Poll: The a blood on/off option be available in violent games

[KnightOfHearts]

Hi Escapists!

Wondering what you think of this one

In all honesty I'm not into incredibly violent games and really appreciate an option to turn off the gore in say... Onimusha, gears or way, metal gear solid or demon's souls (yes I know demons souls wasn't that violent even with the blood on).

I see allot of people saying things like

'It's not even that violent'!!!
'Why would you want to'?
'But blood everywhere in *insert game name here* is how it's supposed to be played'!
Or just out right saying that gamers who don't like blood in games are wimps.

What are your opinions?
Should games like dead space, prototype, god of war and resident evil have an option to tone down the violence level at the players choice?

Do any of you think games are becoming to violent?
Are we desensitised?
Is desensitisation such a bad thing?

What are your thoughts escapists?

 

[Lukeje]

What's the point of removing the blood if you still have all the dismemberment and decapitations? If you don't like violence, then why are you playing violent games?

 

[WonderWillard]

I like having this option. I just like having the option to minimize interference with my immersion. I don't mind blood and violence in games, but I do when it is distracting from the experience. Like in Dragon Age (O and II), I like having blood turned off because when my character walks up and talks to someone after a fight and he has blood all over him it's just... weird. And the blood in Assassin's Creed can be a little distracting sometimes.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Depends. I don't know shit about programming, so I don't know if removing the blood would be a lot of extra work. If not, then sure, I wouldn't use it, but it may as well be available for sensitive people. If it would take effort, I'd rather that effort be used on improving other aspects of the game. The blood is there to create a certain effect, and I don't think it really matters in most games. Things like prototype and gears of war are specifically designed to be gory, and don't exactly have a fantastic story, so if you don't like blood, don't play it. That is all.

 

[putowtin]

bring on the gore!

I've just shot/stabbed/ripped head off of my enemy and no blood (what ever the colour) doesn't start oozing out? Something wrong with that!

 

[DazZ.]

Only time I've ever turned it off was in Quake 3, and that was just in multiplayer so that I people wouldn't leave their filthy gib all over the floor and ruin my visual on a railgun shot.

If you don't like blood and gore, don't play games where you're shooting people or whatever.

 

[Felstaff]

I voted for 'yes' as having a choice is always better. Remember, blood and violence aren't just restricted to Dudebro: My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time, there are some games that aren't necessarily violent that include blood, and there are some games that are incredibly violent that have no blood (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Splinter Cell ...do you draw blood when you get shot?). Had Batman or Sam Fisher included blood in their games, it wouldn't have added to the game at all, and I might be well-inclined to switch the blood off. Not because I'm squeamish (I am), but because sometimes blood can detract from the immersion. The first few Resident Evils were a bit ridiculous, as whenever you got zombitten, a huge jugularical spurt of ketchup would spray from your neck. Not only did that just seem ridiculous and unreal; it would have been far more horrifying to not have the blood there in the first place.

I still don't think gaming technology has really progressed in the realistic depiction of bloodletting. Also, I think most of us have never seen someone get shot/stabbed/dismembered before, so no-one really has a strong idea of how blood acts under such circumstances, so even if they got it spot-on, it's unlikely that someone would baulk at the accuracy of the depiction, as Hollywood apparently has over 9000 different ways in which blood escapes from the body (compare, say, how Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin [http://www.appstate.edu/~wilsonjm/sight_and_sound/storyboard/screenshots/14.png] in Pulp Fiction). There's just too much variation in how bullets/knives/large panes of glass release blood, which is why I prefer there not to be any at all.

Until, or course, such time as they realistically depict your character's clothing and reactions to penetrative injury (blood seeping/darkening your James Bond tuxedo in an aesthetically pleasing manner).

Then, I would rather have the option to switch it off, as I squick out quite a bit.

 

[DestinyDriven]

Should games like dead space, prototype, god of war and resident evil have an option to tone down the violence level at the players choice?

Dead Space is a game that thrives on giving you horrific and shocking images. It is a gory action/horror game. By being able to turn off the gore, it is contradictory the whole point of the game. It wouldn't be as scary or shocking without the blood. Not just that, but you will still have decapitations and dismemberment's etc. It would just look odd.

Same with Prototype. It's a game where you go around being as destructive as possible. Turning gore off would contradict what this game is about. The gore is there because they are violent games that are made to have gore. Taking out the gore, ESPECIALLY in horror games, can take away the point of the game. So, no. I generally don't want those options. If a game is violent, it is meant to be for one reason or another. Maybe you can get away with having options for stuff like that, such as in bioware's games, but a lot of the time it just isn't right.

If you buy a violent game, expect blood and gore. It's that simple. If you don't like gore, what are people doing playing games like that?

 

[BanicRhys]

Yes games should have this option.
No, I would never use it. I play the game the way it was meant to be played.

 

[BlueMage]

The fact that blood doesn't come pissing out in no way changes the fact that you just cut someone in half/decapitated them/pulled their spine out through their anus.

That is, it doesn't make it any less violent nor decrease the impact what's happening.

So I ask - what would be the point?

 

[josemlopes]

Well, it wont change the fact that you are shooting against someone but its always nice to have the option to choose

 

[Elsarild]

Why isn't there a "I don't care" option? I mean, I don't mind all the gore in the world, but I know someone cares and I guess it should be there for them, but I don't mind either way.

 

[uzo]

Each to his own ... but I know that I turned the blood down in Fallout 3. Ludicrous gibs are fun, but the mods I installed were going for ultra-realism (as realistic as surviving nuclear apocalypse can be!) so blasting someone's head clean off with a BB gun kinda pissed me off.

I still wanted people to get blasted apart -- if I lobbed a NukaGrenade at them or some such.

 

[hazabaza1]

There's not really any reason not to have a no gore setting.

 

[Danceofmasks]

I don't mind blood.

I want the option, however, to disable exploding bodies in Bethesda's Fallout engine.
Oh wait, you can already do that. Guess I'm happier now that I have a less messy world.

 

[DestinyDriven]

What the hell is wrong with people?

For real? The choice should always be there.. this is just one more case of;

"People don't enjoy playing a game, the way that I want to play it? WELL THEY'RE WRONG."

And it is like this for so many games and issues surrounding games that it's actually kind of sad - in a huge way. The first reply and those thereafter ask why you'd want to play a violent game without blood - when the original poster stated that he enjoys these games (therefore, he enjoys the mechanics, story, what not) but isn't comfortable with the blood. I personally don't kind - but I can see how other people wouldn't be such a big fan and want to have the OPTION to turn it off. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's not changing the game in any major kind of way and in fact MOST games come with the option.. and no one has ever complained about that.

Good lord people, get off your high horses.

But when a game thrives on being gory, violent and horrific, isn't that the point of the game? Do you not think that being able to turn off the gore is totally detrimental to the game?

You really think that being able turning off the gore on Dead Space is a good idea, and fits in to the atmosphere of what the developers were trying to make?
Like I said, some games may be OK for such things (such as some of bioware's games) but to say that it should be an option for all games that thrive on being violent is just ridiculous.

 

[SpAc3man]

Why not? Some people might not like blood.
Not that I would normally use it.

 

[GWarface]

Sure.. I have never turned blood or gore off, but ofcourse the choice should be there..