German's Blog

Stop shooting! Start feeling uncomfortably

toma — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:55:34 +0000

I wonder how many soldiers are really required in our civilized western countries. I do so because if I watch the presentations of the latest and hottest computer games in 2011 at the E3 games convention, I mostly see combat training. I truly believe that it is not necessary to be or become an effective killer to have some amazing hours within a computer games world.
The actual state of ethics in computer gaming industry has one advantage for me: it’s easier to pick the suitable title out of the huge supply. Assassins Creed? Rage? Bioshock? Far Cry? War in the North? – No way! They may look and feel amazing. The virtual worlds may appear as beautiful, realistic or creepy as never before, but they lack basic ethic rules. I get a bitter taste that ruins the gaming experience playing the assassin or merc. It doesn’t matter, if the world in which the killing takes place is corrupt to the bone and you’re character may be the last ‘good’ fighter. Question is, why do we buy a game in which the player may kill in the imaginativst ways? Why don’t we refuse and take titles that are closer to real life? In real life we have to coexist with most of the living beeings around us.
So, I don’t want to perverd more than I already did and I refuse to play games in which the goals are mainly killing and destroying.
I don’t feel comfortable with the mind-set of a warrior, a person who believes only in his strength and not in his social and communicative abilities. And most of all: A person you feels more comfortable in a destructed world than in a intact and bloomy.

In the discussion in Germany about the ‘killer games’ the pro fraction mentions, that an adult knows the difference between game and reality at any time. Studies show that the convertion of the sensation during the game happens in another region of the brain than the conversion of real violence experience. I admit that. But gaming has always been a symbol for the real life. We are responsible for the symbolic content of the games we choose to play.

One evening after the rain

toma — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:33:30 +0000

The sun is sending it’s rays of light through the darkening forest. Moments after a long rain.
Music: Loops and samples by Garageband, assembled by germansblog.

Wind Devil’s Ballroom

toma — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:59:06 +0000

Pictures and (for the first time) music by germansblog.

Forest

toma — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:08:59 +0000

A video/photo slideshow by germansblog.

A mysterious place called forest. Music by Gustav Holst, “The Planets”.

Mother’s garden

toma — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:25:27 +0000

Relax. Mother’s garden is a quiet and tranquilizing place.
Music: Lambchop: “Slipped Dissolved And Loosed”.

Rock and castle

toma — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:16:40 +0000

A Crusader’s sightseeing tour through what has been saved and restored of the medieval in the land. Music: www.falk-zenker.de

Storm and rain

toma — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:23:53 +0000

Another photo slideshow by germansblog. Most of the photos were shot during one summer evenig during and after the rain.

Landscapes

toma — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:27:52 +0000

A video/photo slideshow by germansblog.

Unbenannt

toma — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:52:52 +0000

Der reife Frühling hat Feld und Wald vollendet. Die Welt als ein Kokon. Die Stadt selbst ist gerührt, Es hallet, klingt und jauchzt. Wald schmiegt sich an mich, Dunkelt, webt, brilliert. Das rote Abendlicht hat Riesenkraft. Die Kraft des Tages ungemessen. Erhaben liegt der See und täuschet Ruhe. Kaulquappen ziehn gemächlich eine Bahn. Scheiden von … Continue reading »

Traveling across summer

toma — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:15:14 +0000

A photo slideshow by germansblog.