Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

I think video games could actually cause violent behavior. Not on the scale that is often brought up when a politician needs a scapegoat. But for impressionable, unsupervised, stupid kids. I was one such child and I distinctly remember wanting to tournament fight all the other second graders.

@Losermagnet I always took it as the impressional people being impressed upon. If it’s not a video games then it’s books, music, movies, poetry, religion, sports, history or something else which will make them violent. Like a book inspired someone to kill John Lennon so unless there’s ban on all forms of everything then it makes no difference and teaching the psychos ways to managing their psychoness is the real solution.

It's pretty obvious that if people can be inspired to do good things they can also be inspired to do bad.

In the grand scheme of things though, I don't think I've ever seen a video game so bad that it stands out from anything you might see on film or TV.

And let's face it, people have been inspired to do far worse by other influences such as, say, listening to politicians.

There are valid concerns about video game violence, they just utterly pale in comparison to the sheer hypocritical embarrassment any time those concerns have appeared in the news.

Honestly, that's at least half my takes on anything. "There are valid concerns, but terrible and stupid people ruined those concerns with their hyperbole".

@jump @Matt_Barber @kkslider5552000
The reason I posted my opinion is I feel like this topic is often presented in a very black and white way: either games do cause violence, or they don't. As you three have said in various ways, we could see how games could contribute to such a thing under the right conditions. So, in other words, I don't think video games are completely harmless but I also agree thst they shouldn't be ostracized for material present in movies, books, etc..

Having said that, do you think that because video games allow someone to participate in violence that they are more of a risk than a movie or show? Personally...I dont see it. Using myself as an example again, as a kid I got hurt a lot more often imitating pro wrestling than anything with video games. But that's just me.

The irony here is that I absolutely hate fighting games now.

The best thing to occur for Super Mario 3D World was not that it was brought to the Nintendo Switch, but that its Switch release followed Super Mario Odyssey, a port of Super Mario 64 and a port of Super Mario Sunshine. The original release on Wii U came at the wrong time, following Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U. The game needed to follow a traditional 3D Mario game, one with open design, to be at its best. The timing of its Switch release has made it the fresh experience rather than the same experience.

@Losermagnet I don't think video games or movies often encourage violence. I think they have the potential to do damage, if that was the artists intent. Like for example you could make a game that glorified genocide, or abuse. That just doesn't realistically happen though.

Whenever violence In video games comes up, it's usually because some kid in America has took a machine gun to his classmates and coincidently owns a copy of modern warfare. Blaming video games, is just a scapegoat for not doing anything about the bigger issues. Like why a member of the public has access to a gun in the first place.

...is this an unpopular opinion? If it is, its because "now its on Switch" is a far more common thought people have had and not because anyone disagrees with the rest of your point.

I thought people in general within the scope of the Wii U's user base considered the original 3D World release to be a great game. Having really enjoyed the game now with the new release, I understand that when I considered 3D World the worst 3D Mario game that it really didn't have much to do with the game's quality but almost completely had to do with the timing of that kind of experience.

@I-U I have to admit that I had the same feeling when I played the game in a cousin's house. Even at that time, the music feel jaded to me. But just like you, it was because of the long period without a classic star collecting 3D Mario like Odyssey, Galaxy or 64.

On the opposite side of things, I distinctly remember back in the day reading an article that suggested the original New Super Mario Bros was a far more well liked game because it came out in 2006, when most people weren't really making 2D platformers. Compared to the NSMB games after it, which were surrounded by far more big budget 2d platformers and the rise of indie platformers.

That sounds about right. Because I remember when that game came out in 2006, it was really cool. It's the subsequent games that bothered me.

@kkslider5552000 I liked the New Super Mario Bros games, but they got progressively worse, and U marked the absolute low point in terms of originality. Some songs had been re-used in two games before, which tells a lot.

@Losermagnet I'm not opposed to violent video games. I think that in healthy doses violence can be harmless on a child, or an adult. If it enhances the experience of the video game instead of forming the entire backbone, it's justified. For me when buying a game with guns for example, I want guns to have a profound reason to be in the game. Uncharted is a good example because it's a secondary mechanism in the combat gameplay. Dedicated shooters are, to me, mindless cashgrabs that have no interest in developing a meaningful experience, but rather catering to people who like shooters.

As for glorifying violence if games do that, and actively promote killing, that's not good. One of the reasons I like the game "Death Stranding" on PS4, and to some small extent the idea of ambiguous games like Undertale, is because violence is seen like a last resort, and killing drastically changes the world around you. In the former killing humans fills the world with anti-matter demons, and in the latter you don't get the true ending if you kill a single enemy.

Sometimes when I meet a new person I'll ask what videogame console they have, and sometimes they'll have... not a wrong taste in games, but something that suggests they don't treat videogames like an artistic medium, but rather just a place to vent one's violent frustrations by mowing down hundreds of enemies. When I moved to a new country and started meeting people in school, people would ask me the same question in return, and dismiss me as soon as they realised that I'm not like them. But some people are able to see both sides and I can appreciate that.

But I can't respect people who look to video games just to shoot things. The two teenage boys who instigated the Columbine High shooting in 1999 played DOOM, and in videos they likened the shooting, when planning it, to DOOM. Paraphrased, and not exactly copied, but they said something along the lines of "It'll be like f*cking DOOM!" I'm not saying that everyone who exclusively plays shooters will become terrorists, but there's much more to video games than guns.

