Forums > MobyGames > Poll: too full of blood and violence?
Terrence Bosky (5397) on 3/17/2008 4:03 PM · Permalink · Report
I wish you could comment on polls directly. Anyway, I think the level of blood and violence is the same, it's just that the graphics are better.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 3/17/2008 4:10 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Me too. There have always been bloody and violent games. Back in the 70s a arcade game call Death Race ( I think that was it's name ) caused a good deal of controversy because you were running over people. It looks laughable now though. And Chiller for the NES was pretty bloody in it's day.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 3/17/2008 9:11 PM · Permalink · Report
And Chiller for the NES was pretty bloody in it's day.
a good reference, but it came out even earlier in the arcade. Still, given the cute + cuddly reputation Nintendo cultivated to avoid offending anyone, that version is still a surprise.
Steely Gaze (208) on 3/17/2008 4:27 PM · Permalink · Report
Truer words were never spoken.
Most games aren't more violent, they're just depicted in a more realistic way than from the '80s, just as Daniel said. It also depends on what you count as violence. Any Sierra adventure game was gorier than most horror movies, yet they were done with a humorous style and that made them less violent than other games, even ones that didn't showcase gruesome acts.
I mean, how many shoot-'em-ups were there back in the '80s that had a huge bodycount but no blood? I can't even name all of them.
mobiusclimber (235) on 3/17/2008 6:07 PM · Permalink · Report
Just for the record, some more bloody games from the past: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th (the first one being on the Commodore 64), Abadox, Splatterhouse, Alone in the Dark...
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 3/17/2008 9:16 PM · Permalink · Report
some more bloody games from the past: Abadox
Given that it takes place inside body viscerae, I don't know if they could really get away without any blood 8)
Alone in the Dark...
You are mistaken here, friend: only orgasmic moans from players as they approach death and sinister bubbles of mist evaporating upon enemy death. Still, being carried by a ghoul down to the altar in the basement was in a sense creepier than any amount of blood would have been.
Golden Axe always stood out in my mind -- bloodless, but a bold decision to leave the corpses on-screen.
Now, if you want blood, this is a game that's hard to top!
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 3/17/2008 6:17 PM · Permalink · Report
A word on shoot'em-ups. Most people don't view shoot'em-ups as violent. Some of the more famous ones, people grew up with, like Space Invaders. And there's not usually blood in shoot'em-ups. In fact, if you think about it, shoot'em-ups are more violent then fps's ! At least in some fps's you don't have to kill everything, in a shoot'em-up the only things you don't destroy are the ones that get buy you. Yet most people don't count them as vioelnt because there isn't usually blood or gore in them. It's pretty ironic too that people who don't play so called violent games, like fps's might played a shoot'em-up sometime in their youth. I've played quite a lot myself, but didn't give much thought to the violence level ti'll a few years ago.
Terrence Bosky (5397) on 3/17/2008 7:46 PM · Permalink · Report
Actually, people were concerned about Space Invaders. I read an article from the 1980s where people were complaining about the violence, but I've never been able to find the article again (so annoying). Of course, there's plenty about Space Invaders being addictive:
“There does appear to be an extreme addictive quality to many of the video games that are popular among teen-agers,” Van Osdol said. “I’ve actually witnessed players holding a baby in one arm while they fight it out with Space Invaders with the other.” (The Daily Oklahoman, 11.12.1982)
I also remember reading a conspiracy theory that since you can't actually beat Space Invaders, it represented a Japanese assault on the American psyche. Eventually the US would become demoralized and ripe for the picking. Although since the game caused a 100-Yen coin shortage, maybe it backfired?
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 3/17/2008 8:18 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Oh yeah....I forgot how much trouble Space Invaders caused when it first came out. Mabey I should have used something like Galaga as a example.
Игги Друге (46653) on 3/17/2008 9:40 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Terrence Bosky wrote--]Actually, people were concerned about Space Invaders. I read an article from the 1980s where people were complaining about the violence, but I've never been able to find the article again (so annoying).[/Q --end Terrence Bosky wrote--]
Kraftwerk (the pop group) mentioned their concern about Space Invaders and other violent games in interviews, they didn't like that computers were being used for violence and destruction.
It is also worth noting that Space Invaders was originally intended to be about shooting soldiers, which Taito management found too violent. Soldiers were changed into tanks, but hardware limitations meant that their movements were unrealistic, so the sprites were once again changed into space invaders, partly because the programmer like the song "UFO" by Pink Lady, partly because Taito's marketing people told him about the new movie "Star Wars" becoming a phenomenon in America.
Slug Camargo (583) on 3/17/2008 9:40 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Terrence Bosky wrote--] “There does appear to be an extreme addictive quality to many of the video games that are popular among teen-agers,” Van Osdol said. “I’ve actually witnessed players holding a baby in one arm while they fight it out with Space Invaders with the other.” (The Daily Oklahoman, 11.12.1982) [/Q --end Terrence Bosky wrote--] Someone needs to explain this Van guy that it's one thing that videogames are addictive and whatnot, and it's a whole other thing that some people are such dipshit jackasses that they should be sterilized as soon as they hit puberty.
Игги Друге (46653) on 3/17/2008 10:13 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Dr. Von Katze wrote--] Someone needs to explain this Van guy that it's one thing that videogames are addictive and whatnot, and it's a whole other thing that some people are such dipshit jackasses that they should be sterilized as soon as they hit puberty. [/Q --end Dr. Von Katze wrote--] The whiny gamer's favourite argument:
"A lot of people are of lower genetic standard and should be sterilised and never let into society, whereas I am a sophisticated adult person, which explains my addiction to gore."