Nonviolence in games doesn''t sell.
Just look at The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon...
Some people here need to bone up on their critical thinking ability...
There is a very large divide between what is popular among "hardcore" players, fanboys, and the gaming media and what people actually buy in general. Anyone who thinks you need 3d blood particle effects should compare the sales of [your crappy game here] to The Sims.
Not that I''m against violence in games at all. I just find the logic amusing. Especially the people who say violence is easy and they''re lazy! Not something to be proud of, welcome to low-concept shovelware, population you.
There isn''t anything wrong with (most) violence in games or anything right about it either. Conflict is one of the major themes in life, literature, sports, etc, and much conflict will include violence of some kind.
But, when I think about games I''ve had fun with there is very little correlation between violence and overall quality - I suppose it''s just easier to make another crappy FPS than engage some brain cells for 5 seconds of sustained activity. Of course it depends on what "violence" includes exactly - I don''t consider Mario games violent although technically you are stomping things to death and such. Although that may be the view of a gamer - it is quite possible that games would be more mainstream successes if even Mario-style violence was not included. (Once again, The Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon are examples of this - moms, dads and little girls can play RCT)
The only think that really bothers me is when violence or sex or whatever is the selling point. That''s pretty sad and usually a pretty sad game. That sort of advertising was all the rage a few years ago, although now I suppose it has died down after people pointed out that marketing M-rated games to 10 year olds was a bit disengenious.
As far as relying on the government to regulate things...if you mean you are producing mature games and expecting and cooperating with efforts to keep them out of kid''s hands, I would agree. If you mean that you are going to do whatever you can do to make money until it becomes illegal, that''s incredibly lame. I would seriously question how many people who make "mature" games honestly want to keep them away from kids. In fact most are hoping kids will buy them up I would imagine. So the attitude "we''ll slap an m-rating sticker on it but hope kids get it anyway" is equally pathetic. I suppose in some people''s minds that''s what ratings are for, to give them a crutch to lean on and a way to get off the hook of actual responsibility. "Hey it isn''t my fault [shitty fps game] is popular with kids, we gave it an m rating!" In fact if you look at the budgets for certain games, and the gaming demographic, it is pretty simple to conclude that these games MUST be hoping to sell to kids. Who else is you "squad based tactical shooter" aimed at exactly? Moms and dads? Girl scouts?
Finally, about first amendment rights...I''m all for them by why is it that the people who cry and complain about first amendment rights in entertainment are almost invariably idiots? For example the Basic Instinct guy. (Verhoven?) I''m all for rights but if all censorship would do is block more movies like that I can''t get too worked up about it. Strange how people who make mature movies (as opposed to "mature" movies) don''t seem to be the loudest objecters, rather it is the trash artists. Same for music (where the people who bitterly defend "artistic integrity" are millionare constructions with no musical ability) and in games, where the people who defend violence are the makers of Crappy FPS 145: Crappy FPS Revenge. (This time with 1 new weapon, yay!!!!!)
It would be nice if the people defending violence in various entertainment types were somewhat respectable. It gets harder to support an abstract concept (first amendment rights) when the world would be no worse off without that support, at least when looking at the common concrete examples. I would love to see people point out games, movies, etc, that had mature content that was good for something other than inane "gibs." As it is now you have a bunch of low-concept garbage peddlers speaking before congress and such as if the world would be a worse place if the crap they produced weren''t around anymore. New spokepeople would be nice.
Then again, especially in gaming, how many mature (as opposed to "mature"
games are there? As in, games made for adults? (As opposed to games made for horny 14-year-olds who like to blow shit up?) I''m having trouble thinking of even 1!!! That might just be me, but I suspect not...
