Game Design Blog #2

To understand how far the violence in video games has come, we need to go back to the beginning of video games.

One of the first gaming consoles, the Atari 2600, had its share of "violent" video games. Games like Space Invaders and Pitfall had gamers blowing up space ships and killing wild animals. As the years went on, we got progressively more violent games. Things were taken up a notch in the early 90s when Mortal Kombat came out in the arcades. Mortal Kombat was known for its violence and the fatalities that were extremely gruesome. It was one of the first instances of the media battling video game violence.

As the 90's went on, the violence in video games continued to escalate. With the introduction of more advanced consoles, game developers found more ways for gamers to live out their violent fantasies. In 2001, Grand Theft Auto 3 was released to critical and commercial acclaim for its open world and its "do whatever you want" gameplay style. GTA3, along with the other GTA games, has been associated with controversies over its violence. In the game, you can car jack someone, pick up a prostitute, have sex with her, then kill her and take her money.

Throughout the 2000's, violence in video games would continue to evolve with developers coming up with different ways for gamers to kill enemies in their games. 2005's The Punisher gave gamers several different ways to kill their opponents. The game is also known for its interrogation parts, which were extremely violent.

As we entered the new decade, gamers are still playing games that are considered really violent like the Call of Duty series. One can only imagine what level violent video games will go next.