I read this GamaSutra editorial with some head-nodding and some thoughts that it was a shame the author couldn’t have centered his critique more tightly on the idea that game designers need to get more creative (by looking for something better to make than just Yet Another FPS) because the maturation of the medium demands it.

His central premise is that while super-violent video games are fun, watching increasingly realistic depictions of human murder is probably not all that great for the human psyche. By the time that complete photorealism is possible in games (he pegs this to be about a decade away), the average gamer will be involved in tens of thousands of acts of simulated murder, torture, etc.

Eventually, he says:

If the video and computer game industry doesn’t begin to show concern over widespread and flippant depictions of realistic human violence, game publishers will soon be asking players to regularly murder scores of astoundingly realistic virtual people, enjoy it, and defend the practice from critics of the art form. (Actually, they already do, but I digress.)

But the industry shouldn’t be asking this of its loyal fans and customers. This is not just a financial issue between publishers and their wallets; it’s an ethical issue that will increasingly affect our laws, culture, and society on a deep level.

I agree. But I also agree that censorship isn’t the answer. I think what the industry really needs is a healthy combination of shame and aspiration.

Murder isn’t the point – evolution is.

Blowing things (and people) up in video games is just super fun. That’s why there’s so many FPS games out there. But let’s face it — lots of them suck. You have to ask yourself if the designers could possibly be doing other, more interesting things with their creative/programming prowess. Perhaps if there were a more permeating ethos of pride in the variety and quality of things tried in games, if game designers looked at their medium as a method for creating societal commentary and art as well as entertainment, the way filmmakers do, we’d start to see something different.

Edwards focusses on murder in this article, but for me it’s less about the psychic damage of playing violent games than it is about it being simply boring as shit to have most blockbuster titles revolve around killing. As far as I’m concerned, the game industry is guilty less of promulgating psycopathy than they are of simple lazy thinking. Edwards touches on this slightly:

I can’t help but feel that such a profound and tragic event as human murder or even “justified” human killing should be a rare and powerful statement in games, not a common theme. With the ever-increasing power developers have in their hands to rip apart virtual lives, I think it’s time to re-examine the use of death and killing as a core game mechanic.

Perhaps the public is already beginning to tire of wantonly violent gameplay with its enthusiastic embrace of both casual games and the Nintendo Wii’s lighter fare. Many players are flocking to innovative, less intense games that make the “hardcore” (read: “mostly violent and/or realistic”) gaming world shudder.

I’m not sure I want to have to wait for the public to get there though. I want the video game industry to develop a sense of pride that says “when we make any game (even FPS games), they will be works of art. And we will look for ways to push the limits of creativity, wonder, and fun as well as artificially induced adrenaline rushes.”

I guess what I’m saying is that if I were on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare team and I went out and played Little Big Planet, I’d probably want to sit down and cry 15 minutes later, wondering why the hell I’d made yet another borderline-shameful simulation of the pain and death of real soldiers instead of something profoundly cool, beautiful, artistic, and novel.

In other words, gore won’t ever feed the soul. And it’s becoming time that game developers look upon that objective as, at least in part, their job.

One Response to “Video Games — Violence and Evolution”

1. Bobbie Brewster says:

   January 21, 2010 at 2:16 am

   I have to agree. I remember when I had an Atari game console in the late 1970’s. The were fun games without the violence. Wish we could go back to that era.

   Reply