OT: violence in video games

[Hellshade 110]

Quite some time back there was a pretty long thread about what other non-flight sim games folks like to play. I remember a number of people saying that they had been into Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, like I was. I've recently been to a few websites that offered literally thousands of different modifications to Oblivion and, since my favorite thing about that game was how "realistic" it looked, I downloaded and installed a bunch of them to see just how graphic I could make it look. Everything from bloodspatter on the walls to AI companions can be added. Check out some short videos I took of my heavily modded Oblivion and see just violent things get these days.

 

Cleaning House in Oblivion (1:24) HD

 

Bloody Oblivion Combat (1:33) HD

 

Bloody Oblivion Combat 2 (2:02) HD

 

Crazy stuff. More importantly, I finally solved my FRAPS issues with OFF tonight. I set some of the Z Bias slides all the way to the right and for whatever reason that had been causing OFF to crash the moment I started trying to record with FRAPS. I hope to have some great Campaign video in just a few days.

 

Hellshade

 

 

 

[rabu 9]

Ya.. that would be me, who started that thread, actually about violence in war games (click here) , and ya, it was interesting till it turned political by a few who can't seem to help themselves .

 

I'll pass on the gore, but looking forward to your OFF videos. I was playing OFF today with my TrackIR5 setup and realizing just how amazining smooth your filming is in your videos, I don't know how you do it and keep from crashing (which I do all the time, not even trying to film anything!)

Edited June 7, 2010 by rabu

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Thanks Hellshade...I am going to get those Oblivion gore addons (the game would be much better with proper, realistic combat)

 

Where can I find the mods m8??

 

One of the best hack and slash games for realism is Dark Messiah....best RPG I ever played

Edited June 7, 2010 by UK_Widowmaker

[Hellshade 110]

Widowmaker,

 

You can find the mods at www.tesnexus.com. There are thousands. I have 108 running. Here are a few of the ones I consider essential, personally.

 

Start with Oblivion Mod Manager. It's essential to manage all the mods.

 

Deadky Reflex 5

Female EyeCandy 1.0

Martigans Monster Mod 3.5.5

Z Fatigue Gone

Realistic Force Low

Realistic Magic Force Low

Natural Weather - by Max Tael (amazingly lifelike weather)

Symphony of Violence (changes combat sounds to be more realistic

Supreme Magika (reworks the magic system - awesome)

SkyCaptains Blood Time

Adrenelin Fueled Combat (locational damage!)

"Duke Patricks" various combat mods (just search by authors name)

Arrow Effects (for flaming arrows, etc)

 

That should be enough to get you started, bud. You'll find plenty more.

 

Rabu, I'm looking forward to the new campaign videos too. I've been doing some flying in Jasta 7 with their all black planes (very cool looking) and there is certainly plenty of action in late July & August of 1918. I run out of bullets long before I run out of Allied planes!

 

Hellshade

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Cool..Thanks Hellshade

[zoomzoom 2]

Wow, mild violence and you get a stripper as an ally. Not bad.

 

Really though.....the Nazi Zombie add on for Call of duty is worse gore-wise, but hey, they're Zombies......so who cares!!!

 

ZZ.

[appraiserfl 0]

Eh..... thirty seconds in grand theft auto iv produces much more horrific and graphic violence then all of your videos put together, but oblivion is a great game. I put over 100 hours into oblivion, but I didnt have a hot stripper side kick....looks a niiiiicccceee.

 

But I agree, violence is getting way out of hand in video games, now if you will excuse me I have to get back to lassoing and dragging my victims behind my horse and then hog tying their half dead body and drop them off a cliff or place them on the railroad tracks for the blood thirsty train in Red Dead Redemption.

[Hellshade 110]

Eh..... thirty seconds in grand theft auto iv produces much more horrific and graphic violence then all of your videos put together, but oblivion is a great game. I put over 100 hours into oblivion, but I didnt have a hot stripper side kick....looks a niiiiicccceee.

 

Well things do tend to get a little more violent if you have a sword as the following very quick video shows.

 

I got him (0:04) HD

 

Deadly Reflex 5 lets you cut off arms and legs as well as disembowel people too. It's about as graphic as it gets for a fantasy game.

 

As for the "stripper", well lets just say that there are Oblivion mods out now that let her do things that make the "Hot Coffee" GTA mod look like a Disney movie. Seriously. She has several talents besides killing. And beneath the skimpy outfit she is very well rendered, top to bottom. Not going to show that here though.

