The media seems to think we are becoming more violent in the media we make. What I mean is, many games are receiving very high skepticism from the "critics" because of their use of violence. Games like Dead Space 2 and Dead Island are currently at the height of the criticism because of their use of children.
Are we making more violent media? If we are, do you think that is a problem either socially or mentally? What do you guys think?
4 comments:
I think a lot of the violence stems from creators just one-uping each other. Everyone has to be the first to do something or another. We've grown up with this being the case and so we've probably become a bit desensitized to things like the creepy baby things in Dead Space 2. I can't imagine my grandparents handling those images very well. Also, I think the fact that the greater part of our generation has never experienced something like WWII or Vietnam has something to do with it. I feel like the people who actually experience real violence probably don't care too much for the stuff in the media.
I think violence has definitely increased over the years. I can remember the outrage over the GTA (I think it was 3 but whichever one was the first on PS2) and, although the game is realistic, it's really not that gory especially compared to games like gears of war or dead space.
Media has absolutely become more violent in the last 20 years. We eat it up, too. I personally thought the Dead Island was brilliantly grotesque (the "forward" one, at least). We've certainly become desensitized to it all, but I don't know that its created any major problems in our society. I also agree with Kirstin's comment about the developers trying to one-up each other. Shock (like sex) sells.
The disapproving pundits Ken are talking about are not of the computer-game generation. Nor, significantly, are their target audiences. From the pundits' point of view, computer games are easy to criticize because they're popular with young people and therefore must be bad. Hearing this pleases the members of their core audience, because it reinforces their prejudices. The audience then sends "Hell yeah" shout-outs to the pundits, thus encouraging them to spout more of the same. It's a recursive loop of irrelevance. The computer-game audience surpassed the moviegoing audience years ago.
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