Also, a link to a video game trailer which directly incorporates such violence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqrG1bdGtg&ob=av3e
Monday, November 7, 2011
Death and Children
What do people think about the use of violence against children in video games? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is about to hit the shelves, and a leaked video of a terrorist attack in London shows a young girl attempting to shoo away some pigeons before being blown up by a truck-bomb in front of her mother. Now, while Modern Warfare isn't one to shy away from controversy (their previous title had the player walk into a Russian airport and gun down countless innocent civilians), is there a moral line that video games should not cross when it comes to such violence? Is there a point where entertainment and morality cannot blend? I certainly don't think so, but what do you think?
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Terrifying stuff, and as vile as I might find it, putting boundaries on what video games can or cannot say or show would violate its creators' freedom of speech and expression. Having said that, I believe the video games of the future will probably get even worse, and people will get used to it. Ultra-violence against any quarter seems to be a pretty strong part of video game culture in general. Many people seem to use video games as a vent for their aggressive urges.
ReplyDeleteWell that's going to haunt me tonight :(
ReplyDeleteI've seen the other trailers for this game and they really seemed to be trying to make light of the "Zombies in Paradise" idea (like Weekend at Bernie's gone wrong) but this seemed to be doing the exact opposite; trying as hard as possible to humanize the characters with over the top drama, emotion, music, violence, gore, sentimentality... just... everything to the extreme.
I don't have a huge range of knowledge on this - but after watching the Bioshock trailers and this it's interesting that girls are the ones being targeted. It makes me think that they are playing with the sweet little girl stereotype to make them the unexpectedly evil character.
ReplyDeleteI like exposing violence into the world of children, because, aside from the fact that I'm sadistic, I think it gives children a wonderful opportunity to overcome the world of violence. Children always represent innocence in every medium. So we, as Americans especially, have this habit of shielding children from the violent worlds.
ReplyDeleteBut I think children are capable of rising beyond this world of violence in any story. If you make it work, the emotional outcome can be very powerful.
It's a question of unity of opposites. Children are supposed to be the opposite of violence. But they aren't. That's why Bioshock works for me. I played out the good ending, where the Children rise above their evil actions and return (spoiler alert) to the surface with Jack as his children.
Think about the film Schindler's List and how the children in that story fight to survive the same as everyone else (I'm reminded of the boy you hid out inside the toilet).
If the world is violent, and children are part of the world, why not. There is no morality except the morals you choose.
-JOey