 

Hellshade

 

and GTA is cool too, btw!

Edited June 7, 2010 by Hellshade

[carrick58 23]

I once had a Stripper as an ally in San Fran ,But when the money was gone so was she. OFF sets my standard for game vilolence. Tryed some of the others ,but they are mostly all gore.

[Flyby PC 23]

 

 

I've played Oblivion a couple of times, but never seen these stripper add-ons. I obviously live a rather sheltered life.

 

I'm wondering......P4?

[Parky 8]

Without trying to be political, the very few sad morons who have a hard time discerning between what's acceptable in a video game vs what's acceptable in the real world, shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets to begin with.

 

My two Canadian cents worth.......

 

 

(Dark Messiah, huh? Think I'll have to look into that when I get done with Dragon Age)

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Parky

[Von Paulus 8]

One of the most overlooked RPG's is "Risen". I think after finishing "The Witcher", I'll go for Risen... or for Mass Effect... or Alpha Protocol.

PC is filled with RPG's.

Edited June 7, 2010 by Von Paulus

[appraiserfl 0]

Well things do tend to get a little more violent if you have a sword as the following very quick video shows.

 

I got him (0:04) HD

 

Deadly Reflex 5 lets you cut off arms and legs as well as disembowel people too. It's about as graphic as it gets for a fantasy game.

 

As for the "stripper", well lets just say that there are Oblivion mods out now that let her do things that make the "Hot Coffee" GTA mod look like a Disney movie. Seriously. She has several talents besides killing. And beneath the skimpy outfit she is very well rendered, top to bottom. Not going to show that here though.

 

Hellshade

 

and GTA is cool too, btw!

 

HOLY SHAT! Now you got my attention! I played oblivion thru on the xbox, but picked it up for like ten bucks in a bargain bin for the computer but never got around to installing it. I will look into this when I get my SSD back from RMA!

 

Very nice, thanks for the updates and heads up!

[appraiserfl 0]

Without trying to be political, the very few sad morons who have a hard time discerning between what's acceptable in a video game vs what's acceptable in the real world, shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets to begin with.

 

Yes but wackos are wackos, doesnt take a game to make somebody a nut job, nuts have been around since the beginning of civilization. Lennons killer didn't play video games, the manson gang didn't play video games, Alber Fischer didn't play video games, Jack the ripper didn't play video games.....However, surprisingly Hitler did play video games:

 

My only criticism is that parents need to do their freaking job and PARENT, so my games can stay nice and bloody.

[Parky 8]

Yes but wackos are wackos, doesnt take a game to make somebody a nut job

 

That was exactly the point I was trying to make....thanks for articulating it so much better than I did....lol.

 

Cheers,

 

Parky

[Rickitycrate 10]

Hey Hellshade, thanks for posting this thread. I love me some OBLIVION. I have been interested in the downloads and now I have your input as a point of reference.

 

Hey UK Widowmaker, I picked up a copy of Dark Messiah recently, because of it's apparrent similarities to OBLIVION. I am glad to hear you think well of it. I have not given it a try.

 

Hey Parky, I'm sorry about that limp you seem to have developed.

[Hellshade 110]

Cool..Thanks Hellshade

 

Hey Widowmaker, do you mind if I use the plane you painted below for my Jasta 7 Campaign videos? I will of course be happy to give credit to you wherever it is featured, good sir.

 

Hellshade

Edited June 8, 2010 by Hellshade

[rabu 9]

I agree, I think in most cases it doesn't cause violence. My concern is what are we doing to young peoples outlook and sensitivity. Are we bringing up a generation of kids who are so exposed to violence that they become cold to it? When I see some guy in the news who has been shot trying to help someone else, is lying in the gutter and people walk by him, even take a cell phone picture, yet don't try to help, don't even call the police, it really makes me wonder if people are becoming desensitized to all the violence around us in the news, in movies, on TV, in video games, etc. (I didn't make this up, it seems to happen more and more).

Does a game have to stress gore and shove it in your face to be effective? Should we have blood splatter on the wind screen along with brains in order to have a better time with OFF?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Hi Hellshade...of course (I replied to your post in the screenshot section..guess you musta missed it?)

