Before a game reaches the development stage, months if not years of planning must occur to lay the foundation of plot, design, style and to incorporate the mechanics. Many games have received overhauls mid-production, leading to drastic changes in the gameplay, but one aspect that seems to remain a constant from the start is one simple idea: How congruous to reality do we want this game to adhere? Reality can simply take the form of the appearance of the game - although sci-fi themed, the Metal Gear series has remained visually "real" with dark landscapes, cumbersome armor and overall tone, whereas Assassin's Creed uses the backdrop of actual REAL history to overlay it's characters and story. Reality in gaming does not necessarily have to mean obeying the laws of physics, but usually works with a manipulation of a system of morals or ideals. A game's age rating is not based solely on the amount of blood but rather some of the actions the player may be forced to take. One of the deliberately controversial scenes in Modern Warfare 3 forced the player to maneuver the camera (literally) to film a gas attack on a family. Whilst not strikingly realistically rendered, it is the core concept that contains the possibility of this kind of scenario playing out in real life. If I may digress for one moment to recount an anecdote (not mine, but for the purposes of this article I will tell it as if it were my own), that took place on the day of release of COD Modern Warfare 3. Having already per-ordered the game, I had no need to actually go in-store and buy a copy, but I was walking past a long line and saw a mother and child, who was no older than 12, obviously lining up to buy a copy of this certificate 18 video game. I asked her whether or not she knew the game was rated 18 and whether it was wise to buy it for her clearly underage son. She replied, "oh, it's okay: he's very clever." What this encounter reveals to me is a severe underestimation of what is contained in this specific medium. Would you allow a child to watch Fight Club? or Dexter? This is a problem also found in the more adult strains of Anime, which is frequently watched by kids whose parents see a cartoon on the box and decide it's okay - but the question is constant: would you allow a child to watch Family Guy or Robot Chicken? Just because something is not externally "real" does not mean that the story isn't. For some reason, books which contain no pictures at all are not given the same treatment as distinctly engaging media. You will never find a parent who thought it appropriate to buy their son or daughter a copy of "The Color Purple" but will find many who gave them Halo 4 for their 10th Birthday. Presented in a format named "Games" an activity partaken by children since the dawn of time, is is understandable why this takes place.
The inevitable argument that occurs with the subject of realism in gaming is whether or not it makes a game more enjoyable, and that is an argument that hinges on many things. For example, Portal features a realistic physics engine, but couples that with the unlikely use of Portals to travel. The limits of physics alongside the portal mechanic makes for an excellent game, as it is a key plot device and point around which the entire game is based. Therefore, we may logically conclude that as long as the main points of reality are present, the suspensions of disbelief are permissible. Magic, the supernatural and far fetched scientific ideas may coexist as long as the characters are human (or humanoid) and the world is well built enough to support them. Entirely fantastic settings and scenarios such as World of Warcraft, or Rayman which exist as colorful, cartoonish representations of alternate realities. Yet the gameplay that allows you to play through these worlds is fun and engaging, and from this aspect, the actual setting matters less than the controls and puzzles. Braid is equally colorful but the time travel mechanisms and platforming puzzles make the storyline of hardship and difficulty more real in terms of the actual narrative. Here we find that as long as the actual game part of video game is realistic and allows aces into another world, the game is as good as a visceral, visually accurate representation of the world we actually live in.
Some of the most accurately recreated parts of the world in video games lie in war games, in First Person, Third Person and strategy games. Based on Heart of Darkness, the recently popular Spec-Ops: The Line had the black comedic aspects often associated with war genre literature and media, but also faced the very real problems of PTSD and used hyper realistic graphics to express its inner darkness. Across the spectrum we have Call of Duty, with its "James Bondesque" snowmobile cliff jumps and cold war subtext. COD has less immediacy with its graphics and is in close competition with particle engine fueled Battlefield for the award of most generic FPS. In all three cases, realism is necessary in a way that isn't relevant for Mass Effect or Red Faction, because the script requires the players ability to emote with the immediate issues of terrorism and espionage. Realism works for an FPS for the same reason the cartoonish graphics appeal to Rayman - the actual story and setting demand for the images we play through to be similar to things we encounter in newspapers or on the TV, or even in war movies.
With next gen consoles soon-to-be, real time rendering and high res processing, it may be argued that game developers may have a responsibility to create characters and worlds with which the player can relate and respond to. The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite gave us worlds to adapt to and players to befriend or antagonize, and although Infinite featured less realistic graphics, the artistic style it was presented in was consistent with the previous games, and worked very well with the kinds of imagery we were presented with. The BioShock series is an excellent specimen of realism in terms of philosophy - although the storyline is interesting and has depths of its own respect, the antagonists beliefs, specifically Andrew Ryan, have ideas that are actually acceptable and logical and the philosophy that exists behind their motives is as real as any highly rendered carbine rifle in Battlefield. Realism through the ideas of capitalism, racism and alternate realities are great additions to the gameplay that would be fun on its own, with plasmid/vigor and weapon combinations absent in other games. The jagged edged graphics of GTA were only superficial, as the game still managed to express the gritty realism behind the expressions of many players rampages through the city. Cathartic as it is, I am certain that with the more realistic graphics of GTA V, the number of complaints will increase exponentially. Whilst still managing to remain colorful and quirky, GTA V looks to be a game that through its detachment from reality will allow behaviors punished in other games, "you killed a civilian" from COD will most likely not appear in GTA V. Realism through visual appearance and the core ideologies of video games is a commonly discussed and appreciated topic, but a more overlooked aspect is the politics found in games with a more diplomatic focus. Skyrim featured a civil war and the need for the player to talk through negotiations from his woefully unqualified position as Dragonborn. Politics in gaming can be easily found; the aforementioned alternate history BioShock featured references to the history and beliefs of an elitist America of the 1910's, and the anti-communist individualism of the 60's. Crass and adrenaline fueled, the Modern Warfare series still manages to deliver the relevant themes of negotiation and violence in a setting where it is as easy as calling in a drone strike to decimate the surrounding forces.
The contrast struck between the realistic and unrealistic approach to video games will only increase as games become more digitally refined/stylistic and as the break between mainstream commercial developers and artistic indie developers begins to close, with the ease and accessibility of development software. Low contrast, arcade style games such as Angry Birds would absolutely not benefit from an injection of realism, but games like Metal Gear could have something to gain by adopting a more lighthearted stance to enhance its gritty visuals. What do you think? Should realism in games be generalized across the board, with all games being realistic/unrealistic or should it be specific for some games to be highly stylized with artistic direction such as Limbo and others to be physically and metaphysically believable? Does realism add to the escapism that is intended by the medium or detract from it?