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Death is never a good thing in life, it’s something that everyone wants to keep away from during their short stay in this world. Everyday, part of our lives is made to avoid this. Some of us do this, some of us don’t, and when they don’t, it’s the families that pay the consequence. But yet, games and films contain this within them all the time. For every action film out there the death toll is usually sky high, and most games have death as a big factor in them too. And where as in real life we hate this, in games, its something that we thrive up on.
This is something that has bewildered me for some time, in my gaming life I have owned more games that concentrate on killing than I have that haven’t, and in all honesty I have probably enjoyed these games more than anything. Why though is something that I cant really answer, and something that I can only really guess at. As a young boy I was always interested in gore, as im sure most of you were too, there was always something about it that intrigued me, and this was directly given to me in games. At the time of the PS1 I was still rather young, and it offered games like Resi that are well known for there blood thirst. So they were an instant hit with me. Then there was the fact that it seemed fun to be able to kill in games, get away with things that you would be arrested for in real life, everyone likes to be mischievous at times, gaming was perfect for this. But death is a weird thing to like in games.
Death is a thing that crops up in games all the time now, and in my opinion it’s for one real reason. You have a simple genre as a developer right in your hands. You can take the killing genre, and rather than model a genre around a plot, you can arrange a plot around a genre. DMC, Resi, MGS , GTA, all very similar games, your aim is to kill to progress and that’s the same for each of these and the only real difference being is the plot and the slight difference in game play. It’s that simple. The only hard work needed is to make a plot worthy of a good game and then all the previous work has been done for you, all you have to decide is what style game you will model yours on. One main difference between these games though is the way they portray death.
GTA is well known for one thing, the sheer gore that is ever present in one of the most controversial games to date, along side SOE. However, with the quirky characters the games comedy blood the killing was never made to be taken seriously, it was there to be laughed at. The whole game on a whole was not to be taken serious and this could be seen with the story line. The fact that you could batter a poor old woman to death carrying here shopping home at 11:23pm is something that no other game had dared to mess with, and when GTA did, it was something that was to be laughed at. The main reason why this was not taken serious was the lack of detail on the bodies and the comedy like blood, and the fact that the story made no real reference to the killing at all. But a game such as MGS 2 tackeled this totally the opposite.
Although the games are rather different in style, they are both focused on killing, but where MGS 2 is different is that it goes further and plays on your emotions. For anyone who has finished it, you will know that there is a rather sad scene with Emma dieing in it, seeing her brother for the first time in years. The scene wasn’t exactly tear jerking but did more than make me think about death, and killing all the sprites that patrolled around. Throughout the game references are made by Snake on the lines that ‘death is never good, even on the battle field’ which is true. Death is taken a lot more serious in this game, more so because its more realistic, with enemies that look and act real, with blood that behaves just as the stuff that flows around you veins and splats on the walls, this is a game that makes death a real subject, and one that needs to be taken for what it is. And all credit has got to be given to Hideo Kojami for this. He is one of the few developers that has taken time and really put thought into this aspect, where as most of them include it to get the sales up and as a quick solution to make a game. Other games such as Resi and Silent Hill have too tried to make a seriousness out of death too, but none get it quite like Metal Gear, with each scene the game is dealt out to you as the real thing, at times, as Snake gives his speech you really do feel that you have taken away a family member as you shoot away at the guards, and you really feel for Ocaton in his scene. You have to shake your self to remember that this is only a game, and this at times is only because the barrier of the games graphics is there to remind you. All credit to the writers of the game.
So this brings me back to the question of why we like these games more than others? Is it because you are doing something that’s wrong, and you know you can get away with it? Or is it the fact that games like this have an endless number of ways in which you can go about your business and complete the game.
Some people don’t like death related games, and others do, so what’s your opinion?
This is something that has bewildered me for some time, in my gaming life I have owned more games that concentrate on killing than I have that haven’t, and in all honesty I have probably enjoyed these games more than anything. Why though is something that I cant really answer, and something that I can only really guess at. As a young boy I was always interested in gore, as im sure most of you were too, there was always something about it that intrigued me, and this was directly given to me in games. At the time of the PS1 I was still rather young, and it offered games like Resi that are well known for there blood thirst. So they were an instant hit with me. Then there was the fact that it seemed fun to be able to kill in games, get away with things that you would be arrested for in real life, everyone likes to be mischievous at times, gaming was perfect for this. But death is a weird thing to like in games.
