There are two common cultural concepts that I believe are misconceptions, and why I think violence plays such a large role in our culture (western civilization more broadly, USA more specifically).
1. Violence is always bad
If it can be argued that all acts of violence are evil, which I'm not sure about, at worst it can be said to sometimes be a necessary evil. Violence in media (including and probably even
especially games) allows us to, among other things, remind ourselves that sometimes we have to fight (literally) for what is right or just. Whether than means roleplaying shooting nazis in
Rocket Age, shooting nazis from the comfort of your couch in
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, or punching nazis in the face in the streets of D.C, this brand of violence helps remind us that there is evil in the world that will not go away just by us asking really, really, nicely.
Yes, our history is littered with examples of acts of violence, small and large, that had largely deleterious effects on the people it was enacting upon, people who in most cases did nothing to warrant it beyond existing on land somebody else wanted. That said, many of those people fought back.
There's any number of other reasons why violence appeals to us as humans, westerners, Americans, etc., or at least certain segments of our population (clearly violence is celebrated in toxic masculine cultures, for example), but for me, it's about recognizing that standing up for what we believe in requires us getting our hands dirty* from time to time.
*(you know, by punching filthy nazis in the face)
2. Simulated violence desensitizes us to real violence.
I think most of us are familiar with this old saw, how it's been used to attack games and/or gamers in various ways by the media and/or political concern trolls, so I think calling this a misconception would less controversial here than it might be in some of the other circles I run in. What's probably more controversial is my actual belief on the subject: this process actually works in reverse.
Real life anecdote number one: I have a daughter. She's older now, but like all humans of a certain age she was once a toddler. Have you seen a group of toddlers interact with each other? They punch, they kick, they bite, they pull hair, for really no god damned reason whatsoever. Kids start violent. It's, in many ways, one of our most natural instincts. Kids don't stop getting violent until you really drill into them the negative consequences of their behavior.
Real life anecdote number two: I have a partner. She grew up on classic 90's slasher horror. One of her favorite childhood stuffed animals was Freddy Krueger. As she got into her teens, her particular jam became zombie movies. Even into adulthood, her favorite thing was horror movies, and she didn't shy away from gore one bit.
Then she had our kid, and horror became verboten in our household for years.
My point is, I think it's far more common for us to become
sensitized to violence (not necessarily through media so much as our life experiences) than it is for us to become
de-sensitized to it.
There's been some discussion in the thread about both (a) the ability of rpgs to force us into moral dilemmas and (b) the disconnect between player and character, and I think both of these play into the ways RPGs can sensitize us to violence. The morals dilemmas are easy; they ask us what we would do in those circumstances. Even in those instances where I'm playing a character who would act differently from myself, it's nearly impossible for humans to manage that disconnect in a way that doesn't also force them to consider what they'd do themselves and how they personally feel about their character's actions. That's something no other media, not even really video games, can accomplish as well as tabletop RPGs.
And while we're clearing up misconceptions...
Humans find sex and violence to be interesting, and of those two pursuits violence is the one suitable to group activity, as in a roleplaying game.
