Violence and Video Games

Violence in video games is a hot topic. Some try to get it banned, some say it has no impact. Many studies suggest that violence in video games and movies and media in general does in fact have an impact on the people consuming it, and that this impact is negative. However, a new study put a bit of a new angle on the problem. This one, instead of proving that violence makes people violent, decided to determine how much violence plays a part in gamer satisfaction. What they discovered was, gamers are happy playing games even without graphic violence. I'm not sure how accurate this study is, and I'm sure more need to be done, but I could have told them that. Granted, it sure is fun to blow the hell out of a BigDaddy with lightning bullets, or slash some rogue demon to pieces with a fire-enchanted sword, but the fun of the game is in winning, completing the story, not getting blasted myself. Or, as the research says, control and competence. That sure is it. I've gotten in to some violent games, but they often leave a wierd feeling. Pure puzzle games don't always attract me, but then there's Puzzle Quest to make somewhat of an exception to that. Sure, part of the story involves killing varmints and demons and other things in the player's way, but violence is not depicted. The player matches gems, and "kills" the opponent, but all you see is points being reduced to match certain actions.

So, we gamers apparently are not in it for the gore. We're in it for fun and competence and because we're suckers for control, apparently. But then this seems to raise the question: Why is violence such a major part of so many new games? Why the focus on realistic violence? If that's not what we're playing the games for, what is it even doing in there?