Can you cross the line?

As most of you know, ID soft, hailed creators of Doom, Quake and pretty much credited with 1st person shooters, are developing a new Doom game.  It's groundbreaking in only one aspect though.  The graphics engine can calculate extremely complex lights and shading on a per pixel basis that results in eerily realistic images.  

Some of you might be aware that a rough copy of the game as it is now, was leaked onto the internet, and I saw it in action last night.   I was impressed, but it also got me thinking.  How far can you take the realism of the imagery, and still expect people to be able to watch the result of their actions??  

Personally, I don't want to witness what happens to the human face when I shoot it with a 12 gauge from 2 feet away.  I also don't want to really see the guy in front of me step on a AP mine and loose most of his lower body and slowly die.. but it is only a matter of time ( and not so long) until that is exactly what we can see in future games.

Dont get me wrong, I played Quake 1 through 2 and three, and I totally enjoyed it, but it was comical compared to this. I've always defended games and peoples right to play what they want as long as they know it's a game.  But I'm talking about trauma and shock here  I'm an adult, and my friend who has this game is an adult too and we both said that we probably wouldn't be able to play this game because it is so darn gross and scary  And we love watching Evil Dead series:)

Here's the problem (with this game)  The graphic violence is absolutely not for kids and youngsters, but the content of the game is - walk around and shoot everything-no brainer.  No adult is going to last playing, because it get's old in 20 minutes.  

Here's some pics:

Pic 1

Pic 2

Am I just getting old and hysterical???   I don't know.. thing is, I know it'll be mostly kids playing this stuff.

Konyak

Must agree with you there, I really would hate to see games going that far.

DOOM 3 is just the start of this turn of events, the more real they get the closer we are to having games banned!

Well, imo. anyone who see a line between games/movies and real life should belong in a padded room. I like violence in games and movies, but seeing any kind of real gore in either real life or some tv documentary or something makes me sick.

They can ban e'm all they want. If people want them they will still get them. And they will always be available somewhere

It's not exactly banning that I'm worried about, simply the question of should you do it, just because you can.  

Here's ID softs "goal" for it's creation:

"The main purpose of DOOM III is to scare player and make him believe in

what's happening on the monitor. We want him to recall his DOOM experience

even when his computer turned off. We want DOOM III to be a new reality for

him"

Heck of a reality to wish someone

I'll probably play the game, because I like a good ride like the next guy, but I will not be surprized if this game spurs a heated debate about what is a game and what isn't.

Konyak

When I see someone getting blown away in a movie it looks pretty realistic....

No different than a horror or realistic action movie.

I hope we don't get to a stage when the censor's tell us "Oh, that looks to real. Drop down the graphics to lower quality and you can release it".

As for kids, I'm assuming this game is going to have a rating on it...it's up to parents and vendors to make sure it doesn't get into kids hands.

Censorship is a pet hate of mine...and when I can't get a great new game because the moral minority whines loud enough for the politicians to hear, it really pisses me off.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Konyak-2 @ Nov. 05 2002,13:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Here's the problem (with this game)  The graphic violence is absolutely not for kids and youngsters, but the content of the game is - walk around and shoot everything-no brainer.  No adult is going to last playing, because it get's old in 20 minutes.<span id='postcolor'>

I'm 30, and I'm waiting for Doom 3 like a drooling dog!

While my first love is intelligent games like OFP, I get a kick out of stuff like RTCW and SOF2 as well.

Well, I don't think that the images are THAT bad, but I see what you're getting at.

For the most part, I think people can tell the difference between a game and reality, no matter how good the graphics are. At least until we get into really high-tech stuff where you stimulate the brain to make the person think they're really experiencing things. But that's just me daydreaming.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (FSPilot @ Nov. 06 2002,01:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Well, I don't think that the images are THAT bad, but I see what you're getting at.

For the most part, I think people can tell the difference between a game and reality, no matter how good the graphics are.  At least until we get into really high-tech stuff where you stimulate the brain to make the person think they're really experiencing things.  But that's just me daydreaming.<span id='postcolor'>

Daydream like that could potentially turn into a nightmare. What might happen if the computer crashes? . No thanks, stay away from my brain

Imagine feeling everything that happens, i would die from shock (from pain), or die very often.

Until they add in "dead body smell" I think we are safe.

What people fail to realize is that no matter how realistic games get, it will never be real. Even virtual reality, is still not real.

A good parent will sit down with their child and teach them the difference. Thus violence in video games and movies isn't that big an issue.

Certainly however that doesn't mean we should remove censorship to allow 5 year olds to play some of the more gruesome games.