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[mcz117chief]

Again it depends on how well established is the character. If its just an extra in a War movie I do not care. If its a well developed character with a history, etc of course I feel impacted by it. Same with game deaths. EXample the Last of Us the first scene. I did not care one bit about the random people dying but when it did happen in the end of the opening scene I was also crying. It only took one scene to form a bond there. With a random Enemy I see him for 3 seconds then he is dead.

So you have no empathy for people dying by the droves in movies like Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Letters from Iwo Jima, etc.?

I understand your point and I respect it, but for me the answer is no. Especially when dealing with generic enemies like in the games you mentioned. In a fps, when i shot someone I have never tought damn, his family will miss him.

And yes, I have felt emotionally connected with characters from movies and books, and to a lesser extent video games, but that emotion has to be developed. In the cases you mentioned, like killing a generic enemy in a FPS, not at all.

What about games that treat each individual deaths as tragedy. Have you ever played Red Orchestra games? The music is quite sombre and you can hear "dead" players shouting pretty ghastly things, like here you can hear what the American troopers are crying. I think it must make most people stop for a moment and realise that what you are playing many people had to actually live through. I know I am not alone in this simply by reading the comments on that video.

 

[Dunki]

So you have no empathy for people dying by the droves in movies like Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Letters from Iwo Jima, etc.?

No sorry I do not. I also do not care of the thousands of people dying during a transformers movie. Mostly also because they are fictional non existent extras to make a scene more impactful.

 

[mcz117chief]

No sorry I do not. I also do not care of the thousands of people dying during a transformers movie. Mostly also because they are fictional non existent extras to make a scene more impactful.

No need to apologise, I understand

 

[LaughingStock]

We are all emotionless psychopaths here. You're the only one who cares about the suffering of fake people.

 

[mcz117chief]

We are all emotionless psychopaths here. You're the only one who cares about the suffering of fake people.

I really should have named the thread "Am I the only one that..."

 

[-MD-]

Uncomfortable? Not even slightly.

Give me a new Manhunt, Rockstar.

 

[The_Mike]

The only time I fell uncomfortable regard violence or death was the intro in BF1. Having the people's name and dates for birth and death felt really bad for me, like they were real people. I don't know if they are actual names of real soldiers, but it felt too personal for me.

Otherwise I have no real problem with violence in games.

 

[Shifty]

I think the throat-knifing bit in Black Ops 1 was the most uncomfortable I've been with it.

 

[Artistic]

No, never has. Sometimes I feel it's to the point where it could almost be over exaggerated.

Then again, I don't want to and never have seen gruesome stuff like it in real life.

 

[RaptorGTA]

No. The "infamous" MW2 scene had no impact on me.

The only time I fell uncomfortable regard violence or death was the intro in BF1. Having the people's name and dates for birth and death felt really bad for me, like they were real people. I don't know if they are actual names of real soldiers, but it felt too personal for me.

Otherwise I have no real problem with violence in games.

I will say this did make an impact. But this was because you were giving life to A nameless FPS view. It was done very well.

 

[Allandor]

well, yes. In the last years, violence in games really got to violent in some games. But not only games in some movies, too.
And I loved e.g. Soldier of fortune 1, but the graphic capability was not on the level it is now.
than there are the horror games that are just disgusting.

 

[TheWatcher]

I don't understand people that cannot seperate real life from fiction. Does it really need to be said that video games are a form of escapism? I never really understood people that slammed violence and sex in games even though they themselves dabble in all form of degeneracy in real life. Over the top games like God of War, Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat, they provide a cathartic release. Video games are art, and artists should be given full lisence to create their own visions.

 

[GMAK2442]

I have no problem with it at all. I even want more in games like COD: not realistic but more Hollywood gore.

 

[Aurelian]

I don't understand people that cannot seperate real life from fiction. Does it really need to be said that video games are a form of escapism? I never really understood people that slammed violence and sex in games even though they themselves dabble in all form of degeneracy in real life. Over the top games like God of War, Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat, they provide a cathartic release. Video games are art, and artists should be given full lisence to create their own visions.

