Throughout the course of our study of Game analysis a frequent subject of debate was of ethics in video games.Is it the responsibility of the games developers to ensure a game does not cross any lines when it comes to violence and ethical issues such as murder and massacres.Especially in recent years where every few months another news story breaks about another mass murdering of innocent civilians. We were asked to consider what would we do if we were a programmer working on an unethical game?Would we take the money and keep our mouths shut or stand up and voice out concerns.
I wrote in an earlier blog about my opinions of violence in video games.My opinion remains mostly unchanged on the matter.A game developer should have free reign to make a game without the fear of backlash from addressing controversial topics.Recently however I watched a trailer for an upcoming game known as “Hatred” created by Polish studio Destructive Creations that has has slightly changed my opinion on the matter. There is one line that I believe should not be crossed.Hatred is a game that ” revels in mass murder”[1].The trailer begins with the central character proclaiming his absolute hatred for humanity as he is seen loading guns into his jacket.He proclaims that he has always wanted to kill people and wishes for a violent death.The rest of the trailer contained some of the most disturbing murderous images I have seen in gaming.The “protagonist” kills countless innocents revels in his savagery.The screams of pleads of the civilians effected me very deeply.In Games such as G TA the Player is capable of doing much of what the character does in the trailer except the player is penalized in other games(GTAs number of”stars”)
In Hatred the player is rewarded for this.The following is actual dialogue from the game.
“My name is not important. What is important is what I’m going to do…This is the time of vengeance and no life is worth saving. And I will put in the grave as many as I can. It’s time for me to kill. And it’s time for me to die. My genocide crusade begins here.””[1].
I can only imagine how families who have been affected by similar real life events in America or Pakistan .These people lost someone they loved because of a mass murder/s .The fact that a developer is trying to capitalize an this controversial topic to turn a profit makes me sick.There are many game developers doing wonderful and amazing things with games.It angers me that this rubbish will get more publicity then the majority of them.
[1]Polygon, (2014). The worst trailer of the year revels in slaughtering innocents. [online] Available at: http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/16/6988687/the-worst-trailer-of-the-year-revels-in-slaughtering-innocents [Accessed 16 Dec. 2014].
Ethan MacNamara 