Is There a High Degree of Violence in Video Games

Is There a High Degree of Violence in Video Games?

Ever since their conception, video games have contained violence, violence being to cause pain or death onto other beings. From the earliest games to most advanced modern 1st person shooter violence plays an important role in games. Determining that violence is present in video games is easy and the answer is yes. The early games like Wonder Boy and Space Invaders contain violence, the later involves the player shooting and killing and many aliens as possible in wave after wave of attack. Wonder Boy contains violence in the form of the hero killing monsters that vanish upon death, the hero himself is subject to violence enemies shoot arrows, throw rocks and swing swords at him. Upon death, the hero himself falls off the screen and the enemies disappear in a small explosion or puff of smoke. This is a common depiction of early video games is it violent, yes, is it a high degree of violence, that is a little harder to answer. The answer to this question is based very much on personal preference. Some people would argue that any violence at all is more then is acceptable, while others may argue that due to the lack of gore and the obvious 'cartoon' like appearance of the charters the violence is not a high degree at all. But what where to happen if gore was added and the cartoon appearance were to become much more realistic, with the passing of time new hardware and programming techniques this is just what has happened.

In the modern popular game Goldeneye 007 bad guys no longer disappear in a cloud of smoke when killed, instead they perform an elaborate maneuver when killed. Since Goldeneye 007 is a shooting game, maneuvers performed by dying enemy solders varies depending on where they get shot. Those shot in the foot hop around holding there feet while those shot in the neck fall to their knees and then face while clutching at their throats thus adding to the realism of the game. Lacking in this game is gore but this is more then covered in other popular games such as Unreal Tournament and Half-Life. In these games when characters get shot there is a large spray of blood that covers the walls and floor near the character, also on the occasions in which explosives are used characters burst into small but recognizable body parts. Now ask the same question about their being a high degree of violence in video games and almost every one would agree that yes there is. Even thought the level of realism and gore have increased it is harder to say that video