A video I watched recently in which an elderly women claimed video games cause children to be sexist, racist, and violent sparked my interest in the concept of blood and gore in video games. I have seen debates in the past regarding this concept and whether or not the gore we see today in games like Gears of War and God of War is too much, but a side of the argument some people fail to explore is the side I support. It's that gore is not necessarily excessive; rather, our technology has improved over the years, allowing developers to explore the art of blowing off limbs in more detail than ever before.
Not even morphine will make that wound feel better Innovation is key to the development of video games. It now plays a bigger role in consumer enjoyment than ever before. It's not rare to see a game receive mediocre reviews if it didn't bring anything new to the table. Is the increase in gore an example of a previously not-well-known concept going through the process of innovation? Ever since video games first hit the market, our technology has progressed at such a fast rate that developers are given more opportunities to take advantage of the technology. Personally, I think blood and gore is an example of the developers doing just that. In the early days of games, did you see limbs flying off of bodies and rolling across the floor? Probably not, because the tech we had back then made it impossible to make that sort of thing happen. But in the current day and age, developers can now make body parts break off when shot and create a plethora of other grotesque ways to mangle bodies.
ARGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!1 The question now is whether or not the gore we see nowadays is excessive. Your answer to that question may be different from others due to personal taste, but I think an important factor to consider is the game. Let's take God Of War as an example. Kratos is a very, very angry person. He has blades attached to his hands, and he's out to cause as much damage as possible. The man killed a god! Would this game be any worse if the gore was turned down a bit, or even taken out completely? The answer is yes. Playing as a big burly man with this much rage wouldn't be as fun if he wasn't tearing enemies in half and gutting creatures with his blades. It would seem silly, almost as if the developers were afraid to include gore or were just too lazy.
Over the years, we've seen a major increase in visual/graphical quality due to technological advancement. The same thing is happening with gore in video games. Is there anything wrong with developers taking advantage of the rise in opportunities? No. Gore in video games becomes a problem when the developer focuses too much attention on it and as a result the core gameplay of said game is affected in a negative way. I think we have yet to head down that path, and I don't see any reason that we should. Gore, like pretty graphics, is meant to enhance the experience for the player, not hinder it. So let's be thankful that video game companies recognize that they can make games better than they could years and years ago. Let's appreciate the developers for introducing gore as a way of saying, "Hey, look what we can do now!"
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