While not every game features violence there certainly are a large number which do. How should we respond to this? Is this violence all bad and should be avoided or is it just inconsequential and we shouldn't worry about it?
I suggest that with a touch of nuance we might be able to find a less extreme reaction to the aggression and come to a more discerning viewpoint.
Consider, for example, the popular game series Super Smash Bros. from Nintendo Entertainment. The game has, at most, a superficial premise and revolves around characters from various Nintendo franchises fighting each other in a form of arena combat.
Despite this pointless violence the game feels light-hearted and comical, at many times verging on slapstick humour. The use of comedy and the animated aesthetic of the game take what could be a grim gladiatorial arena into a light-hearted competition. The framing of the violence sets it apart as clearly fictional and lacking malice.
More than fictional
Is this clearly fictional game violence all there is? As I think we know, unfortunately not.
A recent example may be Tom Clancy's The Division; a game where you take the role of an American operative in a sleeper cell answerable directly to the President of the USA. The game is set following a devastating biological attack and you, the protagonist, are activated to control civil unrest.
This title has been drawing many negative comments due to the game calling you to fire on civilian citizens of your own country without provocation—other than an order to do so. While this could potentially be used as a device to criticise such use of power, the game does no such thing.
The behaviour this game encourages is quite disturbing and how the violence is directed is a major reason for this being an example of disturbing content.
The above examples outline why context is incredibly important when dealing with the concept of violence in video games. However, it is important that we don't use context to justify violence, as there are some games featuring elements which could be described as hyper-violent.
An example is *Total War: Rome II* from developers Creative Assembly. The game itself probably stands as a rather well-balanced game in terms of the content it portrays and the historic setting it engages with.
However, an aftermarket extension—in the form of Downloadable Content (DLC), titled: Blood & Gore—pushes the violent content much further. (Yes, in the original game it depicted pitched battles, however given the historical context it's almost a disservice to history to hide too much.)
When the Blood & Gore DLC adds slasher film levels of hemoglobin following every strike the violence starts overtaking the setting and this is where I think it crosses the line into unnecessary and unhelpful.
A nuanced approach
Violence appears in many ways in video games and, while we have mainly looked at extremes today, I hope these examples help to illustrate ways in which we can think about the role violence is playing in a game and use some discernment when choosing what games we want to play.
Sam Gillespie is a postgraduate research student at the University of New South Wales.
Sam Gillespie's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/sam-gillespie.html