Violence in Video Games

[Fraeir]

Im not really talking about "gore games" like Left4Dead. I mean even Metroid has so much violence in it. And even though no body ever said Assassins Creed is an evil game, I would like to say that I stopped playing it because I had to kill a guy every five minutes. Dont you think it takes away our ability to decide what is right and what is wrong? I mean step by step and only a little but still...

Only one every five minutes? I'd mess up on purpose to have a whole guard section follow me over the rooftops, only to square it off with them on the edge of a building, hacking them down one by one as they try to stop me, and when the last falls over the edge into a highly concentrated group of civilians and guards on the market place below, hearing a woman scream in terror at the sight, as I shake my head and remind myself to not leave -any- witnesses, and so I start to hunt... I'm sorry, what were we talking about?

Meh, I like violent games, like said before, they're a great outlet for anger, kill something that there's no consequences of killing. There's plenty of non-violent games too. However, I myself hates both sports and driver games, as I have no love for cars nor sports at all. I've recently gotten to try out the Sims 3, but then again it's always fun to see someone suffer from never-ending hunger as well, and being stinky.
...All the while I'm mentally yelling "Think of the people in third world countries who's worse off than us!" at them...

However, a game that is violent for violence alone, is going to crash and buuurn, no doubt there.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"Violence in Video Games: because it's just so damn cathartic (TM)"

Also: "Cant they make games in which I dont have to kill/shoot/bludgeon/saw/beat/batter my way through enemy hordes?!" Sure, it was called Streetfighter. Only 1 enemy at once, no hordes!

 

[Triforceformer]

Human beings are carnivores. All carnivores have a natural instinct to kill things. Video games are a great outlet for those kinds of things.

We are omnivores, thank you very much.

 

[Tyrant Within]

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.

I think you made a really (!) good point, man. Maybe it IS just the lazyness and a fear to explore new ground. And sometimes its even ridicolous how ressources (engines, HD, motion capturing etc.) are used. For example: The Forest in Oblivion is just amazing. How can they not make a game about that? Why do we have to kill monsters in it? As if we couldnt do that in any virtual enviroment. How cool would a game about a forest be? Planting trees, managing the ecosystem etc. (I heard you chuckle over there )
Also Mirrors Edge: of course we HAVE to be a criminal fighting against blahblahbla. They could have made the game much more interresting and varied if they had dropped that idea...
And one for the philosophers among us^^: Is it human nature to try harder to overcome each other instead of overcoming our real problems?

 

[blackfrancis567]

try some RPG's yes they have there fair share of violence but there are times when you can talk your way out of a fight

Welcome to The Escapist

 

[Xanadu84]

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.

I think you made a really (!) good point, man. Maybe it IS just the lazyness and a fear to explore new ground. And sometimes its even ridicolous how ressources (engines, HD, motion capturing etc.) are used. For example: The Forest in Oblivion is just amazing. How can they not make a game about that? Why do we have to kill monsters in it? As if we couldnt do that in any virtual enviroment. How cool would a game about a forest be? Planting trees, managing the ecosystem etc. (I heard you chuckle over there )
Also Mirrors Edge: of course we HAVE to be a criminal fighting against blahblahbla. They could have made the game much more interresting and varied if they had dropped that idea...
And one for the philosophers among us^^: Is it human nature to try harder to overcome each other instead of overcoming our real problems?

I'm not going to discount violence in games. In all art, there's a sizable amount of violence. And it's still a wonderful means of expression. I do think, though, that however valid violence can be in art, there are also non-violent means of expression that are just as valid. Its like Chinese food. Chinese food is delicious, but if you eat it every night, you're going to crave something a little different. You can't blame any individual Chinese dish; it's likely all delicious. It's just that you need the chance to mix it up and try some Italian, Thai, Indian or any of a bunch of other dishes now and then.