Is Extreme, Senseless Violence Bad?

[Sasutary Island]

Ze trailer
Wiki article

And further reading
This
Hatred of the Haters feat. bread

My name is not important. What is important is what I'm going to do ... I just fuckin' hate this world. And the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred. And I always wanted to die violently. 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.

Isn't that just lovely?

---

You know a game is good when the actual police force ask for their trademarks to be removed... i can't wait for this game, you get my seal of approval, fuck the police, fuck the haters, it looks fucking awesome!

Just leaving this here since the other video got deleted, but Destructive (the developers) happens to have ties with some of Poland's Far-Right and Fascist groups.

To all those who think we should just grow a spine and let gamers have their fun; remember that not everyone's an objective adult. I could play this game and dissociate myself from the atrocities the player character is committing, but a kid or someone with a more impressionable mindset couldn't. I don't care if you're more of a Leftist or a Right-Wing type, I'll assume you're as fed up as I am with kids misinterpreting games as an excuse to perform exactions that destroy not only other lives, but also their own.

From the engine license fiasco to the NYPD forcing the team to censor the cop cars' insignia, we're looking at a developer that has no real grasp of just how noxious this product runs the risk of being. I'm a gamer, and if avoiding another Jack Thompson-esque furor means standing against games like this one, then that's what I'll do.

~2 differing Youtube comments on the trailer

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Food for thought, isn't it?

Browsing the inner dregs of the internet, a well mannered man as myself simply stumbled upon this game. That game is called "Hatred", an upcoming video game where you are a pseudo-nameless-psycho-extremist, who embarks on a "genocide crusade", gunning down everything from the daises on upwards. Brutal as it may seem, like any other pseudo shooter I wouldn't CoD, i mean mention. However, this game is far bleaker, has far more gore and is far more cringing when you stab an unarmed civilian 60 times in the side, or blow off a man's head, chuck a grenade into a bus etc. Well at least there are no kids in the game, or will there? *inception music*

Though it may be perceived as "art" and as a "way of expression" by some hipsters, even for a leftist free-speecher like me, I firmly believe that games like this should not be released.

"BUT WAT ABOOT GTAz?"

In GTA, the game takes a much more lighthearted and satirical approach, listening to Classical music while you roll over innocent by standers. GTA is a baby toy as compared to this. This game is all manners more fucked up, visceral and edgy. What is your say, NS?

And remember, kids, don't stand at a bus stop at night next to a shoddy old building, this madafaka might get yer.

KKK the Game

[Conserative Morality]

It is art, and it is protected under freedom of expression.

Just because it's stupid and juvenile doesn't change that. It just makes it bad art.

[Aksun]

I believe the circuit courts have ruled on violent video games in the past. I forgot what the case was called though...

[Reploid Productions]

It is art, and it is protected under freedom of expression.

Just because it's stupid and juvenile doesn't change that. It just makes it bad art.

Pretty much this. Slap the appropriate ESRB rating on it, s'all good.

Of course, from the gameplay footage shown in the trailer, it's not nearly as gory as I was expecting from all the hooplah. Frankly, thanks to the color scheme, I'd personally peg it as several levels below something like God of War for the gross murderkill factor. Plus at the level of zoom-out needed for isometric view gameplay, you're not even up close enough to see that much of the violence. And the close-ups aren't realistic enough to put it above or beyond already accepted games.

Really, the only thing "shocking" about it is the entire premise, which amounts to "The character hates everything and wants to kill everyone." We're not given a reason or explanation for what is prompting the player character to take such action, there is literally nothing to sympathize with him about. It's basically every old arcade shooter ever, with gritty window dressing. "This is your character. Shooting these things gives you points. Being shot by these things kills you. Try to get the highest score before your character dies."

EDIT TO ADD: Hell, I think some of my moderator sig images are more gruesome than this game, going from the trailer.

[Luremurg]

Granny Helga's Statements

This looks quite nice, I wonder if my grandson would like this.
Maybe that way he will come to my house again, and he will put a stop to my abusive husband.
It's not out yet? Oh well, my jimmies have been rustled for too long, time to kill myself.

[Jordsindia]

Nope.

