Comments on: “WoW Is Not Really a Violent Game”

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:13:59 +0000

They rate it T but I think that’s mostly because of some of the commentary from the other players… >_< I’m working hard at getting my server back out of the gutter by reporting everyone.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:43:30 +0000

Yeh…. I’m not saying that WoW would had very bad stuff in it. Simply stating that, it’s violent. “Cartoony violent” perhaps but violent anyway. K12, is it?

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:44:21 +0000

To me what puts me off a game is not “killing people/animals” or “hitting people/animals with swords or shooting things”, it’s whether your targets/victims appear to suffer. Had to desensitise myself to play Diablo in places.

Disclaimer: I play WoW.

By: Karmington

Karmington — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:29:38 +0000

Wanton slaughter of wild animals, humanoids, anything that moves, endless killing, it’s a mass murder simulation man…

By: hermitC

hermitC — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:18:43 +0000

Saw a Tom & Jerry cartoon today where a golf ball smashed Tom’s teeth. It did not feel like violence because it had no bad consequences – the next scene showed Tom heading after Jerry as ever.
Can missing (real-life) consequences be a factor for this statement?

By: JL

JL — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:39:25 +0000

Most gamers will find a game like WoW devoid of violence even if it is evident to a casual observer or an external viewer. The violence here is an abstraction. The shiny swords, the armor and the animations are merely decorations to provide some identification mechanism to a set of timers and boxes, really. They serve its purpose as an appealing hook, of course, but once you start playing you promptly forgot what you’re seeing because you’re not playing with swords and knifes, but with the timers and boxes.

It’s a phenomena common to most games and very hard to describe to someone who doesn’t play games frequently.