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[Lionel Richie]

I saw this sequence of tweets by Mark Brown and it got me thinking about an apparently newish discussion on violence in video games. I'm aware that this is actually an old discussion that has been around since at least the original Mortal Kombat and the Joe Lieberman shitshow that ensued. With the ESRB being a thing it felt like it was sort of settled or at least it was an acceptable compromise despite its contradictions. However, with Detroit being sort of a gruesome game and The Last of Us 2 hammer banging gore being too realistic it became a thing again with a new spin and it got people talking. Is it too much? Are we approaching ero goru?

Keep in mind that this discussion was spearheaded by Polygon in a way so yeah take it with a colossal grain of salt, but it's still an interesting dilemma with graphics being closer and closer to photorealistic. Personally, I don't listen such complaints about violence in movies. I watched Hold the Dark last night and holy balls was that bloody and to me it was way more shocking than Lara's death sequence. It was also way better contextualized so maybe the discussion shouldn't be about the excessive violence, but rather not making it gratuitous? Then again, how does one judge what is gratuitous or not? "Gratuitous" by itself is a tricky word because it gets used by lazy critics in an effort to make themselves look smarter. Everything can be defined as gratuitous when removed from context so in a way it doesn't mean much.

Another thing to consider here, what are we trying to protect by having this discussion? Why shouldn't we have violent games? Anyway, I felt like it would be nice to make this thread to see where you guys stand on this. Should devs be expected to tone down the violence?

 

[Danjin44]

I would say it just like sexy design in games, developers should be free to make what they want to make. I personally don't mind violence in my games but If that game's only selling point then I lose interest.

 

[Lionel Richie]

I would say it just like sexy design in games, developers should be free to make what they want to make. I personally don't mind violence in my games but If that game's only selling point then I lose interest.

Just to make sure I absolutely agree with you here. But at least with sexy designs I can understand the logic behind the complaints even though I disagree completely, but here? Like in The Last of Us 2, what do people even expect? Like MCU family friendly violence? I think it's a problem with the audience that a post apocalyptic game where things have gone to shit get people mad because things have gone to shit.

 

[Danjin44]

Just to make sure I absolutely agree with you here. But at least with sexy designs I can understand the logic behind the complaints even though I disagree completely, but here? Like in The Last of Us 2, what do people even expect? Like MCU family friendly violence? I think it's a problem with the audience that a post apocalyptic game where things have gone to shit get people mad because things have gone to shit.

If people buy survival horror games or apocalyptic and complain about the violence then thats on them not the game's fault. There plenty of games out there that has no violence what so ever, I think people smart enough and have freewill to buy what appeals to them rather than developers should butchered their vision just to appeal to everybody.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

Tomb Raider's reboot series is missing the sexy fun confident Lara of the past. the sexual objectification is out, so are a lot of scenes of her in positions of power, leaving a lot of punishment dealt to the lead character. there used to be grautitous sex and violence, now the character is sexless, leaving only the violence. when the sex is there, it is in the context of violence.

this is a pro-corporate stance, practiced in everything from state power-fetishizing cop shows to comic book movies with our heroes backgrounded by the deaths of millions of people. in US culture, sex is minimized in favor of violence.

in the end i don't believe media creates violence. it is the other way around. people making movies about violence because it happens in the real world. art reflects life. there is violence in all art, from movies to paintings to literature, historical, mythical, fictional, legendary, consumer trash, etc. this is because art is a reflection of life. life is violent. imo we would be better off with more happy fun sexy art.

 

[WaterAstro]

I haven't played Detroit yet, so I don't know how gruesome it gets. TLOU had always cut to black before the death.

Tomb Raider really pushes the player death scene pretty far. I mean, we had RE4 where your head gets chainsawed off, but Tomb Raider reboot takes it too far that it's even too much for Conan.
I don't think Tomb Raider deaths should be that animated.

 

[Danjin44]

I haven't played Detroit yet, so I don't know how gruesome it gets. TLOU had always cut to black before the death.

Tomb Raider really pushes the player death scene pretty far. I mean, we had RE4 where your head gets chainsawed off, but Tomb Raider reboot takes it too far that it's even too much for Conan.
I don't think Tomb Raider deaths should be that animated.

One thing about TR is the game did nothing that nothing that makes care or even get scared what might happens to her, so those death scenes became much more comical to me, meanwhile original Dead Space deaths animations was much more effective because actually care about the Isaac.

