Video Game Graphics

[Smaug the Dragon]

This may make me sound like an utter wimp, but anyway.

Today I finally finally finished Half-Life, a game I've been playing through for something like four years. Part of the reason it took so long is because I found some parts of it too scary to play through for a long time (yeah, I know ). Now I am faced with a dilemma. I really want to play Half-Life 2, but I don't know if I can deal with the better graphics and increased violence. Keep in mind that I often close my eyes when watching a 12A movie, and generally can't sit through a conversation dealing with gore and blood.

This sparked the question in my mind, if video games keep getting more and more realistic, will I be able to play any shooter games at all? Would there be others who'd also be uncomfortable with killing people who look really realistic?

It's a shame I'm so squeamish. After watching the trailer for Black Mesa, I'm torn between loving the amazing graphics and knowing I can never play through those gory scenes in such clarity. boo.

[bookworm]

I’m not a huge gamer, and even less of an FPS gamer, but I don’t think I’d have a huge problem with it. I would be more comfortable with limited gore though, I don’t really pay attention to the detail so it wouldn’t bother me.

The FPS I play most often is Medal of Honor Allied Assault which is old and has low quality graphics and no blood and I like it fine. As I said, the detail doesn’t matter one way or the other to me, but increasing blood and gore is what would make me hesitate.

[DanP740]

Chex Quest is non-violent.

[bookworm]

Rereading my post I don’t think I was quite clear on my position, so I’ll try again.
Graphics quality has absolutely no affect on what I think of a game, I take no notice one way or the other. Some people don’t play old games because they’re like ‘Ugh, the graphics are horrible!’ but I really don’t notice. If I like the game itself, that’s all that matters.
So my graphics comment was just about games in general, not about the subject at hand - realistic people.
Because I don’t take notice of graphics, shooting realistic looking people would not give me any more pause than shooting unrealistic looking people. However when there is gore involved, that is what makes it more real to me. So if a game was too gory, I may be hesitant to play it.
But again, I am not an FPS person so I don’t know how modern games are in that respect.

[The Top Crusader]

THe thing with gore in games... I have played quite a few, from the olden Mortal Kombat up to God of War and all the stuff in between and beyond... but blood in games always just looks silly to me. Like super bright red big globs. Its so over the top looking that it doesn't bother me in its goriness, just in its... stupidness.

But yeah I am with bookworm on graphics. There are modern games with awesome graphics that are lots of fun, but some old school NES games are still super fun... I guess some age better than others, but its more play style than graphics that affect that.

[DanP740]

And then people who glance at Minecraft think its graphics are horrible, when they're actually rather high, just old-school resolution textures.

[bookworm]

blood in games always just looks silly to me. Like super bright red big globs. Its so over the top looking that it doesn't bother me in its goriness, just in its... stupidness.

A fair point, though I don’t reach the same conclusion. Just as the character graphics make no difference to me one way or the other, neither do the gore graphics. Unrealistic blood is still blood. You know what it’s supposed to be, regardless of what it looks like. Characters bleeding makes the violence more realistic in my mind, so that is what would make me less comfortable with it.

[gunblader3]

Woah bookworm, you're pretty good at suspending disbelief then.

Anyways to answer the question: In terms of FPS or shooting games in general, yeah its only going to get worst for you when future shooters start to enhance the graphics more to give people the illusion/feeling that they're in an actual battlefield. In most single player modes in shooters, there's a story and with better graphics things start to become a little bit more realistic in terms of facial expression, almost like you're in a movie.

But in terms of graphics vs. gameplay (off-topic): Game play will always be the most important aspect when it boils down to having an enjoyable time with a game.

[Caswin]

But in terms of graphics vs. gameplay (off-topic): Game play will always be the most important aspect when it boils down to having an enjoyable time with a game.

I think that the point of the topic is that other things -- in this case, overly detailed "realism" -- can get in the way of good gameplay.

Personally, I've been bothered by how many people seem to ignore the plot of whatever game they're playing and skip straight to the violence. In the times I've watched someone else play a video game, I've never, for example, seen someone bother to pay enough attention to Halo or Call of Duty to know why they're shooting who, only that they're doing it and having a bloody, screamy good time.

[The Top Crusader]

I used to be all "Oooohhh yeah yay video game story!" but my time is limited enough as it is, I'm more interested in PLAYING the game than... watching an animated movie to set up a level.

[DanP740]

I'm confused. Is this topic about video game graphics, graphic video games, or graphic video game graphics?

[Movieman]

I'd be more concerned with my future children playing games involving ultra-realistic sexuality (not the act itself, of course) then I would with the violence.

[Smaug the Dragon]

/\ I've never actually found that to be a problem in the games I play.

The topic was originally about how video game graphics are getting better all the time, and how this means that some games (FPS particularly) are becoming too realistically graphic and violent. And how it sucks that I can't play Half Life 2 for more than 40 minutes at a time because I start feeling nauseous and have to quit. The storyline is the main reason that I play the game anyway, it's annoying that the overly realistic details keep putting me off. But then I guess most people aren't quite as sensitive as I am. It probably doesn't bother real game enthusiasts too much. Dang squeamishness.

[bookworm]

Oh, this is about the killing making one squeamish? I thought it was about feeling morally concerned.

[Anna><>]

I generally like games with better graphics, but I don't really play FPS games. I only don't like better graphics if they cause the game to lag and glitch. Violent games are kind of scary so I don't really play them no matter what the graphics are like, however my brother does.

[The Top Crusader]

I was playing Assassin's Creed 3 yesterday and Ben Franklin starting telling me about lewd things.

[Cbriggs45]

i love seeing the steps made from when i started with computers from the monochrome to the cga to ega super ega. now you see a xbox 360 or ps3 on a hd tv and im half smiling. the violence is a matter of opinion. i suppose. im a frequent grand theft auto player. so.. take that for what it is worth.

[Smaug the Dragon]

You barbarian.

Oh, this is about the killing making one squeamish? I thought it was about feeling morally concerned.

That too. Excessive violence and killing without reason do make me feel morally concerned, but the point of this topic was more the grossness and sadness of people dying so graphically. I can kind of justify the killing in Half-Life, because I'm protecting others and myself.

[bookworm]

In that case I don’t think I can have an opinion on it, since I don’t play modern shooters. Like I said, in Allied Assault the people are blocky and there’s no blood, and it’s not a violent death they just fall down. I have no problem with it. Basing my reaction of newer games on speculation only, a more bloody death would most likely make me more disturbed, morally and physically, but I couldn’t estimate to what extent.

[Whitty Whit]

Minecraft graphics are awesome! except for the fact I don't have a powerful enough PSU to run my GPU to run MC on high without my card overheating.

But shooter games... I don't play for graphics. I play for multiplayer, and FPS. I don't care about ULTRA HIGHNESS. I care about "is my computer able to run this game on ANY graphics settings? Good. pick that one."