Sony allegedly starting to censor depictions of violence in games starting with dismemberments

Dwarvenhobble

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So are we supposed to all get our rage on or our panic on based on a "report" from a random internet user that some CEO allegedly made some comments that Sony, again allegedly, requested a single developer to remove a single instance of dismemberment from a single game that, being based on a children's anime, is likely targeting a child audience?
So you're saying it's fake news?
 

Samtemdo8

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Also games with nudity off the top of my head

Heavy Rain

GTA5

Witcher 3

Cyberpunk 2077

A bunch of Steam games that you could google(Kagura Games for example)
Heavy Rain and GTA 5 was a generation ago imo with changes in attitudes with things like this in gaming.

And I think Witcher 3 toned down the sexuality compared to how it was in earlier games from what I have seen unless someone tells me otherwise. I mean you see pubes in Witcher 2.
 

happyninja42

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I'm sort of 2 minds on this. I personally don't really care about violence itself in games, I don't think it's "bad", I just don't consider it important. I know some people LIVE for the gore, and want every droplet of blood to be photo-realistic, and...I mean ok, whatever. If that's your jam, fine I guess. But that's not enough of a point in a game's favor to make me want to buy it. "Now with 50% more entrails and splatter physics!!" ....whoopty do. So what's your story like? "....story? Wut's that? BLOOD!" No thanks, I'll pass.

The part that I don't like about gore in video games, is what that ever frantic push by gamers for MORE REAL!! MORE GORE!! does to the developers. Being made to watch hours and hours of real violence, done to real people, just so you can fucking code the dismemberments more realistically? Sorry but that's not cool.

And I've had others say "Well you knew what you were getting when you worked for that game." as a defense of this. Actually no, I don't think most devs would know that point before they joined the company. Because I've been playing violent video games for decades, and until recently it never crossed my mind that companies would REQUIRE the devs to watch graphic videos of real humans, just to more accurately render a violent attack. Because why WOULD you think that's ok? I'm going to make a video game! Not be forced to watch torture porn or lose my job! And given how horrible the working conditions are for most game devs, even the ones who DON'T have to watch real violence, I don't think it's a good work environment to add that on top of it. What with all the subtle, but heavily implied "do the extra work or lose your job you scrub" draconian tactics they use for coders, and the low wages, and employees having to choose between losing their jobs in a terrible market, or literally be forced to watch shit that traumatizes them. I mean I hate real world violence, if you show me a video and say "this shows a real person getting shot/stabbed/etc" I won't watch it. I don't ENJOY that shit, it makes me feel sick. And I know this, because any time it does happen, I have to control the urge to vomit. Now, suddenly, as a coder, I'm tasked with making sure that Reptile's various Fatalities, accuratly render what it looks like to have a human get their head bit off by a giant lizard, so, off to watching shock footage of animal attacks on humans or whatever. I would NOT like that. And I honestly don't know if I could keep that job. And I'm pretty fucking sure they don't mention that in the job description when someone first signs up for a contract job with such companies. And that they only learn about it after the fact.

I would probably have to quit, just to keep my own sanity, and now I'm unemployed.

So if banning such forms of violence, actually means that companies won't force their employees, at risk of termination, to watch traumatic footage of real world death and injuries, then I'm all for it frankly. I don't really care how violent your game is, if that's your primary selling point, then you don't really have a good game.
 

Avnger

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So you're saying it's fake news?
I'm saying that without more confirmed information it's at best outrage bait for our gallant Gamer Defense Force culture warriors; fake news would be the worst case.

If you have additional substantiated info, feel free to share it with the class, and I'll eat crow and revise my opinion.
 

Samtemdo8

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I'm saying that without more confirmed information it's at best outrage bait for our gallant Gamer Defense Force culture warriors; fake news would be the worst case.

If you have additional substantiated info, feel free to share it with the class, and I'll eat crow and revise my opinion.
Outrage Bait.

Pretty much Jim Sterling and Yong Yea
 
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Asking for a character to have 2 arms instead of one arm isn't the same as removing "dismemberments" from a game.

The game didn't have dismemberment to begin with, it had a 1-armed character.
 
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Dwarvenhobble

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I'm saying that without more confirmed information it's at best outrage bait for our gallant Gamer Defense Force culture warriors; fake news would be the worst case.

If you have additional substantiated info, feel free to share it with the class, and I'll eat crow and revise my opinion.
well I did write allegedly in the title for a reason
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Oh sure, they drastically change the violence and/or sex in TLOU2, Resident Evil, etc in Japan and nobody bats an eye. They change a one armed character in an anime fighting game into a two armed character and its a big deal.
 