 

[MC Safety]

There's violence and then there's the worship of violence. I think we can all accept it's possible to go too far with lingering death animations, grotesque extended disembowelments/dismemberments/beheadings and gratuitous slaughter. It's also possible to be excessively violent, but in a way that's acceptable.

Just because your game is violent or scary does not mean you have to delight in horrific deaths.

 

[LittleBusters]

The whole thing seems like a nothing-burger. Why can't gamers live and let live? There is space in the gaming universe for violent games and non-violent games. F.e., I'm really looking forward to TUNIC which is going to be a very cutesy take on Zelda. I personally don't care for the blood & guts type games, but I won't begrudge those who like it. What I don't understand is this mentality of needing to control what people do.

 

[LittleBusters]

There's violence and then there's the worship of violence. I think we can all accept it's possible to go too far with lingering death animations, grotesque extended disembowelments/dismemberments/beheadings and gratuitous slaughter. It's also possible to be excessively violent, but in a way that's acceptable.

Just because your game is violent or scary does not mean you have to delight in horrific deaths.

If the market likes those gratuitous games, so what? Or the market will reject them like it did 'Hatred'. That game didn't do well at all. Look at how amazing Mortal Kombat has done through the decades despite having beheading/evisceration and other forms of slaughter. What people care about are well done games. What really grinds peoples' gears are 2 things right now: microtransactions & SJW interference.

 

[Thurible]

I think violence in videogamew is fine. Sometimes it's artistic and it's meant to be fun. Cutting off people's heads and disembowelment isn't wrong if you know that there is a disconnect there. If you are really really relishing the violence and want to actually do these things then there is a problem, but then again the problem is on you.

Check out these awesome dead space death scenes. It's supposed to be scary and really drive home that you should want to survive. You begin feeling bad for Isaac and disgusted by the horrific deaths.



Also, look at the sniper elite series. These games are famous for their slow motion x-ray detailed death scenes. You can even shoot off people's testicles! I believe as long as the videogame doesn't seriously suggest you do something immoral and you can seperate yourself from it then it is fine. This is why I don't like porn games but am fine with a game like dead space.

 

[InterMusketeer]

It is a tricky discussion.

Personally I'm not into gore. I don't have to see all the horrendous stuff that can happen to a human body. I watched Robocop a few years ago for the first time, and was horrified by the guy who got some sort of toxic ooze all over him and tried to get help from his mates, only to be popped like a cherry by a truck. I always found God of War to be rather tasteless, with Kratos ripping off heads and who knows what other acts of violence, with the camera lingering on it as long as possible, and showing about as much detail as they could.

I'm Playing Valkyria Chronicles now, and when I fire 5 bullets into an enemy's head, it makes a satisfying *ping* noise, and the guy just falls over. If one of my characters falls, I can just send a dude over there, and they will be saved by a medic and they'll be ready by the time another mission comes up, no problem.

Is that just the right amount of violence? Is it making light of the horrors of war? Am I a hypocrite for wanting violence in my games, but not the results of said aggression?

Developers should probably decide what kind of tone they want for their game. If it features excessive violence, that would turn me away from the game, and I personally doubt it would attract many others. Devs should probably try to find a happy medium.

 

[Hinedorf]

I have a better idea, unless you're the one putting your hard earned time and life into making video games, shut up and let the professionals make the decisions.

You as the consumer decide by not purchasing said product. That's LITERALLY how this thing works.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I have a personal stance (as far as the games I'll consume) and a "public" stance (as far as what I think should be allowed in games).

My personal stance is yes, we have way too much violence in gaming. Gaming violence up to the mid-90s was comical and almost flirtatious. The graphics were too crude to really shock anyone. Don't forget: gross-out humor was popular in the 90s, too. Nickelodeon would dump slime over their contestants. We played with Gak slime. A lot of the violence was more "gross out" than anything else. "Ewww, he got splattered on the wall. hahaha and they even drew his guts. This Genesis game has such sweet graphics".

To me, the modern stuff is borderline disturbing, and I'm someone who loves Dead Space, Doom, and Until Dawn. But the excruciating, torturous stuff in Mortal Kombat is unbearable to watch. The excuse "it's just fake" doesn't matter when the animation and voice acting have become so realistic. And actually, I don't think the graphics are the biggest issue. The writing, voice-acting, sound, and animation are what put it over the edge. Better-looking blood is one thing, but to hear someone shrieking and gurgling blood in Dolby Atmos as they are murdered is not something we used to have. To animate a character with fear in their eyes and a pained expression on their face is not something we even had during the days of Manhunt (which was also incredibly violent, but still not as violent as what we have today, in my opinion).