It's not that they can't separate reality from fiction, it's that they don't necessarily want to shut off the empathetic part of their brain when they play a game. If games are considered art (and I believe they are), that also means encompassing more of the human experience.

Escapism is fine, but I'd also like to see games which do make violence uncomfortable. I want WWII games where I can't help but feel sorry for the frightened enemy soldier who knows he's going to die from his wounds, even if I was justified in shooting him. I want crime sagas where killing someone feels like an ordeal and a tragedy (even if there was no choice) rather than clearing an obstacle. Titles like Battlefield 1 and Red Orchestra nod in that direction, but I'd like to see more.

 

[mcz117chief]

It's not that they can't separate reality from fiction, it's that they don't necessarily want to shut off the empathetic part of their brain when they play a game. If games are considered art (and I believe they are), that also means encompassing more of the human experience.

Escapism is fine, but I'd also like to see games which do make violence uncomfortable. I want WWII games where I can't help but feel sorry for the frightened enemy soldier who knows he's going to die from his wounds, even if I was justified in shooting him. I want crime sagas where killing someone feels like an ordeal and a tragedy (even if there was no choice) rather than clearing an obstacle. Titles like Battlefield 1 and Red Orchestra nod in that direction, but I'd like to see more.

It is exactly as you say, thank you for stating my sentiment so eloquently.

Like you, I would also like more games that treat violence and death more seriously. A game where you play a medic, something along the lines of Hacksaw Ridge with episodes where you treat wounded troops on and outside of the battlefield.

 

[brap]

Uncomfortable? Not even slightly.

Give me a new Manhunt, Rockstar.

This. Make something on the level of an exploitation movie with modern graphics. Then we'll talk.

 

[Blood Borne]

Not at all. Violence is in the DNA of video games.

Please OP, I hope people like you DON'T go and start a campaign against violence in video games and make developers alter their games just cater to some vocal minority. Just thought I'd say this because that seems to be the trend these days. Activism.

 

[Gormless Noodle]

Not really, no. I only felt discomfort when I was forced to rip off some dude's head, barehanded with a quicktime event in God of War 3's opening moments. Probably the only time in my video gaming history where I literally had to look away for a moment.

But you still make a good point though. When we get to the next generation of consoles and graphics cards I can imagine more and more people are gonna be feeling the way you're feeling. Especially when it concerns VR, since people keep saying it feels so real, I wonder if it might actually get slightly traumatic at some point? Guess we'll see.

 

[Ridcully]

Violence in games is only uncomfortable when deliberately designed to be. Which is the same way it works in other media. Consider: did you shed any tears over all the storm troopers murdered by Ewoks?

Compare

Spoiler

Beepy

in an Ending B run of Nier.

Nazis in Wolfenstein are digital whack-a-moles, and we all understand this when playing these games.

 

[Kadayi]

I'm not really into gratuitous games for the most part, so I wouldn't say it's something I'm that bothered about in truth (I don't really dig horror movies either) but it's horse for courses really. Some people enjoy that sort of thing, and I'm a-ok with them doing so if they like it. I can be invested in something, but I can also recognise that it's not real either.

 

[120v]

i am a little surprised by how casually violent games have become... i took a break from gaming from the mid-00s to the early 2010s and i was kind of like "uhh..." with a lot of stuff i was seeing when i started back up.

but i mean, it is what it is. no need to rehash arguments of the mortal kombat era

 

[DiscoJer]

Graphic violence I don't care about, but sadistic stuff, like torture porn, I don't like in movies or video games. You don't really see that in video games much though.

 

[iconmaster]

Please OP, I hope people like you DON'T go and start a campaign against violence in video games and make developers alter their games

I'm picking on you a bit because it's a prime example of how gamers react when the subject of violence in games comes up. Expressing a distaste is not the same, not even in the ball park of, calling for a campaign or boycott or regulation or anything of the sort.

