[Headie]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Sony had a games conference on Tuesday in which they showed off a slate of upcoming games but two trailers in particular have caused a bit of a stir which are the two below.

Youtube video

Youtube video

Most of the controversy is centred around the second trailer and depiction of domestic violence with people saying that this kind of story doesn't have a place in gaming or that there should have been warnings ahead of the trailer being shown (There were no warnings that the show would contain content unsuitable for certain audiences).

Do you think the controversy is warranted? Are games too violent? Should games attempt to tackle difficult themes? Should there have been more warnings when it comes to conferences like this that are streamed to thousands of people?

Mess @ these being the only two games I've been keeping tabs on since they were announced I'm still gonna buy them lmao

[Jamie89]

The clips are pretty violent but I don't have an issue with it. In both cases the violence seems to be part of the story rather than for the sake of it. And the actual messages are pretty positive. The character in the first clip being saved for intervening and stopping further violence against that other character, and the robot in the 2nd clip stopping the dad using violence against his child. So the games seem to be using violence as a device rather than promoting it.
On the issue of ratings and kids, I don't actually think violence in video games causes real life violence or influences kids to become violent, even kids know the difference between reality and a video game, they're not given enough credit sometimes. And if the violence frightens them so that they wouldn't enjoy the game, then they won't want to play it. I just don't think it's that much of an issue.

[user104658]

The issue people have had with the second one seems to be more about there not being a warning before the trailer was played to a crowd, given that the scenes depicted could be distressing for people who have experienced domestic violence. The game itself would likely have that listed on the back (under the age rating, it usually lists a few of the reasons for the rating). But yeah it's certainly not glorifying domestic violence, it's clearly against it. But that's where the confusion and double standards come in; people will accept domestic violence storylines in film and on TV but feel that in games it's "exploitative"... Which is mainly down to people not understanding how gaming has developed as a form of media over the last couple of decades.

The game is looking excellent though if it lives up to that trailer and actually features meaningful branching choices like that.

[Tom4784]

Not having a warning at the start of the show that it would contain scenes of violence and difficult themes are Sony's only mistake.