Becoming desensitized to the sound of someone in pain crying for help is a bigger issue then seeing a Cyberdemon getting blown apart or even a human getting their head blown off.

Remember how some countries censored games by demanding that humans be changed to zombies and red blood be changed to green slime? That actually may be a good rule for hyper-realistic violence. No, you shouldn't show a human head getting sawed off in 4K graphics, just like you shouldn't show off a 3D simulated child rape.

My public stance as far as what should be "allowed": let them make whatever they want as long as we can clearly label it accordingly.

 

[Danjin44]

I have a personal stance (as far as the games I'll consume) and a "public" stance (as far as what I think should be allowed in games).

My personal stance is yes, we have way too much violence in gaming. Gaming violence up to the mid-90s was comical and almost flirtatious. The graphics were too crude to really shock anyone. Don't forget: gross-out humor was popular in the 90s, too. Nickelodeon would dump slime over their contestants. We played with Gak slime. A lot of the violence was more "gross out" than anything else. "Ewww, he got splattered on the wall. hahaha and they even drew his guts. This Genesis game has such sweet graphics".

To me, the modern stuff is borderline disturbing, and I'm someone who loves Dead Space, Doom, and Until Dawn. But the excruciating, torturous stuff in Mortal Kombat is unbearable to watch. The excuse "it's just fake" doesn't

Well you are playing Mortal Kombat which entire point killing you opponent violently, what would you expecting? I said this before, there plenty of less violent games out there, developers shouldn't change their vision just suit your taste.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Well you are playing Mortal Kombat which entire point killing you opponent violently, what would you expecting? I said this before, there plenty of less violent games out there, developers shouldn't change their vision just suit your taste.

And that's not what I'm implying.

What I'm saying is -- and you already pointed this out -- that some the gore and violence in modern games is in bad taste. I'm not saying it should be pulled from store shelves or restricted. It's just something that should be clearly labelled so that people know what it is.

 

[jadedm17]

Tomb Raider and Last of Us have some gruesome scenes - with the former having some i agree are too far - but I personally think it's a great tool to hammer home the danger; The Last of Us has some amazing animations that keep that sense of fear going.

 

[Omega Supreme Holopsicon]

Even if violent video games had any probability of making people more violent. I don't see how you can hold video games responsible for anything without doing away with the concept of free will. If you believe in free will as many do, it doesn't matter what content is put, the individual is always free to choose and morally responsible. If you say X content will cause X or even alter the probability of X action, are you not doing away with free will? Free will is supposed to be completely free from external causes, if it is not, it is not free.

On the other hand if you say there is no free will, that they are like a billiard ball subject to a chain of causality, then they are not morally culpable, and you should offer rehabilitiation and not punishment.

If you decide to do away with free will, christianity and islam would become nonsensical.

Just because your game is violent or scary does not mean you have to delight in horrific deaths.

You don't have to. Don't like it don't buy it. Let the market decide.

Even if super gore were not to sell that well, if it carved a niche and had a niche audience there'd be nothing wrong with that.

That is the problem that is happening with sexiness in games and sjws right now, we have decades of games, thousands upon thousands of games, bucket loads of games. Yet somehow it is a problem if some games have a bit of sexiness. There were complaints even about DQXI. There can be sexy games and nonsexy games, but they shouldn't go blasting any niche publisher for bringing sexy games to a western audience. Right now many are having to resort to importing, as these busybodies control a lot of the mainstream press and make quite a buzz over the most minute of things.

What I don't understand is this mentality of needing to control what people do.

I have a better idea, unless you're the one putting your hard earned time and life into making video games, shut up and let the professionals make the decisions.

You as the consumer decide by not purchasing said product. That's LITERALLY how this thing works.

This

What I'm saying is -- and you already pointed this out -- that some the gore and violence in modern games is in bad taste. I'm not saying it should be pulled from store shelves or restricted. It's just something that should be clearly labelled so that people know what it is.

ESRB has been lax lately? I do remember reading gore and violence on ESRB ratings, but perhaps I'm misremembering.