Games are doing spectacularly well, even and especially violent games (Grand Theft Auto 5 has made more money than any film or book). No one is going to take them away and I don't see that there's any desire to (certainly not in this thread). These are just.. concerned musings regarding an old and dear friend.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

Not at all. I saw the violence in the new God of War and got mad, not brutal enough. More blood, more gore, more head ripping. Gore, blood, violence, tits, blood, gore violence, titty attacks, BLOOD, GORE, VIOLENCE, hey it's Mario, more gore, more, violence, bouncy bouncy, more, MORE, MOOOOORRRREEEE. Eee-hehehehe!

But no, not uncomfortable at all. Fiction never bothers me.

 

[imperium]

I may feel an emotional response to the death of a particular character but not to the way in which they die. I am a pacifist by nature but video game violence and gore has never really bothered me. It's escapist fantasy It's the same thing with horror movies, I can watch the goriest movie and not even flinch but show me a documentary with real blood and I may feel queasy.

 

[Soul of Cinder]

No. Show me a clip of Vaas killing a dude or Kratos ripping off a gods head and im completely fine, hell bring it on.

For me to be emotionally connected with a character it needs to build. I dont care if 100 soldiers die in a war movie but I may care if the main character or a side character gets killed, why? because they established a personality, history etc.
but then its not even the violence that gets me its the fact that a character I care about dies.

Clem shooting Lee gets me because I have spent roughly 10hrs with them and building a connection between the two, to the point where its essentially father and daughter, not because of the act itself of her shooting him in the head.

 

[chillbrah]

tbh you seem a little overly sensitive

 

[Halo0629]

Video game violence doesn't really phase me now maybe because it's more over the top rather than realistic. The last game I,ve played that kinda disturbed me was manhunt because the executions were so realistic, like what you would usually see on shock sites across the web.

 

[ilfait]

Why do you love all people pretty much equally?

 

[Northeastmonk]

Video game violence doesn't really phase me now maybe because it's more over the top rather than realistic. The last game I,ve played that kinda disturbed me was manhunt because the executions were so realistic, like what you would usually see on shock sites across the web.

Manhunt feels so tame compared to some games where gameplay isn't scripted. For example, watching as someone aims at the dog in Fallout 4 is creepier than shoving someone in a meat grinder. I can't get too grossed out by games like DOOM where I'm physically ripping off a demon's head or Dead Space where I'm getting chopped up into chunks. I guess that's sci-fi and what we've discussed are modern day physical manifestations of violence.

Remember the Rainbow Six Patriots trailer with the home invasion and the woman gets slapped when the guys raid the house? The whole home invasion thing creeps me out. When she gets slapped, it feels uneccsary. He does end up pulling out a knife and I guess if they show guts it would have gone way too far, but it doesn't. It simply builds on the tension of whatever Patriot was going to be. It was canned for Siege and all.

I feel like we won't get to that level 11 type of violence without the game financially bombing. We all know AO games are doomed. In all honesty I feel more comfortable if they just let the violence happen and the camera pans to the person's face. That to me does the trick of entertaining someone with a level violence. And maybe being stabbed out of nowhere, that was a good scene.

 

[camelCase]

Violence in everyday media bothers me. I remember seeing the scene in some family guy episode where elmer fudd shoots a talking buggs a few times and then goes to break his neck while he's writhing in pain, and I remember that affecting me.

I felt a similar way when I read some of the more gruesome scenes from The Things They Carried some years later which makes its living on expressing awful scenes. The scene with the buffalo, puppy etc. even if they were clearly written to exploit that emotion.

Still it's pretty cool fiction can make one feel that way, it's great, lol. Video game violence has always had such a small effect on me mentally, though, it's ironic because you're "actually doing it " blah blah.

