Gratuitous?

[CWLite]

When does violence become gratuitous? Is there a drwn line that needs to be seen? Is all violence in games wrong?

I think that is has to do with the theme of the game. If it is a war game, I can understand if there is some blood, I mean bullet can do damage. But when it comes to Unreal, Doom, and Universal Soldier, the violence is glorified with flying body parts. As a Christian, I just have a feeling on what is ok and what is, well, gratuitous. What about you?

 

[Lithium Hobo]

Like you said, it all depends on the theme. If it's a realistic war game, some realistic blood showing is fine, even some limb damage is realistic. If it's fantasy, a bit more leway is given because of the genre. I think violence becomes gratuitous when you get blood splattered on the screen and across the map just to glorify it.

 

[seebs]

There's two questions here.
1. How much blood should we depict when violence occurs?
2. How much violence should be occurring?

 

[CWLite]

Do you guys think that RE and Silent HIll is gratuitous?

 

[seebs]

Dunno, never seen or played either.

I played Fallout, where I felt the violence was gritty, but not gratuitous -- especially because it appears to be entirely optional, if you want to try to work around it.

 

[SUNSTONE]

You have a "feeling" that it is bad, I have a "feeling" that it is good.
I enjoy violence very much.
Some of my favorite movies are very violent.

The only thing the bible says about blood, is don't drink it, and don't spill it in real life.

 

[Lithium Hobo]

Do you guys think that RE and Silent HIll is gratuitous?

If they were games made just for shooting and not fear, then yes, they would be. However!, because the two games in question are designed to scare the player, then it is not gratuitous, it is art and design to scare.