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Rabu,

 

"Does a game have to stress gore and shove it in your face to be effective? Should we have blood splatter on the wind screen along with brains in order to have a better time with OFF?"

 

Er, no and no.

 

A good game succeeds because it is the theatre of the mind - a great phrase that I first heard when playing fantasy roleplaying games about 200 years ago. Consider: we talk about immersion, and yet what we are actually talking about is the experience that we derive from OFF (and other games) which we have ourselves enhanced because of our willingness to imbue the experience with a suspension of disbelief (takes some doing which wearing a Trackir antennae set, as my wife will readily attest), and to invest in our own imagination. Remember RB3D, prior to all the lovely mods that came later? Didn't it look s**t! And didn't we all love it, and play it to death? Why did we do so, particularly if we had no background in WWI or flight sims? Well, in my case, I realised quickly that the overall experience was very much akin to FRP or theatre, and was as all-encompassing as those activities. It's a positive feedback sort of experience - you gain enjoyment, you invest more imagination, time and effort; you're rewarded with a deeper experience which leads to you become more immersed in the activity to the point where it becomes quite real in many ways - that's the tuning that your mind undergoes.

 

Alright, the above is just my pet theory (ie, cod psychology, despite a degree in the damn subject!), but I think it fits what most of us feel about OFF. Certainly, looking back on RB3D out of the box, there's no way one could become so enamoured of the game based upon the original graphics...

 

Cheers,

Si

[Parky 8]

Hey Parky, I'm sorry about that limp you seem to have developed.

 

No need for sympathy. I have nobody to blame but myself. I set fire to my left leg with a Bic lighter....deliberately.

 

Should we have blood splatter on the wind screen along with brains in order to have a better time with OFF?

 

Hell no...that would be totally inappropriate....not to mention it might obscure my view of the next target. Maybe a couple of eyelids and a testicle stuck to the leading edge of the lower wing would add a nice touch. Any chance we can have that included in Phase IV?

 

 

Cheers,

 

Parky

Edited June 8, 2010 by Parky

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I vote for a chap getting sliced in half by his own Propeller

[Hellshade 110]

 

Does a game have to stress gore and shove it in your face to be effective? Should we have blood splatter on the wind screen along with brains in order to have a better time with OFF?

 

I think it's a question of intended audience. Young children shouldn't be subjected to such blood and gore in video games any more than adults should be forced to watch Hanna Montanna all day. It's not guaranteed to make you crazy but it probably doesn't help anything either.

For myself, if I'm playing a game using swords and other barbaric weapons, I kind of expect to see barbaric results. That said, I pause the game and turn off my monitor if my 6 year old walks into the room. A little active parenting goes a long way. As far as what seems to be turning more and more people into apathetic pseudo-sociopaths, I'd personally have to point my fingers at a world where people are increasingly disconnected from other people. Plugged into our ipods to tune out the voices, having more conversations in text on our computers and cell phones than we do talking face to face. Anything you don't want to see or hear about you can turn it off with a click of the mouse button. I think people are just getting very used to tuning out the environment and people around them on a whim. Or maybe we've always been this way. It just gets reported more with a 24/7 worldwide news network.

 

Hellshade

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I think Hellshade is spot on!

 

Children are better off playing outside in the sun anyway, they shouldn't really be a concern to adults re:- Violent Computer games...because Parents should avoid them coming into contact anyway.

 

Violent Films are more of a concern methinks....children can usually tell the difference between reality, and a computer game (though the games are getting more and more realistic and graphically nearer to real life)...but violent films are a bit dodgy for Kids I think

[Bullethead 12]

As to bloodsplatter on the windshield, I'm all for it IF it serves a useful game purpose. For instance, in the MMOFS Aces High, pilot wounds are nasty things. They cause you to black out periodically for short lengths of time, but the longer you try to keep flying, the more often you black out and the longer it lasts, until you bleed out and die. When you see your blood splattered on the canopy, therefore, you know you've been wounded and need to land RIGHT NOW. I find this a lot better than just having some text pop up saying "Pilot Wounded" or whatever, both iin terms of being more noticeable and more immersive. The only problem is, the blood splatters on out your exit holes, so if you get shot from the front, you might not notice for a while because it's all behind you.

 

In OFF, however, pilot wounds don't seem to do anything. Thus, having blood splattered somewhere in the cockpit. would just be gratuitous gore.