Deus Ex dev bothered by industry's violent focus

People generally whine about not having enough variety in the market but at the end of the day we gamers are just dodging the blame. There are tons of different games like catherine, heavy rain, shadows of the damned, dark souls but  we tend to buy shooter titles again  and again. it is our fault that industry is in a 'rut' b'coz what's the point of innovation if nobody appreciates it!

someone get this man a copy of Catherine!

This is why I play Japanese games almost exclusively. The amount of variety is ridiculous compared to American games, especially on handheld and PC. Although lately there has been a lot more trash flooding the market it's still far more interesting than the sea of shooters that release each year in the US.

this will never sell in a country that says a person have a right to have a gun lol 

try europe us is still to far behind for that kind of maturity games 

Although my favorite games are more or less violent, I do agree with this man to a certain extent. Games when I was younger did have plenty of violence, but possessed such with the indirect message that the violence was bad. Nowadays extensive violence is expressed as a necessity. Just compare the original Resident Evil to Resident Evil 5. And don't get me started on the Splinter Cell series.

The good folks over at Disney DETEST violence...unless it's at the beginning of one of their MANY beloved children's movies in which the adorable main character's mother/father/sibling/entire family is horrifically murdered off screen for cheap dramatic effect. Or...you know...the horrific DEATHS of most of the major villains at the end of many Disney classics as well. Hell, the death of Ursula from the Little Mermaid could have been taken straight out of God of War what with the broken ship mast to the gut and a large bolt of lightning courtesy of Zeus. 

"But yeah! Nuts to that says Spector! Down with violence! Give gamers more sequels to monotonous, kid friendly Mickey Mouse games chock full of cartoonish melodrama! ...and brother simulators, apparently." - No one ever...except maybe Molyneux with that creepy PB simulator "Milo" he was working on *shudders*.

i think what this guy is trying to say is..there is very little emotion expressed in games these days, look at Skyrim, u can marry a character, but where is the real emotion that u would expect to be there? or even in shooters, why do i have to kill the main bad guy(*cough cough* CoD) or what about all the blood i shed just to get the one main baddie? no reflection at all from your main dude/dudette? and it just keeps going and going...my favorite game of all time is FFVIII, because the emotion, not graphics, the story and the emotion is what really got me

"Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see."

I think Warren Spector has a great perspective on things. He's worked on violent shooters in the past, and one of them (Deus Ex) told a highly complex espionage story with some good character moments woven in. Still, I don't think the problem is that developers are focusing on brutal violence as much as it is developers can't strike the right balance between good gameplay and good story.

I think it's just a phase that the industry is going through. It was JRPGs in the 90s, music games were insanely popular early 2000s, and now shooters are incredibly popular. It'll die down for the next genre to be milked. What it is is anyone's guess though.

It is popular because it is something we are otherwise probably never going to do in our lives... I can go frolic in a field, paint pictures, etc in real life so why would I want to play a game about that...? I can't fight a war in real life... I can't command an army, single-handedly defeat an entire alien race to save the world, etc in reality.

Perhaps a combination of massive multiplayer and a very good and massive crafting engine would do the trick....

Would love more diverse games! But how exactly do you program and incorporate complex interactions into gameplay? Shooting is easy, there are few interactions possible. But as the number of possible interactions rise, the complexity of programming and developing a friendly gameplay framework increases exponentially.

This article is very similar to David Cage's "Grow up" statement just recently. It seems that serious developers are becoming more annoyed in what our industry has become. I agree with them completely...but what can we do about it? Violence sells, and sex sells. That's humanity for you. If it prints money, who cares about making Art? At least there are ambitious developers like Spector.

I agree with him, I'm really into these games that can make you wonder and feel stuff, but there's nothing like shooting people in the end of a stressful day, good old violence and brutality to forget that bosstard. 

The gaming industry is hardly the only industry to focus on what is easy and sells "good enough."

Look at the music industry and shitty pop music.

I think he's talking more about COD and other shooters, cough....

First of there are plenty of different types of games out there puzzle beat em up, shoot em up, RPG  and others. the shooter is what is selling most now. Anyway a game being violent don't make it bad just the same way it don't make it good. As long as a game is fun to play who cares if it is violent or not.

