You know what's amazing? Back in the old days of console games, blood was forced to be added to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 because of a lawsuit by some kid who attempted a trick in real life and severely hurt himself (he didn't think it would hurt him) (this was a rumor I heard, it might not be true). Now people say blood causes bloodshed instead of preventing it

Blood makes the voices happy.....

varulfic:
Blood and gore is never a bad thing. Even kiddie games could benefit from it - imagine how much better Super Mario would be if everytime he jumped on an enemy, you could hear their backs break and fragments of brains splatter all over the floor. Just thinking about it gives me a hard on.

sigh... mario is not a kiddy game it's just a kid friendly mushroom trip much like alice in wonderland
and no! Stomping goombas with gore and all would be seriously... well... wrong... just as bad as a fully speaking Link.

It makes no difference to me, but I find that some might believe that a game based on An Inconvinient Truth would be boring.

If I stole your joke I apologize and please let me know.

vdgmprgrmr:

...I think that perhaps if someone were to release a game with fully realistic gore, it could be a way to dissuade people from killing in the game (and maybe in reality.)...

I hope there's truth to your username. The industry needs people like you.

If it's tasteful, in good place and not overused *Looks at Ninja Gaiden*... Then it's fine =]

I don't see anything wrong with blood and gore, so I'm fine with it. I'm neutral though, so gore and violence doesn't make or break a game for me.

I'm going to be very careful saying this, as this is always and will always be a very controversial topic, gamers or not.

Throughout history, such ideas as blood, gore, violence, bloodshed, war, and the like are a staple. They ARE a fact of life, and anyone trying to say otherwise is deluded. People die, people kill, and IRL, you don't just go squish. There is pain, there is death.

I think what the biggest fear is from parents about bloody video games is that they are desensitizing youth. Maybe, and maybe that is a good thing, since it would prepare them for the real world, which is NOT a nice place (don't know why I emphasized that, we all already know it, right?). But to believe that someone can kill just because they played a level of Wolfenstein is utter bullshit. I don't mean the physical ability to kill, but the emotional and mental capacity to kill, to take a life. Have you ever really sat down and thought really hard about it? It isn't fun, regardless of what you may say online.

These arguments alway come back to ratings, Banning, Parental fits over their children's games, when its stupid to still call it an argument. A rating system is in place. It is the PARENT'S FAULT, NONE OTHERS, if their precious little Mathy or whatever gets his hands on a copy of GTAIV.

As to blood in Videogames, I don't mind it. But then, I'm twenty years old, and I'm sure when I have kids, I'll be locking Bioshock and Halo up in a cupboard 'till he's fourteen or so.

poleboy:
Option to turn it off = everybody wins.

And yeah, it has to fit the theme of the game, obviously.

So GoW2 wins?

Blood is a dramatic tool. If properly applied it can be a beautiful thing, adding impact and emotion to a scene or setting. If improperly applied it can take away from a game, then again so can removing it.

I would like to take this moment to complain about them removing the blood from
Xenosaga 3.

GORE FTW !!!!!!

who doesnt love shooting some dicks arm off :]

I like more realistic blood and gore effects, if I shoot someone in a game I expect a bit of red mist to come out. If I slash someone with a sword I expect them to bleed. I do not expect blood to spray out of a wound like it was coming out of a pipe with 500lbs of pressure behind it, as the human body does not pump blood that fast.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I don't like games that allow me to bludgeon someone to death with a large sword or other object which is apparently blunter than a bit of wood because it won't cut ANYTHING.

Jobz:
I like more realistic blood and gore effects, if I shoot someone in a game I expect a bit of red mist to come out. If I slash someone with a sword I expect them to bleed. I do not expect blood to spray out of a wound like it was coming out of a pipe with 500lbs of pressure behind it, as the human body does not pump blood that fast.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I don't like games that allow me to bludgeon someone to death with a large sword or other object which is apparently blunter than a bit of wood because it won't cut ANYTHING.

