Why do we consider purging/genocide to be "COOL"? Is something wrong with us?

[I am Sovereign]

Why do so many people (including me) consider the option to be able to purge entire species and even using them as cattle or brutally slaugthering them for food to be a cool thing to come with 1.5 and Utopia.

I means alot of us are looking forward to the fanatical purifier civic in utopia. But why are purgers sourrended by this wierd aura what makes people think that genocide is a cool thing.

And the Stellaris universe isent even near as grimdark as the 40k universe where some could argue the purging there is "justified".

I recently saw the movies "Schindler's Ark" and "Hotel Rwanda" in quick succession by accident. And after both films and also remembering how many "real" footage of genocide I already saw in documentaries and on the internet.
I asked myself
"So this is what my glorious space empire in Stellaris does if it would be real? Massacring xeno woman and children with machetes/gas/ABC weapons/etc?
Killing billions of individual advanced sentient lives all with dreams and hopes? And while doing that wearing cool bad ass armors?
NICCCCEEE!"

But wait...thats NOT NICCCEEE!
Thats sick...it is the exact same thing which gaves me pain in my stomach when I have to see images of real genocides which happened and still are happening on our planet. And even if I just imagine future genocides which could happen in the future I want to vomit.

Most of us would even consider eating a dolphin to be sick and now we cant wait to play species who EAT other entire species all as smart as human beings? (Not talking about eating mindless mind hive drones...that would be okay...I guess)

This is what is considered "the cool stuff" and we cant wait to play it?
IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH US?


Genocide is the darkest part in the abyss we call "human capabillitys". And it does not matter if white purges black people, or white other whites, or black other blacks it is just the most terrible thing of our species is doing yet purging something from another planet is considered to be something cool in pop and game culture.

So whys is that? Why gives us the ability to kill billions in our imagination such joy?

I know its just a GAME. And a game is there to inspire our fantasy and to entertain us.Thats the deal. And besides this it is even art and culture aswell. So this is not an attack against Stellaris or video games.

I dont say that it is a bad thing being able to purge and enslave in Stellaris etc. I just asking why we are even intrested to imagine ourselfes as genocidal freaks? We do not imagine killing and raping people all the time didnt we? And even if we would does this make us potential psychopaths only held back by laws?

Or would we restrain from doing so if the game would show us the purging in detail with high end VR graphics and sounds would this increase or decrease its "coolness"?

PS: One thing comes me into mind btw. The Devs intervined and removed once a mod from the steam workshop which made all your human pops only being whites as the mod designer didnt wanted to have black skinned pops in his space nazi reich. So is there actually a "line" which we shouldnt cross? What do you think?

 

[thestefan]

Get your head out of your moral outrage - it's a game.

 

[henzington]

Games are useful outlet for negative emotions in a safe and social acceptability way. Many people enjoy playing the peaceful federation style play through as it has its own advantages.

 

[bronze Void poison]

I have asked this question it is strange of use.

 

[Sheriff Godwin Law]

They're screen icons, not people, and if you have trouble separating fantasy from reality, video games may not be the best outlet for you.

I have an incredibly well developed ability to separate fantasy from reality. Which is why I can play a game that rewards me for shooting people in the head with both an experience multiplier AND a graphic animation of their head exploding into a red mist yet still not want to even shoot a gun in real life, much less AT someone. Once you've tackled that, ordering the processing and consumption of an entire race to help feed your empire, ordering an entire species be turned into livestock and then genetically modifying that species later to enhance their deliciousness and nutritional value is nothing.

Although in your defense, the Utopia patch notes did make me stop for a moment and worry about the ingenuity and thought it took to design a game where turning a less developed people into sentient livestock was a viable play.

 

[Notho]

Just wait until he finds the CK2 forum...

 

[thestefan]

Also, I have shot enough nazis in the balls in Sniper Elite 4 to justify genociding any number of alien pops I please.

 

[Slarkon]

well in the real world im very much a non violent person but honestly if im running an interstellar empire and i 100% truly want whats best for the galaxy and i control over a hundred worlds but 4 or 5 of them are in habited by a race of aggressive arseholes who for over 100 years decide to rebel and try and take control of their former homeworld every couple of years. They effect production and morale in every world and it happiness - After a centuary of that can you not understand how you might like to just kill them all and be done with it?
.....Perhaps even take pleasure knowing the ring leaders of their movement are finally dead,
perhaps you might even have laughed when you realised that one pop escaped the purge and migrated somewhere else in your empire because your demograph shows one of the pesky buggers escaped and is somewhere in your 100 planet empire.
then you find the last one and..... Done

have you ever purged?