 

[NathanW18]

I can't say I ever feel sorry for the enemy NPC's I've killed in any game. Especially because if I didn't shoot them, they would shoot me. I do have a problem with killing non enemies, though. In games that allow you to kill anybody you like, I always try my best not to kill anybody non hostile.

When it comes to animals, I will kill them if the game asks me to do so or if they're hostile. Far Cry springs to mind with its missions/trophies that require you to kill animals. Outside of that, I wouldn't kill them.

I do feel emotionally connected to the playable characters and friendly NPC's that you get to know over the game. Their deaths do bother me.

 

[WaterAstro]

Nope. Most games that are overly violent end up being comedic in nature. Some games use the violence as a means to affect emotions. It's not really anything offensive.

The worst, I think, would be the torture scene in GTA5, but it's a comedy moment, really, and I've seen worse in movies that doesn't seem to be so real that I'm disgusted. I'm more disgusted at a lot of things in real life, like shootings, wars, crooked politics, that the things in video games just seem like a joke in comparison.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Can't say it does OP. Good news is that nowadays a lot of games don't feature violence so yeah you have more options than you would 10-20 years ago.

1998 was 20 years ago holy shit.

 

[LegendOfKage]

I felt like I was going to throw up, the first time I saw Mortal Kombat in an arcade. I'm a bit older now, of course. Violence in video games doesn't bother me. But if I kill "innocent" people in a video game, especially if I go on a killing spree, I usually won't save my game afterwards. That would feel uncomfortable for me.

 

[lukilladog]

I feel sorry for developers and game writters trying to make some kind of impact through violence and fail so much.

 

[Silent Viper]

Nope. I feel powerful when I slaughter my enemies in video games for entertainment.


Again in video games.

 

[LordPezix]

No, having seen actual death and brutal wounds (guy getting his head blown out) games to me still have a long way to go before I find them uncomfortable. Nothing yet really compares to the actual thing, not even most movies.

 

[GenericUser]

I've yet to see a game where violence was portraied as drastic as the real thing can be. Violence in videogames is still very abstract and/or over-the-top, to not bother me.

 

[Virex]

Not at all. I can differentiate between the real world and fiction, fantasy etc.

 

[royox]

mcz117chief There's a difference between "getting emotional with a character" and caring about killing NPC's in a videogame.

 

[mcz117chief]

mcz117chief There's a difference between "getting emotional with a character" and caring about killing NPC's in a videogame.

can you expand upon that, please?

 

[royox]

can you expand upon that, please?

Of course! :3

Everybody can get attached to some characters when watching a movie, reading a book or playing a game. To the point it will even make you cry if that character dies. But that doesn't mean we can't tell diference between Reality and Fake while playing a videogame where you have to kill people/demons/monsters/aliens to advance.

With an example...I don't care or even think about it when I play Mass Effect games and I kill dozens of people to complete the mission because "it's a game", but I CAN'T Shoot at Mordin or Legion in ME3 because I love them as characters.

Heh, you know what's fun? I'm playing Final Fantasy XIV leveling my Dark Knight and his Job Quest from levels 60 to 70 is about this. About all the death you caused and you don't care because "lol you are the Main Character". Made me think a little about it and then I saw your thread.

 

[mcz117chief]

Of course! :3

Everybody can get attached to some characters when watching a movie, reading a book or playing a game. To the point it will even make you cry if that character dies. But that doesn't mean we can't tell diference between Reality and Fake while playing a videogame where you have to kill people/demons/monsters/aliens to advance.

With an example...I don't care or even think about it when I play Mass Effect games and I kill dozens of people to complete the mission because "it's a game", but I CAN'T Shoot at Mordin or Legion in ME3 because I love them as characters.

Heh, you know what's fun? I'm playing Final Fantasy XIV leveling my Dark Knight and his Job Quest from levels 60 to 70 is about this. About all the death you caused and you don't care because "lol you are the Main Character". Made me think a little about it and then I saw your thread.