Actualy a smash to the head with a blunt object will make your blood splatter all over the place. And a cut trough any major blood vessel (especially the aorta) will launch your blood out pretty far. However blood and gore shouldn't be overdone, it should fit into the game's spirit. Don't get me wrong, a lot of gore in a game like Fallout isn't a bad thing, as it fits in.

IceHell:

Jobz:
I like more realistic blood and gore effects, if I shoot someone in a game I expect a bit of red mist to come out. If I slash someone with a sword I expect them to bleed. I do not expect blood to spray out of a wound like it was coming out of a pipe with 500lbs of pressure behind it, as the human body does not pump blood that fast.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I don't like games that allow me to bludgeon someone to death with a large sword or other object which is apparently blunter than a bit of wood because it won't cut ANYTHING.

Actualy a smash to the head with a blunt object will make your blood splatter all over the place. And a cut trough any major blood vessel (especially the aorta) will launch your blood out pretty far. However blood and gore shouldn't be overdone, it should fit into the game's spirit. Don't get me wrong, a lot of gore in a game like Fallout isn't a bad thing, as it fits in.

I know a cut to the aorta or the jugular or something like that would cause a spray of blood, but it wouldn't be quite as large as the way it's depicted in video games, nor would it last more than a few seconds. As for a blunt hit to the head, it would depend what sort of object you're hit with, and where over the head.

Blood is great in a game, Al Gore not so much. Inconvinent Truth the Game= Do not want. X(

As needed, no gore just for the sake of gore.

hell yay!

I like it as long as it's reasonable to include in the game and isn't too overdone, like in Ninja Gaiden II, where basically any attack from any weapon will chop off a limb or three. I think a good limit for the gore in that case would be only having limbs being severed from the heavier attacks and those special attacks that I can't remember the name of that trigger the long attack animations. However, if the gore is intentionally and humorously over-the-top (in Team Fortress 2 and No more Heroes, for example), then I'm fine with any amount.

Newscaster:
Let's consult Caveman Bob to figure out just what kind of violence mankind is capable of enduring. Caveman Bob, if you'd be so kind as to recount your week...?

Caveman bob:
Sure. Well first I spend hours waiting for the herd of deer to thunder by, before jumping out from behind my rock holding a spear. Being quick, I plunged it into the animal's skull and rejoiced at the squishy sound indicating the kill. I was so overcome with bloodlust at that point I drank its blood and ripped its flesh off to consume raw. Then I went home and beat down my oldest son with a rock until his form stopped twitching because he tried to upstage me as leader of the family. Of course being a member down caused local tribes to move in, so we decided to attack preemptively. I snuck over with a few of my mates, and we got into one of the villages they'd set up encroaching on our territory.
So naturally we slaughtered the men, castrated the male children, and raped the rest. Afterward we sang and danced in the corpses of our enemies while preying to our God, ritualistically consuming the fallen's brains and hearts so that we may be imbued with their souls.

Newscaster:
Thank you Caveman Bob. We now return you to your ignorant video-game bloodbath-catalyst theorizing.

It does depend a wee bit on the game... if it's focussing in a more 'realistic' direction, having your enemies shower the scenery with excessive amounts of blood (or not bleeding at all for that matter) will make it feel a bit dodgy. Getting onto the more 'unrealistic' games aforementioned situations (lots of blood being infinitely more likeable then no blood) there'd be nothin wrong at all. And then there's the lovely 'blood-switch' to ramp up or tone down the amount of bloodshed caused by that virtual soldier/physicist/robot/pillock/master chef/space marine or one-liner-machine that is you.

overall, being a fan of the more unrealistic side, there cannot be enough blood for me.

movies and video games dont influence people

(example) my history teacher showed me michael collins and it didnt make me want to be violent made me resent the british but i digress

Every game company should be legally required to have this feature on their game, if it contains blood or gore, because this is what is put pricks like Jack Thompson and Hilary Clinton in their place, they would have to find some other medium of entertainment to blame all the problems bad parenting causes

Unessissary blood and gore is the best kind. Why wouldn't you want that in gaming?

