Violent games critics are 'from an outside crowd'

[Kugyince]

IO Interactive's Karsten Lund, game director on the upcoming Kate & Lynch: Dog Days, says violence in video games is incorrectly criticised by an unfamiliar 'outside crowd'.

"Games, in general, throughout history have been violent," Lund told CVG.

"Even chess is a violent game about war you could say, right? Games are a chance to try stuff that you're not trying in real life, and without having to face the consequences. Every game is like that so that's nothing new."

Speaking of the critics who strongly oppose violence in games, Lund added: "I'm not an expert in psychology, but I do think that some of these opinions come from an outside crowd that's not really used to dealing with games, they just watch it and think 'Oh, it's got to be affecting people'.

"I do think our target audience knows the difference between real life and games."

During the presentation he described Dog Days as a 'realistic, brutal crime shooter', but says it's not as bad as Gears of War. "I didn't get any feedback of the core of it being too violent.

"What's interesting is that it shows a lot less than a game like Gears of War, which is probably the most bloody game and brutal game I've ever seen. I mean you're knee deep in blood and gore and nobody seems to notice."

It's about time someone adds headshots to chess. Spice it up a bit.

News: Violent games critics are 'from an outside crowd' - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

[fenrir1887]

I think some of these critics are a bunch of morons who can't tell reality from fiction in their own lives. I know the difference as well as any other gamer can. I'm not inclined to take and skewer somebody just because someone does it on Dynasty Warriors. Where do these guys get off trying to replace psychologists as experts on what violent games do to kids?

[samejamesbond]

Remeber when these same people blamed movies for the problems in society?
I doubt it's from video games.

[fenrir1887]

That's another thing that gets me riled. The only experts who have the right to say what causes the problems are the psychologists. They at least conduct experiments to try to prove a connection. Critics who say the same thing before the psychologists prove it don't.