 

[Danjin44]

And that's not what I'm implying.

What I'm saying is -- and you already pointed this out -- that some the gore and violence in modern games is in bad taste. I'm not saying it should be pulled from store shelves or restricted. It's just something that should be clearly labelled so that people know what it is.

But isn't that what ESRB for?

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

But isn't that what ESRB for?

Yes?

 

[Danjin44]

Yes?

Im just saying there is already clear label that let know if the games is for you or not.

 

[MisterFalcon]

Canned death animations are a clear tool to let the player know they failed to press X in time and need to try again. If there was no 'Lara Gets Impaled' cutscene the player would think (as Lara can survive insane falls and injuries) they are still continuing the level.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Im just saying there is already clear label that let know if the games is for you or not.

Yeah, that's fine with me. I think you're drawing something out of my post that I didn't say. As long as the stuff is clearly labeled, who cares what they put in it? As far as myself, the content is a bit too extreme according to my personal tastes.

 

[Danjin44]

Yeah, that's fine with me. I think you're drawing something out of my post that I didn't say. As long as the stuff is clearly labeled, who cares what they put in it? As far as myself, the content is a bit too extreme according to my personal tastes.

Sorry if I got the wrong impression. I thought you said how you couldn't take violence in Mortal Kombat and I asked what did expect out of series that became famous from killing your opponent violently?

 

[ickythingz]

So long as the content, whether it be violent, sexy, etc, fits the goal of the game design then it should all be permissible. No one is forcing you buy any of these games. Games are tremendous works of art, and I NEVER want to see artists stifled in any way shape or form. There should be no discussion about any of this. Artist may do as they please with their medium. NO ONE has the right to say otherwise.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Sorry if I got the wrong impression. I thought you said how you couldn't take violence in Mortal Kombat and I asked what did expect out of series that became famous from killing your opponent violently?

I was explaining my personal tastes in games, that's all. I grew up playing MK, for what it's worth.

 

[drotahorror]

Canned death animations are a clear tool to let the player know they failed to press X in time and need to try again. If there was no 'Lara Gets Impaled' cutscene the player would think (as Lara can survive insane falls and injuries) they are still continuing the level.

And honestly it's pretty low effort. There's no actual impalement through her virtual body, there's no point of entry or exit, it's just a polygonal object (the spike) that clips through another polygonal object (head).

There's no blood, no gore. If they were really glorifying it or wanted to get nasty with it, they could. This is a cheap death scene that in actuality would be terrible and graphic. This shit in-game is tame af. But the picture it paints in your head is so much worse than what they depict.

 

[Lionel Richie]

To me, the modern stuff is borderline disturbing, and I'm someone who loves Dead Space, Doom, and Until Dawn. But the excruciating, torturous stuff in Mortal Kombat is unbearable to watch. The excuse "it's just fake" doesn't matter when the animation and voice acting have become so realistic. And actually, I don't think the graphics are the biggest issue. The writing, voice-acting, sound, and animation are what put it over the edge. Better-looking blood is one thing, but to hear someone shrieking and gurgling blood in Dolby Atmos as they are murdered is not something we used to have. To animate a character with fear in their eyes and a pained expression on their face is not something we even had during the days of Manhunt (which was also incredibly violent, but still not as violent as what we have today, in my opinion).

Becoming desensitized to the sound of someone in pain crying for help is a bigger issue then seeing a Cyberdemon getting blown apart or even a human getting their head blown off.

But does it get one desensitized? I mean my generation grew up watching Commando and Cobra, is there anything to suggest we care less about violence than previous generations? Because gaming nowadays really isn't that different than movies. Like I said, I don't think it's the violence that is the problem, but the context for that violence. You're playing a happy go lucky adventure game and then BAM you're impaled is a bit more shocking than getting killed horribly in Dead Space. You expect in the latter, you don't in the former.

If people buy survival horror games or apocalyptic and complain about the violence then thats on them not the game's fault. There plenty of games out there that has no violence what so ever, I think people smart enough and have freewill to buy what appeals to them rather than developers should butchered their vision just to appeal to everybody.

"Butchering their vision" is actually a bit of a problem, although an unlikely one. When you label violent scenes as "torture porn" outside of their context, you're doing the work some disservice by reducing it to one of its aspects while ignoring everything else. Honestly I have some tremendous respect for Mark Brown, but I don't think creators care all that much about what he (or I or anyone in this thread) thinks about this issue. However, you create buzzwords like "torture porn" and it could have legs as it's something easily identifiable that makes you sound cool for siding with. It turns into something one should be wary of and that sucks.

