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What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

kotaku.com.au

61–70 of 144 posts

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#61
post #27

Kotaku. ".au" For those that don't know, Australia has censorship practices that America would consider absolutely absurd. Kotaku are similarly inclined in encouraging a kind of puritanical sensibility of their own variety. I would find this article much more interesting if I didn't get the impression that its author would happily legislate away developer and consumer freedoms to make and/or play whatever games they'…

[deleted]

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#62
post #50

Seems 90s christian soccer-mom puritanism is making a comeback. I wonder how ultra violent gore action is somewhat passable but showing a bit of female skin is a no-no, US morals are funny.

What is soccer mom puritanism? I've never heard of that.

Thankfully, Google has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#63

I have worked on ultra-violent games but never did research on what actual killings looked like as referenced in the article. As the one quote said, context is important as well as how close something gets to realistic looking. That embedded Mortal Kombat trailer was pretty unrealistic looking IMO, the physics was cartoon like and several what would be real life death blows were not death blows until the fight was ov…

> These characters are tiny and cartoon like but the voices of them suffering in this made me feel so bad and similar to stuff happening the real world I thought we should take the mission out of the game - I think they toned it down a bit but it was in the final version.

I definitely see your point. Though, I also think that mission was extremely memorable and effective in illustrating Arthas's "win at all costs" mentality, probably in part because of how brutal and potentially similar to real events it was.

That mission was definitely the turning point where I (and likely many other players) realized "oh, maybe Arthas isn't really a good person" and the whole descent into madness made a lot more sense.

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sales figures would indicate that, wouldn't they?

True I guess. "Acceptable" was probably the wrong word. "Most enjoyable"? Still, do gamers think it's a great game while coping (and would have preferred less gore) or is more gore always preferred?

Mortal Kombat's whole selling point is the gore and over-the-top violence. It's not known for it's stellar gameplay.

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#65
post #27

Kotaku. ".au" For those that don't know, Australia has censorship practices that America would consider absolutely absurd. Kotaku are similarly inclined in encouraging a kind of puritanical sensibility of their own variety. I would find this article much more interesting if I didn't get the impression that its author would happily legislate away developer and consumer freedoms to make and/or play whatever games they'…

You're making way too many assumptions. There's no reason to think Midway is either unwilling or unable to make accommodations. There's also no reason to think that if someone experiences trauma working on this stuff that they're forever unable to do the work.

I think your mindset, that someone who is having an issue completing their work should just not do that job, is a really toxic mindset. Workers can adapt to their work, but companies also can adapt the workplace to the workforce. Your attitude, that hiring a more resilient worker is the solution to every breakdown, is not only inhumane it's probably inefficient. I hope you don't have any direct reports.

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#66
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"So, Dexter? Hannibal? How's that ribcage-ripping animation coming along?"

Surely there exist perfectly sane and law abiding creative people who aren't disturbed by fictional depictions of gore. Comparing people like Romero to fictional serial killers is just silly.

The violence in Doom, Quake, and such was always quite stylized, even in games like Doom (2016), and usually inflicted against demons, mutants, and other monsters. (It's relevant because the uncanny valley is more forgiving when you're seeing something decidedly not human.) These days, Mortal Kombat is going for a style of violence that looks particularly gruesome and realistic, and is committed against humans or creatures close enough to human as to make little difference. And Netherrealm staff are scrutinizing footage of real murders, executions, and other deaths for reference. The sort of person who enjoys looking at that stuff, over and over, is pretty much constrained to the psychopathic serial killer aspirant type. MK is really raising the bar on how extreme video game violence can be, well beyond what was ever countenanced by Carmack and Romero.

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#67

I'm honestly more appalled by the choice of music for that trailer. I've seen gorier stuff in anime.

The whole Mortal Kombat thing has died long time ago. The last good release, IMO, was MK3. (I'm still playing it!) The game was about controlling your own rhythm and predicting your opponent - in the first place. Knowing "secret" moves was secondary. If you had the rhythm you could've defeated somebody with "bare hands." Violent scenes was a bonus. The game was built around the rhythm. After MK3, it's all about violent scenes. With jam pouring out of people and high-contrast renders they don't even look realistic anymore... And that music - indeed, no style at all.

R.I.P.. Mortal Kombat. (We still play you in DOSBox!)

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#68

I have worked on ultra-violent games but never did research on what actual killings looked like as referenced in the article. As the one quote said, context is important as well as how close something gets to realistic looking. That embedded Mortal Kombat trailer was pretty unrealistic looking IMO, the physics was cartoon like and several what would be real life death blows were not death blows until the fight was ov…

I found many movies (war, horror) unwatchable after having been in combat. People do die in some of the worst ways. Their last moments will make you shudder to think about. I don’t find pleasure in, and I look down upon those who enjoy, terrible death/torture scenes. Some scenes in games are too much for sure, but there are far more horror scenes that I think never should have been made and have no place as entertain…

Its mostly people who have self-worth problems, and as in combat the ultimate wager is ones own life, they love to see a situation where everything is crystall-clear for once- where there actions have meaning and the outcome is a purposefull life, even when it ends. Of course this is naive- and deep down they know. So they strife to replicate "realism" like moths longing for the real fire to fly towards.

Oh, meaningless new world, which holds such braves.

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#69

I wish these articles would include a little more beyond anecdotal evidence. There was an article on here not long ago about a guy who was in charge of one of the Civilization franchise releases and he drove himself nearly nuts doing it. There'll always be people who are at the wrong place, at the wrong time - that's hardly newsworthy. Some of it is environment, some of it is their own make-up and circumstance. Thank…

How did the Civ guy drive himself nuts? That game seems pretty tame in comparison. If it's "I got PTSD because the violence was too real!" that would fit the article, but seems a little unlikely. If it's "I worked 80 hours a week every week until I ended up in the hospital", then that makes sense, and is all too common in the industry.

Re: What It's Like to Work on Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat

#70

I'm honestly more appalled by the choice of music for that trailer. I've seen gorier stuff in anime.

The whole Mortal Kombat thing has died long time ago. The last good release, IMO, was MK3. (I'm still playing it!) The game was about controlling your own rhythm and predicting your opponent - in the first place. Knowing "secret" moves was secondary. If you had the rhythm you could've defeated somebody with "bare hands." Violent scenes was a bonus. The game was built around the rhythm. After MK3, it's all about viole…

It really did seem to lose something after MK3 and never seemed to get it back. MK9 seemed to get the closest out of all the newer ones to that old feel, at least for me, although the X-ray bone breaking special moves it introduced got too long and annoying after you did them every single match. Seems like they've doubled down on those and they've just gotten worse with MKX and MK11.
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