@Warren_Spector Warren… this was a dishonestly cut hit reel - strategically out of context shots assembled by a propagandist mindset. That the tactic can have such an impact on a mind as disciplined and sophisticated as yours is disheartening.

@DuvalMagic I realize the violent game video provided no context, but that doesn't change the fact that the images are in shockingly bad taste. That they could be cut together at all is the problem. Again, I'm just talking about bad taste, not violence in videogames.

@Warren_Spector Well, neither the Crusader nor the System Shock nor the Deus Ex franchises are exactly E rated games, right? ;)

@gamesl10n True enough but the games I work on typically offer alternatives to violence; I try to show the consequences; there aren't any decapitations,bloody gibbing headshots or ax killings. I don't mind violent games. I mind games that glorify it & present it in graphic, disgusting ways.

@Warren_Spector Every shot is in intentionally bad taste, because it is isolated and out of context for the express purpose of emotional manipulation. It's dishonest propoganda.

@almushel For sure, in some cases in the video, context would have helped! But the fact that those images exist means our... well... enemies can use them against us. As this discussion unfolds I hope everyone will remember that I love games and don't think they cause violent behavior.

@Warren_Spector I get what you mean, however Deux Ex allows people to murder several children in any number of ways, well beyond using guns. In a lot of the games featured in the montage it isn't possible to blow people up (leaving a bloody stain in their place), but it very much is in Deux Ex.

@MatthewCoussell Good points. But I hope players were repulsed by the killing of children. And, easy for me to say, but true: I'm ashamed of the kid-killing possibility and wouldn't do it again. Can't promise, but I don't think I'll ever make another game where you can kill virtual people at all.

@Warren_Spector I agree with you that some games glorify violence (Mortal Kombat, God of War and Wolfenstein the New Order) and it is very unnecessary in most cases, but some games use the violence for a purpose. Wolfenstein The New Order uses it's most brutal scenes to show the evilness it's

@Ben80747491 Just to be clear, I don't mind violence in games. The glorification of violence I mind a little. What I mind a lot is gratuitous, over the top depictions of violence. And to repeat, it's not that games cause behavior it's just bad taste and the damage it does to us with haters.

@Warren_Spector I strongly disagree. Nothing in those games that's not in movies or TV shows. Don't give an inch in this debate. I especially disagree that the people associated with those games should be ashamed of themselves. That's going way too far IMO. Games are protected Free Speech.

@Warren_Spector Bad taste absolutely but also taken out of context sometimes. I don’t support gore that is just there to cause a debate. In Mad Max we chose to picture violence because it was a part of the setting and the story we told. Violence and desperation was important.

@Warren_Spector Your own games can be cut with such a mindset -pressed into the same service of highlighting depictions of violence to undermine art and expression. Such depictions are sometimes necessary if art is going to be useful to our species. Have you not read Shakespeare? The bible?

@Warren_Spector Nonsense. [goes back to watching Evil Dead 2]

@Warren_Spector Yeah, I mean. There needn't be a direct causality (which of course there isn't) for creators to recognize and exercise a social responsibility. You can create what you want, but maybe consider what your message means in the world and whether it makes us all better or worse.

@Warren_Spector So, no one pointed out to the white house that mass shooting at schools using assault riffle is actually due to no gun control and not video games (or heavy metal music, of "violent" movies or...)? Also, did anyone tell @realDonaldTrump that he's dumb?

@Warren_Spector the core of the problem is graphics and context. slashing a bunch of polygons is safer than slashing a realistic person. in the same way, killing a bunch of fantasy nazis is safer than killing innocent bystanders at an airport