How do you feel about violence in games? Do you feel it is a necessary aspect of gameplay or something that could be done without? Also, what draws the line for violence in videogames?
Violence in games
- Thread starter CombineSoldier
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Hmmm, I think it's an aspect of gaming. To tell a story about conflict, there will always be swords and guns and the violence that ensues. Is the depth of gore that's in Fallout 3 or Gears of War necessary? No, but it's more of flexing graphical muscles and the "Neat" factor, that I laugh at (which I'm squeamish about blood n stuff in real life!), but my girlfriend goes "EW!"
I actually thought about this last night as I played Geometry Wars 2. I'm blowing up shapes, but still having fun. Then again, if there was zero blood in a mature game, it feels less real, as well.
I would also like to pose another question with the first: Why aren't there more scenarios in games to resolve conflict without violence? Mass Effect had great examples of this.
I actually thought about this last night as I played Geometry Wars 2. I'm blowing up shapes, but still having fun. Then again, if there was zero blood in a mature game, it feels less real, as well.
I would also like to pose another question with the first: Why aren't there more scenarios in games to resolve conflict without violence? Mass Effect had great examples of this.
I think that violence is acceptable in games. I don't feel it influences people (of sound body and mind) so I think aslong as there is not a periferal that fire's fake blood at you when you get a kill I think there isn't much worry of anyone gettting a BFG and going on a rampage. I wouldn't say is a necessary aspect of gaming as such I can think of many games where violence was not part of the game play at all but the game was still fantastic. I can think of many games that rely upon it aswell. I think because gaming (for me) is about being able to lose myself and do somthing I couldn't or wouldn't do in real life it's fun to be able to jump in online and start killing my mates knowing there are no side effects and such (for example one is going to actualy die) I have never found a line for violence in games but I think that is because I look at it as another media to tell storys on and if it suits the story then it is acceptable. I mean in Hello Kitty Roller rescue there would be no need for violence so I feel aslong as it is placed well, done well and treated as somthing that be respected (ok not the right word but I hope you get what I mean) then it is ok.
I think violence isn't necessary.
I don't think it like has to be in a game, although and am an FPS kind of guy. I don't mind violence unless it's like ripping people's throats out and like maiming people with blunt cleavers (These are just examples, if there is a game that consists of stuff like that, the creators need to be locked up.)
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I don't think it like has to be in a game, although and am an FPS kind of guy. I don't mind violence unless it's like ripping people's throats out and like maiming people with blunt cleavers (These are just examples, if there is a game that consists of stuff like that, the creators need to be locked up.)
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Don't say Sex....Credossuck said:
More disturbing than violence? Katamari Damacy. That one DS game called like Doki Doki Shin Pan something or w/e that the goal is to touch... yah, just look it up. I guess that's "sex" ... but it's more under "pedophelia"... ew.
*runs and hides* i had to do a disatation/paper/essay or what ever you want to call it on this subject.
The amount of violence in a video game depends on a persons taste really. Its like with movies you can over people at loved to crazy 88 fight in kill bill but run screaming at the deaths in the saw or final destination.
Its true that game can influence you IF you are every young (like <10) or if you are mentally unstable. Everyone else uses it as an escape - actually violent games make violent people more calm while calm people do seem to get a little more competitive during games (I would like to meet the professor that did that study, he was writing that when pac-man came out the whole violence in video game discussion started. How the .... is pac-man going to make anyone violent?)
The blood gore and violence actually gets our adrenaline pumping making us excited and some people end-up going into whats called 'fight or flight mode'. Some times people seem to get a little aggressive but this is due to the adrenaline and them getting carried away. But the main reason some games might seem to cause aggressive behavior is Frustration, getting angry at the game for being unfair/too hard etc. Its like if your playing a MMO or online FPS and someone hacking, you get annoyed especially when no one will stop them. Another example tomb raider angel of darkness - the small jump puzzle. No where in the manual or tutorial does it ever tell you how to do small jumps and if you figured out how to do it, you know the control system is extremely buggy.
The amount of violence in a video game depends on a persons taste really. Its like with movies you can over people at loved to crazy 88 fight in kill bill but run screaming at the deaths in the saw or final destination.
Its true that game can influence you IF you are every young (like <10) or if you are mentally unstable. Everyone else uses it as an escape - actually violent games make violent people more calm while calm people do seem to get a little more competitive during games (I would like to meet the professor that did that study, he was writing that when pac-man came out the whole violence in video game discussion started. How the .... is pac-man going to make anyone violent?)
The blood gore and violence actually gets our adrenaline pumping making us excited and some people end-up going into whats called 'fight or flight mode'. Some times people seem to get a little aggressive but this is due to the adrenaline and them getting carried away. But the main reason some games might seem to cause aggressive behavior is Frustration, getting angry at the game for being unfair/too hard etc. Its like if your playing a MMO or online FPS and someone hacking, you get annoyed especially when no one will stop them. Another example tomb raider angel of darkness - the small jump puzzle. No where in the manual or tutorial does it ever tell you how to do small jumps and if you figured out how to do it, you know the control system is extremely buggy.
