It has to do with the nature of your relationship to them, not your age. Your response is telling though.

WARORK93 wrote:2. I haven't done anything my parents wouldn't approve of...yet...

So how did it come up? It also sounds like you are going to do it anyway.

WARORK93 wrote:3. Not venting, I want people's opinions on the matter...

You want people to agree with you and to tell you you are right.

WARORK93 wrote:So if you have an actual opinion do please share it...

Move out or deal with it. Either way stop whining about it. Sometimes you can't get your way. This game bothers him so why try to start trouble where there doesn't need to be? You can't say there are no other games in the world to play. If your whole point is to try and push your dads buttons and annoy him, go for it, but don't come complaining about the fall out.

I suppose what I would do, seeing that you're of the age of majority and all, is move out of my parents' house.

I mean, being able to play whatever videogame I wanted would be a minor item on the list of reasons that I would do so, but different strokes for different folks as it were.

WARORK93 wrote:

halonachos wrote:As long as you can separate reality from virtual reality then you should be fine. Kill the videogame cops, respect real life ones and everything should be hunky-doree.

Try telling my dad that...

I am agreed with that, I don't think its the goal of video game companies to insult cops by making games where the player takes the role of a criminal just in the same way I don't think they insult soldiers by making games about soldiers killing soldiers...

Well your dad is a cop so his opinion is biased. Imagine yourself in his shoes and imagine being shot at by some punk who's actions are then blamed on a violent video game similar to the one that you're playing. Its incredibly understandable for him to feel that way and as long as you live under his house you follow his rules. Now you're a younger guy who probably has friends who play the same or similar games and their parents allow it so your opinion is also biased by peer pressure. Either way its all a matter of personal opinion... your dad doesn't want you to turn out like one of the punks he deals with and you just want more freedom in what you can play.

Ahtman wrote:A child doing something they know a parent won't approve of and than venting on the internet? This is new and exciting.

I approve of this post.

OP, your dad is a probably an older, close minded, white male, who gets upset about anythjng that disagrees with his way of thinking, right?

Amaya wrote:

Ahtman wrote:A child doing something they know a parent won't approve of and than venting on the internet? This is new and exciting.

I approve of this post.

OP, your dad is a probably an older, close minded, white male, who gets upset about anythjng that disagrees with his way of thinking, right?

On the other hand, since he (I assume) pays the mortgage, his is the only opinion that matters in this case.

If you want to do what you like, you need your own place.
If you can't afford to, then you have to abide by the rules of the place you live.

Amaya wrote:
OP, your dad is a probably an older, close minded, white male, who gets upset about anythjng that disagrees with his way of thinking, right?

Well, if he really got upset over a videogame, then that probably isn't inaccurate.

Not that the legitimacy of a grievance exempts one from being reminded of the foolishness of venting on the internet.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

marv335 wrote:
If you can't afford to, then you have to abide by the rules of the place you live.

Well, not really, its just that complications arise when you choose not to.

What's with all the drama about Warork? The guy just comes onto Dakka OT forum to ask for opinions and you guys start ripping on him because you think he's whining?
He even said the issue was already resolved and he just wanted opinions on a situation which occurs everyday and not just about videogames. So stop giving him advice on how to live with his father or move out of the house.

Anyways, back to topic:

As others have said, as long as fiction is kept separate from real life, then it's fine by all means. Besides, just look at all the media and books which take this idea as a theme. When it's fiction, it's a cool story and everyone loves the bad guys. When it's reality, it's a tragedy and everyone hates the bad guys.

Wait, so you're not going to kill your Dad?

Such a 'let down' thread.

Seriously though, that game looks like utter ass.

FUTURE LESSON: BUY BETTER GAMES!

The way I look at it, is you cant look at moderngames on the surface, as far as "well you kill cops, therefore its bad!" You have to look at it like "there is a set challenge and how high is the bar set to beat the challenge" Thats what people like you and I are really playing these games for, not to actually kill people for no reason at all (just dont tell him about poppin hookers in GTA, thats just fun) but the challenge in figuring out how to beat the game.

Maybe if you put it to him like that he would understand better. Though I can also see where he is coming from, being and actual police officer.

Yes. Generally the cop/soldier/whatever is trying to kill you. And besides, they are just a collection of polygons and pixels.


polygons and pixels =/= flesh and blood

Perhaps you should sit down and play a game of Swat 4 with him?

I think he'd be a bit happer with THAT game instead. It depicts police officers in a very good light-- the squad must win their mission despite the many, many restrictions (you're penalized for injuring or killing a suspect, you're penalized for unauthorized use of deadly force, you have to report EVERYTHING, collect all evidence and weapons from subdued criminals, etc) and you're given points for doing things right, the police way, not for just going gung ho in the mission.

Yeah, you could always do that.

Logically, he should be ok with it.

So your father is a police officer and has possibly been shot at, had friends and colleagues shot at and quite possibly known people who've been shot dead.

And you question his reaction why?



Also you bemoan his daring to enforce his rules under his own roof because you are of age? You answer your own question, move out and pay your own way and make your own decisions.

Melissia wrote:Perhaps you should sit down and play a game of Swat 4 with him?

I think he'd be a bit happer with THAT game instead. It depicts police officers in a very good light-- the squad must win their mission despite the many, many restrictions (you're penalized for injuring or killing a suspect, you're penalized for unauthorized use of deadly force, you have to report EVERYTHING, collect all evidence and weapons from subdued criminals, etc) and you're given points for doing things right, the police way, not for just going gung ho in the mission.

SWAT 4 or Rainbow Six, I would say that either are good options. Rainbow Six sounds a bit easier compared to the SWAT game though.

Play WarCraft/Everquest. Just keep the game running constantly to make him think your life evolves around the game. Start laying out some seductive style female mini's around the desk in good visual range. Stack a good supply of mountain dew by the desk and bags of munchies on top. Make sure the theif/shooter game he dislike is visible but set to the side collecting dust is in visual range to of the desk.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:So your father is a police officer and has possibly been shot at, had friends and colleagues shot at and quite possibly known people who've been shot dead.

And you question his reaction why?



Also you bemoan his daring to enforce his rules under his own roof because you are of age? You answer your own question, move out and pay your own way and make your own decisions.

I think some people need to re-read the OP, most importantly this bit:

Now, the situation has been resolved so I'm not asking for advice

He is simply asking for the views of DD on such video games and what can arise from them.

Avatar 720 wrote:He is simply asking for the views of DD on such video games and what can arise from them.

We look at the big picture.

Monster Rain wrote:

Avatar 720 wrote:He is simply asking for the views of DD on such video games and what can arise from them.

We look at the big picture.

If you stare at it long enough you can see a sailboat!

It's a schooner.

Monster Rain wrote:It's a schooner.

Monster Rain wrote:It's a schooner.

You are both incorrect...it is clearly a girl on roller skates with a chicken on her head...shooting a cop...you must look deeper into the big picture to really "see" it...

Now, to answer Warorks question....I don't see any connections between Video game violence and real life violence, and would see the themes no more " disrespectful" to human life ( including the life's of Police officers) than anything depicted in films.

Everything I know about the police I learned from Bad Lieutenant.