Also, quit sensationalizing male figures and female damsels in distress....Talking like a true feminist.

[Schwabenreich]

This game probably won't sell great, but it'll sell a bit better with the free publicity from this whipped up controversy. The only reason it seems to be made is because the ridiculous scrutiny the video game industry has been under. At any rate the game is so over the top I don't see how anyone could get confused, at no point does it say the player character is meant to be sympathetic.

Soapbox section: Children aren't so impressionable that they can be brainwashed by a video game, that kind of conditioning comes from their folks and the collective environmental factors involved. All sorts of toxic content exists for the written word and for television and film but such content finds itself within video games and suddenly people make a big deal out of it. It is interactive but people can separate reality and fiction normally, I mean, if they can't the games aren't their problem, that is their problem. Children know hyperbole, you don't make a convincing case they're not going to give you much of a second thought, unless you're those kind of abusive parents who make them swallow illogical stuff over and over reinforcing it over many years. Parents, faculty and peers are the threat to how they develop as a person.

As others have touched upon it is art and expression and the medium doesn't take away the rights granted to that, depending on nation anyway but all nations should protect people's freedom to make video games about all the crap they want.

[NERVUN]

(Image)
Granny Helga's Statements

This looks quite nice, I wonder if my grandson would like this.
Maybe that way he will come to my house again, and he will put a stop to my abusive husband.
It's not out yet? Oh well, my jimmies have been rustled for too long, time to kill myself.

*** One day ban for continued pic spamming ***.

[Aksun]

Found the court case!

Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association

[Finland SSR]

I watched the trailer, and I fucking want that game.

The part where the lady on the ground shouts "PLEASE! NO!" and the protagonist stabs her in the face was the best part.

[Banana Isle]

How does The Bread Article not defeat it's own purpose, which is "to forget about 'Hatred'"?

[Cascadeland]

I've seen this trailer before, and was quite disgusted by it. It particularly hits hard in the United States, because we have had self-destructive, narcissistic psychopaths commit heinous acts of mass violence just because they didn't get their little way, and the "only way" they thought they could resolve their issues is to just kill innocents. Scum.

BUT, with that being said, banning its sale would invite a bigger monster in our house that we, quite frankly, DONT want to deal with (censorship). I know other "civilized countries" like Australia and Germany, do ban games such as this, although, in my opinion, that doesn't make such actions even remotely acceptable. Authoritarianism is not the answer. And banning something because it MIGHT cause somebody to go nuts and commit heinous acts (which is not even remotely based on scientific evidence) is authoritarianism and needless collective punishment. Keep in mind the other rights that have been needlessly infringed upon for "the common good".

Public figures, a very vocal minority, and the media love to blame and scapegoat things when somebody does something terrible. Whether its guns, video games, music, television, the internet, etc, they always try and blame something rather than hold people accountable as individuals. The audacity of these scapegoaters is amazing and it pisses me off. They are part of the problem and aren't trying to solve problems (and its not in their interest to. problems are good excuses for them to jump on their fucking soapbox).

And I dont care if the game is designed by white supremacists or not. That is a logical fallacy known as "guilt by association". Now Im going to buy it to spite the critics (and play it? probably not. Shooting games aren't my thing).

One last thing, "I'm a gamer, and if avoiding another Jack Thompson-esque furor means standing against games like this one, then that's what I'll do."

That is bullshit. End of story.

Without holding back, Jack Thompson and his ilk can piss up a rope. If it isn't games like this, it is something else, like Doom or the next scapegoat. Control freaks like Thompson are NEVER EVER satisfied. They are restless in their efforts to use public outrage to make a name for themselves, for "doing something" (dear god, that "doing something" set of words makes me want to rip my hair out. Sometimes doing nothing is precisely BETTER!). The only freedom you have is the freedom you are willing to fight for: everything else is just empty promises and lip service.

[Costa Fierro]

It would be amusing (in a dark and rather fucked up way) if someone created a texture pack to make the protagonist dress in a Nazi uniform. Or a Greater Serbia mod with nationalist uniforms and this playing in the background.

