I would like to write articles for you about nuanced "meta" topics, such as violence in videogames: How has videogame violence changed with advances in technology? Why did violence become so prevalent in videogames and why has it remained so? How does game violence influence game design and story-telling? Can non-violent games be successful? Has technology opened up new, as yet untapped, game genres? How can indies exploit their creative freedom to innovate beyond violence?
I am not totally against violence in games, but I think it's a rut the industry fell into three decades ago and hasn't bothered to drag itself out of because it remains profitable to wade in blood and guts. But games can be so much more than killing and shooting. I believe the industry has been held back by an obsession with geometry. Graphics have been improving exponentially but AI remains rudimentary. There are no games where you can have a realistic conversation, build a relationship, train your dog; yes, there are games that do all these things, but it's at the level of a kindergärtner's crayon drawing when compared to the graphics seen in games today. The under-developed minds of our game characters means they can only interact in very basic ways, many of them may appear human but in reality they are glorified geometric solids whose interactions are limited to physical bumping, bashing and shooting. When we boot up a modern military shooter we may as well be playing as mobile cuboids spitting out tiny spheres at each other. While shaders, particle effects, detailed geometry, smooth animations and accurate physics simulations are all very impressive and create a nice aesthetic. It counts as little more than smoke and mirrors if the game characters' psyches are as hollow as the polygon bodies they inhabit.
That leads to another interesting question for the future: Is there a point at which artificial intelligence could become so advanced that harming an AI could be considered immoral? I'm not talking about depictions of violence being immoral, but the idea that an AI could actually be a victim.
Formerly OBese87.
