When Does Gore Get In the Way of Gameplay? 141
Wired is running a story inspired by the level of gore in the recent Wolverine game that wonders: how much is too much? It mentions a study we discussed in February which indicated that violence tended to interest gamers less than other characteristics.
"... the longer you play a 'twitch' action game, the less you notice the cultural content — the gushing blood, the shrieks of agony. You're too busy focusing on the gameplay. I noticed this with Wolverine. For the first hour, I found the deranged bloodshed both shocking and exciting; it made me feel like I 'was' Logan, the grunting, killing-machine character from Marvel Comics' X-Men universe. But as I became more expert, the cultural shell of the game boiled away. In a sort of staring-into-the-cascading-numbers-of-the-Matrix way, I found myself looking past the visible aspects of the game and savoring the underlying, invisible mechanics of play. ... The game became pure physics and algorithms: Vectors, speed and collision detection. The gore had become mostly irrelevant."
Exactly (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're properly focused on a game you don't really notice the extras. For example when playing guitar hero my friends occasionally point out something that's happening with the band in the background (even when they're playing), but I don't notice anything but the notes (even when I'm not playing). Those that focus on stuff like blood flying around probably aren't actually focused on beating the game. Still, it's better to have some gore than none at all otherwise how will you know that you've scored a hit? Likewise for realistic graphics, it does add to the immersion to have realistic lighting even if you're not paying much attention to it, and sometimes it is nice just to kick back and admire the scenery (the sunrise and sunsets in GTA IV were pretty awesome).
When (Score:5, Insightful)
the developers decide to write a "screenwiper" package that wipes the blood and guts off of the user's screen so they can see well enough to shoot?
When you stop noticing it, it's too much. (Score:5, Insightful)
You eat vindaloo, you know it's going to be hot. You expect it, you get used to it.
If you really want to shock somebody, put a scotch bonnet in their chocolate cake.
Hitchcock knew this perfectly well. A whole movie of rising tension, and then suddenly, WHAM, a shocker image.
Same for gore in video games.
Re:Silent Hill 2 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Silent Hill 2 (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the "Psycho" effect. No horror you can see can be worse than the horror your mind makes up itself. Suspense is often much more terrifying than a shocking display.
Gore is Necessary (Score:5, Insightful)
That reminds me... (Score:2, Insightful)
"The game became pure physics and algorithms: Vectors, speed and collision detection."
This is just how I feel about Hunt The Wumpus!
Or perhaps "Rogue" would have been a better example?
Gore is like spice- (Score:3, Insightful)
that is used in food. Enough to accentuate the flavour, but too much and you overwhelm what you are trying to improve.
All of which overshadows the basic premise: If your game sucks, then no amount of T&A, or gore, will help improve that.
Re:Silent Hill 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
However, /my/ argument is the opposite. When I shoot someone in the forehead, I expect some blood (at least). I'm sorry, but when a game model simply falls down after a headshot it makes the gameplay cartoonish.
I guess the question how much blood and gore would happen in real life from these things. I mean some of these games it would seem to me that you don't need to shoot them as they would die from hyper tension in a few minutes. As the human body isn't really design to explode when it suffers an injury even a big one. Even if you get shot in an artery you will have a little stream of blood squirting up a few feet. Not a splatter of blood that consists of gallons of blood.
sigh (Score:3, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:can't you turn Gore off? (Score:4, Insightful)
The best feature of Soldier of Fortune was the gore. You aim for the shoulder and blow the guy's arm off and he can't shoot you anymore, voila. You can tell, just by looking, whether you hit the guy critically or not. If his neck is spurting blood, you know you don't need to put another bullet in him.
The game's big selling feature was accurate weapons and dismemberment, so if you don't like those things, play something else.
Re:Gore is Necessary (Score:2, Insightful)
What on earth for? Why should we all live under a pretensive purple sky, when it is perfectly fine for us all to agree that the sky is in fact blue?
Please, elaborate.
The idea that some forms of art are "more serious" than others is closely tied to culture. Certain cultures can have "serious" comic books or puppet shows, whereas here in the West these things are generally considered kiddie fare. Conversely, these foreign cultures may be amused by the West getting so worked up about football, and consider it a frivolous child's game.