Violence is fine, but like that unnecessary sex scene in a movie, it can detract from the experience. I look at the blood in the screen shots of Ninja Gaiden 2 and think "and the point of all that is?" Did they really intend to make a game about blood flying about?
Drama is about conflict. Violence is often a part of that. But excess of anything can suddenly ring false--sex, violence, profanity, sweetness.
Drama is about conflict. Violence is often a part of that. But excess of anything can suddenly ring false--sex, violence, profanity, sweetness.
A good bit of violence never hurt anyone. Oh wait.
But seriously, even with the level of realism created by modern graphics and soundFX people should easily be able to distinguish between reality and a game, primarily when you have to wait while it installs or when theres another annoying cutscene that you can just skip.
Violence is necessary within genres, a realisitc FPS isn't going to sell if you can't shoot a character in the face and at least see blood splatter on the wall behind them, its a personal choice when it comes down to it though. TF & TF2 did pretty well to encorporate violence in a non-violent manner though.
As for Pac-man (Shamtee's last post) he eats ghosts! I don't know of any other game that includes this feature...
( p.s. Shamtee, thanks for the psyco-analysis =) )
But seriously, even with the level of realism created by modern graphics and soundFX people should easily be able to distinguish between reality and a game, primarily when you have to wait while it installs or when theres another annoying cutscene that you can just skip.
Violence is necessary within genres, a realisitc FPS isn't going to sell if you can't shoot a character in the face and at least see blood splatter on the wall behind them, its a personal choice when it comes down to it though. TF & TF2 did pretty well to encorporate violence in a non-violent manner though.
As for Pac-man (Shamtee's last post) he eats ghosts! I don't know of any other game that includes this feature...
( p.s. Shamtee, thanks for the psyco-analysis =) )
Do you mean violence or gore, technically MArio commits violence everyime he hops on a goomba.
Assuming you actually mean violence violence, I like most of my violence at the PG-13 level, not excessive but plentiful.
Assuming you actually mean violence violence, I like most of my violence at the PG-13 level, not excessive but plentiful.
I personally don't see any harm in violent video games, I've played disturbingly brutal games since I was a kid and I'm quite a passive person (I do still love the cerebral bore from Turok 2).
We start to see mass murderers and serial killers when deranged psychopaths get their hands on them, I'm not just talking about the school bully or die hard members of the goth and emo youth cultures...I'm talking about the kind of people who are capable of murder anyway (think of people like Hannibal or Billy Kincaid from 'Spawn').
After all...which came first? Grusome and brutal crimes against humanity? Or films and games depicting them?
We start to see mass murderers and serial killers when deranged psychopaths get their hands on them, I'm not just talking about the school bully or die hard members of the goth and emo youth cultures...I'm talking about the kind of people who are capable of murder anyway (think of people like Hannibal or Billy Kincaid from 'Spawn').
After all...which came first? Grusome and brutal crimes against humanity? Or films and games depicting them?
Go onto wikipedia and look up a game called Boon-Ga Boon-Ga,CombineSoldier said:
That I beleive is something much worse then violence.
I know I've seen these in some RPG's, but I just can't remember which. I've found that even though the moral player in me will always say "non-violence, yay" my eventual action is almost always "screw it lets do this the dirty way." Mayhaps I'm simply a bit odd, but I would tend towards the belief that everyone feels this way. Why? Well I'm sure a psychologist could give a better account than a simple layman like myself, but I like to see it as nothing more than a simple quest for recognition. It's part of the human psyche- we define ourselves through our relation to others. The most natural form of this comparison is violence. The results of a fight are unquestionable. The results of peace, while more pragmatic, leave something to be desired in terms of who we are.TheKbob said:
Just my humble opinion.
I don't think we should have to draw a line at all. Everything that could be put in a game or a film has actually been done (probably) so it's no more influential than a history lesson. I hate when people think that teenagers being violent is because they play violent games, so they ban the games, because the idiot who did it was either a homocidal maniac or thinks the TV is a magical box that shows us what we should do with our lives. Either way he should be locked up somewhere (or dragged into the street and shot!)
*the last bit in brackets was not ment to offend, it's just a joke!
*the last bit in brackets was not ment to offend, it's just a joke!
I like to think of blood and violence in movies and games as black paint. Just enough really makes it more effective, but too much blocks out everything else.
I think its fine so long as it isn't the whole point of the game (Manhunt). A great example of this is Half Life 2 and its episodic sequels. No one who has gone through Ravenholm or Nova Prospekt can deny that the game has some seriously violent scenes or scenes where clearly extreme violence occured. Torture chairs splattered in blood, zombies with bloody and guts spilling out, corpses lying in the corridors with bloody all around them. But Half Life 2 wasn't rated 18 or the US equivalent because you don't see it as "oh my god I think I'm gonna puke", you see it as "oh crap, I'm gonna have to fight whatever did that".