Hey Chapos, I was watching my 101 billionth tank video on YouTube when I was confronted by a thought - I'm rabidly anti-war (except class war, of course) and yet find myself uncontrollably attracted to the implements of war. Any studies that delve into the rationale behind these impulses?
Why is it fun to blow stuff up? To drive fast? To gamble and take risks?
Dopamine hits. Could be learned or hard wired into our DNA after the first hairy ape made an axe out of a rock.
I'm the same way. I try not to play any online FPS because they'll just suck me in like crazy. The idea of killing another person is heinous, but the digital version smashes my brain's dopamine button.
I was thinking along those lines as well. I too find myself sucked into games with an overwhelming amount of violence in them. Could also be because of the volume of suggestive cartoons I watched as a kid -GI Joe and Swat Kats and what not.
I want to try and de-program myself from it somehow; focus my energies on more productive things but I'm not really sure how.