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Trunkage

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I support any way that gives knowledge to a person to help them decide if a product is right for them or their children.

That doesn’t mean that these same people get to determine what is produce

Whether this new policy has anything to do with my statement... we will see
 
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Even God of War PS4 does not have sex anymore right?
Wouldn't exactly fit in a more lighthearted, father/son bonding story though, would it?

You do have Brok, one of the blacksmith brothers, talk about how he got banned from Alfheim for fucking too many elves.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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If true then what a bunch of bs. If this carries over into their version of multiplats then expect either their user base to decline or be forced to renege due to declining sales. Really, do we need to go back to Nintendo pre-1994 for a history lesson?
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Seems unlikely.

I'll believe it when God of War 2 censors itself, and is T for Teen.

I don't foresee that happening.
The new one already was. The only severed head I recall was the non-fussed looking one for comic relief on Kratos’s hip, and the camera panned down when he was making the cut. Most of the M rating was for language and violence against non humans.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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At one point they will get rid of it all together knowing how much the ruling liberal class liberals in California hate violence in video games, but love nudity or how people in my region of the midwest hate nudity but don't care about violence.

It's all society constructed anyways. Religion is a social construct, violence, and or nudity in games, and their acceptance is a social construct.

Basically, we as a society decide if it's okay, or not okay. So are we as a society going to ban all vices, or are some people/elites going to pick the vices that are culturally unacceptable or ones they like?

Yes, I know Sony is Japanese, but they are letting the bigger consumer base from western countries in Europe, and the US decide which basically means the social liberals in Games Journalism, are deciding. And while conservatives like the TheQuartering, Upper Echelon Gaming will say only the people who started early on a game, and people who play games should change a game I disagree. Companies are driven by profit, and new players = more profit. All consumers and possible consumers are equal, that doesn't mean anti-Christan video games should pander to the Catholic church, but women and people of color, and even liberals should get a say in say AAA COD games.

That being said, Games serve multiple purposes. Relieve stress, art, being an elitist PVP player, challenge, social activities, friends, social activity away from friends, decouple from life, etc. I would argue the most potential games have is to stop wars. They are a way to act out wars without fighting them, and I argue they do it better than Sports which numerous studies have argued has created peace like between India, and Pakistan(Cricket), The World(Fifa), and also Ping Pong Diplomacy with Nixon, and Deng(China).

In the future militaries will conduct wars via VR simulations, and virtual military exercises. This will create kinship between militaries, and they will hopefully stop hating each other. Violence in gaming serves as an outlet from violence in real life.

And yes while I don't like Mortal Kombat because it's graphic, I don't like banning stuff just because I don't use it, or I dislike it, unlike some people(California Liberal). Also, I heard from an NPR journalist that California doesn't like violent video games, so that's my source.

Yes, death threats, racism, and sexism are bad, and video games are very toxic, believe me; as someone who used to play lots of PVP, I have heard my fair share of toxicity.

I would also like the people who want to ban violence in games to what evidence they have that it's bad and not just non-evidence tautology of it's bad because it's bad. Because E-Sports is Sports, and I have plenty of evidence that sports lead to peace from my political science undergrad, and video game journal articles that show video games lead to better societal outcomes.
What’s funny is Sony’s leanings towards increased censorship started when they moved their official headquarters out of Japan and to the U.S. (California). Rhetorically, we should ask what kind of message that sends, when the former has far less crime and general civil degeneracy than the latter.
 
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Silvanus

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The new one already was. The only severed head I recall was the non-fussed looking one for comic relief on Kratos’s hip, and the camera panned down when he was making the cut. Most of the M rating was for language and violence against non humans.
Was that actually a result of censorship, or just a decision by the devs? That scene doesn't feel like it needs you to actually see the decapitation, and there're plenty of equally gory bits elsewhere.
 
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Casual Shinji

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What’s funny is Sony’s leanings towards increased censorship started when they moved their official headquarters out of Japan and to the U.S. (California). Rhetorically, we should ask what kind of message that sends, when the former has far less crime and general civil degeneracy than the latter.
Well yeah, but that's because Japan has a 99% incarceration rate. If you get arrested in Japan the trail is really just a formality on your way to jail.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Well yeah, but that's because Japan has a 99% incarceration rate. If you get arrested in Japan the trail is really just a formality on your way to jail.
On the flip side, if the police think they have a more than 1% change of losing a case, they generally won't prosecute *at all*. It's actually a huge problem, one of those "lies, damn lies, and statistics" situations.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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citation needed

also what is your definition of "general civil degeneracy"?
There are no shortage of examples but a few on a quick google search (first albeit with a caveat)-