I am working on a assignment in "Ethics and life issues" at my school and we got the assignment to do some research about ethics in a field of interest. My interest is game development so I decided to ask people that work with this for a living. So I have some questions and think that there are some people here that actually work in the industry, so I would appreciate if you could respond in the thread. I want you all to respect that I am only looking for answers from people who have worked more than 1-2 years in the industry. That is, it requires that you have been working on this for you to respond. If you meet this requirement but do not have a employment at the moment you can also reply. Here are the questions: Question 1 What do you think about games that depict violence? Question 2 In many (the majority) games woman are made beautiful or sexy. What is your perception of women? Question 3 What do you think about games where it's possible to rape woman/men in various ages unhindered? Ex. RapeLay. Question 4 In some games violence are over-exaggerated to a degree that they might get banned from some countries. What do you think about that type of games? Ex. Postal. Question 5This question I ask because my teacher will probably flunk me if I doesn't ask it Do you think violence in games make kids, teens or adults more violent? I would like to have detailed answers on each question, so put some thought behind each reply to each question. The work may quote portions or the whole response from a user, if you DO NOT want your username used to say to the first or else I will assume that it is OK to write "<name> wrote [---]"

Moving to the Lounge.

Not employed in the game industry, but I've got to say the future for violent games is undoubtedly an photorealistic 3D MMO RapeLay Postal combo with extra toppings.

1) What about them? They should be classified appropriately.
2) What about them? They're people?
That's a really badly worded question... "What is your perception of trees?" Uhh...
3) I wouldn't play them or sell them.
4) Postal is comedic so I can stomach it. My country did ban it, and I think it's a stupid, immature decision. There are other games with realistic brutal violence, and I can choose not to play them.
5) Kids shouldn't be playing those kinds of games in the first place, just like they shouldn't be watching "adults only" films.

Did your teacher ask you to ask random questions to random people on the internet or was that your idea of "research"?

Hint: Research

I've worked for just over 6 years in the industry, though not on graphically violent or adult-only games.

1) Violent Games
As a player: I like them if they're fun.

As a developer: I don't mind working on violent games as long as they're supposed to be fun to play.


2) Attractive Women
As a player: I'd rather have attractive women in the game than overweight ugly women.

As a developer: It's ENTIRELY marketing. Guys are attracted to hot babes. It's part of human nature, and that's something you can't change very easily. If you're going to have a female character in your game, you might as well make her attractive unless you have a good reason not to (such as Fat Princess).


3) Rape Simulators
As a player: I've never played one. I think it's pretty pathetic, but I guess it beats actual rape. If it gives some depraved person an outlet for their fantasies, that's great. If it encourages someone to try it out in real life, that's horrible.

As a developer: I would only work on one if I got paid enough to retire immediately after the game shipped. I would flat out quit for anything less.


4) Exaggerated Violence
As a player: I don't really care. The first postal game was interesting because there was pretty good gameplay. Postal 2 repelled me, though - not because of the violence but because its sense of humor was completely opposite of mine.

As a developer: If the game is ALSO fun, I don't really care.


5) Can they make you more violent in real life?

Yes, but the opposite of what you're probably thinking.

What makes people violent? That's usually based on the person. I'd say people get violent when they're extremely angry. To get someone angry, you've got to frustrate or stress them out somehow. Some people get accidentally out of hand when they're really excited, stoned, drunk, whatever.

Single-player violent video games are usually built to give the player a feeling of triumph/satisfaction. You usually get a *positive* feeling from murdering hundreds and hundreds of faceless enemies. Positive feelings don't make normal people angry. I think it's VERY unlikely that most graphically violent games make people more violent in real life. If you already are a homicidal maniac, you might get some interesting ideas to try from violent games, though.

On the other hand, there are games which are designed to be extremely challenging, or allow multiple players to fight each other. The moment the player starts losing, they'll get frustrated. Enough frustration and it builds to anger. Now, let a bunch of stress from the rest of their life build up, then suddenly stress them out in-game, and a player may snap. The game doesn't even have to be graphically violent. You may laugh, but I've almost punched someone in the face over a particularly brutal round of multiplayer Chu Chu Rocket (seriously). I vowed never to play that F***ing retarded game ever again.

Games that piss people off end up making people NOT want to play them, so there's no positive feedback loop.

My real answer to question 5 is 'No'. I said yes at the start just to get your attention.

(Caveat: My answer to section 5 assumes the people in question fully understand the consequences of their actions - people who don't, such as very young kids or people with mental issues, may react in completely unexpected ways no matter what stimulus they're presented with. For people who don't CARE about the consequences, games are unlikely to change that.)


(Edited my post to provide both a player and developer's mindset for the first 4 questions)

[Edited by - Nypyren on May 4, 2010 12:16:43 AM]

1. To tell story about where violence leads is Ok.
To glorify violence as right way to get to your goal is wrong.
(real USA army?, nationalism?, facism?, propaganda?)

2. What is wrong being beautifull and sexy?
Is there some low that says woman can`t be beautifull and sexy?

3. I don`t like rapes, it`s not entertainment to me.
Should there be laws that criminalize rape? Yes.
Should CONSEPT of rape be removed from sosiety? No.

4. Game Postal is game. And yes it`s made with bad taste.
Should bad taste be criminalized?, No.

5. More violent than what? Is there acceptable level of violent behaviour?
Yes. Violence creates more violence. And, yes everybody is capable in violent
thoughts and actions.

Should violent thoughts be removed from minds of everybody? Yes.
How to remove violent thought`s from minds? Answer: it`s impossible.

/Tyrian

Quote: Original post by LockePick
Did your teacher ask you to ask random questions to random people on the internet or was that your idea of "research"?

Hint: Research

Feel free to tell me a title of a book in the subject (Ethics in game-development). You should learn the meaning of the word research. Research can be defined as the search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish facts., Reading a factual book of any sort is a kind of research. Surfing the internet or watching the news is also a type of research. and asking questions is what researchers do, please don't waste my time by posting here again. Oh I forgot... Yes, my teacher said I should ask people about this as there is probably no book available on the subject.

Quote: Original post by Hodgman
1) What about them? They should be classified appropriately.
2) What about them? They're people?
That's a really badly worded question... "What is your perception of trees?" Uhh...
3) I wouldn't play them or sell them.
4) Postal is comedic so I can stomach it. My country did ban it, and I think it's a stupid, immature decision. There are other games with realistic brutal violence, and I can choose not to play them.
5) Kids shouldn't be playing those kinds of games in the first place, just like they shouldn't be watching "adults only" films.

Unfortunately I cannot use your answers to get a picture of how the people in the industry thinks, like I said in the topic "I would like to have detailed answers on each question, so put some thought behind each reply to each question."

Thanks to the two (Nypyren, TyrianFin) that took the time to give me good replies. Is it OK if I mention your nicks in the text?

Quote: Original post by FrozenSnake
Is it OK if I mention your nicks in the text?

Sure.

Quote: Original post by FrozenSnake
Unfortunately I cannot use your answers to get a picture of how the people in the industry thinks, like I said in the topic "I would like to have detailed answers on each question, so put some thought behind each reply to each question."

Re "What is your perception of women?", it's a pretty weird question. How do you think the average person on the street would respond to it?
There's plenty of women in our office, and plenty of the men have wives and kids. We're normal people. What's the average perception of women in society as a whole? I'd like to think it's a meaningless question as we decided a long time ago that genders are equal...