I think that most M rated games should have more blood and gore in them truthfully.

With the option to remove it, and a clear warning in the ESRB label.

I really love totally ridiculous gore effects in games like fallout or Cortex Command, because it's just a great stress reliever. But if I was playing like Call of Duty or something, and my enemies were getting blown literally to chunks before my shotgun, I probably wouldn't be able to play.

vdgmprgrmr:

You might not have to worry as much about players just going for the best reward. If a player is genuinely disgusted when he/she kills an NPC, they might not be able to go through with it, even though they get more virtual money or whatever in the end.

I really love what you said here, and I think that an idea like this would be an amazing premise for a game if done correctly.

As long as it doesn't look stupid, I'm all for it. I quite hate when games just remove any suggestion of blood in order to cop out a "T" rating; it looks utterly retarded to shoot someone in the face with a shotgun and just have them fall over. So don't overdo it, don't underdo it, but if it should be there, then just DO it.

If blood and gore offend you I'd say you probably shouldn't be playing games where you run about shooting people in the first place. :P

my thought is, if you're intent on getting an M-Rating anyway... make the most hardcore M-Rating game every time. Manhunt it up. Although the gameplay in those games left dookie stains to be desired.

I find some gore interesting from a technical standpoint (depending on how it's done it can be tremendously difficult to implement), but I can take it or leave it. Sometimes enemy limbs can become obnoxious clutter.

It's an aesthetic choice like much else in the game, so the person responsible for the decision has to ask themselves questions like, what is the theme of my game? What purpose does the gore serve? Does that add to/detract from the scenes where the gore is found?

Not all gore is horrific--I myself used to spend my workday hacking muscle tissue off human bones with a chisel and then cutting the bones up with a bandsaw. By the end of the day we had buckets of blood and tissue and human fat. Hence I don't get much of a reaction from watching brains get spattered on a wall.

I think that gore is basically used as a shortcut to produce a visceral reaction much in the same way that bad guys are usually characterized by having them kill some random people. As far as I'm concerned, it's either laziness or lack of imagination. If you *really* have some creative ideas about horror, you don't need the crutch of gore. Likewise if you really have some fundamental understanding of evil, it's not necessary for your bad guys to act like The Evil Overlord.

Optional equals best.

Gore and Blood are like, a bake potato sitting next to a medium steak. Not needed but can add quite a bit if done right.

The ability to remove it makes everyone happy, so I really can't argue with that.

JMeganSnow:
Not all gore is horrific--I myself used to spend my workday hacking muscle tissue off human bones with a chisel and then cutting the bones up with a bandsaw. By the end of the day we had buckets of blood and tissue and human fat. Hence I don't get much of a reaction from watching brains get spattered on a wall.

where the hell did you work?

Tissue bank. Saving lives isn't always tidy.

It's a great way of conveying the power of some weapons, but there are cases where it's just annoying. If enemies start blowing apart like pinatas if you shoot them with the weakest weapon in the game, there's a problem. However, if you get, say, a rocket launcher and shoot someone, it's rewarding to see a fine red mist and falling body parts.

Im not botherd by gore in games, if its put in for realism but i hate pointlessly violent games.

Blood and gore works great for games that are suited for it. Some of you might be too young to remember Moonstone, but if you turned gore off in it, the game lost a lot of it's fun. Compare Carmageddon's normal version to the German censored version, and once again, the game has lost a lot. See the difference in the US and Europe release of No more heroes and see how dull the Euro version is because of removed gore.
Gore can even be a great source of fun, think of a game where you play a girl scout selling cookies, and having the ability to gut customers who won't buy cookies.
One thing to remember is, to make it so that games intended for children do not have gore, but games for adults are not censored. Maybe give the player an option to remove it, but do not censor it. There are still sane people who want to see blood and not go and kill our families, friends and co-workers. I enjoy splatter movies because of the blood and gore, and I enjoy splatter games for the same reason.

I like to make the streets run with blood. Blood on the walls, the floor, hell! even the screen! YAY! ALL THE WAY!