In an interview with Eurogamer, Led designer on the original Deus Ex, Warren Spector speaks out about the level of violence in contemporary video games.
Warren is currently employed by Disney and is working on the Epic Mickey franchise. He says that he is uncomfortable with the industry's focus on shooters and violence.
The designer says that developers should use their skills to create more believable characters, rather then just creating more authentic-looking guns in games.
"Can you imagine what games would look like if [id Software's John Carmack and Epic Games' Tim Sweeney] spent as much time working on non-combat AI as they do on rendering," Warren said in the interview. "Can you imagine what games we would have if John Carmack decided he wanted to create a believable character as opposed to a believable gun?"
Some of the practices in the industry are currently being called into question. Two high-profiles game trailers from Crystal Dynamics and IO Interactive, have been criticized for violent or sexually explicit content contained with in the trailers of Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution.
In June, Ron Rosenberg the executive producer of Crystal Dynamic's Tomb Raider reboot, made a startling statement claiming that Lara Croft would be a victim of rape, a scene in the game's trailer appeared to depicted the crime. Crystal Dynamic's quickly released a statement that the game does not depict rape and referred to the scene as a "pathological assault" and "close intimidation." But many in the industry still question if the game was attempting to raise the bar with its content.
Hitman: Absolution director Tore Blystad also recently announced in an interview that the Nuns seen in the controversial game trailer will receive some context and back story by the time the game releases. So that they wont be gun-carrying nuns for the sake of being gun-carrying nuns, I guess.
In the interview Spector said the industry focuses "a bit too much on violence," and this is because "it's easy" and is proven to be popular. He left Eidos in 2004, after view Games like Hitman and 25 to Life.
He also says that the game industry can be more innovative and that violence isn't the only the industry is capable of, and it certainly isn't the only thing the industry should do.
Spector makes some interesting points, but what do you think? Are videogames becoming too violent? Sound off in the comments.