Being Slightly Critical Of Violence In One Particular Way (The Jimquisition)
12 replies, posted
[video=youtube;cKFafPSddGw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKFafPSddGw[/video]
That particular way is being the only way to make emotional moments in AAA videogames
He actually brings up plenty of good points, especially in regards to the oversaturation of violence.
It's difficult for games these days to have original violence, it's all very samey no matter how many grappling hooks or zepplins the introduce
Yeah, this is the first video of his in a while that I completely agree with. He makes some great points, and looking back, some of my most favorite games of the past 10 years (Portal, Minecraft, Undertale, etc) have also been some of the most unique and in many ways least violent ones, probably [I]because[/I] it seems to take some actual creativity to make a game that doesn't revolve around violence.
That's not to say that violence isn't fun, or inherently bad. The industry is just so saturated in it, it's honestly dull as hell.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZM2jXyvGOc[/media]
Another good video on the subject.
People buy open world games, publishers make more open world games. People buy violent games, publishers make more violent games.
I mean, yeah, in an ideal world you wouldn't have to worry about making back your money and you'd be able to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into making whatever you want, but in the real world people like having jobs and being able to feed themselves.
That's just the nature of blockbuster entertainment. It's no less true in movies than it is in games.
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;50556167]People buy open world games, publishers make more open world games. People buy violent games, publishers make more violent games.
I mean, yeah, in an ideal world you wouldn't have to worry about making back your money and you'd be able to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into making whatever you want, but in the real world people like having jobs and being able to feed themselves.
That's just the nature of blockbuster entertainment. It's no less true in movies than it is in games.[/QUOTE]
I see your point, but like with blockbuters (as it becomes increasingly obvious), we're going to see a burst of the bubble.
No, I don't think we'll see a game market crash where games are totally left to the dustbin, but I do predict within the next 5~ years we'll see a massive destabilization of the games industry as AAA games no longer appeal.
Hell, we're seeing it already with the new Call of Duty, as the preorders are far below expected and not record breaking as they were before
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;50556167]People buy open world games, publishers make more open world games. People buy violent games, publishers make more violent games.[/QUOTE]
Portal, Undertale and Minecraft were all smash hits and they're very, very light on the violence.
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;50556183]I see your point, but like with blockbuters (as it becomes increasingly obvious), we're going to see a burst of the bubble.
No, I don't think we'll see a game market crash where games are totally left to the dustbin, but I do predict within the next 5~ years we'll see a massive destabilization of the games industry as AAA games no longer appeal.
Hell, we're seeing it already with the new Call of Duty, as the preorders are far below expected and not record breaking as they were before[/QUOTE]
Call of Duty is one franchise that's been milked for a long, long time. As it wanes in popularity, games like Overwatch completely explode.
I really just don't see the general market getting tired of violence and conflict in games.
[editline]20th June 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=Helix Snake;50556189]Portal, Undertale and Minecraft were all smash hits and they're very, very light on the violence.[/QUOTE]
Portal 2 sold 637,000 copies in April of 2011.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 sold 7.5 million copies on release day.
They simply aren't comparable in scale.
[editline]20th June 2016[/editline]
The shift we're seeing in all media is towards smaller, more focused, niche oriented content. That's good! That means over time we can expect more, different stuff that caters to our own specific interests.
But the big monolithic blockbusters will always exist in some regard. To expect them to be replaced by niche content just isn't being realistic. And to expect publishers to dump AAA budgets and blockbuster billing onto niche content is just being ridiculous.
The thing about video game violence is that action (and violence by extension) is the easiest thing to convey and appreciate in a game. Dialogue in games almost universally comes in the form of a list of options and any complex, abstract concept always runs the risk of become more of an Excel spreadsheet than a game. There's a reason sports games, car games, and violent games are the most popular and the most produced, they're easier to make and easier to appreciate.
That's not to say we don't need more games that explore concepts that aren't represented by action, or ones which explore less direct action, but large AAA games aren't the place to look for that. You're asking the AAA industry to do things best suited to indie developers, which is like asking Hollywood to make an arthouse film. It's not going to happen and it's unreasonable to ask for it, you can already find small games and experimental concepts being made by indies all the time. What people should do is ask AAA devs to look at the smaller more experimental stuff for inspiration, rather than harping on about how there's too much violence in [del]Hollywood[/del] the AAA industry.
And the solution, in my opinion, is the same as with many of our current issues in video games: Better writing.
EDIT:
Though finding new gameplay mechanics that both integrates well with the writing and doesn't revolve around purely around combat will be tough.
Action is one of the most popular genres in all mediums and this is especially the case for Video Games because, well, it is a medium built around a player's actions. Wanting more games that don't revolve around it is fair enough, but expecting AAA video games to do it is borderline deluded. Games that do try and be totally violence exempt like "Walking Simulators" and Visual Novels are very niche and, quite frankly, primitive and even rhythm games aren't especially popular.
I also have to ask how far does a game need to go to be categorised as violent. Even Journey has action in it. Portal has you fighting to survive against a murderous AI that you eventually battle to the death. Minecraft survival mode expects you to kill things sooner or later.
What about Mario? I wouldn't call it violent, but it certainly revolves around action and, given how unsure Jim seemed to add Fe to the list of nonviolent games at E3 that could well be enough to qualify.
What I will agree with him on is that video games as a whole overuse death for the purpose of drama, but on the whole the rest of this video feels, at best, idealistic and, at worst, outright confused.
I like how everyone seems to have forgotten tycoon games, city builders and the like ever existed when trying to bring up videogames without action and violence.
I thought he was going to talk about the same thing I was thinking when looking at E3 trailers.
Incredibly unpopular opinion but I think games are getting too violent now for their own good. I'm waiting for the next Jack Thompson to come around and actually follow through with having some ban on violent video games. I'm waiting, but not looking forward to it. The most realistic thing that would happen is the reclassification of our arbitrary ESRB system. It actually blew my mind that the new Doom game wasn't rated A because comparing it to other M rated games like Halo 3 and Skyrim it felt like an entire classification above M. Imagine what an angry parent would think, would be a million times worse than my opinion.
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