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The ever growing fidelity of violence in gaming


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Just to preface this a bit I'm pretty much going off the reaction some have had to the violence in The Last of Us Part 2 as a reference.

 

Anyone who watched Sony's press conference saw their opening act with a full length gameplay demo of The Last of Us Part 2.  During the video you get to see an older Ellie witnessing and committing some cringe worthy acts of violence on other human beings.  Let me be clear that when I use cringe worthy here I don't mean in terms of it being embarrassing or displayed in a bad or embarrassing way.  I absolutely mean it in terms of you seeing some of these actions and reacting to how visceral and brutal they are.  Someone gets shot near point blank range in the head, a dude in a noose being disemboweled as he begs for his life; there are plenty of other examples and while they don't sound too bad in the context of how most games who do go that far have implemented these acts it's how they look and are portrayed in TLoU2 that really changes things up. I mean, even on Wii we had a game that was basically a playground of how creatively you could mutilate your enemies (Madworld) but as a comical showpiece that didn't really express that level of detail and realism it wasn't that big a deal.  But then you have a game like Manhunt 2 that had to be toned down to even be granted a rating to be sold because ratings boards felt its level of violence was not only extreme but encouraged.  So clearly, there is context necessary to make the distinction in a variety of ways. But even for TLoU2  It's not a bad thing though because it plays to the game's narrative and adds to the story that the world they are build is trying to tell and has been telling since the original game.

 

But there are people who have criticized it as possibly being too violent or questioning whether this level of violence is necessary even for the story they're trying to tell.  It seems this has always been a concern as graphics and in game systems have grown more advanced to even allow this level of expression with people worried that because games are approaching this that it might glorify violence or make people desensitized to how horrible some of these acts would be in real life. I don't want to get into the debate of games as art here or anything like that, but I do think that if there is a need for this level of expression for the world they are making and the story they want to tell then I think they should be able to walk that line.  But then it makes you wonder how much further that envelope could be pushed further in the future that might draw some legitimate criticism as to what is necessary subject matter for a video game to tackle? In the past we've had games that have towed some risky lines for the sake of the narrative like Modern Warfare 2's No Russian mission which is the last game I can think of off the top of my head that caused a stir.

 

So what's your take? Games are becoming ever more expressive and have long since been equipped to present different scenarios in ways that walked the edge between acceptable and unacceptable.  How might this continue to progress as time goes on?

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I honestly don't know how I feel about it. I've never shied away from a game or movie just because of violent content, and I'm all for artists being allowed to create the art that they want, but at the same time there are definitely moments that seem excessive, i.e. gory just for the sake of being gory, sometimes just because the tech has reached a level where super gory detail can be shown. And it's still possible to elicit strong emotions/reactions without being so graphic about it.

 

In the case of The Last of Us Part 2 I don't know if the graphic violence is really needed to convey the dire emotions of the game; everything else in the game is already building to that crescendo anyway. If anything hyperviolence in the game might detract from the realistic human emotions they're trying to convey.

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I think videogames and TLoU2 in particular has started crossing that event horizon where graphics are entering uncanny valley and the violence is hitting the point where it's realistic enough to be genuinely unnerving.  Having the weight and muted impact of violence is a far cry from the cartoony raspberry jam we grew up with.  While It makes me legitimately uncomfortable and I doubt I'll play the game for that reason, this isn't a new thing either.  Movies have literal people and the violence in those can get explicit and realistic as Hell, arguably more than games ever will be.

Then this comes back to the "do the videogames encourage violence" discussion and frankly as somebody who's done both, inputting buttons and moving knobs on a controller to simulate a killing is a hell of a lot different than beating the shit out of somebody or the physicality of actually stabbing somebody.  The dialogue is being started again just because gun culture is a plague in this country and we want more shit to divert to while it remains less of a problem in other countries.

Edited by luca
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I personally think people are just overreacting to the violence.  The fact is we have had horror/slasher films out for decades.  Some of those are so disgusting and realistic looking that they have to be investigated as to if they are actual "snuff films."  The Last of Us Part 2 is getting that reaction because of how mainstream that game is and it shouldn't really matter.  Gaming is no different than any other form of media/entertainment.  Yeah, it is more interactive but there have been studies done for decades that have shown no true correlation between violent video games and actual crimes comitted.  Even if there was a direct correlation I would not be for the censoring of such content.  We have a ratings system just like the MPAA does for movies.  The fact is if it is M Rated you need to be an adult to play that shit.  This is where parenting comes in, this is where enforcement of the ratings system comes in, and I really think this is just overblown to fuck. 

 

I thought The Last of Us Part 2 was amazing looking.  I mean yeah, there is a lot of violence but we are talking about a series that has no shied away from violence.  The First game had its fair share of violent scenes but they are obviously going much "darker" with this sequel.  I sort of always felt they would take it to the next level if they did make a sequel just based on the sobering reality of the world that The Last of Us takes place in.  People are going to get butt hurt and make a big deal out of it because it is a "story" and people want their story.  If you don't like the game or you find the brutality/gore to be too much, just don't buy the game.  It is that simple.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The same people who wring their hands about game violence don't blink at the masses of folks watching slasher flicks and cheering on the killer, even when they're gruesome as hell.

I don't care much for that kind of gratuitous style, either, but I don't think there's any kind of sudden change coming. I think games are long past that point by now.

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