Bloody Murder: Can in-game violence alter your decisions?

Cue the outrage about video games turning people into monsters! Ok before you read this I will first tell you that this blog is not about the links between violent video games and real world violence. Simply because its a joke and has already been proven to have no significant connections. What I am going to delve into is whether playing a violent game can make your in-game decisions differ from how you usually act. In other words are you nice in some games and a murderous psycho in others because of the content?

The particular game that has started me thinking about this topic is Hotline Miami. It is a top down pixel art mass murdering shoot-em up. For anyone who hasn't played it your character goes from building to building slashing and shooting apart baddies. Blood flies everywhere you go and you die constantly while pulsating techno beats repeat over and over.

Just for reference I really enjoyed this game. It has a great feel and a gruesome dark atmosphere however I was relatively shocked at the deeds that were occurring during the game. There comes to a point after you have died a bunch of times when you start relishing each over the top and bloody kill. Spraying a room with bullets and then cracking a guys head open on the wall becomes an unsettling satisfaction. I put this down to knowing what the alternative was. If you don't kill them you are very likely to be blown across the room or slashed in half. Avoiding death by any means becomes the priority. Specifically there are moments in the game where you talk one-on-one with victims trying to get information. In these situations I found myself getting what I needed and then killing them. I am not even sure if I had the option of leaving them alone but I did not want to take the chance of being blown apart because I was soft.

This is in stark contrast to how I usually play video games. Typically the Paragon, a man of reason always looking out for the unfortunate and willing to give anyone a chance. I like to play the nice guy and it often pays to help people out in games. However some games force a much worse side out of me. In Gears of war the visceral nature of the combat means that it can be more satisfying to use a violent means to kill an enemy. Instead of sitting back and shooting from afar I prefer to run in and chainsaw those bastards in the face!

Once again I knew the alternative was a bloody end and those locust are bad eggs and by George did I relish blowing them to pieces! However I feel that this sort of playstyle is a bit of an anomaly for me. In a game like Mass effect where the kills are not gory and the themes are generally not that dark I play in a much more sensible way. If you get shot to death your body simply falls to the ground, no fuss then you start again. You also can not blow enemies apart so gunning them down from afar gives the same result as a close shot. It also makes my in-game decisions more precise and reasonable. I would rather listen to what someone has to say (even if they tried to kill me) and try to work out some sort of diplomatic solution rather than killing them. Maybe this is because I don't fear the repercussions of the decisions because death is not as scary a proposition. In no way do I feel that either of these approaches to death are better than the other but they definitely contribute to my playstyle in the game.

All in all I prefer to play the good guy. It makes me feel better at the end of a game to know that I have saved and helped all that I could and my conscience is clear that I have not murdered for the sake of it. However I do know that there is a darker side of my gaming self that will do whatever is necessary in the face of impending and gory doom.

What do you guys think? Does a violent game compromise your gaming identity? Let me know!

Cheers!

Lachie

I always feel bad when taking the "evil" option in games. A good example is Bioshock. I know it's just a game, but I literally felt bad when choosing to farm the little sisters, however I did, so I could see the different ending. Many games such as Fable, Mass Effect, Skyrim etc will give the player moral options. If the player wants to see all possible endings they must sometimes take the option that they would consider morally wrong. These types of games do compromise my gaming identity as I like to do the right and moral thing. However, and I suppose it's how an actor may feel playing an evil antagonist, these games give you an outlet to act in a way you would never act in "real" life. As a whole though, I like to play the good guy.

Yeah, interesting point bringing up Bioshock I had forgotten about that. For me when I first harvested the little sister before any real fighting had broken out it made me feel a bit sick and I felt really bad. However, after I fought my first Big Daddy I was like **** that! I need to get all the help I can get. I felt justified in doing it because I needed the extra power. I think that the game also helps you justify the decision with the guy telling you that they're not really human anymore and it is a nice thing to let them out of their misery. Probably all it did was cover up my guilt!

I say its context, context context. It really comes down to the uncanny psychological valley of role playing. When do you feel as though you are a participant in this game world, or the puppetmaster of an authored character or test-tube avatar, pushing buttons to see what crazy stuff happens. Different games based on how they accentuate certain elements can make the most immoral acts seem tone deaf, and some inconsequential ones, extremely important.

For example, In Half-life's surface tension level, I would sometimes leap off high heights to crash down face first on the cracked desert floor below, just to mess around with my fear of heights, and see if it extended to the perception in a video game. It was simple shock thrills. Didn't mean I was in-game suicidal, but that I knew I had infinite mulligans.

@renouncereality said:

Cue the outrage about video games turning people into monsters! Ok before you read this I will first tell you that this blog is not about the links between violent video games and real world violence. Simply because its a joke and has already been proven to have no significant connections. What I am going to delve into is whether playing a violent game can make your in-game decisions differ from how you usually act. In other words are you nice in some games and a murderous psycho in others because of the content?

