What we talk about when we talk about violence in games
Are you tired of the ongoing conversation about whether this game is “too violent” or whether that game “glorifies violence”? Boy oh boy, me too. Don’t worry, this isn’t about that. This is about my thoughts on why we talk about that. And yes, this was sparked by me reading some tweets from some friends and cool, smart people whose opinions on this I totally respect.
First of all, because I think there’s a danger in coming across like someone who considers themselves above the fray when discussing matters like this, I want to be clear: I have enjoyed and do enjoy plenty of violent games. I don’t consider myself above anything here.
And I know that the recent discussions about the violence in DOOM (2016) can make it feel like we’ve been going in circles and having the same conversations about violence in games since at least the release of DOOM (1993). And I get that it’s not really interesting anymore, if it ever was. It’s not an intellectually stimulating conversation that opens up all sorts of exciting new ways of considering what games are doing. Unfortunately, that’s not really the point of the conversation, I don’t think, and it never has been, and sometimes there are tiresome things that still need to be said, issues that need to be raised. Sometimes people need to be killjoys.
Our culture has a problem with violence. The ways that we think about violence and the values that we associate the capacity for violence with. And a lot of media–movies, video games, and so on–reinforce and perpetuate our culture’s values about violence. That doesn’t mean that I think a blanket “Violence in games is bad” position is the right one. And even when violence is troubling, I think there’s value in talking about why it’s troubling: the 24-esque, torture-glorifying violence of Batman: Arkham Knight is different and functions somewhat differently from the racist, pro-military, gun-lovin’ violence of some Call of Duty games.
And I don’t want the discussion of any game to entirely start and end with its violence. In some games, there’s little else to talk about, but with Arkham Knight, I want to talk about its urban atmosphere, and some of the storytelling devices it employs, and how it structures the process of investigating and solving crimes, and how awful some of the Riddler stuff is, and on and on. But brutal violence is huge part of what you do in that game and I think it should be a significant part of how we think and talk about the game.
In response to some of the criticism directed at the DOOM reveal, a lot of people have said that it’s all a matter of personal preference, and if you don’t like it, don’t play it. Responses like this miss the point of the conversation completely. When we talk about how games objectify women and perpetuate ideas in our society about the roles of women and what aspects of women give them and their lives meaning and value, it doesn’t make sense to say “If you don’t like it, don’t play it,” because the issue is one of cultural impact. Critiquing violence in a game is no different. I think it’s about encouraging ourselves and others to think critically about the values embedded in the gameplay mechanics. And much like how pointing out that games often work to reinforce patriarchal values about women hasn’t made that problem go away or brought the conversation to a close, it may sometimes be tiresome but we’re just not at a point yet where we can say, “Okay, everyone, good job, we can stop suggesting that this particular game glorifies violence now.”
Like Arkham Knight, I hope that DOOM ends up giving us more to talk about than just violence, but there’s no question for me that violence should be a big part of what we talk about when we talk about DOOM. And perhaps it doesn’t seem nuanced or sophisticated to just say that chainsawing a demon to bits (as part of gameplay that is designed to be fun, exciting and empowering) works to glorify brutal violence. But I don’t think it’s a very sophisticated issue. I think there are some things that are pretty cut and dried, but that still sometimes need to be said.
Notes
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