Well Action sells...I agree though, I'd love to see more games that give me a wider variety of emotional responses.

many videogames were just fine when they managed to be fun and non-violent in the 80's. game designers these days are lazy in the concept department. theres a few bright lights in the sky but for the most part the truth is depressing. violence attracts attention so therefore they make a game violent to get consumers to look their way instead of focusing on genuinely making a good game. "who cares if the game sucks? at least we made a profit. as long as them suckers keep buying them, we'll keep making them, and we'll keep making money."

thats why i like deux ex even though i never played the original 2 i played HR and i liked being able to choose nonlethal means to dispatch enemies...but violence adds fun though...video games are just fun or entertaining

"These themes include what it's like to have a brother and how a person forms a family."

All due respect to WS, but that sounds boring as hell. When I do play games I play them for excitement and escapism. I couldn't care less about what it's like to have a brother or form a family. If that's your angle I believe there already is a game where you can kind of do that: The Sims and it's bajillion expansions.

Sorry. Just because a well-known dev wants to focus on narcoleptic-type games doesn't mean it's a good idea.

So he basically wants less violence and more sex in games. 

While i do agree that violence is in video games it doesn't mean its bad. Personally i'll play any type of game as long as its fun. I do think the video game industry could do with more adventure, role playing and strategy games. Also what does he define as violence? Just saying some people see fighting games as pretty tame violence while he may think they are very violent.

I guess few people on here truly remember all the original arcade games (Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Galaga, Pole Position, etc, etc).  The games weren't so much violent as they were puzzle-solving challenges to get high scores.  Smashing foxfires in Donkey Kong is violent, but foxfires don't exist, so is it really violence?  It was just a way of getting more points.  Pac-Man eats ghosts, and the ghosts eat Pac-Man - more violence.  Pole Position...not so much.  You just race.  Bust-A-Move...now there was a good game.  No violence, but so much pressure in head-to-head mode.  Thinking and reflexes all in one game.It all depends on what you're looking for.  The better Final Fantasy games had not only story, but violence, character building, puzzle solving, action sections, and even minigames within them.  Look to that example for great games - the best appeal to everybody, and they do it with a great story.And while I wait for another purchase-worthy FF (FF13 was NOT purchase-worthy), I'll still play other FFs, Assassin's Creed *n*, Tekken *x*, Death Rally, Civilization 4 (5 sucked completely), Deus Ex (the original), and other good games.  Life is violent, so I expect a good bit of violence in my games.  Oh, yeah, and let's not forget GTA: San Andreas...the next GTA better not suck like the last one did.  :)

It's probably been said a few times below - but wasn't Deus X a game where the main character uses guns?

So, other companies prevent games that are non-violent and Disney prevents games that are violent. What kind of preventions do you prefer? It seems like trading one master for another, just with different issues (if being a bit unfair). The important thing is that there are a wide range of games to choose from. I want stupid, violent games as well as deep, story-driven games. One thing doesn't have exclude the other.

He's talkin crap. Obviously never even touched half of the games out there. There are many markets that a designer can target. There are people who prefer stories, and people who want to see/do something flashy (often violent). People enjoy both as well, it's not like games with story and emotion are going to dissapear, because there will always be a market for it.

It's human nature to want conflict, isn't it? Without conflict, Almost everything is boring. That's why PvP and fighting games is so popular these days.

That said, I want another [Dark Souls], so I can invade someone's world and ruin their play through. 

This would of been relevant 5 years ago but developers seem to be focusing on the characters and narrative anyway now. Still got progress to do but it's getting there.

I don't really think that the Videogame industry has become overly violent. Or at least more that in decades 2000-2010, 1990's, or 1980's.

The graphics have just become "better" but the voilent content. remains the same. People once protested. Night Trap for the Sega CD. As well as Mortal Kombat prevoiusly. Through the years there have always been protests that Videogames cause violence in people.

Warren Spector should take note of all of the genres that are not voilence focused.

I agree with him. But I don't expect an industry run by "way-too-cool" deuches to cut its bullshit out. And pandering to insecure, microphalic, would-be badasses is too profitable. Look at Hollywood: they've been cashing in on that crowd for decades.

The only thing that will trigger a shift is if BLOPS II and then the next MWF doesnt sell well.... And from everything I have seen from polls and and like, people are just happy to sit and play with themselves to get a yearly addition of the a CoD.