Poll: So do you actually like "violent video games"?

[DSK-]

Very mixed. Some games I have played/play consistently have very little if no violence whatsoever (example would be Total Annihilation), violent but not overly violent like Crysis and Crysis 2 to downright bloody in the likes of Soldier of Fortune 1, FEAR and others.

It really depends. I can't say that video game violence or a lack of it does anything to make my overall gaming experience better or worse.

 

[Chris646]

Most of the games I play aren't too violent. But the most violent one is clearly Super Mario Brothers. You stomp on goombas so hard that their bodies disappear into the aether! Also, you make a turtle die burning in lava.
All joking aside, my favortie games are things like Final Fantasy, TWEWY, Disgaea, etc.

 

[Fugitive Panda]

I've never felt that gore added anything at all to any of the games. Watching my enemies explode into bloody chunks has no more meaning than having them fall over and phase out of existence.

Of course, if you're going to make a super realistic shooter or something, realistic gore is important for consistency. But I've never been terribly entertained by watching my enemies entrails fly across the screen; I'm usually too focused on taking down the next one.

 

[MSfire012]

My favorite games: GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout, Oblivion, Half Life 2, Silent Hill 2, Bioshock. They are all violent games, but I don't buy a game for the violence or gore, I buy a game if it's worth it. But for me true violence isn't decapitations, and lots of blood, true violence is when a game shows you psychological, emotional and/or cruel scenes like in Half Life 2 Ep2, Fallout 3, Red Dead Redemption and Silent Hill 2.

 

[FalloutJack]

So, as we all know, there are lots of people who like to harp on about violent video games and their terrible influences. But whenever I see this, I can't help but think about by own favorite games - games like Minecraft, Civilization, Mass Effect, Portal, TES... of those, only Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls are meaningfully violent, and even they barely feature any gore or totally senseless killing in the spirit of what Fox News seems to think video games are about.

I was wondering about the rest of you - we all know games like Postal or Mortal Kombat exist, but are those really representative of what we actually enjoy? How violent are your favorite games? Did you ever go through a phase where you enjoyed more violent games than you do now? What changed?

You're asking the wrong questions. I have Fallout 3 and New Vegas, and this can and will entale seeing your enemies blasted apart in slow motion especially if you have the Bloody Mess perk. You are asking how and what, but you SHOULD be asking why.

For me, the answer is simple: I like Fallout.

The end-result of this thread is not what you are aiming for at all. Who cares IF people like violence? It has its place, otherwise it wouldn't sell. You need to be asking WHY, or everything else becomes meaningless.

 

[New Frontiersman]

I'm not really that partial to super violent games. I'm okay with some violence, but I really don't like the super violent stuff.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Actually violence is not an issue I even consider when buying a game. I consider whether of not eh game will be fun. Of course to me violence can be simplified down to ragdolls, programmed mesh components, particle effects, gib meshes, etc. so maybe I'm just to programmer happy to get violence.

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

I honestly have no idea what to put on the poll, but violence levels depends entirely on the game. Randomly throwing blood into a game where it's not needed is stupid and can just kill how the game looks.
But I myself have no problem with blood, gore, violence and all of that, so long as it's there for a reason.

 

[cgentero]

I more masochistic with videogame violence, I'm usually more entertained by the ways I can be killed.

 

[Reaper195]

Some games that I like a lot are incredibly violent (Gears of War series, Postal 2 (Yes, I like Postal 2. Abstract fun beats gritty military fps any day of the week), Prototype), while some games I love have very little actual violence in them (Portal, Just Cause 2).

It really depends on the game; I'm more of a fan of decent story and gameplay than actual violence.

 

[Insane_Foxx]

i enjoy non-violent as much as, if not more than violent, but as the poll is set up, I'm on the most violent setup, although i have games that fit into each of these answers. But with the most violent as opposed to most games, don't have much choice

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Gears of War is my baby. So yes, I like violence.

But I also like violence that doesn't need gore, like God Hand.

However my absolute favorite is when the violence is just plain over the top. Examples like Mad World, Ninja Gaiden, and No More Heroes are permitted.

 

[V8 Ninja]

One of my favorite games, Half-Life 2, depicts realistic violence and realistic gore.

My #1 favorite game, Super Mario World, depicts violence as enemies disappearing when you tap them with the bottom of Mario's shoes.

However, I enjoy both of those games because of their mechanics and not because of how violent they are. I play what I like, I don't play games for the joy of seeing living beings destroyed by my hand.

 

[Sean Renaud]

So, as we all know, there are lots of people who like to harp on about violent video games and their terrible influences. But whenever I see this, I can't help but think about by own favorite games - games like Minecraft, Civilization, Mass Effect, Portal, TES... of those, only Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls are meaningfully violent, and even they barely feature any gore or totally senseless killing in the spirit of what Fox News seems to think video games are about.

I was wondering about the rest of you - we all know games like Postal or Mortal Kombat exist, but are those really representative of what we actually enjoy? How violent are your favorite games? Did you ever go through a phase where you enjoyed more violent games than you do now? What changed?

I've never started a thread much less a poll on the escapist forums but you really phrased the question poorly. I love my Ninja Gaiden with heads popping six feet in the air and those X-Ray shots in Mortal Kombat are about the coolest thing ever. I don't want Goombas exploding into realistic gore or bullet bills putting holes in mario. It's all about what game is this and what SHOULD it do.

It's like asking about the objectification of women in gaming. For starters psst go watch television, go visit a High School or College campus. Women objectify themselves. That aside I'm not saying Princess Peach should start wearing a bikini in future Mario games, it's that I'm sick and tired of people whining about chain mail bikinis.

 

[Scrubiii]

It depends completely on the game. Some games like Minecraft clearly benefit from a lack of gore, others like Dead Rising 2 and Mortal Kombat benefit from ridiculous, over-the-top violence and some games like Dead Space 2 benefit from realistic violence.

 

[Talvrae]

it depends of the game and the mood they want to set... I can,t pick one because really i can appreaciate all of them...

 

[Saelune]

Yes, but not solely. I love the gore of Dead Rising 2...but I also love the sillyness my friend and I have been getting into...like replacing Chuck with Ghost and Goblin's Arthur...and his twin brother Lancelot who apparently works at Willamette.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I say yes to violence as in fighting and beating things up but not gore. The only game I own that got blood is Monster Hunter Tri and o More Heroes 2 but that because I only own a Wii.
God it make me wonder what Mario games will be like if every time he stoop on a Goomba their blood and gut burst out from the stomp.

 

[Beryl77]

I don't like violent games because of the violence but just because I like that game. There are several games that I like which are violent and others which aren't. I like some because of the story, others because of the gameplay and again others just because they're fun and I like them. The violence itself has never been a selling point for me but it has also never been a reason for me not to buy a game. I just see it as part of the game, it doesn't bother me at all and the German versions of some game are made less violent and that does bother me. Not because I want the violence but because it's part of the game for me and I want to play it the way the developers intended it to be.

 

[Catfood220]

Excessive gore makes me laugh. For example in Red Dead Redemption when you skin an animal and blood squirts on the screen and more blood sprays through the air, its just funny. Not as funny as in Dragon Age: Origins when your entire party looks like someone has sprayed blood onto them with a hosepipe at the end of even the smallest battle.