Most gamers would rather kills things than play games like LBP. Games are, like Yahtzee said, about realising a fantasy, and for many people that fanstasy is being a badass with big guns, and a kill count to disgrace a mass murderer.
Violence in Video Games
- Thread starter Tyrant Within
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Although the Barbie games are probably more emotionally scarring and worse for character building than Grand Theft Auto..xmetatr0nx said:
"I'm a stupid girl with no waist and huge knockers, I like ponies and cooking for my (obviously gay) husband Ken! Also - I HAVE NO PRIVATES!"
Welcome to the Escapist.
I like violent and non-violent games equally as long as they're well made but a lot of non-violent games are boring or just plain stupid (This idea could be applied to the film industry as well).
I like violent and non-violent games equally as long as they're well made but a lot of non-violent games are boring or just plain stupid (This idea could be applied to the film industry as well).
It's an easy thing to base games around, honestly I don't find many games without violence to be entertaining. Sorry, I'm addicted to the super violent Plants vs. Zombies.
I like war games, but I hate the excesive goor that comes with games like Gears of War 2 and others, its just stupid. Now sure in real life if a chainsaw was thrust though you I'd bet you'd bleed that much, by why do people like that I dont know.
So violence in video games isnt all that bad, its the aptrabutes that come with it.
So violence in video games isnt all that bad, its the aptrabutes that come with it.
Violence is a good backdrop for a conflict of some kind or another, which is crucial to any story. Generally speaking, violence not only creates a good backdrop in a game, but gives a good set for things to go very, very wrong pretty quickly. Without that extra sense of danger, people tend to lose interest in a game and move on.Tyrant Within said:
try nobi nobi boy, echochrome, the katamari series, flower, or flow. There is probably a lot of violence in video games because it is viewed as needing an enemy. You need a way to fight your enemy, so why not fists and lead?Tyrant Within said:(First things first: Hi, I am new around here. Please be nice)
So lately I asked myself: Do we need all this violence in video games? Why are there only a handful of non-violent games that are not sports games (or The Sims)? As much as I like(d) games like Mass Effect; I find them less and less enjoyable. Cant they make games in which I dont have to kill/shoot/bludgeon/saw/beat/batter my way through enemy hordes?!
What do you think?
(Oh and yes, I just love XBLA
As for if violence in video games is a good or bad thing for us...well I'm not qualified to answer that, but I know someone who is
A lama [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.144926?page=1]
Violent games sell well, because they appeal to a wide audience. Personally i can only play on any one shooter for about a month before getting bored. (the exception is star wars battlefront II which will never get old/boring, unless they bring out III) I dunno, it depends on the violence's context i suppose, i have to see a reason to kill or shoot things other than 'It's fun so do it!'. Puzzle games are good, RPG's are good if done well and i like certain racers like Gran Turismo and Mario Kart(the Wii's only good game but it was better on NGC and N64).
Well, there's Mario, but he'll never completely take over the gaming industry, right?xmetatr0nx said:
*looks at monkey wrench in Bioshock*
Uh-oh...
Really, though, I think violence is a way to create challenge for gameplay and conflict for the story that won't leave any time soon...
Its just, most games don't need so much gore. That's one of the things I liked about Halo: Shoot 'em, and all that happens is that the enemy falls over, and someone dumps the content of a hi-lighter in their general viscinity.
I love violent video games. Some of them anyways; I'm not a huge fan of Prototype, but nothing cheers me up like simulated violence does. I tend to get a little blood-crazed, but it's better than me stabbing someone in the neck with a spoon in real life.
And not to nitpick, but if you don't like violent games then why did you play a game called Assassin's Creed? It seems like that'd be the game you'd want to avoid.
It's sometimes wrong to kill people in real life, but in games you don't get thrown in jail for killing a simulated person. I don't think anyone here has recently shot up an orphanage, so I don't think that violent media is taking away our moral compass.
There's a difference between pressing a button and watching an enemy's head explode into little bits and actually shooting someone.
That being said, there are games out there that aren't too violent. Haunting Ground, Fatal Frame, Silent Hill, .Hack, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Fishdom, and Peggle are the ones that immediately come to mind. You just have to look. xD
Really? If you play Assassin's Creed and play it stealthily you don't really have to fight. If you don't want to fight then you don't pester the guards, and if you slip up then you run away and hide, or at least until the guards fall off the roofs and die.Tyrant Within said:
And not to nitpick, but if you don't like violent games then why did you play a game called Assassin's Creed? It seems like that'd be the game you'd want to avoid.
It's sometimes wrong to kill people in real life, but in games you don't get thrown in jail for killing a simulated person. I don't think anyone here has recently shot up an orphanage, so I don't think that violent media is taking away our moral compass.
There's a difference between pressing a button and watching an enemy's head explode into little bits and actually shooting someone.
That being said, there are games out there that aren't too violent. Haunting Ground, Fatal Frame, Silent Hill, .Hack, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Fishdom, and Peggle are the ones that immediately come to mind. You just have to look. xD
What people fail to understand is that the violence isn't for the sake of itself, it's a device for the experience. The violence is the progressing resistance in the game, the mounting difficulty. Overcoming one's enemies is a fundamental human experience and thus makes for compelling game play but if you could conceive of an equally visceral obstacle to overcome, you don't need violence. I direct you to portal, where the only violence you do is indirect- and yet you still overcome your obstacles, literalized in the puzzles and personified in gLADOS.
The reason almost all games have violence is because they either then have a funny story and nothing else, or they're incredibly boring (the latter is much more likely). Hopefully Heavy Rain will fix this, but I prefer gameplay over story (although a good story is a great bonus), so I really don't care.
Sadly enough, a game without violence wouldn't be very realistic. Even a game where you would just run a shop would be unrealistic if you didn't have the chance to be mugged. That is how the world works.
That being said, violence in games rock. If it is done right. Violence for the sake of violence is just stupid. Unless it is awesome violence. Like No More Heroes.
That being said, violence in games rock. If it is done right. Violence for the sake of violence is just stupid. Unless it is awesome violence. Like No More Heroes.
I think that the reason for this is far less insidious then, "People like blood". Instead, games are by nature closed formal systems which follow a set of rules, and involves some sort of struggle to achieve a goal. Violence is the easiest and most readily observed dynamic for creating this system of rules for. Common mechanics like removing, "Units" or lining up a cursor with an object naturally lend themselves to violent interpretation. Sure, you can come up with a good story that doesn't involve violence, but it would be harder to come up with a set of mechanics which are interesting and challenging and emulate something. Certainly its not impossible, and a lot of particularly indie designers have done some amazing things, but violence in video games is just the most obvious way make game mechanics work.
Tyrant Within said:(First things first: Hi, I am new around here. Please be nice
So lately I asked myself: Do we need all this violence in video games? Why are there only a handful of non-violent games that are not sports games (or The Sims)? As much as I like(d) games like Mass Effect; I find them less and less enjoyable. Cant they make games in which I dont have to kill/shoot/bludgeon/saw/beat/batter my way through enemy hordes?!
What do you think?
(Oh and yes, I just love XBLA
what...do you wan't to hug your way through an enemy horde?
Every video game ever has violence. Almost. Because like doing things that they can't do in real life. Which is mostly shooting aliens with a machine gun with a chainsaw on the front.