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

[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.

 

[kouriichi]

From Minecraft to Bulletstorm, i like all forms of violence, guts, gore and destruction.

But oddly enough, im a pacifist.

 

[King Toasty]

Simplified/stylized. Super-gory-bloddy-funtime never appealed to me; it's not gross, just uninteresting.

 

[Iggy Rufflebar]

As long as the game stands up in it's own rights, the about of blood and gore don't mean anything to me.

 

[TheHighDino]

I don't mind.. It depends on the game I guess... GTA wouldn't be the same without it but with Minecraft it wouldn't look good with it... but in some games, like the Lego ones, when someone/something annoys me, I want to completely paste it over the walls for good, not watch it get back up again.. which is why I hate kids games.. So I guess I like violence and gore..??

 

[Treeinthewoods]

I've always had a soft spot for a touch of the old ultra-violence myself, suprising to a lot of people since I'm actually a fairly normal and well adjusted guy.

I really enjoy sawing people in Gears of War, hacking apart minotaurs in God of War and amputating limbs in Ninja Gaiden 2. Things I can't do in real life but have full license to do digitally!

It's not like I only buy violent games but I must admit I do like them quite a bit.

 

[Wireframefool]

I don't mind how violent a game is, as long as the game play itself is good.

 

[MercenaryCanary]

Depends on the game.

Like with Mass Effect, a sci-fi action game, gore isn't really needed as gore was never really something the sci-fi genre focuses on.

But if it's a horror game, like Dead Space, yeah, gore is somewhat essential.

 

[Crazycat690]

I think Postal 2 is the best game ever made, but not because of the gore, but sure, I like gore, I like to smash the heads of my enemies to a thousand pieces. If I dislike someone I don't want to shoot him with some "phew phew" and just seeing him drop to the floor.

 

[LuckyClover95]

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.

I haven't played Half Life or Silent Hill, but I must say we seem to have exteemely similar game tastes. Just saying cos it caught my eye.

As for the poll, I went for second option, I like combat but dislike gore.

 

[Sixcess]

Depends on the game. A game like Prototype would be awful if if wasn't for the bodies you can slice in half with a single chop of your blade-shaped arm. But in a game like GTA I prefer just some realism, I don't need loads of blood and bodyparts flying all over the place.

Prototype is an interesting example. Yes, it's incredibly violent and gory, but the violence is so ludicrously over the top and omnipresent it quickly loses any kind of impact.

I played through about two thirds of Crysis before I consciously realised there was no blood when I shot enemy soldiers, so gore isn't a big deal for me, except in those rare games that absolutely revel in it, and do it well. Prototype just wouldn't be the same if every fight didn't leave the entire street ankle deep in blood. Neither would Doom.

Hated it in Fallout 3 though - seemed completely unecessary, as well as being really badly implemented. I don't think I'll ever forgive that game for it's decapitating bullets.

 

[AssassinFisH]

Gore is gratifying. Violence in video games, is a therapeutic relief, and should not be viewed as a negative part of gaming. When I am feeling stressed at work, I get home and stick on some GTA/CoD etc and go to town on the citizens of liberty city or internetsville. If I am not mistaken, that is much better than taking my frustrations out on real people!