Rosseau Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I have been questioned about visiting all the ACW sites, as if it were out of morbid curiosity. If I was slain/buried there, I would want future generations to visit. Antietam is usually empty though. Playing war games for me was motivated by reading 100's of history books. Had I been involved in real bloodshed, I'm not sure I'd even be able to handle CM2, which is not so graphic. If I have guilt, it's the time I spend playing when I could be doing something for someone else. Does it keep me away from my wife of 30+ years? Definitely. But, in general, I only play when everything else is done. Beyond that, no guilt. It's an intellectual exercise that helps us remember and honor the units depicted on both sides - except for CMA, maybe. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I don't watch any reality TV. Any guilt I might have considered about this hobby is washed away knowing I don't contribute to that garbage. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Garbage? I need to know if Schneible will finally hit the motherlode! Gripping dialogue: unscripted fershur... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttorneyAtWar Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 I don't watch any reality TV. Any guilt I might have considered about this hobby is washed away knowing I don't contribute to that garbage. How else will I be able to keep up with the Kardashians :eek:! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosseau Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 We disconnected our TV long ago and save $88 a month. I'm sure I've missed a few good programs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultradave Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 I consider it a different way of reading history, and at the same time a competition similar to a chess match when I play PBEM. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnart Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The only guilt I have is when my pixel body count is low 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nidan1 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Garbage? I need to know if Schneible will finally hit the motherlode! Gripping dialogue: unscripted fershur... Sample dialogue from "Gold Rush" (may also apply to many other reality shows)...........; "Beep.....beep......what the beep, beeping bulldozer....., no beeping gold here......." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Foulkes Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Boy this topic really exploded, many interesting replies. I think perhaps guilt is the wrong word for these ambivalent feelings towards wargaming - more of a psychological caution that the compartmentalization of fiction and reality is never airtight - it's a "gaze long on the abyss, and the abyss gazes back" kinda thing 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 We disconnected our TV long ago and save $88 a month Ha ha, I recall having exactly this same conversation with Steve. Linking the topic of 'guilt' with TV, remember when they said 9-11 and the twin towers was an untouchable subject for popular entertainment? At the time they abruptly pulled the plug on a time-travel TV series whose opening credits had a plane crashing into the WH. That prohibition lasted five years - maybe less. Now collapsing skyscrapers is all the rage in CGI action movies. I believe it was 20 years after the POW camps were liberated in WWII that the comic TV series Hogan's Heroes started up. Reminds me of the phrase 'time heals all wounds'. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper117 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The only guilt I have is when my pixel body count is low lol!... this! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Joch Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Ha ha, I recall having exactly this same conversation with Steve. Linking the topic of 'guilt' with TV, remember when they said 9-11 and the twin towers was an untouchable subject for popular entertainment? At the time they abruptly pulled the plug on a time-travel TV series whose opening credits had a plane crashing into the WH. That prohibition lasted five years - maybe less. Now collapsing skyscrapers is all the rage in CGI action movies. I believe it was 20 years after the POW camps were liberated in WWII that the comic TV series Hogan's Heroes started up. Reminds me of the phrase 'time heals all wounds'. I remember Microsoft Flight simulator released a patch soon after 9/11 removing the Twin Towers and the explosion graphics when an airplane crashed. Of course, there were stories going around that the hijackers had practised on that software and Microsoft was really bending over backwards. On the question of Game morality, one which had that concept designed in was "Fallout 3". You could choose to do good/evil and each action influenced your character's development long term. I played that game as a saint, totally evil and more middle of the road, like I am and it was interesting to see how the games played out very differently. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Joch Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 He also starred in a movie about himself, as well as several westerns. Murphy also starred in "The Quiet American", the 1958 movie about the budding war in Vietnam which turned out to be quite prophetic. His character in the movie also said this famous line which turns out to be as true today as it was 56 years ago: I'm from a country that's been in existence for less than two hundred years, in a very old world. That same fifty years ago, we were barely taken seriously as a nation, much less a great force for wisdom and decision. But suddenly now, a watch tick of history later, the world waits angrily for us to provide the answers it hasn't been able to find in fifty centuries. p.s. - Audie Murphy was offered the part of the psycho in "Dirty Harry", but he died in a plane crash before he made his decision. Interesting to think how that would have turned out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db_zero Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 I remember Microsoft Flight simulator released a patch soon after 9/11 removing the Twin Towers and the explosion graphics when an airplane crashed. Of course, there were stories going around that the hijackers had practised on that software and Microsoft was really bending over backwards. On the question of Game morality, one which had that concept designed in was "Fallout 3". You could choose to do good/evil and each action influenced your character's development long term. I played that game as a saint, totally evil and more middle of the road, like I am and it was interesting to see how the games played out very differently. The Witcher and other RPGs are like that too. I like violent dark movies from time to time, but can separate that from real life so I don't feel guilt. Same for wargames. I have friends an co-workers who try to do the guilt trip for my love of guns and conservative/libertarian views. Doesn't phase me one bit. I've reached a point in life where I have a view there is good and evil and sometimes you have to confront evil and that unfortunately may result in violence. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 db_zero, Just as well, when you see what being phased would mean to you. Pretty dire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_change_(waves) That would definitely faze you! MikeyD, I believe you forgot about these guys, in which a two-parter aired only Part 1. You'll see why when you look at the topic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRtqQLMAZek Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db_zero Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 db_zero, Just as well, when you see what being phased would mean to you. Pretty dire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_change_(waves) That would definitely faze you! Regards, John Kettler Tanks for the correction 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 db_zero, Homophone errors are the scourge of the English language and must ever be zealously guarded against. It's especially easy to get trapped when writing something you've heard many times, yet never seen in written form. Also, spellcheckers won't save you from the wee beasties, either. I should know, for I've got trap scars to prove it. Two of my pet martial peeves are seeing "sight" for "site" in referring to weapon placement or fire control optics and the big no no, "ordinance" instead of "ordnance." Admittedly, the latter is not an exact homophone, but sloppiness in pronunciation yields the same net effect. Send in the calvary, er, cavalry! I always have to watch that one. Cav ul ree. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medlinke Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 I've never understood the wargamer guilt argument or the attitude that "you must love war" to play it. A huge chunk of popular entertainment is based on conflict of some type. Whether it's football, or Mortal Kombat video games, there's some level of conflict at the root of a lot of entertainment. The fact that I choose to my entertainment based on my interest in historical settings isn't called into question when I read historical fiction like the Sharpe's Rifles series or the Aubrey Maturin series! If I read a biography of Rommel, it doesn't make me a Nazi sympathizer. Why would my choice of interactive entertainment somehow create a new line of logic that would lead to such ridiculous false assumption? Guilt? Absolutely not. Empathy and Compassion for the position both soldiers, military and civilian leaders must have faced? Absolutely. I can't imagine a higher stakes leadership challenge than wartime leadership. That said, I also can't imagine studying history that's 1 year old, let alone 75 years old, without some kind of interactive component to experiment for myself. Video games and board games make excellent lab settings for this despite their obvious shortcomings. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Exactly! Just because I read porn and enjoy porn films why on earth should anyone assume that I enjoy RL sex???? ....oh, never mind... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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