That's why in my own life even though I play action games frequently on PlayStation, like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, and Red Dead Redemption II, I'm almost my own parent in terms of how I choose games. It's not that I'm trying to resist any kind of temptation, but I don't want to expose myself to that kind of violence. When I was younger I liked watching Mortal Kombat fatalities, and had a strange obsession with violence, so if these kinds of fascinations are normal in modern young gamers, it means parents should pay close attention to what they buy.

When I was in elementary school people in my grade (1), were all talking about Call of Duty, and various shooters. The thought that even now I haven't even touched one of those games... makes me glad I have understanding parents who invest themselves in understanding video games. That's part of the problem too because most parents would just give their child some money, and they would come home with GTA V.

I think I had an 8 year gap in between beating my first 2D Mario, Super Mario Land 2, and beating New Super Mario Brothers in 2006. I believe that it was the first 2D Mario I owned since Super Mario Land 2 as well, which was the first video game I owned. That gap in having that kind of experience did boost the game I'm sure, it definitely felt like a new experience. That too was when the DS was trying to start a 2.5D style, Sonic came in late 2005 with Sonic Rush then Super Mario with NSMB in mid-2006. I think that 2.5D style helped both games a lot in standing out at the time. Both ended up being my favorites in their respective series.

In theory it shouldn't have felt as fresh as it was at the time because I had bought all those Mario Advance games (and Mario 3 was the only one of those games I played much of before that point), but it still kinda did anyway. Not as much as those old games, but y'know, enough that I didn't even think of complaints like that until the Wii game came out.

Octopath had a connected story and the fact that they didn’t spoonfeed it to the player and they made the characters self motivated rather than the “chosen ones” to stop the great evil (even though they still end up doing that) and seeded the story through side quests as well as a the main characters was a refreshing change of pace from normal RPG storytelling. SaGa games and alliance alive are similar but I thought Octopath did a better job at throwing curveballs at the player.

But it was all one overarching story. I’m always annoyed when people act like the game had no story.

@TheJGG

While i kind of agree with you when you talk about what people play and dont see it as artistic medium, theres something that bothers me is that whenever these killings are brought up, people always talk about videogames and gun control (which isnt a bad thing per se) but never what made these kids get there.

@I-U Personally I don't see much value in ranking 3D World amongst the 3D games, because it's a fundamentally different experience which is a lot closer to the 3D titles IMO (some people make this distinction by grouping the 2D titles and 3D Land/World as "linear" and the other 3D Marios as "true 3D" or "open"). 3D World was very well received at a time (I remember a prominent gaming magazine, I think Edge, calling it the first true "next gen" experience amongst the launches of PS4 and XBO) but I do think there's some truth to it not quite getting the recognition it deserved due to both its placing on the Wii U, and on a console that doesn't have a traditional 3D Mario. Upon replaying Super Mario 3D World on the Switch, I'd probably consider it to be my second favourite "linear" Mario, after Super Mario World.

@kkslider5552000 New Super Mario Bros was very well received when it came out on the DS. Having a new 2D Mario game for the first time in almost 15 years (and for the first time since the series transitioned into 3D) was a really big deal, and New Super Mario Bros is actually a very solid game that introduced some interesting concepts and, for the time, had a really cool art style. The problem most definitely is that they continued to use the same template going forward for four games within six years (or five in ten years if you include Super Mario Run), which understandably got tiring. I don't think any of the games are bad (Wii and 2 being the weakest, but still enjoyable enough IMO), but none of them leave the same lasting impression of, say, SMB3 or SMW.

@TheJGG I kinda see this argument, although I guess I've never met anyone who seems to be into games for the violence. Personally, I have no issue with the portrayal of violence, but the way in which it is portrayed can be offputting for me. I like a good shooter or fighting game for the tense moment-to-moment action more than anything, and I could do without things being too gory and I don't like the idea of glamourising violence. I've never had any interest in Mortal Kombat for this reason.

True about Octopath Traveler. While I haven't played it till the end, I do have hear about the stories connecting to the true last chapter. Hope to complete the story in future months.

About the 2D Marios. That's almost exactly what I think about the (first) New Super Mario Bros. I didn't mind at the time with it, nor with New Super Mario Bros Wii. But after that, it started to have less and less of my interest until it became stale. And of course like it was already mentioned, the music also became tiring. Maybe they can take inspirations from other 2D games to refresh the 2D Mario games?

@SquidOnTheRise Videogames and certain types of music seem to be the easy go-to for the media and whoever else to pin blame on. The actual reasons are never found. I've been watching slasher movies since the 80s, played all kinds of hyper violent video games, listen to some music with violent lyrics and I've never once felt the urge to go on some killing spree.
The distinction between knowing these are just an artistic medium wasn't cause by the medium. I'm not saying that these won't inspire someone who can't make that distinction, but there has to be more of underlying problem or issues that led to that. The real root of the problem is rarely exposed. It's just easier to say 'they played Doom" or 'they listened to Marilyn Manson or Cannibal Corpse'. It makes better headlines and gets people to weigh in.