Do actual NONviolent videogames exist?

[Grimplewurst]

But isn't the idea of a competition like pong, where you're grinding your opponent into ping pong related dust and Tetris, which awards you for making blocks simply disappear still a form of violence?

And Machinarium has instances of violence in it. The player just doesn't necessarily perpetrate them...

with a definition of violence that broad, you can't even get to breakfast without violence. Hell you couldn't even brush your teeth

That was pretty much my point...
which leads me to wonder (and I know it's true for me) that we all play games for that rush we get from the 'violence' whether it be in competition or in suffocating people with plastic bags. And for the lols.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

There are plenty of them. Most children's games comes totally free from violence, games like "My first Pony", "Builder Bob" and such. Sportsgames where there is no physical contact involved (Snooker, Card Games etc.) aswell as puzzle games. Bejeweled springs to mind, as does... FarmVille. One of the biggest online games there is, is totally devoid of violence.

 

[Cody211282]

How has no one said Harvest Moon yet, those games are just so much fun.

 

[AlphaOmega]

Rollercoaster Tycoon.

It only has violence if you REALLY try.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Goddamned Window's Solitaire.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

Nearly all of the above games involve destroying/defeating something in order to win. I think the best example is the Bob the Builder game, in which you have to decorate a cake. No competition and nothing gets exploded in a burst of static. However whether it can be classed as a game is unsure.

World of Goo

How is World of Goo, the equivalent of slime genocide, not violent?

 

[Egg]

I would suggest both Sims and SimCity are violent.. or at least allow you to greatly break many human right laws.

And Viva Pinata includes incest and delibrate euthanasia

There cannot be a truly fun game to play without any level of violence

 

[Snownine]

But isn't the idea of a competition like pong, where you're grinding your opponent into ping pong related dust and Tetris, which awards you for making blocks simply disappear still a form of violence?

And Machinarium has instances of violence in it. The player just doesn't necessarily perpetrate them...

with a definition of violence that broad, you can't even get to breakfast without violence. Hell you couldn't even brush your teeth

That was pretty much my point...
which leads me to wonder (and I know it's true for me) that we all play games for that rush we get from the 'violence' whether it be in competition or in suffocating people with plastic bags. And for the lols.

Well personally I think that your theory that competition itself equals violence is flawed. Even if you are correct and all competition is violence it still does not rule out the non competitive games.

 

[spinFX]

No really you thought there were NO non0violent video games?

Umm...

Tetris
Wii Sports minus the boxing
Solitaire
Pinball games of any type
Any golf game
Any racing game

Sigh.

I'm dumbfounded that this needed to be a thread. At least that the OP thought this needed to be a thread.

 

[Layz92]

Tetris.

Unless you consider it blockicide.

Gran Turismo? That's pretty non violent... unless you suck at driving.

Viva Pinata?

Can't you beat pinatas to death with a shovel in that game? and then other pinatas eat the organs/candy that fall out?

 

[Paksenarrion]

No one has mentioned Harvest Moon yet? A farming/dating simulator? Well, crops die if you don't take care of them, so technically it's violent...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

How is deal or no deal not a game?

Also, you can't spin non-violence to mean rejection of any sort of competitive or aggressive elements. Non-violence is all about getting what you want but stopping before you use physical violence or threats of physical violence.

 

[the Dept of Science]

But isn't the idea of a competition like pong, where you're grinding your opponent into ping pong related dust and Tetris, which awards you for making blocks simply disappear still a form of violence?

And Machinarium has instances of violence in it. The player just doesn't necessarily perpetrate them...

with a definition of violence that broad, you can't even get to breakfast without violence. Hell you couldn't even brush your teeth

That was pretty much my point...
which leads me to wonder (and I know it's true for me) that we all play games for that rush we get from the 'violence' whether it be in competition or in suffocating people with plastic bags. And for the lols.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_scotsman

I think you are just changing the definition of violence into something that noone agrees with to make your argument work.

Also... Flower, a game where you play as the wind blowing petals around a field. I don't even think it has any point scoring.

 

[SimuLord]

Been ninja'd on some of these, but...

- The entire city-building genre (except the ones with wargame elements like Caesar)
- The realistic simulation genre, games like Flight Simulator and RailWorks (including The Sims, which acts the part)
- Sports games...well, unless you think sports are violent. I suppose football and hockey dance around the line, but baseball, soccer, and basketball aren't violent sports.
- Puzzle games, as a general rule. Exceptions include Puzzle Quest and Portal.
- The tycoon genre, again, most of the time. Some tycoon-type games have light wargame elements (the Patrician/Port Royale series).

The above constitutes about 95% of my game collection. Really, except for Grand Theft Auto and Bethesda Game Studios' body of work, I don't play many traditionally-violent games.

 

[Earth443]

Tetris.

Unless you consider it blockicide.

it's blockicide? OH GOD THE HORROR!!!!! D:

 

[Iron Mal]

Now, I know this is a murky topic and all that, but I'm looking for some opinions from all of you out there. Is there such a thing as a truly nonviolent video game. And before anyone comes up with something like "Deal or no deal (now on PC)" I'd like to point out that I'm talking violence in quite a broad sense... And besides, that's not a game.

I think your main issue is that you've misunderstood what the word 'violence' means (it does have a very clear and precise definition), for the uninitiated, violence is a physical act in which one individual or group attacks another individual or group (usually with the intent of causing bodily harm).

There are loads of non-violent games out there, but what you're talking about in your later posts is games that have no competitive drive to them (that isn't violence, in fact, a healthy amount of competition is very pro-social and beneficial to us as people).

If you could design what you called a 'non-violent' game, then what would it consist of?

 

[Reaper69lol]

Peggle, Audiosurf, spectroball, world of goo....shall I go on?

 

[SextusMaximus]

MOST sports games, MOST puzzle games, A LOT of platformer games, etc.

Silly topic really...

 

[Jonesy911]

Peggle