Prof: Game Industry Barbaric, Continually Chooses Violent Themes

@ Linenoise

Have you ever heard of a game called Facade? It is basically a chick flick. You play a friend visiting a couple having marital problems. What you say to them in you coversations determines if they can work through the difficulties of the break up.

Although it is an indie title, it shows what can be done with the "chick flick" or should I call it a "dame game"?

@ Kommisar

They don't. The MPAA site, will only show you 50 random titles when you select just a rating.

@ JP

Actually, M rated games only accounted for 15.5% of game sales according to NPD.

MonkeyPeaches is playing The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess

And you know what, it's not the case that there are 'plenty of nonviolent games' on store shelves. Sure, there are plenty of nonviolent games, but they get no shelf space at Best Buy or Gamestop because they are poorly made junk made by startup companies and amateurs who are so desperate to see nonviolent games, and so tired of waiting for the big game companies to make them, that they make their own.

So while the 94% of games that are nonviolent slowly make their way to the bargain bin (if they ever even get there) the other 6% (the super violent games) fill 99% of the big store shelf space. And I do go into the stores and I do play games, so I know what I'm talking about.

So let's stop the nonsense about most games being nonviolent - as if that reflects the reality of what we find in our local Gamestop.

*head-desk*

WHY cant SMART people make SMART researched commentary! Argh!

@ anthony

the reason the japanese don't have this problem is that they havn't changed the basic rules of video games for a long time. There are a few exceptions like MGS 4, but other than that japanese game makers have been largely trying to replicate the same old formula in hopes people will still like. Western game makers have caught up and are alsways pushing the boundaries.

When was the last time you saw a japanese game as innovative as Mass Effect or Bioshock?

Thats why the 360 controls the hardcore gamer market in almost everywhere but japan, the games are innovative and keep coming(mind you i say this only because the 360 is a largely western developer based game unlike other the systems where its across the category and because the 360 is largely rejected in japan on that basis and only received any kind of open arm welcoming when lost odyssey and blue dragon came out)

While the debate rages and all sorts of angles are explored, I am curious as to why there are no posts that question whether, or to what extent, the journalist got it right. It's tough to control the message in an interview and when you speak to the print media it's a crap shoot, because you don't know what will be kept and what will be left out. For the record, the “it” that I called, or intended to call, barbaric was the Army of Two game, not the industry as a whole. And it was a gut reaction.

As for my research and the “expert” label – I didn’t go looking for this role. It all started after the Kimveer Gill shooting in Montreal. I was speaking about youth cultures - in that case, gaming, Goth and metal. I don't spout the usual moral panic rhetoric, and I thought I should continue to voice my thoughts on the matter. If it’s left just to some other critics, gamers will continue to be labelled as asocial. Not that those that sent me hate mail deserve better.

I am not the worst of your worries. Believe it or not, I have defended video games/gamers/gaming consistently in media interviews, constantly rebutting the media effects model of thinking that suggests that game playing causes violence. I take serious Janet Muray's claims about the future of narrative in simulation, Jim Gee's points about learning in/and games, and Steven Johnson's arguments about games making us smarter.

I also agree that game themes/designs evolve with the tastes of gamers and that most/many games are no more violent than the average Tarantino flick.

That said, I'm no fan of militarism in pop culture from GI Joe to shoot-em-ups in video games, and I do find games like Army of Two barbaric. I could find worse words for what I think of them. War is only a game in the privileged, myopic confines of the North American over-consumptive entertainment cultures and if the games industry wants to flaunt product like Army of Two they should expect something less than a cozy embrace from critics and theorists.

As for the "cultivation" of attitudes and worldviews, see over 40 years work from the Annenberg School of Communication. It is not a media effects model, but a long-term incubation.

Yes, I do believe the industry can be more creative and imaginative. When Canadian kids were surveyed by the CTF (2005), they said they liked "action," good graphics and good functionalities in a video game. They did not say "violence" though the games industry likes to hide behind the claim that they are only producing what the consumer wants. OK, I know that many, even most, gamers are not kids, but that is the same case for TV audiences, and we don’t let TV networks off the hook with a shrug and a wink.

Last comment - the defensiveness and the animosity that I read from many of these posts leaves me befuddled.

MH

Why...why do people nowadays bash crap of any subject with out knowing jack about what they are bashing? The stupidity of some really annoys me and now its from a freakin professor. Who cares anyways? Its our right to have violent video games even if it made up 99% of video games. If he doesn't want want us to have our rights then he doesn't deserve his own. Take away his free speech and see how he feels!

@thomas

There is tons of media about the japanese falling behind in innovation. I mentioned there are some shining examples of the exact opposite, but guess what? Around 90% of the games they make are crappy rehashes of final fantasy or dragon quest or devil may cry, with the same pointy haired character, the same amnesia, the same morality that just goes beyond corny, it's the same game and plot with a different look for the most part and I am just tired of it. I don't deny that the greatest games ever have prolly come out of japan. I don't deny that great games still come out of japan. But be honest, when was the last time a japanese RPG didn't have same basic plot lines and morality that every other one has mostly had.

