The Friday Debate – Assaulting The Senses?

Its all about the gamer if you ask me. And that is not only age-related.

Some people take violence in games too serious.

I’m not squeamish,and have never had a problem in games.The time i’ve ever felt squeamish was a scene was towards the end of Amon Tobin “The Taxidermist” that was messed up.

With games,I always feel over the top gore and most of the violence is aimed at kids or young teens.It causes a stir in the playgrounds.I remember being in primary school and Mortal Kombat had just been released,everyone was talking about it,and how cool it was,and then everyone went and got it.Same as GTA,Resident Evil,it was all about what you could do in them.

I don’t mind it myself, but I don’t play stuff like that because i find them very repetitive, I always think rounding a corner in F1 “Oooooh, that feels good!”

I suppose the funny thing is you find more adults playing MNR than MW2.

And why is violence taken so seriously in games? It’s funny that ridiculously gory films and books never raise an eyebrow!

“I found the broken glass in Heavy Rain had me and everyone else in the room squirming.”

exactly,and it’s the most “grown up” way of showing violence and gore in games.It’s not really showing you anything,but let’s you think about the impact of what’s going on,and as I’ve got older it’s that mental image and not the visual image that’s best.

Again that last scene in The Taxidermis,it wasn’t the visual impact of what he’d done to himself that got me,but thinking about him doing it is what messed me up.Wish I hadn’t thought about that scene again

I don’t like horror movies and couldn’t harm a fly in real life – but with games, violence and gore has never really bothered me. I don’t mind it and usually it’s even part of the fun with some games.
That enjoyment is probably fueled by the fact that over the top violence in games has always been a bit of a “forbidden fruit” here in Germany – stuff has been censored for as long as I can remember (i.e. back in the early C64 days with a game like Barbarian or Rambo). So naturally it felt like a privilege to be educated and able to play the “right” versions of those games anyway. That’s also a reason I still like to import some games although things have gotten a bit better over the years.

I would never play a game that doesn’t otherwise interest me just for the violence’s sake though.

Meh my fav games are Jrpg’s and there not many on PS3 atm.

No i prefer some violent games like Saw

Yes I think when game reviewer sites mentions gore as a plus or bullet point that we’ve gotten to the point when its too much. Games used to be about fun and challenge, now its just about the violence. Look at up coming games Bodycount, BulletStorm, Splatterhouse what is the premise of those games, yes there are a lot of different genres or games but you question what type of person has FUN doing the types of things in those games. I guess the same that likes to force feminize men in jail, just saying.

I don’t really buy a game to see blood, I don’t really have a problem with it either. I still buy games for the gameplay.

I do think it’s funny from time to time though. Like in Fallout 3 where body parts fly all over the place, or those killing scenes from God of War. As long as it remains fantasy/fiction of course, I’m really not the type that likes to see blood/violance in real life.

And to awnser the question ”Have you ever been shocked” I did get scared a few times with Bioshock (1) when a Splicer sneaks up on you or jumps out from somewhere and starts screaming like mad.

I think the real problem with violence in games is that so many under 18′s get to play them! I can’t imagine many parents saying to a 12 year old, yeah, off you go and watch Saw or Hostel. But they don’t seem to have a problem buying Black Ops and letting them play online using a generic PSN account that shows them to be an adult.

It’s under 18′s access to these games that keep them in the headlines causing problems for the genuine adults who want to play them and the devs who see a market to make a game for.

I hate these moron parents; it makes it a real pain when my eldest moans that he can’t have Black Ops when some of his friends have it.

At the end of the day, we all have a choice to buy and play the games we want to, but I have a real problem with idiot parents who don’t seem to give a damn what their kids are exposed to in a game.

sorry off topic i know,but i downloaded crazy taxi weds&the trophies are not showing on my profile.it keeps trying too sync the trophies but my total stays the same.i did post on weds but got no reply from ross,can anybody help. thanks

hey hey

personally it really depends on what you classify as Violent.

GOD of War with that head ripping scene is Fantasy Violence and i felt a bit OTT but fantasy violence is widely accepted.

COD is gun violence but its clearly within its genre and war is more than acceptable as a theme for many games

Fight Night is a boxing “sim” and boxing is considered outdated and an overly violent sport.

The fight lights out is a street fighter brawler and is clearly the more unaceptable level of “sport” violence

i find games that portray violence outside of what their genre usually involves would be considered gratuitous and have no place in the games industry.

ive played and watched afro saumrai and holy be jebus has anyone actually seen the anime fist of the north star ? but both are well within genre.

2 player peggle with ‘finishing moves’ would be disturbing

I don’t think games are too violent at all, as long as the violence is there for some sort of purpose, such as realism or emphasis in a particular scene.

What really gets on my nerves is these politicians complaining about the violence in games when they’ve probably never picked up a game pad in their life.

i dunno if there too violent. lets ask jack thompson…? lol

I think it depends. If it’s too much and unnecessary then it’s a bit annoying, but if it adds to the atmosphere or effect of the game, then I’m all for it. Although I must agree that some people are just putting violence into games in order to make it sell well. It’s like how a lot of films coming out are pretty rubbish, but oh look, it’s in 3D, it must be good then. It’s that sort of effect.

i don’t think violence in games has ever bothered me. sone of the only moments i remember being disturbed by in games is the atmosphere; the original Bioshock, when descending down to Rapture for the first time, seeing the great lighting effects, the shadows flitting about, the sound made a genuinely unsettling experience. Same with F.E.A.R, at one point in the game I just turned around, for no reason, and found that creepy dead girl behind me. This made me and my mate literally jump and yell.

these moments are much more disturbing, and yet make for a more gratuitous experience. the violence is often laughable, winced at once and then forgotten or simply overlooked.