The particular game that has started me thinking about this topic is Hotline Miami. It is a top down pixel art mass murdering shoot-em up. For anyone who hasn't played it your character goes from building to building slashing and shooting apart baddies. Blood flies everywhere you go and you die constantly while pulsating techno beats repeat over and over.

Just for reference I really enjoyed this game. It has a great feel and a gruesome dark atmosphere however I was relatively shocked at the deeds that were occurring during the game. There comes to a point after you have died a bunch of times when you start relishing each over the top and bloody kill. Spraying a room with bullets and then cracking a guys head open on the wall becomes an unsettling satisfaction. I put this down to knowing what the alternative was. If you don't kill them you are very likely to be blown across the room or slashed in half. Avoiding death by any means becomes the priority. Specifically there are moments in the game where you talk one-on-one with victims trying to get information. In these situations I found myself getting what I needed and then killing them. I am not even sure if I had the option of leaving them alone but I did not want to take the chance of being blown apart because I was soft.

This is in stark contrast to how I usually play video games. Typically the Paragon, a man of reason always looking out for the unfortunate and willing to give anyone a chance. I like to play the nice guy and it often pays to help people out in games. However some games force a much worse side out of me. In Gears of war the visceral nature of the combat means that it can be more satisfying to use a violent means to kill an enemy. Instead of sitting back and shooting from afar I prefer to run in and chainsaw those bastards in the face!

Once again I knew the alternative was a bloody end and those locust are bad eggs and by George did I relish blowing them to pieces! However I feel that this sort of playstyle is a bit of an anomaly for me. In a game like Mass effect where the kills are not gory and the themes are generally not that dark I play in a much more sensible way. If you get shot to death your body simply falls to the ground, no fuss then you start again. You also can not blow enemies apart so gunning them down from afar gives the same result as a close shot. It also makes my in-game decisions more precise and reasonable. I would rather listen to what someone has to say (even if they tried to kill me) and try to work out some sort of diplomatic solution rather than killing them. Maybe this is because I don't fear the repercussions of the decisions because death is not as scary a proposition. In no way do I feel that either of these approaches to death are better than the other but they definitely contribute to my playstyle in the game.

All in all I prefer to play the good guy. It makes me feel better at the end of a game to know that I have saved and helped all that I could and my conscience is clear that I have not murdered for the sake of it. However I do know that there is a darker side of my gaming self that will do whatever is necessary in the face of impending and gory doom.

What do you guys think? Does a violent game compromise your gaming identity? Let me know!

Cheers!

Lachie

Actually you have mistaken something here, there is definitely proof that kids, teens and young adults and probably also grownups, can be influenced by game violence, so that it has no connection is not true. What has been disproven is that videogames is the main cause and will be able to get otherwise normal teens to act out violently, which is as you say a joke, there is absolute no proof that video games wouldn't just be replaced by tv, movies, books etc. its almost like saying that Catcher in the rye made Chapman shoot lennon or Hinckley shoot reagan, because they had the book.

But no violence doesn't compromise my "gaming identity" its a game, but since i am not a psychopath i will if possible avoid the more violent choices in some games.

Much better ending when you harvest the little sisters too. :)

I'm too much of a goody goody, even in games. I always play as the "hero".

@gannon27: Yeah it is nice to be rewarded for your chivalry!

I really like that idea! I think that is one of the major things that each game should strive to achieve. If you can make a seemingly inconsequential event seem to have a high emotive value then you have made a quality story.

I think the best games make you regret killing. The ending of ME3 is so blurry with who is good or bad that in the end it takes the sacrifice of the player character to save everyone - reapers included.

@Starshine_M2A2: I agree. They make you feel bad about killing BUT you still do it out of fear of dying yourself.

In games like Mass Effect and such, I can't bring myself to play bad guy, renegade, whatever.

But yet, I supremely enjoy drilling a pixelated man's brain out (or watching them be bifurcated from a katana slice) in Hotline Miami, and running over countless pedestrians in GTA.

Most of the time, I'm a good guy, but there are times where I really, really enjoy the blood.

@gpuFX16: haha yeah. Maybe in games with consequence it is worse to play as the bad guy? Whereas if you know nothing negative will happen to you then it doesn't matter?

If you mean do violent games make you play more violent games, no. Most of the games I play are rated T at worst (lots of RPGS). And as far as playing the bad guy goes, I usually do a bad guy run through. But I usually feel really bad while I do it.

And it doesn't affect my real life choices either. I've never felt the urge to pick up a gun and open fire in a crowd. And I play some damn bloody games (when I do actually play M rated games).

@turtlethetaffer: I think you may have missed the point. I specifically state that its not about real world violence (in the first lines).

It is about whether violent games make you gameplay choices more violent.

@renouncereality: Oh. Whoops. Well like I said, I pretty much always try to do both a good and evil play through of games when I have the option. So yes I'll sometimes make violent decisions but it's more out of the need for variety than a legitimate blood thirst.