 

[faljen_isus]

no man no problem
- Joseph Stalin

 

[I am Sovereign]

Get your head out of your moral outrage - it's a game.

Its not an outrage its a question.

I feel like a fanatic spiritualist Synth a few patches ago.
I HATE myself.


Because I noticed that I am too cant wait to play as a fanatical purifier.

EDIT: And yes I found it a bit trickier to always seperate games and reality...while I was 12 or so I cryed becasue I imagined how the family of that russian soldier I just killed would mourn and suffer while I was playing "Operation Flashpoint".

They're screen icons, not people, and if you have trouble separating fantasy from reality, video games may not be the best outlet for you.

I have an incredibly well developed ability to separate fantasy from reality. Which is why I can play a game that rewards me for shooting people in the head with both an experience multiplier AND a graphic animation of their head exploding into a red mist yet still not want to even shoot a gun in real life, much less AT someone. Once you've tackled that, ordering the processing and consumption of an entire race to help feed your empire, ordering an entire species be turned into livestock and then genetically modifying that species later to enhance their deliciousness and nutritional value is nothing.

Although in your defense, the Utopia patch notes did make me stop for a moment and worry about the ingenuity and thought it took to design a game where turning a less developed people into sentient livestock was a viable play.

EDIT 2: If those are just icons...why was it then important or "right" to forbid that "only white peoples" mod in the steam workshop?

well in the real world im very much a non violent person but honestly if im running an interstellar empire and i 100% truly want whats best for the galaxy and i control over a hundred worlds but 4 or 5 of them are in habited by a race of aggressive arseholes who for over 100 years decide to rebel and try and take control of their former homeworld every couple of years. They effect production and morale in every world and it happiness - After a centuary of that can you not understand how you might like to just kill them all and be done with it?
.....Perhaps even take pleasure knowing the ring leaders of their movement are finally dead,
perhaps you might even have laughed when you realised that one pop escaped the purge and migrated somewhere else in your empire because your demograph shows one of the pesky buggers escaped and is somewhere in your 100 planet empire.
then you find the last one and..... Done

have you ever purged?

But the CHILDREN!? Innocent CHILDREN!?
With the right indoctrination they surely would have become nice and friendly well integrated bugs!
Like Worf from Star Trek just...as a bug ;D

 

[extrapancake]

Its a game, its only roleplay. You cant make a good meaningful story that doesnt touch on anything bad, it just doesnt work.

 

[thestefan]

Its not an outrage its a question.

I feel like a fanatic spiritulist Synths a few patches ago.
I HATE myself.


Because I noticed that I am too cant wait to play as fanatical purifier too. I am one of them

I just don't get it, is it not just roleplaying?

Space nazis are the most awesome trope in the sci fi universe. I very much doubt that being able too and even enjoy purging pops points too any kind of hidden character flaw. But just incase you are correct might I trademark the term "paradox syndrome": "An uncontrollable urge to paint all land in the same color and genocide non-assimilated pops"?

 

[xxaxx]

Well society demands of us a certain type of behavior, often completely out of touch with reality, but if the development of psychology/psychoanalysis has taught us anything we all harbor some kind of dark/negative thoughts and feelings from time to time. I just feel games are an excellent release valve for those things. It can be shooting up a whole city in GTA, purging or enslaving in Stellaris or even having an interested in the darker parts of human history i feel we are to some extent drawn to these events that stem from our own history. I just think its better to acknowledge them than to see yourself as some kind of ideal of human good and virtue.

We sometimes play boardgames and i always found it hilarious that in games where backstabbing and lying is a necessity the most mild mannered and kind people turn into the biggest bastards ever . I also find it kinda funny that Paradox being a Swedish studio (Sweden being on of the most tolerant countries on the planet probably) came up with CK2 (the "killing babies and incest" simulator) and now grooming species as livestock. Great way to get intouch with an aspect of humanity that's very much real and maybe even reflect upon it.

 

[Ultimuh]

One thing comes me into mind btw. The Devs intervined and removed once a mod from the steam workshop which made all your human pops only being whites as the mod designer didnt wanted to have black skinned pops in his space nazi reich. So is there actually a "line" which we shouldnt cross? What do you think?

