[CW: violence/gore]. As the title suggests, is there a left case to be made against ultra-violence in video games? I’m thinking mostly about MK11 and MK1 fatalities, as opposed to less gratuitous and less hyper-realistic violence–in Dark Souls or something. Whenever this topic is brought up, other factors usually take up the oxygen in the room: People might immediately think of family-values conservatives, such as the Media Research Center, who act like wet-blankets towards entertainment. Or we think of nerdy Joe Lieberman, who showed the 1993 Sub-Zero spine fatality to Congress (lol). There was Hillary Clinton who decried the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and the host of rightwing politicians who blamed Doom for the Columbine shooting (clearly as a way to absolve gun legislation from any culpability). So this is what I mean when I say that the conversation on video-game violence has been ceded entirely to these dudes, as opposed to something left spaces can discuss without sounding like squares or censors. This came to mind after I was reading about the video game designer who developed PTSD after working on Mortal Kombat 11. His dreams became excruciatingly violent, and his day-to-day was interacting with coworkers studying medical anatomy and watching videos of slaughtered animals. That can’t be good for anyone. I guess what I’m asking is: should leftists see this as harmless fun, or something problematic? And, will photo-realistic Fatalities exist in the communist future?
I’d file the psychic damage the devs went through under the general category of game companies treating their employees like disposable grist.
I’ll make the more core observation that generally speaking, ultra-realistic ultra violence and good game rarely go together. Things like the early MK games (imma get back to this) and the GTA games were more exceptions to the rule than the rule. Ultra violent games tend to be bad for the same reason porn games are mostly bad; when you’re luring in customers on the shock and titillation, it means that can serve as a substitute for quality gaming.
Like, I’ve been watching some of the high level matches from the most recent EVO, and those are some entertaining matches. The guilty gear strive final was amazing, the third strike final was great, the third strike quarterfinal between Hayao and Frankiebfg was legend tier, Tekken 8 finals were great, same for SF6. And then there was the MK1 finals, which were absolutely dull. And I don’t think it was the competitors’ fault, SonicFox is one of the all-time greats. It’s because the game itself is just not well designed for interesting competitive play. The ultraviolence in modern MK games is definitely a sideshow to distract you from how bland the core gameplay is.