Multi Are games becoming too violent.

I notice that censorship does indeed seem to be eroding these days, and personally Im happy about it. The games of today would never pass the censors of yester year. Now when I say Im happy about it, I mean for me and my own personal enjoyment. I wouldnt want my girls to watch Far Cry 3, but thats what the 18 certificate is for. I am a consenting adult and feel supremely confident that its not going to adversely affect me. I was brought up in the 80's on a diet of snuff, zombie and cannibal films and it never did me any harm.

And heres something weird, I'll quite happily stab you in the eye with a knife on Killzone, or cut you in half with a chainsaw on Gears Of War, yet I point blank refuse to play Cabellas Big Hunt. I know its only a game, so whats the problem? Christ I couldnt kill anyone in real life, hence why I feel zero guilt when I play any FPS or violent game, so why cant I detach myself for one moment and play Cabellas? After all, it might be a good game. The thing is this, the subject matter is just too distasteful for my liking, so I can respect why you dont like Far Cry 3 Ace. I love all animals dearly and I couldnt bring myself to hurt them, not even in a game. And I think therein lies the problem, that being offended by violence in games is all relative to how you view the world. What offends you might not offend others. Out of all the games Ive played though, I'd have to say that Far Cry 3 does sail a bit close to the wind. Definitely a game not to be played in front of my kids.

 

I'm very liberal minded and I don't like censorship at all. Reality is far worse than fiction. Old girls beaten near to death for 20p, puppies cooked alive in an oven for a laugh. Look at some of the horror stories on the news and in the papers. You can't go anywhere without watching some poor African child dying of starvation. These things affect me, but running over a hooker in GTA and getting my money back doesn't. Distasteful yes, but there is an air of ridiculousness about GTA.

 

Personally I'm not affected by strong language and extreme violence in games. And I will be getting FC3 because it looks great.

But I'm amazed every day by parents that come in my store with their 7 year old and buy them 16+ and 18+ games. The excuses are pathetic. Their friends play them as well being the most popular one. People have no clue what so ever what PEGI stands for. Nice to know parents know exactly what their kids put in their console/pc.

Luckily I'm bound by law not to sell 16+ and 18+ under the age of 16.

 

To be honest I like violence, I'm an angry person and releasing my anger in a video game stops me releasing it on the world.

But seriously, I don't mind the violence or the bad language. I enjoy a game with a good storyline, if i lose interest in a game I won't finish the single player.

 

Violence for the sake of it I'm not keen on. Add some basis of moral standing, kill or be killed and I'm more relaxed about it. I can find Killzone a bit full on especially as the melee attacks are quite gruesome with eye gouges and the like. EA chose to soften the melees with BF whilst increasing the visual aspect of them by saying you're collecting dog tags.

As for kids playing 18 rated games, I'm against it because the content is aimed at an adult audience and those under that age can be impressionable. We've let Jess watch a couple of movies rated 12 when she isn't that age but we'd always have watched it first to make this judgement.

Although I was brought up on the ultra violence of Tom & Jerry and Road Runner and I turned out ok.

Abs

 

I dont have a problem with the violence in games for adults, but like others have said many parents buy unsuitable games for very young kids and I do wonder what the effect on kids is , growing up playing large amounts of violent games from a young age. But it is not just games that are the problem, the availability of sexual content on the net, the insidious rise of the lads mag where every woman featured is in her underwear and talking about her sex life, its is no wonder that some young lads grow up with a heavily sexualised view of women, as if hormones wre not enough.

To reiterate it is not these things in themselves that is the problem, its their effects on young kids exposed to them for a prolonged period at a young age, it normalises these things and gives the impresison they are the norm for society

 

A guy at work has an 13 year old son and he buys him violent 18 games. I asked him why he bought him games beyond his age and he replied because all his friends are playing them. I asked if all his friends smoked and drank would you let him. He walked away and acted like I was stupid.

A few days later he had to take his sons xbox off him due to his son swearing over his headset at around midnight when he was supposed to be sleeping.

And to top it of a few days later he started shouting at and threatening his mum when he pretended to be sick just to get his xbox back.

This kid is 13, I think it's changed a lot since we were younger the original GTA it was an 18 and compared to today's 18 games was nothing in the violence factor, well that's my opinion anyway. And with the graphics of today's game look life like.

 

Brilliant subject...I could go on for hours about this, but I won't...I regularly have rants about this subject, mainly having opened any issue of the Daily Mail or Metro!

I will try to keep this simple:

1. I do not agree with censorship, I am a consenting adult and do not see how anyone else can be allowed to decide what I may or may not watch, play, listen to etc (as long as these choices do not contravene point 2.).

2. I do agree that the full extent of the law should be used to track down and punish anyone publishing material that is actually harmful or designed to exploit another human in any way shape or form, this is also an absolute.

3. I do agree with both the PEGI and BBFC ratings system and think this should be far more stringent (not by removing content but by rating things more appropriately and including a lot more information on the product of the reasons behind the rating and what that product depicts, this is not censorship it is common sense) and more actively imposed. Parents really need to be more aware of these ratings and the reasons behind them.

Children certainly should not be allowed to play or watch games/films that have been rated above their age. The only exceptions to this rule is children coming close to the age range and their parents have first watched or played said product first and made an 'educated' decision that it is appropriate for their children.

As for the original question, I think some games do seem to be using excessive violence/sexual content for the sake of it and for shock value to increase media coverage and gain a few cheap sales on the back of this. I think the level of violence/sexual content should be relative to the story/subject matter of the game and it should be as I said before appropriately rated and kept away from minors. These sort of games should only be aimed at adults and should only be played by adults.

I realise I do have very strong feelings about this subject, but as always I am open to and respect others opinions completely!

 

Agree with all the posts here. I personally don't have a problem with violence in games. However, I do watch some of these trailers, Dishonoured springs to mind, and think do adult games simply mean violence?

That was what I loved about the Uncharted series, it didn't rely solely on violence to make it an adult and exciting game. Big explosions and buildings collapsing always help!

 

Well put Dogstar, adult has become short hand for violent, although to my mind its not "adult", it is Juvenile, the obsession with the minutiae of death, gouging eyes, the knife in the face etc, it adds not one jot to the characterisation or the story. Uncharted shows what you can do to make games with guns exciting without being gory.

There are so many things that could be done to make great games which would add to their depth and connection to the player, but instead its knife porn all the way.

 

I said this to my nan the other day, about the world being a darker place. She said thats rubbish, and the only difference is you get to hear about things more often because the information is more accessible. People have always done shitty things to each other.

Disagree with the whole violence affecting people. I can honestly say none of it has affected me in the slightest. I agree it will affect those that are impressionable and disturbed, but then so would a book, the news, an overheard conversation of some sort etc. These people are sick in the head anyway, and I hate it when games are demonised as the ill of society. History has always looked to apportion blame somewhere, be it books, immigrants, the gays, video nasties etc etc. If you want something that has damaged our society then look no further than the net. Theres nothing more depraved than the internet, yet you dont see MPs campaigning to close it all down (which is the only way to stop the spread of filth).

Games are all about living out fantasies and alternative lifestyles, for me the ultimate in escapism. I would never kill anyone in real life, or ram anyone off the road, but I enjoy the experience of being in a safe war or driving like a lunatic with no dire consequences. There are certain experiences Im not interested in, but thankfully there are no games made that cater for them (apart from Cabellas).

 

That would be the day Hell freezes over