Violence Is Not a Selling Point
There always has to be a selling point to sell a game. If there isn't something unique or special, no sort of gimmick, no one will buy your game. Game developers, designers and marketers all know this very well. After all, they didn't get where they are now by being dumb. Whether it's Red Dead's western setting, Donkey Kong Country Return's. . . well, returning, or Fallout's black-humour take on post-apocalyptic setting, there's always something to help sell a game. There's nothing wrong with that. Until it turns to violence.
We're trying to get beyond that, as an industry. Right now, for the most part, games are viewed as a childish waste of time, and with the biggest sellers being glorified war games, it's kind of easy to see why. And when you tune into gaming forums or listen to voice chats, you'd most likely hear insults and racial slurs being thrown back and forth. We're getting better, I'll admit. With Bioware and Rockstar pushing the boundaries of storytelling and characterization, and with indie games coming through in huge, gushing torrents of beautiful artwork and unique gameplay, we are becoming something more than what people think we are.
It's lost, though, when you start trying to sell your game by saying how violent it is. This brings me around to Dead Space 2. The first Dead Space was an awesome action game that was marketed as a horror game and defended its horror title by having some things pop out at you sometimes. It was gruesome, it was violent, but most importantly it came out of nowhere. It had very little exposure compared to most AAA game titles, and it still sold very well. Dead Space 2 kicked off its marketing campaign with a 'design your own kill move' contest, where people sent in a move for the protagonist Isaac Clarke to kill an enemy with. Already off to a bad start, encouraging your customers to tap into the murderous side of themselves. And now it has a promotional contest where people show their mom trailers of the game and record their reactions. In this video, it boasts about how Dead Space 2 is one of the "most anticipated and violent games of the year".
Gamers are more mature than this. People are more mature than this. Do we really need violence to sell a game? No. Just look at the Wii and all of the games it sells. One of the least violent systems, and its leading the pack in terms of total units sold. Dead Space 2 just misunderstands it selling points. It should be going as a finely-crafted action game with horror themes, not a bloody kill-fest. C'mon guys.