So long as the content, whether it be violent, sexy, etc, fits the goal of the game design then it should all be permissible. No one is forcing you buy any of these games. Games are tremendous works of art, and I NEVER want to see artists stifled in any way shape or form. There should be no discussion about any of this. Artist may do as they please with their medium. NO ONE has the right to say otherwise.

Agreed. I do think however that as consumers we have a right to talk about it even if philosophically. It's an interesting topic because you didn't have this problem back when graphics looked like ass.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

But does it get one desensitized? I mean my generation grew up watching Commando and Cobra, is there anything to suggest we care less about violence than previous generations? Because gaming nowadays really isn't that different than movies. Like I said, I don't think it's the violence that is the problem, but the context for that violence. You're playing a happy go lucky adventure game and then BAM you're impaled is a bit more shocking than getting killed horribly in Dead Space. You expect in the latter, you don't in the former.

Right, and that's what I'm getting at when I talked about the realism of animation and voice-acting as possibly being a bigger issue than the visual violence itself. I think you put it better, though.

 

[Paracelsus]

I always found very cringeworthy how with the increase of realism they toned down the violence. The best case I can think of: REmake. Example

REmake, a trillion polygons



Resident Evil 1, 128 polygons and a couple flat backgrounds



And this is just one case, all the death animations have been nerfed. As for Tomb Raider, they're clearly a cheap tool to make the game feel gritty despite being a Rambo cakewalk. They would never do this if it was like the original where most of the tight jumps would lead to certain death, nobody would pay to see a splattered Lara with brains and bones all over the place.

 

[Rekki-Maru]

Mortal Kombat, contributed to the birth of the esrb but Night Trap is what really triggered everyone. There wasn't any blood in the Night Trap scene either. They still got it wrong in the end, there needs to be an R rating equivalent to the esrb.

 

[Vlightray]

We Need Moar! Think Manhunt 3 in 4k with Dolby surround. Open World With absolute brutal kills. Combination of Max Payne/GTA playstyle.

 

[strange headache]

It's only fantasy, so why should it matter?

But does it get one desensitized?

No, real life violence is a whole different beast. Meta studies have shown that violent video games have no bearing on violent behavior.

It's an interesting topic because you didn't have this problem back when graphics looked like ass.

Violence in media isn't a new phenomenon that came with the invention of video games. Literature, art, movies and spectacle have depicted violence long before that. Panem et circenses has always been an integral part of entertainment. You should be glad that we have relegated violence to the realm of fiction, otherwise we'd all still be watching gladiator fights at the Coliseum.

 

[kingbean]

I can understand people being a bit shaken by violence in video games, movies ect.

I personally enjoy campy violence and super brutal stuff. Camp being like Yakuza and Sniper Elite with brutal being like Doom 2016 and God of War 2018.
Those examples feel pretty far detached from reality, but weirdly enough Mortal Kombat X makes me kinda uncomfortable with the bisections and the cut off front of a face. It's just all a bit to real... even though its more hyper real than reality. IDK.

We live in a world were people can by Faces of Death and read Guts. So yeah. Violence sales.

But does it get one desensitized?

Not if the person has a healthy understanding of reality and fiction. I've played, seen and read many graphic things, but I'll never ever be okay with seeing a person get fucking obliterated by a truck running across a highway. Shit I still have nightmares about it.

 

[MC Safety]

If the market likes those gratuitous games, so what? Or the market will reject them like it did 'Hatred'. That game didn't do well at all. Look at how amazing Mortal Kombat has done through the decades despite having beheading/evisceration and other forms of slaughter. What people care about are well done games. What really grinds peoples' gears are 2 things right now: microtransactions & SJW interference.

I'm not arguing the boogeyman should take away the violence in your video games.

I'm talking about a philosophy and an approach.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

We live in a society where gratuitous violence and gore are generally perfectly acceptable while sexuality in most forms are ridiculed by the vast majority of media. I don't necessarily mind extreme violence in games and feel the developers are free to put what they want in games, but imho sometimes it is taken a little too far and I find it more perturbing than sexual imagery. I feel this way and if it might sound crazy to most people. If most people feel that really sexy women supposedly do not add anything worthwhile to video games, neither do decapitated heads or impalement imho. Both can be considered aesthetics to me. Uncharted isn't as violent as Tomb Raider, yet both are considered relatively close to each quality wise.