Don't drag the fact that I took a 360 into this. I was trying to explain and prove a point using a largely western system, don't lose all credibility by turning this into a stupid console wars discussion.

@ GRLGMER

Thanks for actually being polite, what I was trying to show was that yes these two are improvements off of old games. That's the point though because they are mostly that game, but in a lose sense, the plots changed and the gameplay was improved tremendously, I cnt say innovative as something entirely new because there is no such thing. I was trying to show how new systems in the game play and improvement on the gameplay, but with different story lines is the point. It's nest to impossible to have something totally new, but the point is to improve upon the system you are basing a game off of, not to make the exact same thing. There are great Japanese game developers like team ninja for instance, but its just mostly remakes of the same thing with little or no innovation and I for one(not to mention many other gamers and communities) am getting tired of it.

Keep it serious, if you want games to be taken serious as a form of media you can't squabble about which systems better and discredit an argument because I used the 360 as an example, fanboys are bad for the industry and obsession is what makes the media at large consider gaming a child's activity.

You would think that a professor would understand the value of research.

I actually do agree with him, though, that there should be more diversity in games. My reasoning is much more simplistic, though - I want more diversity in games because I'm tired of playing the same damned game over and over again. I just can't muster any excitement for another bog standard shoot-em-up with a two-minute gimmick.

Lets face it. Who's going to buy a stupid, non-violent sports game.

Ohshi-!

I can see how he would make that mistake though.

If the only thing that gets the attention of gamers are violent games, even *I* would be mislead into thinking that there's only violent games. Yes, there are a lot of none violent games, and they outshadow the violent ones, but let's be honest: Which one gets the most attention?

How about this: Violent games are the only ones that are blown into sensations by the news. :/

So the movie industry can make violent movies but the game industry can't?

DeusPayne - Lol, obviously 6% is the majority

Double Standards are delicious.

"[Army of Two is] not a political statement. We’re not pro and we’re not against [private military contractors]. We want to make people aware of the subject."

Seriously? They're releasing the game to make us aware of mercenaries? What kind of statement is that? By that logic, was "Burnout Paradise" supposed to make me aware of these things called 'cars'?

Besides, "Mercenaries" made me away of mercenaries years ago ;)

As far as Hoechsmann's statements go; he's not totally wrong. There does seem to be gluts of similar games with different names being released at times. GTA clones, Rainbow Six clones, FPS X whicdh is only different from FPS Y because this one has destructible walls. Army of Tqwo may or may not turn out to be an awesome game, but it's not going to be a terribly unique one as far as its themes go.

Which is not to say that unique games do not get released, you just have to look or them. Katamari Damacy, Psychonauts, and Guitar Hero are great examples of unique (when they first came out at least) games that were also fairly non-violent. The problem is that for every Guitar Hero that takes off with popularity there are a couple of Psychonauts which, while deserving to be super popular, never catch on with the gaming public and don't turn enough profit to warrant making more games like them when the execs know that GTA-set-in-Dallas is sure to sell like hotcakes.

There is a tremendous lack of imagination on the part of the games industry. I think it’s barbaric.

I have to agree there, the repetitious tedium of games is starting to shit me. I've just been disappointed by seeing the combat of Too Human, everything was looking great until I saw the fighting, god damn it looks generic.

Dude, Professor Layton! SO VIOLENT!!!! :p Murder! Mystery! And a whole town of freaks. What a horrible plot for a game!

Frankly, I do agree with Hoechsmann as far as the lack of originality in the games industry goes. Very rarely do games deviate from certain conventions, and it only seems to get worse the longer a series goes on e.g Sonic.

The focus on violence? As has already been pointed out, 6% of games are mature and involve the type of violence I suspect he's talking about. I don't think he's jumping on a bandwagon, just led to believe that violent games are the norm. He should have done his research on this one.

I would also like to congratulate him on being one of the few professors, or any media figure for that matter, to actually state that the worst games can do is change someones perspective - Even though that is considered one of the best things the film industry can do

Hey, look at that tree! Ignore the rest of the forest, we just want you to look at that one tree.

Shame on the industry for putting out a product that people want to buy!
Clearly there would be no demand for such a thing if they did not make violent games!

i'd like to see a real breakdown. Say, take all the games the ESRB rated in the last 24 months, and show us how many were rated in each category, as well as how many were supposedly "ultra violent" which maybe could have been AO Ratings (if the jack-thompsons had thier way)

I bet the GTA's make up less than 1% of all games.

*sigh*

For once, for fucking once, I wish one of these jackholes would base their opinion off actually taking their ass to the store, looking at the games rack, and start reading the back. Violent games and games with violent overtnes are, in fact, a minority in the industry. Hell, I love violent games but even I have to marvel how few in my rack are truly over the top versus "jump on bad guy."

But whatever. He feels so strongly about this subject so obviously he's well-informed. Right? RIGHT?!?