Like the 1st reply, depends on the persons tolerance of violence.
Personally, no, i dont think games are too violent. Although i do feel some games add some unneeded or over-the-top violence but it doesnt bother me, i cant ever imagine myself saying “Man, that game was too violent”.
Also, i think in this day and age where violence is apparent in our everyday lives, movies, music, the news etc… i think it would be very difficult to upset anyone.

the “no russian” level in mw2 is a perfect example of how immature some ppl in this industry still is.
and y ppl wont(and shouldnt) take this industry seriously.

The ‘No Russian’ mission seemed tacked on for the controversy imo, taking part in the violence didn’t contribute to the story in any meaningful way and experiencing it didn’t really have any emotional impact for almost everyone who played it, and for those who did it was negative in a way that reflected upon the game itself and not the characters performing the act in game. MW2′s story is full of more holes than Alex Murphy in the first five mins of RoboCop anyway, it was fun and exciting and had its moments but was far from perfect.

That mission is more tasteless violence which is the sort I’d rather not play through, but I gotta admit I have fun with the quite gratuitous violence in CoD’s Zombies mode. There’s a time and a place for over the top violence in games and I’m not bothered by it unless it feels tacked on for the sake of it. Gameplay and story (etc) should be what sells games, guts and blood shouldn’t be a selling point, imo.

Change it to “KAP_Decapitate” Lol

Nah but seriously though I work for a popular gaming outlet and i did the midnight launch of Black Ops the other day and i couldnt believe how many under-age kids turned up to buy the game (obviously turned down) not to mention parents buying the game for their children too it was a crazy an such double standards.

This one dude came in the other day to picked up Fallout New Vages for his 12year old nefphew and the only reason he didnt pick it up in the end is because i told him the language was bad, but before that when i told him about the gore he quickly mentioned his 12year old doesnt mind it?! what?! lol

These parents are the only ones to blame for the way their young kids turns out in the end. Sadly.

As for adults, were all crazy with what life throws us, a bit of blood and guts only relaxes the soul lol.

BTW AC Brotherhood – GOTY without a shadow of doubt (no puns)

NO!
if they want to make games less violent, they should make movies less violent too. ppl should stop treating games like something else that is only for kids!

i think for me as a person who works at the retail side of things, i just think that games are not nessicerily too violent for me to play, but too violent for the kids that have the parents buy the games.

should an 8 year old be playing an 18 game…

i dont care what parent you are no one can justify that… would you expose your child to a ron jeramy special.. same bbfc rating…

i think games are not as bad as they rekon, but control over ratings need to be tightend up.

I don’t have a problem with violence in games. I find it more problematic that nudity etc seems to be so much more of a problem to people than that.

People should be allowed to include whatever they might want to I do agree a serious load of games are all based on killing/beating up stuff.

Come on these days kids have access to guns and drugs and we are talking about video games here ?? Gore is everywhere.. Check out movies like SAW, Hostel or anything that genere it is filled with voilence.. More for even an many Adults.

The question should be does these voilence in video games have any impact on the real life of the individual..

To the access of violent games in early age discussion: I remember when Mortal Kombat was released, and I was only 8 or 9 years approx, and I played Mortal Kombat a lot, and many other violent games, but it hasn’t really messed me up in any way. Though it wasn’t my parents who got it for me then… it was more a older brother of a friend who had it and I got it from there.

I think it’s in general easy to say that a game/movie is the reason why a person become what they are. For some it might have an influence, yes, but I think the majority of people can seperate real life and games/movies without it having a major effect on them.

I personally never buy a videogame for it’s violence, however if it’s fitted to have blood and gore in the game I do not mind it being there. You kinda expect blood if you shoot a person, and if there’s no blood it looks kinda dulled down. And I can’t recall ever being shocked by the violence in games, however in most FPS games with big ass monsters I tend to get “scared” when they suddenly burst into the image from the side or something totally unannounced I hate those situations.

I have NOTHING against violence in games and, in fact, feel it can add to an experience when used right, but I feel some developers take it to extreme lengths just for shock value rather than any storytelling merit or gritty realism.

Fallout, for me, is an exception, it goes so over the top as to be amusing and ridiculous rather than shocking. It

I don’t think they are too violent. Sure you get stuff in the news about kids or teenagers having imitating something in a video game. (wasn’t it a child who killed someone imitating something from manhunt?) To me, that is the parents fault for letting him see that.

There are PEGI ratings for a reason.

Ive played games since i was about 6/7, many of them had violence in some shape or form. This is also the case for all my friends. We are fine, we didn’t go around imitating things we saw in games and it hasnt effected us today.
My point being, if i worked in a games store and a kid wanted to buy a violent game i wouldn’t stop him (unless my boss was standing beside me). The way i see it, if a kid has the capacity to replicate violence that he sees in a game, if he/she is that stupid, then he/she was bound to do something ridiculous somewhere down the line anyway.

You’re kidding me. I’ve played games since I was 14, now I’m 22 and I firmly believe that games are generally toned down way too much. Nowadays games are neither violent, nor disturbing. You know what’s violent in a war game? Mortally wounded children and crying women. Those so-called war games (Call of Duty, Battlefield) are nothing but comedy. They should be rated 12+, seriously. Censorship of sex is also ridiculous. So, games are rated 18+… So they’re meant for people who’s already having sex in real life yet for some reason you can’t show it in game even when it’s appropriate and necessary.
Games should be treated like movies. I’m tired of all this hypocrisy.

Right now I have Splatterhouse for PS3 pre-oreder and you all should order it too. It has spirit of good old disturbing horror movies.