[CW: violence/gore]. As the title suggests, is there a left case to be made against ultra-violence in video games? I'm thinking mostly about MK11 and MK1 fatalities, as opposed to less gratuitous and less hyper-realistic violence--in Dark Souls or something. Whenever this topic is brought up, other factors usually take up the oxygen in the room: People might immediately think of family-values conservatives, such as the Media Research Center, who act like wet-blankets towards entertainment. Or we think of nerdy Joe Lieberman, who showed the 1993 Sub-Zero spine fatality to Congress (lol). There was Hillary Clinton who decried the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and the host of rightwing politicians who blamed Doom for the Columbine shooting (clearly as a way to absolve gun legislation from any culpability). So this is what I mean when I say that the conversation on video-game violence has been ceded entirely to these dudes, as opposed to something left spaces can discuss without sounding like squares or censors. This came to mind after I was reading about the video game designer who developed PTSD after working on Mortal Kombat 11. His dreams became excruciatingly violent, and his day-to-day was interacting with coworkers studying medical anatomy and watching videos of slaughtered animals. That can't be good for anyone. I guess what I'm asking is: should leftists see this as harmless fun, or something problematic? And, will photo-realistic Fatalities exist in the communist future?

  • Crowtee_Robot [he/him]
    ·
    30 days ago

    Plus they do this with sound already via foley techniques. Some visual art swaps out alternatives for real subjects, like using shaving cream instead of whipped cream since it won't melt under studio lighting. The demand for "authenticity" is from corporate ghouls with no imagination.

    • PKMKII [none/use name]
      ·
      30 days ago

      Same deal with sound; the classic “bones snapping/crunching” sound is actually from snapping fresh celery. Actual bone snapping sounds aren’t used because, well it’s just doesn’t carry the same sonic punch.