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Kyle Penn

I am discussing the role of violence in video games and if it has any correspondence to violent actions taken by the player. This is based on my personal experience playing the videogame Manhunt 2.
For this research I wanted to look deeper than the traditional p.c. and console button pushers to see if the new Nintendo Wii, with it’s more simulated action, would push the topic of violence in games even further. I rented a copy of Manhunt 2 from Blockbuster, specifically because the amount of violence I have heard to be in it and all of the controversy it created on its release. Many countries banned the game and it received an Adults Only (AO) warning in the United States. Rockstar made some revisions and released it again and the rating was lowered so that most retail stores would carry it. Since it is still pretty violent, many people wonder what was removed.
Also I played Wii Sports, the game that came with the Wii. It had a variety of different sports, one of which was boxing. I also played a few rounds of that just for fun and think that the game also falls into this category of analyzing violence in video games and its effects.
Manhunt 2 is a game from the controversial developer Rockstar. Their biggest controversies come from the Grand Theft Auto series. The reason behind Manhunt 2’s controversy stems partly because of the violence in the game, but also the realism brought to it by using the new Wii controller. The Wiimote supposedly makes the murder simulations much more lifelike. The argument is that in some sense it possibly trains someone how to commit these acts or gets the user to enjoy performing the act.
The game is pretty intense from the very beginning. When you are becoming acclimated to the controller, the screen shows different controller moves. During this process you practice the different move and button combinations you will need to know to play the game. The screen is mostly black with a little bit of white noise static here and there. However, after each move you make the sounds of your unseen practice victim are heard. Sometimes it is screaming yelps, gushing blood, etc… The movements here are pretty fluid and intuitive so that when you make the stabbing motion, the player feels as if they are actually performing that action. There is also a movement of moving the controller up and down which simulates you stomping on someone that is lying on the ground.
When you first begin walking the game shows a couple of cut scenes. One has a man urinating on you and another shows a man who hung himself. Obviously these are somewhat disturbing, but they really serve to keep you confused and scared while you are trying to figure out how everything works and where you are. The first level, Awakening, sets the story. Your character is in an asylum that due to a power failure, all of the patients have a chance to escape. However, that is only if you kill every hospital worker and patient that stands between you and the door. As you kill them by fist, syringe, knife and even a sledgehammer they tell you things to make you feel guilty. One character says, “I can’t believe I ever loved you” and a woman is saying, “It’s me Danny, stop it.” Basically all these characters that you have to kill have been your friends in the past. I guess to show his remorse he throws up occasionally after certain kills. There is a narrator that is speaking to our character throughout the level who is your supposed friend and leading you out. We usually only see him once or twice during the level, but he is in most of the cut scenes and the transitions between levels. He will never fight with you and you never have to defend him. I read that you can choose him as a character but I could not figure it out. That may be in option only given to you later in the game. Basically he turns out to be your alter ego, something that is actually pretty predictable. He is continually reminding you that if you don’t kill these people you both will die. Our character is feeling remorse for his actions, but is forced to continue.
There are certain times where you perform a special action called an execution. These only take place if the situation is set up right and there is a skull marked on your radar. This means you will not necessarily perform each one every time through the game. Executions are usually a pretty gruesome thing, but you don’t always see the action. I performed one because I had the right weapon on me at the right time. My character stepped out of a two-story building onto the roof over a porch where an enemy was standing on the ground. A screen pops up telling you how to perform the execution, in this case it was to jump off of the roof and kill the man with a table saw. I guess it was battery powered and needed no cord; from what I know in real life they require an outlet. Once the character jumps off the roof the screen cuts black and all you hear are sounds. The table saw revs up, a little yelling and then gushing blood. The player knows what happens, but did not see anything.
Another execution has you sneaking into a supposed strip club to perform a mission. In the game the strip club is actually a way to lure in unsuspecting men that will then be taken as patients of the asylum. The player sneaks in through a bathroom window and has to perform an execution on a guy that is peeing. You beat him over the head with the lid to the toilet. It does show more of the action, but it switches to cut scenes repeatedly and this keeps you from getting fully immersed in the action.
Overall the parts I thought were the hardest to perform due to the way I felt, were when someone was talking to you like they were your friend and when you were repeatedly stomping someone on the ground. The rest of it could have been much worse but I felt the game play was lacking a lot. Most of your actions did not feel like you were truly doing what was on the screen. This kept me from feeling like I was performing the action. I haven’t played a lot of games in relation to this topic, I still felt like the violence was blown way out of proportion. I have also heard similar controversy on other titles such as The Godfather: Blackhand Edition. If its game play is better, I wonder if the results would be the same.
In comparison, Wii Sport’s boxing game built up a surprising amount of aggression. Even though the characters just look like big bobble heads, the motions are very intuitive and fluid. When a strike or jab is thrown, it feels just like the real thing. It is amazingly close to real boxing, at least as far as I have seen in a video game, much more than your average button pusher. My aggression was much higher, after a much shorter time span, while playing Wii boxing.There is a lot of conflicting research showing both sides of the story out there; I believe that it is too soon to tell. All I know is that for me in this experience I would have to disagree with all of the controversy over it. There are some scenes that are pretty violent, but I did not get a very big build up of aggression while playing.