 

[A.Romero]

Violence exists in pretty much every form of media in one way or another. Some media has capabilities of showing more detail like books, movies or video games.

There are two reasons people view video games differently from other forms of media:

- It's supposed to be for kids
- The idea that games influenced people to become more violent, specially kids, because of their interactive nature

Now it's commonly accepted that kids are not the only ones playing games, hell most videos promoting consoles and games rather show young adults playing rather than kids and brands find the older demographics more desirable because of the amount of expenditure they can afford. Still, there are games for kids, teens and even adults so there is no need to try to control the content adults consume.

Some studies have shown that it's at least difficult to correlate violent video games to actual violence. This has been discussed to death by both gamers and mainstream media in the last thirty years. I think right now only a fool would think that video games by themselves would trigger somebody to do a school shooting or even steal a car. I'd even argue that some people that might be tempted to do something like that could be swayed not to do it by expressing those urges safely through video games. I don't think the fidelity of the violence depiction has any bearing on this. Decapitating someone feels pretty similar regardless if it's a baked animation or a rag doll physics powered animation.

There is absolutely no reason to ask for video games to be less violent at all. It's as stupid as asking to censor something like Rambo 4 because of violence. Do we get desensitized? Most likely yes but what is the problem? Why should I feel disgusted by a imaginary character (in a movie or a game) gouging another's eyes out? I bet previous generations got pretty desensitized by participating in different historically relevant conflicts and society didn't fall apart (only their minds). However, in this particular scenario we can chose if we want to be exposed to it or not.

If devs don't have the skills to properly use violence to push narrative or any reason other than just shock value, let's criticize them for their lack of talent but not because of the violence itself. It's just one more element like music or graphics themselves. Should we push for games with "bad" music to be banned just so we don't get desensitized to bad games with bad music? I don't think that would be a logical approach at all.

If people like violence there is something for them. If people don't there are many games that don't feature explicit violence or no violence at all.

I personally don't care, I can enjoy both but it would piss me off if I couldn't play Head Smasher 3 just because some people deemed it too violent, pointless or gratuitous. I would fight for their right to not playing it but I would definitely protect my right to play it if I chose so.

BTW, I played Hatred. It's a subpar game, the violence it features is pointless and only rustles some jimmies because Americans have a real violence epidemic which the game reflects. People relate to the victims but for the rest of the world is just one more shooter. No different than a high res Smash TV.

This basic idea applies to sex too, in my opinion. Game of Thrones shows some titties on prime television, why games shouldn't? At least there are ways to try to avoid kids playing this games, for TV only their parents can stop them.

 

[manfestival]

stop chasing after these vicious death sequences

 

[petran79]

Realistic violence of that sort did occur first in various horror movies during the previous decade when horror VFX had both make up and CGI, often blurring the lines. This expertise carried over to previous and current gen video games
In the 2000s you had horror movies with shaky cam like Cloverfield, zombies replacing vampires, gruesome deaths in movies "Final" Destination, gruesome movies like Saw and The Hostel etc
Asian horror games too like Forbidden Siren and Fatal Frame, influenced by Asian horror cinema.

Though unlike the PS2 era, now one can see cinema influencing video games to a much greater degree. Though it seems video games are still stuck some years behind with this trend regarding violence.

 

[Grimmrobe]

You can never have enough violence. Since we no longer have violence in our daily lives like our ancestors, we might as well turn the simulated kind to 11 as a substitute. Helps to desensitize us to it, which is how a man should be. (Real man, I mean, not millennial metrosexual.)

 

[Airola]

I always found very cringeworthy how with the increase of realism they toned down the violence. The best case I can think of: REmake. Example

REmake, a trillion polygons



Resident Evil 1, 128 polygons and a couple flat backgrounds

Wait. I've played the original RE through many many times and for some reason I don't remember this scene happening at all :O

Is this a rare scene that needs to be triggered somehow or have I just lost my memory :O :O

 

[LittleBusters]

I've seen far more violence on a David Attenborough nature documentary than video games. Time to ban nature docs?