It was re-uploaded and still exist.
The reason it was removed, was because of some pro-white supremacist propaganda in the comments, or so I recall.
The mod itself was never the problem, but the toxicity surrounding it.

While I do not endorse real-life racism, slavery, and/or genocide. I do sometimes find myself role playing as a ruthless evil dictator in games like this.
But not because I am or want to be such in real-life. It is important to be able to tell the difference between reality and imagination.

 

[thestefan]

Well society demands of us a certain type of behavior, often completely out of touch with reality, but if the development of psychology/psychoanalysis has taught us anything we all harbor some kind of dark/negative thoughts and feelings from time to time. I just feel games are an excellent release valve for those things. It can be shooting up a whole city in GTA, purging or enslaving in Stellaris or even having an interested in the darker parts of human history i feel we are to some extent drawn to these events that stem from our own history. I just think its better to acknowledge them than to see yourself as some kind of ideal of human good and virtue.

We sometimes play boardgames and i always found it hilarious that in games where backstabbing and lying is a necessity the most mild mannered and kind people turn into the biggest bastards ever . I also find it kinda funny that Paradox being a Swedish studio (Sweden being on of the most tolerant countries on the planet probably) came up with CK2 (the "killing babies and incest" simulator) and now grooming species as livestock. Great way to get intouch with an aspect of humanity that's very much real and maybe even reflect upon it.

I always found this moral highground people tend to take towards history quite tiring, in many ways it was the wars, conquests and terrible imperialism that laid the foundation for the "superior moral society" we enjoy today.

 

[Diezy]

You can purge, pretty silly gritty stuff indeed, but keep in mind, in-game it all has consequences, you won't just get away with that. Every other country on the psyco atlas will hate you for that

 

[uleslaw]

There is a hidden devil inside every nice person, I guess...

Well, maybe, but I'm waiting for this expansion becouse that feeling is really fun. I mean, we are constructed (biologicaly)/raised (psychologicaly) that way (see for instance "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt, moral psychologist, who studied how people make their moral choices and how they process moral feelings) that we feel badly when confronted with harm, injustice and cruelty, but at the same time - we know that this is virtual and abstracted, so this feeling is not justified. I think part of the fun in this game (and Crusader Kings) is connected with these emotional reactions (this is wrong!) confronted with rational analysis (it's just a game!).

 

[Azhcristokos]

I don't know. Paradox games have this effect on people even more so than most video games. In real life, I'm an Atheist and believe in freedom of religion, but in EU IV and CK2, I can't wait to enforce my religion on the whole world and feel ill when I choose Humanist ideas or let heretics and infidels keep their duchies.

My first game as Stellaris was a Fanatic Materialist/Individualist species. It was fun, but when I first played the Fanatic Collectivist/Materialist purge happy Adjuei Directum, I never looked back.

 

[I am Sovereign]

Well society demands of us a certain type of behavior, often completely out of touch with reality, but if the development of psychology/psychoanalysis has taught us anything we all harbor some kind of dark/negative thoughts and feelings from time to time. I just feel games are an excellent release valve for those things. It can be shooting up a whole city in GTA, purging or enslaving in Stellaris or even having an interested in the darker parts of human history i feel we are to some extent drawn to these events that stem from our own history. I just think its better to acknowledge them than to see yourself as some kind of ideal of human good and virtue.

We sometimes play boardgames and i always found it hilarious that in games where backstabbing and lying is a necessity the most mild mannered and kind people turn into the biggest bastards ever . I also find it kinda funny that Paradox being a Swedish studio (Sweden being on of the most tolerant countries on the planet probably) came up with CK2 (the "killing babies and incest" simulator) and now grooming species as livestock. Great way to get intouch with an aspect of humanity that's very much real and maybe even reflect upon it.

And thats the thing. This paradox syndrome or the tendency to like stuff which is normaly considered to be "evil".
Why do we actually need to release such "negative feelings" in the first place.

Where does it came from?
Isent it WIERD that we need those games in the first place that we just cant play Sims , goat simulator or in stellaris xenophiles only and be fine with it.


Is it somekind of "anti-behavior" as we see it in politics (e.g political corectness/estabilishment).
Or is it because we actually filled up to the top with agressions or similar emotions we just cant show in public.

What tickles me is the thought that if we accept that we use such games to "release steam"!.
Arent we then openly saying that the OTHERS are right and we do indeed have so called "issues".?

 

[Jabby]

Because its just icons and numbers. Anyone can order genocide of they dont have to live with any consequences