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Several pundits, including us at VideoGamer.com, have commented on the trend for extreme violence among the games at E3 2012. Now we can add Warren Spector to the list of concerned parties.
“This is the year where there were two things that stood out for me,” the Deus Ex creator told gamesindustry.biz.
“One was: The ultraviolence has to stop. We have to stop loving it. I just don’t believe in the effects argument at all, but I do believe that we are fetishizing violence, and now in some cases actually combining it with an adolescent approach to sexuality. I just think it’s in bad taste. Ultimately I think it will cause us trouble.”
Spector explains that the the growing trend for violent game design was one of the reasons why he left Eidos back in 2004. And now he feels that things have gotten worse.
“We’ve gone too far. The slow-motion blood spurts, the impalement by deadly assassins, the knives, shoulders, elbows to the throat. You know, Deus Ex had its moments of violence, but they were designed – whether they succeeded or not I can’t say – but they were designed to make you uncomfortable, and I don’t see that happening now.
“I think we’re just appealing to an adolescent mindset and calling it mature. It’s time to stop. I’m just glad I work for a company like Disney, where not only is that not something that’s encouraged, you can’t even do it, and I’m fine with it.”
As for the second thing Spector noticed, he’s also worried about the way console-makers are increasingly turning their attention away from games:
“When the games are the least interesting part, there’s a problem. When did the game conference become about interfacing with Netflix? I just worry a little bit.
“The thing that’s ironic is that I feel like we really are in a golden age, in a weird sort of way. Nobody knows what the future of games is. Nobody. At a time like that Notch can come along and do Minecraft, and Chris Hecker can finally do his incredible party spy game, and Jon Blow can do Braid, and I can do a triple-A Mickey Mouse game – anything is possible.”
Spector is currently working on Epic Mickey 2, which is due for release this September on all leading formats. Apart from the Vita and the 3DS – the latter is getting Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.
Someone please buy that man a drink.
Most gamers will agree with Spector’s second observation, but I hope a few people see where he’s coming from with the first point, too. I’m someone who has always gravitated towards violent games, and even I felt that a lot of the stuff on show this year was a bit gratuitous.
When the blood-letting becomes the main attraction – or the only one, for that matter – we’ve got to ask ourselves serious questions.