 

[EverydayBeast]

Tomb Raider's reboot series is missing the sexy fun confident Lara of the past. the sexual objectification is out, so are a lot of scenes of her in positions of power, leaving a lot of punishment dealt to the lead character. there used to be grautitous sex and violence, now the character is sexless, leaving only the violence. when the sex is there, it is in the context of violence.

this is a pro-corporate stance, practiced in everything from state power-fetishizing cop shows to comic book movies with our heroes backgrounded by the deaths of millions of people. in US culture, sex is minimized in favor of violence.

in the end i don't believe media creates violence. it is the other way around. people making movies about violence because it happens in the real world. art reflects life. there is violence in all art, from movies to paintings to literature, historical, mythical, fictional, legendary, consumer trash, etc. this is because art is a reflection of life. life is violent. imo we would be better off with more happy fun sexy art.

Uh, aka people are pissed little Miss Croft’s tits took a nose dive lol

 

[xwez]

More realistic graphics have more realistic death animations.

Who would have thought.

 

[Stuart360]

I love violence in games, especially if it pisses off SJW snowflakes. As long as games have adult ratings, i dont see the problem in it.

 

[Fbh]

As always I think devs should be free to make their games as violent or non violent as they want, the audience will then decide what they are ok with.

For me it really depends on the game. I tend to like gore and extreme violence in games when it's done in an over the top way and fits with the the style (doom, Mortal Kombat, Bayonetta, etc). Not too fond of extreme gore when it's done in a more realistic way unless making you feel uncomfortable is actually what the dev is going for.
For example from what I've seen of the Last of Us 2 it seems like they actually want the kills to feel gruesome, they don't want you to go "yay headshot!!!" but rather want you to feel the tension, stress and overall ugliness of what Ellies is doing, and in that context I think it works. If you gave me that level of violence in Uncharted and then had Drake turn over and joke around it would feel weird.

In the case of Tomb Raider it's weird. I think the tone of those games is all over the place. At times it feels like it wants to be more of an adventure game with an adventure vibe, but then at other times it feels they want it to be super dark and gritty. But since they don't commit to either style it ends up with stuff like those death animations that just feel out of place

 

[Nny7229]

Haven't read all the responses yet, but I think an important part of the discussion is the context and intent of the violence. Tomb Raider's intent (to my understanding) is to be a cool/entertaining thing. She kills a bunch of people with little regret or thought and she dies hard for our entertainment.
The Last of Us 1/2 uses violence to disturb, set a tone, set motivations, and show general character morality.

 

[Lionel Richie]

No, real life violence is a whole different beast. Meta studies have shown that violent video games have no bearing on violent behavior.

Violence in media isn't a new phenomenon that came with the invention of video games. Literature, art, movies and spectacle have depicted violence long before that. Panem et circenses has always been an integral part of entertainment. You should be glad that we have relegated violence to the realm of fiction, otherwise we'd all still be watching gladiator fights at the Coliseum.

See, I agree with this. I personally love violent games for the adrenaline rush they provide. I can see why someone wouldn't be too comfortable with extremely violent games, but I don't think devs should be too mindful of it. More than anything they should be free to create what they want.

However, one thing to consider in excessively violent moments is the context surrounding it. Like I said, it can take one out of the experience and be immersion breaking.

Not if the person has a healthy understanding of reality and fiction. I've played, seen and read many graphic things, but I'll never ever be okay with seeing a person get fucking obliterated by a truck running across a highway. Shit I still have nightmares about it.

Agreed. Morally I'm 100% on board with violence being a bit of a non issue overall, artistically it gets a bit iffy though. I think like everything in life it should be looked at in a case to case basis.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I love violence in games, especially if it pisses off SJW snowflakes. As long as games have adult ratings, i dont see the problem in it.

I thought femininity and sexiness pissed them off way more then violence? In fact, It seems like people rarely complain about violence no matter how extreme it is.

 

[Paracelsus]

Wait. I've played the original RE through many many times and for some reason I don't remember this scene happening at all :O

Is this a rare scene that needs to be triggered somehow or have I just lost my memory :O :O

You can trigger it by not bringing the serum to Richard, then you'll hear her screaming and you need to go to the library and ignore the hunter attacking her.

I thought femininity and sexiness pissed them off way more then violence? In fact, It seems like people rarely complain about violence no matter how extreme it is.

The complaint started because it's Lara, a woman, and they feel it's misogynistic that Nathan Drake drops like a puppet and she gets smashed to death.