Gross! Excessive gore offending some gamers now
June 7th, 2012
Confession: 28 years of video games have desensitized me.
Case in point: Last year I recommended a game without thinking twice about its gory content. It was fictional and cartoony, afterall, so there was no need to be sensative about it, I thought. It had a lot of redeeming gameplay qualities, too, and it was dirt cheap—something every PC gamer loves.
Nevertheless, your reader response impressed me. "Too gory for my tastes," said one. "Way to gruesome," said another. Several similar comments followed.
The entire thread made me stop and think: "These guys are right. I should have been more sensative to what I was recommending." Not that The Binding of Isaac doesn't have a place in games. It does. But it's certainly not for everyone and shouldn't be taken lightly.
But it's not just ahead of the curve, thoughtful, and handsome Alienware Arena readers taking notice of increasingly excessive gore in video games. A running theme of this year's E3 has been vile gaming violence. Many are tired of it, and by extension shooters in general.
So in an effort to make repeated gameplay mechanics feel new again, developers are just filling games with more gore, the thinking goes. That's what's upsetting some players, in addition to meaningless violence in general. Things like lobotimizing elephants. Shooting people in the face at point blank range. Stabbing necks.
Obviously, the violence in Mortal Kombat twenty years ago was meaningless. But it was also avant guard for being the first to explore the issue in games. As crazy as it sounds, that's art, people.
What's not art is one-uppmanship. Expressing something without purpose. Obviously violence and even gore have a place in art, including games. But at some point we have to ask ourselves: is this still art or is it cliche?
What do you think readers: Has violence in video games reached a tipping point even for players? Furthermore, when is violence justified in games, and when isn't it?
Read more: PC gaming headlines





Comments
Level 7
1896 ARP
Im a lurker
Level 7
2488 ARP
Level 7
3366 ARP
Level 3
398 ARP
Rawr i ish cute :3
Level 2
142 ARP
Same here, but I do see the point where it can be taken a bit too far for other peoples tastes.
Gosh Dang it Bobbeh.
Level 3
353 ARP
oh and gears fans, lets not forget GOW2 the hugeass worm??? that's what i call gory
I don't try to be awesome, It's natural! So are potatoes, potatoes are natural :l
Level 7
1707 ARP
~Brooksy~
Level 2
125 ARP
Level 7
1644 ARP
Level 6
1086 ARP
Level 4
531 ARP
I like the game I am playing to be realistic. I mean if I shoot a guy in the chest I expect him to bleed an appropriate amount, or maybe to explode, but when there's an exponential creation of blood coming from the void I just shrug and laugh at how dumb it looks.
Sure, some games are more realistic than others, but even some of the fictional games are just absurd when it comes to the blood.
Anything worth having is worth working hard for.
Level 7
6397 ARP
"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
Level 7
4978 ARP
Level 1
20 ARP
That said, they're games, desensitizing to what is seen on TV, probably. To what is experienced in real life, nope. First time I took my son hunting he still threw up, my daughter wanted to go with me to slaughter chickens she cried and felt bad. Now I need to go see what The Binding of Isaac is all about:)
Level 3
264 ARP
http://www.yourgamercards.net/profile/redrupture
Level 6
1059 ARP
Level 3
462 ARP
Level 6
1028 ARP
Either get behind our troops or get in front of them.
Level 6
1119 ARP
My same mentality. If it's a ridiculous amount of blood, I just think it's just exaggerated and don't care. Some games use a ridiculous amount of gore was one of its main features.
New forums... Soon™
Level 7
8077 ARP
Life Sucks, then you get over it.
Level 5
857 ARP
Mortal Kombat is a great example.
Anything worth having is worth working hard for.
Level 7
6397 ARP
They have been known to over due it...
But I don't mind gore I like something with realism to it.
my time has come.
Level 7
5894 ARP
If your going to do something wrong, do that right!
Level 2
117 ARP
I agree with you on that one man. The gore makes video games seem more hardcore. It's an art to me. Like when your the good guy and you're punishing your enemies by tearing off their heads and such, it just gives you that warm feeling inside, like Dannyboy1238 said. I like it.
But I do think it can be dangerous in the minds of little children because they'll think its cool and try to do it to someone or something, ya know? So we have to be careful with that. But once again, they do have age ratings on game so yeah. We just have to make sure it don't fall into their hands.
I'm just a lone wolf with the heart of a lion.
Level 2
228 ARP
Add Your Comment
You are not logged in. To leave a message you must Login First.