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The changing nature of violence addresses how violence has evolved along with game technology. The first computer game, developed in 1962, was Spacewar. Other early titles included Pong, Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Violence was not blatantly obvious within such games. Despite the intent to ‘blow up alien invaders’ or ‘gobble fruit and other creatures’, the violence was not obvious or graphic. For example, the extent of violent imagery within Space Invaders might involve a small orange fireball on screen.
Videogames of the 1990s had much greater graphical capabilities. The technology to produce and develop games had increased so that real-life images could be used within the game. For example Night Trap and Mortal Kombat received much criticism in the Australian press for their use of blood and gore within gameplay. More recently, games such as Manhunt incorporate violence into the narrative yet such violence is so graphically sophisticated that some argue it is too life-like and thus harmful to those who play the game.
‘Greater sophistication and realism found in today’s videogames is associated with increasingly violent themes. One of the first ‘violent’ videogames was Pac-Man; however, in today’s games children can battle realistic looking characters and witness the resultant blood, gore and mutilation’ (Vessey, 2000: 607). Viewpoints like this strengthen the media effects notion that vulnerable audiences, such as children, need protection from content they may passively retain, especially intensely graphic representations. This highlights the perspective that players are unable to delineate between what is real and what is not, especially if the visual images are extremely life-like.
Despite this perspective, videogames with violent adult themes have existed and drawn criticism since the early 1980s. Custer’s Revenge was a title marketed by Mystique in 1982 in which the player assumed the identity of a cowboy in America’s Mid-West. The aim of the game was to dodge arrows and cacti to reach a Native American girl where Custer would get his ‘revenge’. The game attracted much controversy in the year of its release, despite the rudimentary nature of its graphics. As a result, games with violent themes have drawn criticism from sectors of society in spite of the time of their release. However, the increasing sophistication of computer graphics has lead to more real life scenarios within videogames and thus increased criticism of their themes.
The Videogame Critic’s Atari 2600 Reviews (2004) Retrieved 16 October, 2004, from: http://www.videogamecritic.net/2600cc.htm
Vessey, J. (2000) ‘Violent video games affecting our children,’ Pediatric Nursing, vol. 26, no. 6, retrieved from Proquest database.
