Will Hatred Cause a Rash of Violence?

Hatred is a third-person shooting game created by Destructive Creations, a development house operating out of Poland. The game is scheduled for launch in the second quarter of next year, and for the time being it is only going to be released for Windows. The game is expected to be violent and gory.

This sounds like a description of just about any mundane game that comes out these days, but for some odd reason, Hatred has stirred up yet another controversy in gaming, right on the heels of #Gamergate. Is it because there are no female or transgendered protagonists? Is it because the game will only be released to the PC Master Race? Is it because it's a third-person shooter rather than another first-person military shooter clone? Well, that could be a part of it, because instead of taking out tangos, players will be going on a rampage slaughtering civilians in this game, or at least this is what is being said, and critics are saying that this will cause impressionable behavior and real-life violence.

This is an argument that has been debated for years now (centuries actually, if you include media other than the relatively new entertainment form of video games). In one of my university elective classes, I wrote a paper explaining how I believed that video games were not the root cause of school violence. In more recent years, I have been reading more about society and "the redpill', and I now believe and have observed how the media can effect the minds and opinions of both young and old. However, I still firmly believe that violent video games will not cause gamers to go on Elliot Rodgers-esque killing sprees.

The real causes of violence run much deeper. These causes can be intense depression, hopelessness, lack of parental involvement, and much, much more, but playing games alone is not going to cause people to want to act out what their virtual avatars do on screens in reality. trust me. I did a lot of gaming in my day, and playing games did not make me want to go on a rampage; it only made me want to play more and sit on my ass accomplishing nothing of real value, but I had fun. Parents should be involved in their children's lives, making sure that they know the difference between virtual violence and violence in the real world, and that real actions have real consequences. Adults that want to go berserk because they cannot get laid or whatever should learn game, take measures to stop being a social degen, maybe even travel to some place where they'll have an easier time with the women. Putting an end to violent games will not solve these problems (except to the degree that social degen nerds that are out of shape with no job or social skills might be forced to go outside and develop themselves, but this could apply to "acceptable" games like Candy Crush and the like too).

These days, when a lot of games are heading to be polite, colorful, politically correct, and trying to be some kind of higher art, rather than just an entertainment – we wanted to create something against trends. Something different, something that could give the player a pure, gaming pleasure. (Quoted from the developer's website).

With games like Depression Quest being released, I'd have to agree with the above statement. It seems like the creators may have dabbled in some redpill reading, maybe the 48 Laws of Power. Looking at the trailer (watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrX7G-1xPLs), they must have adhered to the Sixth Law of Power, since it certainly has gotten a lot of attention. I must say that I am intrigued myself.

The Game Design Dream

Game development can be a very lucrative occupation with room for people of various talents. There is room in the field for programmers, artists, sound designers, and even though it is frowned upon, there is even a little bit of room for "idea guys" (and gals too, of course). Many of us (including myself) grew up playing games and thought to ourselves how cool it would be to make them!

Of course, back in those days (I'm talking ten to twenty years ago), most of the games that we played probably came from big companies. This still holds true, but indie games are becoming more prevalent, sometimes rivaling the quality and fun of games by big-name producers. Nowadays, it's easy for someone to pick up some free developing tools and put together games from the comfort of their own bedrooms, making the dream more tangible than ever. This also means that there are millions of games that can be found on line, some of them gems, but many of them heaping piles of poorly made mess.

I have been playing Flash games since 2002, and making them since 2006. I have seen the medium evolve over time, and it is arguable that I have seen its apex and the beginning of its decline. Some of the games that made front page on Newgrounds back in 2005 would probably only earn a 2.5 average score these days, and be forgotten amongst the masses of other games as players have begun expecting amazing graphics, pop-up instructions, and a bit of casual or hipster humor. The advent of mobile devices, some of which are not compatible with Flash at all, as well as HTML 5 and Unity have also lead to a slight decline in Flash gaming's popularity.

Not all indie games are Web games either. As stated in the previous paragraph, games for smartphones, such as the Android and iPhone, have become quite popular. There are also a litany of indie games developed for computers themselves, some of them good enough to appear on Steam. I've never paid for one, though this is not out of discrimination; some of the indie games look downright fun and remind me of the DOS games that I cherished as a kid. I don't pay because many of the indie games that I like are free, such as Naev, an Escape Velocity clone, and Wing Commander: Standoff, a standalone mod for Wing Commander Prophecy: Secret Ops.

With the bar raised so high for indie games these days, it will be hard for average "hobbyist" designers to break into the market. It is still possible to make a bit of money from it though, and I speak from experience. I've never created a viral game, and probably never will; I have, however, made a bit of money on the side creating advertisement games and games for small educational websites.

Introduction

Hey everybody out there in Internet Land! I decided to separate my blogs. This blog will be dedicated to talking about games, mostly older games, Flash games, and maybe a bit about game design. On my other blog, Grand Admiral Gainz, I will continue to discuss fitness-related topics.

Stay here if you are interested in reading my ramblings about games, and check out my other blog if you're interested in my gainz (or if you'd like to make some yourself)!