Thank you very much for your reply, I really appreciate it

 

[Fbh]

Not really.
I think if it was done in a more realistic way it would bother me more. But it's always either over the top or exaggerated or done in a "cinematic" and flashy way that you can't really take it seriously. And I'm fine with it, probably wouldn't be too much into a game that tries to have realistic violence and gore.

As for the argument of "fake and real" , I can get emotionally attached to a story or characters from a game while still realising it's all fake. I'll get attached to them through the story and writing and the fact I've been following their journey for 10 or 30 or 100 hours. Doesn't mean I care about killing random NPC's or AI enemies or cutting through an enemy with my machine gun-chainsaw hybrid.

 

[sephiroth7x]

I completely understand where you are coming from because my wife handles things in the same way.

However, I wouldn't say its because you are sensitive, I would argue potentially squeamish...

Not that you can't watch the events in front of you, simply that you find it harrowing in some way (my wife has bad dreams about even the tamest of 'gore' - for example Holby City). You say about playing games as a youth and seeing pixels fall away, but now its nearly photorealistic, perhaps it is more difficult for you to separate reality from what is going on. Not saying this even remotely patronising so I apologise if it does come out like that.

What I will say is, is that you are bang on point about violence in gaming (especially your TLoU quote). A lot of gamers are seemingly enjoying the violence for violence sake... I also remember when God of War III was coming out and people were so excited because they could rip off Helio's Head and use it as a lantern... I mean... the idea that the sun God was glowing from the inside was cool... but to carry his head around was to some, the greatest thing ever... others think its sick... depends which side you are on...

 

[llien]

So you have no empathy for people dying by the droves in movies like Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Letters from Iwo Jima, etc.?

You asked someone else, but I don't feel empathy either, but only because I'm not perceiving it as real.

 

[mcz117chief]

I completely understand where you are coming from because my wife handles things in the same way.

However, I wouldn't say its because you are sensitive, I would argue potentially squeamish...

Not that you can't watch the events in front of you, simply that you find it harrowing in some way (my wife has bad dreams about even the tamest of 'gore' - for example Holby City). You say about playing games as a youth and seeing pixels fall away, but now its nearly photorealistic, perhaps it is more difficult for you to separate reality from what is going on. Not saying this even remotely patronising so I apologise if it does come out like that.

I think you are actually right. When I play a crazy sci-fi game like Dead Space, DOOM, Mass Effect, an anime looking game, etc. I don't really feel much pity since it feels very distant and not very relatable. These feelings of sadness mostly come when I play Red Orchestra 2 which depicts real events, with soldiers bleeding out calling out for their friends and family. When I play RO2 it sometimes feels a bit real with soldiers crying and shouting in pain, which is not something you get to experience in other games like Call of Duty.

You asked someone else, but I don't feel empathy either, but only because I'm not perceiving it as real.

On the other hand there are many people who felt very emotional watching these movies and seeing all the suffering. I remember when Saving Private Ryan released everybody was talking about the Normandy beach operation, a scene where you can't establish any meaningful connection with the characters, yet people felt very emotional watching that part.

 

[levyjl1988]

Not really. As long as it serves a plot point of aids in the story. If the idea is to shock viewers at a basic level then no, but if it traumatizes the character and affects them in the story then it has a reason for it to be there. It has to be done tastefully and determining how gruesome it is. I've seen things from liveleak /r/watchpeopledie that I've grown desensatized to death. If anything its part of nature and my scientific mind likes to dissect and understand the physics and physicial resiliance of a slab of meat react to other structures in this world.

 

[realkynerd]

Shooting games never really bugged me.

I don't like horror or pure crazy murders idk. Like I can stomach the Saw movies, but movies like Hostile would just torture me and freak me out.

Games like the "Manhunt" I would never be into. But games like GTA don't bother me.

No real rhyme or reason I guess one just seems creepier than the other to me I suppose.