gaming: where should the line be drawn

[Doitpow]

So here's an old question phrased slightly differently.

Given that 99% of us agree that actions depicted and acted out in videos games won't influence what we do in real life (Murdering, stealing, mushroom taking)...is there a line that shouldn't be crossed and as such, topics that should remain taboo? examples: Murder of innocents, murder of children, rape, paedophilia, animal cruelty, genocide, I'm sure there are others that come to mind.

To keep it a little focused I'd like to say that these acts would have to be performed by the player, not by an antagonist.
Oh and what games do you think have crossed this line?

 

[Judgement101]

Aye, ye facts be way off me matey.

 

[pyrosaw]

The line should be drawn --->

 

[King Toasty]

Lines are cultural. Circles even more so.


Think about it.

 

[Judgement101]

I won't bother making a statement about your facts since the internet police are already here lol. But i think the only thing that shouldn't be depicted is Rape and and form of child molestation. But why not have a realistic touch in what you can kill. I would have no problem if in Fallout you could kill the children. But actual depiction of Rape i think would be bad. Talking about it is one thing but actually seeing it happen shouldn't be in games. We will leave that to the hentai.

And 4chan...

 

[StriderShinryu]

That's a tough one. I personally would never play a title with some of that content in it, regardless of how it was approached or what the intent was, but I don't think it would be fair for me to say that it shouldn't exist.

 

[lord.jeff]

Stop commenting on the bad facts.

First game porn or snuff does exist already, look at Second Life, but I think when it does eventually becomes more distributed it should just be treated like porn films, watched but never mentioned in public.

 

[TaboriHK]

It's not our business to tell art what it can or can't be. We just observe it and make up our own minds.

 

[spartan1077]

I think games should show whatever the hell they want because they are objects. If you see a game that has it so you can; break into a house and make the child rape the dog while you murder the wife, then you know that's there and you don't buy it. If you have problems with things like that, you have the option to not be subjected to it. So games should be able to put anything they want into their games as long as they refer to it in the crappy ESRB rating

 

[mad825]

ok! lets see what I've done in a computer game:

Murder of innocents ✔
murder of children ✔
rape ✔
animal cruelty ✔
genocide ✔
paedophilia this point is very relative as NPCs have no age and even then the visual features are debatable, this is for a different topic.

 

[FlashHero]

Im for no line...after all human expression is something that should never be stunted just because people have different views then others.

 

[MrHero17]

If someone wants to make a piece of media depicting something they should be allowed to, as long as they're not doing illegal things and then recording them.

If someone wants to make a game about raping orphans then you can simply choose not to buy it and stores can choose not to carry it.

 

[dickseverywhere]

So here's an old question phrased slightly differently.

Given that 99% of us agree that actions depicted and acted out in videos games won't influence what we do in real life (Murdering, stealing, mushroom taking)...is there a line that shouldn't be crossed and as such, topics that should remain taboo? examples: Murder of innocents, murder of children, rape, paedophilia, animal cruelty, genocide, I'm sure there are others that come to mind.

To keep it a little focused I'd like to say that these acts would have to be performed by the player, not by an antagonist.
Oh and what games do you think have crossed this line?

pretty sure games featuring all of those things already exist, the civ series effectively let you commit genocide, the GTA series let you murder people who can be assumed to be innocent (maybe all those people wandering the streets have commited horrible crimes but lets say not)and there's plenty of japanese wankware featuring rape and paedophilia.

as for my view, you can have films and books etc with all those things why should games be any different? doubt anyones going to make much money off rape/padeophilia/animal torture games anyway so the audience would probably be limited to dodgy internet types who enjoy playing badly made flash games.

 

[Quaidis]

The only real games I'm against right now are games like RapeLay, which is somehow insanely popular and well known. Maybe it's on the border of being infamous.

So long as violent games are aged appropriately, I wont complain.


However if there was a Cooking Mama or Harvest Moon version telling people in detail how to grow and produce their own drugs, I'm sure someone would be upset. Same with a detailed game about cropping the ears and tails off of dogs, baiting them, abusing them, and betting with others on which dog would win as they're pitted against one another. Similar to Pokemon. `` cept Mature. Kinda wrong.

 

[DiMono]

Wasn't there a game that was banned in Australia for being nothing but a convicted felon killing people in prison? I want to say Manhunt?

Given that it advances the plot/character and is done "tastefully" I don't think there should be a line. Manhunt arguably went a bit too far, apparently being nothing more than a giant snuff-fest, but killing innocents for a plot-centric reason? Absolutely. Rape? Sure. Insofar as it's useful to the plot but isn't the plot itself, merely a device for the advancement of plot, I think everything should be allowed.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I don't want to see any murder or rape of children. Also no senseless animal slaughter.

 

[badgersprite]

Somethings are best not depicted in gaming simply for how insensitive they are. I mean, some things aren't regularly depicted in any other form of media for this very reason. Things like rape and infanticide are up there, because the reactions people can have to this are just so intense that it's irresponsible to risk depicting them, and I don't think the industry is in a place where that sort of thing is okay.

But, that said, I don't think the option should be taken away for these things to be presented, because any of these issues, horrible as they are, can be used to make an artistic point. You can be damn sure that a game that included these things wouldn't be 'fun', though. Except for a sexually perverted serial killer, maybe.

 

[Mcface]

Games do influence us.
It desensitizes us to violence on one level or another.

 

[milkkart]

The only real games I'm against right now are games like RapeLay, which is somehow insanely popular and well known. Maybe it's on the border of being infamous.

So long as violent games are aged appropriately, I wont complain.


However if there was a Cooking Mama or Harvest Moon version telling people in detail how to grow and produce their own drugs, I'm sure someone would be upset. Same with a detailed game about cropping the ears and tails off of dogs, baiting them, abusing them, and betting with others on which dog would win as they're pitted against one another. Similar to Pokemon. `` cept Mature. Kinda wrong.

i have a cannabis growing sim on this PC.

Games do influence us.
It desensitizes us to violence on one level or another.

want to provide some evidence for that? because the studies that have been done seem to show its bullshit.

 

[Quaidis]

The only real games I'm against right now are games like RapeLay, which is somehow insanely popular and well known. Maybe it's on the border of being infamous.

So long as violent games are aged appropriately, I wont complain.


However if there was a Cooking Mama or Harvest Moon version telling people in detail how to grow and produce their own drugs, I'm sure someone would be upset. Same with a detailed game about cropping the ears and tails off of dogs, baiting them, abusing them, and betting with others on which dog would win as they're pitted against one another. Similar to Pokemon. `` cept Mature. Kinda wrong.

i have a cannabis growing sim on this PC.

Bah, hemp doesn't count. You can do many things with cannabis besides getting high. =P



*I do not encourage in any way that people try to grow their own cannabis. In some nations it is illegal.