Death is a thing that crops up in games all the time now, and in my opinion it’s for one real reason. You have a simple genre as a developer right in your hands. You can take the killing genre, and rather than model a genre around a plot, you can arrange a plot around a genre. DMC, Resi, MGS , GTA, all very similar games, your aim is to kill to progress and that’s the same for each of these and the only real difference being is the plot and the slight difference in game play. It’s that simple. The only hard work needed is to make a plot worthy of a good game and then all the previous work has been done for you, all you have to decide is what style game you will model yours on. One main difference between these games though is the way they portray death.
GTA is well known for one thing, the sheer gore that is ever present in one of the most controversial games to date, along side SOE. However, with the quirky characters the games comedy blood the killing was never made to be taken seriously, it was there to be laughed at. The whole game on a whole was not to be taken serious and this could be seen with the story line. The fact that you could batter a poor old woman to death carrying here shopping home at 11:23pm is something that no other game had dared to mess with, and when GTA did, it was something that was to be laughed at. The main reason why this was not taken serious was the lack of detail on the bodies and the comedy like blood, and the fact that the story made no real reference to the killing at all. But a game such as MGS 2 tackeled this totally the opposite.
Although the games are rather different in style, they are both focused on killing, but where MGS 2 is different is that it goes further and plays on your emotions. For anyone who has finished it, you will know that there is a rather sad scene with Emma dieing in it, seeing her brother for the first time in years. The scene wasn’t exactly tear jerking but did more than make me think about death, and killing all the sprites that patrolled around. Throughout the game references are made by Snake on the lines that ‘death is never good, even on the battle field’ which is true. Death is taken a lot more serious in this game, more so because its more realistic, with enemies that look and act real, with blood that behaves just as the stuff that flows around you veins and splats on the walls, this is a game that makes death a real subject, and one that needs to be taken for what it is. And all credit has got to be given to Hideo Kojami for this. He is one of the few developers that has taken time and really put thought into this aspect, where as most of them include it to get the sales up and as a quick solution to make a game. Other games such as Resi and Silent Hill have too tried to make a seriousness out of death too, but none get it quite like Metal Gear, with each scene the game is dealt out to you as the real thing, at times, as Snake gives his speech you really do feel that you have taken away a family member as you shoot away at the guards, and you really feel for Ocaton in his scene. You have to shake your self to remember that this is only a game, and this at times is only because the barrier of the games graphics is there to remind you. All credit to the writers of the game.
So this brings me back to the question of why we like these games more than others? Is it because you are doing something that’s wrong, and you know you can get away with it? Or is it the fact that games like this have an endless number of ways in which you can go about your business and complete the game.
Some people don’t like death related games, and others do, so what’s your opinion?
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same here. bloody crappy Windows MSN
I cant do anything either :'(
Ah well tell me when you can send a message. I am doing a spot of homework
Ah well tell me when you can send a message. I am doing a spot of homework
I cant flippin get on! Damn Microsoft rubbish. And then when i do, i cant speak to anyone as it wont go through.
This is why i steered clear of X-box. :)
This is why i steered clear of X-box. :)
Er..well....speaking of death, why are you not on MSN?
Well....thanks Badger.....:)
I'll reply again
Good topic Pro Evo :D.
Good topic Pro Evo :D.
Pop to the top.
Say what? POP!
Cheers for the comments people.
And yeah, like Neo said, its good to finally see games take death into more considration and actually make a subject around it than just for the sake of it.
And yeah, like Neo said, its good to finally see games take death into more considration and actually make a subject around it than just for the sake of it.
Nice topic again Pro (as always)
Death huh?
*Contemplates throwing a grenade @ Shalashaska*
Anyway getting back to the point you were making
It made me think why I actully buy games with violence activitys within them and it has to be down to simply that I like games with action, fighting and violence. However some of this games also try and show mix messages to gamer's like the example of Octacon & E.E showing what happens as a result of violence, not seen her for years etc. which is also refreshing to see rather than just an all out killing affair.
I think many developers must look @ showing both sides of how people react to death, consequences as well as killing the bad guy.
Death huh?
*Contemplates throwing a grenade @ Shalashaska*
Anyway getting back to the point you were making
It made me think why I actully buy games with violence activitys within them and it has to be down to simply that I like games with action, fighting and violence. However some of this games also try and show mix messages to gamer's like the example of Octacon & E.E showing what happens as a result of violence, not seen her for years etc. which is also refreshing to see rather than just an all out killing affair.
I think many developers must look @ showing both sides of how people react to death, consequences as well as killing the bad guy.
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