This being the internet, with all its vile hate and the sick humour 4chan churns out like a sphincter after a particularly spicy vindaloo, I'd give it two weeks before someone came up with one of these ideas.

[Washington Resistance Army]

It would be amusing (in a dark and rather fucked up way) if someone created a texture pack to make the protagonist dress in a Nazi uniform. Or a Greater Serbia mod with nationalist uniforms and this playing in the background.

This being the internet, with all its vile hate and the sick humour 4chan churns out like a sphincter after a particularly spicy vindaloo, I'd give it two weeks before someone came up with one of these ideas.

I hope someone makes the Serbia one, we can finally remove Kebab from the comfort of our own homes.

[Saiwania]

There are plenty of ways to keep undesirable games out of your household or to child proof your electronics. I think that what is a bigger issue related to this, is the fact that there are only around 30 AO rated games by the ESRB throughout its entire history.

The video game industry in policing itself, has ensured that every new very violent game produced, will qualify for the M rating so that the game will sell more because retailers will carry M games but generally won't for AO. The only difference that AO has generally speaking, is that it has blatant sexual content while M games don't.

If the video game industry along with retailers could get beyond the idea that games are primarily for children, I think more AO games could be made and this source of stagnation wouldn't be present from the stigmatization of the ESRB's highest rating. The AO rating may as well not exist under the status quo, because it is just a place holder for the very rare AO game that gets released. I want to get every rating to see regular use.

[Costa Fierro]

The industry isn't so much polices itself, it's that there is a very limited market for games whose main objective is to commit genocide.

[Corrian]

The whole games point is to cause a controversy, and this thread proves that. All the controversy will do, like practically any controversy ever, at least in the short term, will do is help the game, not make it do worse, and they know that. Controversy gets it attention, people check it out, and a lot of people buy it just because it's controversial. Sometimes that's stupid, yeah, but honestly, controversial things tend to interest me too, because a lot of them are the best in storytelling or whatever. Though in this case, this game just looks stupid and idiotic and is so clearly desperate to cause controversy it's not even funny. It just ends up being dumb.

But I don't think it should be censored. That's going against freedoms, and freedoms should continue to exist (generally). Will I support it? No. But doesn't mean it shouldn't exist because of some moral reasons against it. I'm not against crude games, and honestly, I'd play a game where you play as a terrorist if people didn't throw a pissy fit over that kinda crap. People threw enough of a fit when a game let you play as the Taliban in multiplayer, shooting American soldiers, but were fine when they got changed to "Opposing Forces", even though they're the same freaking thing. It's ridiculous.

[Braberbourg]

I suppose most Americans freak out because Americans are dying, instead of the typical murder of Arabic babies.

[Czervenika]

I honestly don't see how it's much worse than some other games out there. (GTA comes to mind.)

[Chestaan]

We release movies with extreme violence so I see no problem with releasing a video game with extreme violence.

[Corrian]

I honestly don't see how it's much worse than some other games out there. (GTA comes to mind.)

I actually think Grand Theft Auto is much tamer than people seem to make it out to be. That "torture" scene in GTA V is way tamer than I expected it to be from everyone's "outrage" about it. And besides, that scene was pretty much picking on America, like the entire game does...I liked what it was saying.

I suppose most Americans freak out because Americans are dying, instead of the typical murder of Arabic babies.

Yeah. You know, killing American's is awful, but who cares about anyone else, right? Cuz 'murica.

[Braberbourg]

I suppose most Americans freak out because Americans are dying, instead of the typical murder of Arabic babies.

Yeah. You know, killing American's is awful, but who cares about anyone else, right? Cuz 'murica.

'Murica.

[Dukats]

If this was a book or a movie no one would care beacuse it's art.

[Czervenika]

If this was a book or a movie no one would care beacuse it's art.

I think more controversy stems from video games because they're interactive.

[Corrian]

If this was a book or a movie no one would care beacuse it's art.

Seems like it. This really bothers me as a gamer. These people, in a lot of cases gun nuts, flip out about video games and their violence, but I never (Well, not never) any complaining about movies, which are typically as violent. But because, you know, you interact in video games...You're THE character, not watching it...It's stupid. It makes no freaking difference.