Violence in video games

I suppose if I’m going to do a project about videogames, I’m inevitably going to have to bring up the issue of violence in videogames. This always comes up whenever someone talks about videogames, and is one of those elephant in the room kind of deals. The thing is though; videogames are no less violent than many movies that come out today. And not just the schlocky bad action/slasher films. There are plenty of movies, which are classics not only in spite of their violence, but also because of it, films such as “A Clockwork Orange”, “Silence of the Lambs”, “Black Swan”, and “Straw Dogs”.
            Heck, there’s plenty of violence in the bible. Entire civilizations getting wiped out by the hand of god, violent civilizations filled with rape and murder (Sodom), the appeasement of god with blood sacrifices. Ask a clergyman—or rabbi or imam—any of these things, and he (or she) will confirm it all. Just as an example: “God decides to kill Moses because his son had not yet been circumcised.”

            All of that being said, I do somewhat understand the arguments being perpetuated by many conservative media sources. You yourself aren’t killing the fictional people—not that videogames always encourage just that, look at “Portal”—so I get that. But you know where else children, and even adults, do pretend killing. Usually when playing with their water gun or with their favorite Lego toys, just think about it that way. Not to mention there are very few times where violent videogames are specifically marketed at children. In fact if you look on the boxes of most videogames there will usually be an “e”, “e10”, “t”, or “M” in the corner, and not particularly hidden, like, say the warnings on cigarette boxes. You’ll know a videogame is violent based solely on the fact that there is a very clear “M” in the corner of the box, and you’ll know that a videogame is probably something that shouldn’t be played by kids.

What video games do on their own.

I suppose if I’m going to try and explain why videogames deserve a little respect as it were, I suppose I should explain my philosophy in regards to this kind of thing.

            I’ll start by reminding you that each medium out there—each way we can experience a story, whether it be a book, a movie, a play, even a graphic novel—has something completely it’s own to offer the person experiencing it. For example, the way Holden Caulfield talks in Catcher in the Rye and the words he uses tells us more about his distaste for the adult way of life and “adult” ways of acting than any movie could. Conversley, there’s no way a book could adequately show us how much Alex DeLarge’s lease on life has changed from a world full of eccentric and usually sexual images to one bland and cold as portrayed in “A Clockwork Orange”.

            Videogames are no different. You’d think that videogames would just have cut-scenes that explain everything that’s going on, but there’s a phrase for games like that in the videogame world: doing it wrong. You see, unlike many of the above listed, there’s gameplay in videogames and just what goes on during that gameplay tells you a lot about world itself, the character you’re playing as, or the. There are a number of classic fourth-wall breaking examples, which videogames will often site. For example, there is a boss fight in “Metal Gear Solid” in which the boss shows reads the memory card in the Play Station you’re playing on, and will occasionally switch the controller from one port to another, giving you the feeling that the boss fight has spilled from the videogame’s world into our own.  Or, in a number of games, “Beyond Good and Evil” for example, there will be announcements playing while you explore the world, which allows for the feeling that the world is one way or another without interrupting the flow, unlike a film which would have to actually show the announcement going on for it to become relevant. And there are a whole slew of examples. The list could go on

Introduction

I'd begin this post by apologizing about how there, but well, there's no real point in starting that way now is there? So, as you may be able to guess based on the title of this blog, my thesis statement is going to be something like, say, "I believe that video games have just as much importance culturally and as an art form as any of the other mediums that express stories out there.” And while I do somewhat feel like the kid who always wants to write an essay on why marijuana is legalized, I feel it was the only one that I thought I’d be best suited for, due to an advanced knowledge of videogame culture and the like. Although at this point I feel like I should get down into the nitty-gritty if you will.

         If you’ve ever played a modern videogame, you’ll know that they can be epic affairs. They feature worlds that seem to literally team with life and magic, and feature deep, twisting, engaging narratives that can be anything from a deconstruction of objectivism (Bioshock) to the existential contemplations about the nature of videogames themselves (Braid). I can’t blame people who think what I’m saying is crazy, but if those people ever played videogames in their life then chances are they know what I’m talking about when I say that videogames immerse us in a world unlike any other, a place which can only be seen in this virtual world crafted on the blood sweat and tears of people who care about what they do for a living. Not to say that every videogame is a piece of art in and of itself, but that they’re just as important to popular culture and can be just as insightful as books, movies, or any other number of way used to empart a story or a sense wonder on their audience.