10 Images That Encapsulate Gaming's Biggest Problems
9. Better Graphics Make Violence A Real Issue
One of the things that causes the most liberal finger-pointing at the industry is in the portrayal and interaction with of violence and gore. We're currently in something of a simmer at the minute (until Mortal Kombat X comes out anyway), but over the last few years the debate was positively boiling. Two main examples that highlighted the key problems were firstly The Punisher game from 2005 - a title that saw your character Frank Castle bludgeon and torture enemies for information and health-points, whilst also dispatching swathes of the opposition in a whirlwind of broken bones and limb-severance. Subjectively it could be incredibly enjoyable, but the reason this was singled out - and censored in the UK - was because these torture sequences were controllable. With punches, strangulation and many other set-pieces such as introducing someone's face to a buzzsaw or a tank full of piranhas all mapped to the right analogue stick, the mainstream press had a field day saying that the game was a 'torture simulator', pointing to this controllable element as the reason it was worse than something like Manhunt or Grand Theft Auto, which remained uncensored. Although The Punisher character is one born in a history of violent literature and themes, last year Bioshock: Infinite also had to contend with many labelling its use of gore as a huge detractor from an otherwise mature story. Creative Director Ken Levine is known for making sure his games have brains and brawn, but overall the opening scene where you plunge a mechanical arm into a man's skull was enough to cause another wave of controversy and bad critical reception. In trying to move away from just being a medium that's 'only played by children' it would seem like games should strive to present more mature and thought-out depictions of violence and gore. With everything's being rendered in far finer detail, does the element of control change everything, or should gaming mostly be left alone in the same way as that of film?
