Most of Shakespeare’s plays have violence in them. Without fail, his tragedies manage to kill off the best of characters. Macbeth is no exception. With battles, murders, stabbings, and fight scenes throughout, Macbeth is not for the faint of heart. However, as far as murder goes, Macbeth gets put to shame by the controversial new video game: Hatred. There is a lot of talk about violence in video games corrupting players’ minds, but Hatred is an entirely different beast. The game recently received an Adults Only (AO) rating—most of the obscenely violent games released today receive a Mature (M) rating. Unfortunately for Destructive Creations, the Polish developers of the game, an Adults Only rating means that the game will not be published on any video game platform. So what sets this game apart from other brutal games? Hatred is a mass-murder simulator. The player’s sole objective is to use knives, machine guns, and explosives to murder civilians in fictionalized streets and schools. In fact, the only goal is to kill and maim as many people as possible. The game itself has a dark, moody color scheme and emphasizes the main character’s psychological instability. Certainly, this game is inappropriate and does not belong on the screens of today’s players. And clearly, the violence in this game is incomparable to that of Macbeth, so what changed to allow a murder-simulator to be made?
If one were to ask anyone who works in the business of science fiction what movie they watched the most as a child, nearly all of them will give the same answer: Star Wars. It’s true, George Lucas’s films struck a chord in the minds of a generation in it’s youth. But the Star Wars films are laden with violence and death. And the Star Wars films, while undeniably awe-inspiring, are still part of a growing cultural tolerance for violence. This rising tide of murder in popular culture really kicked off with explosion of new media in the twentieth century. It began, perhaps, with a culture of children reading implied, but still prevalent, violence in comic books during the Second World War. This generation would propagate another turning point in our culture in a different war. It is argued that Vietnam’s lasting impact was forged with color video, not with guns. There is no doubt that the images of violence that propagated from the Vietnam War allowed for the mainstream adaptation of violence. And it is from this generation that would emerge minds like Lucas, Spielberg, and Cameron that would use film and special effects to convey the brutality that was already instilled in popular culture. From these mines came the action movies that would inspire a world of creativity in the new millennium.
Movies like Star Wars took advantage of the filmmakers’ ability to portray violence with the technology they had. As special effects became better, filmakers could more easily portray violence in their media. In Shakespeare’s time, he could script a few murders and a fight. In the 1940s, comic books could illustrate as Captain America beat up the bad guys. In the 1970s, George Lucas could simulate explosions and lasers on film. Today, developers can make a game in which the players can do whatever they want. As developers continue to push the envelope, society must determine what is appropriate. In the case of Hatred, the rare AO rating means that this game will see almost no players. It is important for both players and producers to understand how violence impacts entertainment. Unfortunately, it is difficult to decide where the line falls. Is this content entertaining, offensive, or both?
Article by the Daily Mail: http://goo.gl/oAVCNJ
Video by The Know: http://goo.gl/4zZ3gf
Game Trailer: http://goo.gl/lUuJ40
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