So yesterday there was an interesting article on IGN about game developers finally running up against the common claims that violent games make violent people. The best comment at the time was basically saying "duh" but then went on to ask why violent video games are so... everywhere now. It's all over the place, the days of super colorful platformers has moved on and they are in the background, and I can understand some get sick of seeing the market so full of more violent products. Mostly COD clone shooters. But then you have the arcade fighters, the war waging RTS games, the god of war type action games, and those open world action packed games that have you stabbing, stealing, and hitting people with rubber body parts that aren't decent for the public viewing. It's a pretty violent market right now. Why? Well.... I seen something that tried to answer this well. And it broke down to this:
1) You play and enjoy games mostly for amazing interaction
2) People like interacting with other people, usually with some strategy involved, tactics, and competition. People also love seeing who they can support, or how long they can earn their survival, thus why we probably get a lot of games with horde mode.
3) Shooting games in particular have a very good set up for all sorts of interactions, and online play. Probably the next best thing would be strategy, or MMOs and MMOs are often violent as well, but for strategy usually those are more player limited and have a smaller fanbase while shooters are more marketable. Oh and some of those strategy games are violent to, just not all the time.
With that being said this is just some interesting thoughts on the topic, it can be argued with of course. Personally I agree a bit and I do find myself usually liking the more open action packed games, especially certain FPSs. I think they usually have a good amount of control and freedom to them while still feeling personal enough to be immersive. I recently bought chivalry on it's weekend steam sale, and I love it for it's deep melee combat, it gets intense in a way I can't find or feel in mario or sims, it gets personal and immersive in a way I can't find in tetris or plants vs zombies, and I love it for feeling more open than something like a puzzler or racing game. Not that I'm bashing any of them, I've played all of the mentioned games and enjoyed them, but a game like chivalry clicks with me and I get hooked big time and find myself enjoying other games like Killzone, TF2, starhawk, and W40K: space marine in the same way. And of course with the online I enjoy chatting, making friends, supporting guys, and hunting down certain guys that might be getting in my way. It adds an interesting human level to it that I haven't found in something like chess or co-op mario. I think that's why a lot of violent games get made a lot.
Basically chivalry can look like this:
Or this....
Yet still what matters more is things like...
Behold the strategy! You learn each of their roles through virtually living small lives within them, battling other live people, challenging them, making friends with them, and even challenging yourself within it. There is no other game type quite like it, and yet it covers so much grounds on what the human mind wants. Yes it might be a little violent, but really have you ever heard anyone love a game just because of that reason alone? No. They love points, they love working with other people, competition, the thrill of learning and immersion combined, the feeling of accomplishing something, and as a bonus they can walk away feeling like some kind of barbarian warrior without having anything to be guilty over if that is their thing. This is also why the media is so wrong to accuse these games of training criminals. It's about sportsmanship, immersion, and doing tactics a certain way more than it ever was about psychopathic simulators. It doesn't make people violent, it doesn't make criminals, it is a form of entertainment... plain and simple.
If you're left wanting more peaceful games, fair enough I see your concern. However there is a lot out there to still enjoy. Quit complaining and get back to LBP, mario, wii sports, pure chess, PvZ, etc. There is a ton out there. Yes it sucks that people don't often pay much attention to it, but that's how mainstream stuff works and I'm in the same boat on that. Why IGN will cover every single tiny detail on Call of duty but pushes a review of chivalry out and forgets about it is beyond me or my control, but that does't stop the game from being awesome. Likewise they may not talk much about your addictive flower game, puzzler, or artsy experience, but its still out there for your enjoyment more so than some other things are right now (*points at shooter rants, where different types of FPSs are not actually being stressed enough*).
