The Evolution of Video Game Violence

As a child the games I played were often fun, cartoony, and parental approved such as games like Super Mario Bros. World, Crash Bandicoot, Pokémon, Super Smash Bros., and more. As an adult games have changed. While the experiences I enjoyed as a child are still available for gamers of all ages, many games are now about shooting, violence, and gore. What happened and what changed in the medium to cause such a dynamic shift over several generations of gaming?

The Inception of Video Games
To diagnose the issue we must first determine where the trend of violent games began. The first “video games” were large computers developed specifically to perform single operation task in the late 1940s - 1950s. These giant computer games were based on traditional childhood board games such as Chess, Nim, and OXO (tic-tac-toe). It would be these computers that would pave the way for the first home video game console over 20 years later, the Magnavox Odyssey released in August of 1972. The Magnavox Odyssey featured a collection of games, some of which were played with a shotgun-like peripheral. While these games were shooting games in nature they were far from the genre of today, and had more in common with todays light gun arcade shooters.

From Bore to Gore
However, 14 years later the light gun arcade genre brought us what is widely considered the first gory game by the name of Chiller in 1986. It was truly a first for the gaming industry by allowing players to mutilate helpless victims in order to progress to the next level. Chiller was heavily based upon what was popular in movies at the time with films like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Evil Dead and more all achieving box office success with bloody and fear inducing frights. The problem was as a video game Chiller put players in the role of the serial killer and instead of spreading fear it was looked upon as spreading violence and murder. Needless to say Chiller became one of the first games to be banned from arcades because of excessive gore and violence.

Fighting Revolution A, B, A, C, A, B, B
But gore and violence were still a rarity among games in the 80’s, with games like Super Mario, Tetris, The Legend of Zelda and more winning over gamers on Nintendo’s home consoles the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It would be the successor of the NES and newfound rival Sega who would usher in the mass appeal of video game violence in the early 90’a with the introduction of the hugely popular wave of the 90’s fighting game genre. In 1991 Street Fighter II soared to the top of the charts becoming one of the best arcade and best selling games of the generation. While not grotesquely gory as Chiller, Street Fighter did have its fair share of blood and violence outside of simply being a fighting game. Each match ended with the winning character taunting a bloody, bruised, and battered opponent, and while it was a minor component to the game it along with Street Fighter’s success spawned many wannabes and clones. The following year Mortal Kombat would be the game that succeeded in bringing gore and violence into the homes of gamers. Mortal Kombat became an instant success thanks to its bloody fights and iconic finishing moves. It was one of the first games to cause political and media backlash in the US, and became banned in several countries. But the praise from fans and the success of the franchise spawned levels of success (at the time) that rivaled even Street Fighter. PC gaming would also receive its nod to violence in the form of what is considering to be the originator of the first person shooter Doom shooting demonic creatures and killing them with chainsaws in a bloody fashion. Although there were more examples of violence becoming acceptable in games such as Sega’s Eternal Champions, and Killer Instinct the facts and sales of games still proved that Platforming games like Mario and Sonic were still industry leaders.

Changing Dynamics: PSOne Maturity / Nintendo E for Everyone / Sega’s fall
The fifth generation of consoles shaped the landscape into what we have today. Nintendo moved towards a focus of fun, family, and nostalgic games that everyone could play. Sega began to lose its way, and paved the way for Microsoft and the Xbox in the coming years. Meanwhile, Sony brought a new high to console gamers in the form of mature content. The PSOne brought Japanese gaming to the forefront of console gaming. Games like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid and more really took off on the PSOne, and became the huge franchises they are today. Violence in games had increased through the addition of diverse 3D combat mechanics, but gore was still an insignificant part of gaming.

Mature games shape the medium
It wouldn’t be until the rise of the sixth generation of consoles where violence and gore began to shape the medium. As games strived to achieve higher levels of realism mature content went hand in hand with many of the titles released, causing games like Grand Theft Auto, God of War, Doom 3, Resident Evil 4, and the rise of the FPS to become smash hits, and increase the acceptance of game violence around the world. But what changed this dramatic shift? The answer I came up with was the Internet. To put it simply, the Internet became mainstream in the late 90’s - early 2000 with it’s adoption rate was rapidly climbing each year. The Internet allowed users from around the world access to content that they normally wouldn’t see in their daily lives or outside of a movie. And as artist, developers took those concepts and ideas and added them to their game bringing new and real world events and crisis to their games.

International Influence
The video game medium seems to evolve with pop culture. The medium was heavily influenced by film in the 80’s and 90’s with horror movies inspiring games like Chiller, Rambo inspiring Contra, and martial arts movies paving the way for Karate (NES), Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and more. As time went on the Internet and real world events became the source of video game inspiration such as Six Days in Fallujah focusing on the Iraqi war. Today books, comics, anime, and mythology are all formats that games have drawn heavily from as well. It seems as if nowadays entertainment and realism are the goals of most games. For those games seeking realism it only makes sense that gameplay and combat attain the same sense of realism which in turn can amplify violence in games like The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and more. Video games are a form of art, and as long as mature themes exist in life they will exist in video games as a reflection of society. Even if that reflection is the cruel side humanity, politicians, and the media doesn’t want you to see. But at what point will it end, or more likely will it be too much.