Before reading this article, please watch the trailer and really think about how you feel about it.
The game ‘Hatred’ has caused a lot of controversy recently because this particular bullet-hell shooter is essentially about nothing more than meaningless mass-genocide. So disgusted was one writer that he even started a petition to have it cancelled.
The games industry regularly becomes the scapegoat when mass-shootings occur in America, such as the Columbine Massacre back in 1999 being blamed on the game ‘Doom’ amongst other things or the more recent Sandy Hook Shooting in 2012 being linked to Call of Duty. So it’s understandable that many gamers and developers alike are concerned about Hatred undoing a lot of the hard work we have put into proving that games are an art form and not simply there to poison the minds of the youth.
I felt sick watching that trailer. Recently I played The Evil Within and I felt sick during the opening sequence when I found a guy tied upside down and gagged with barbed wire. Horror games/films often utilize horrific concepts in order to make you uncomfortable. It's basic horror 101. When 'A Serbian Film' came out, everyone got up in arms over the infamous baby rape scene, but why, because it's disgusting? Maybe. But that scene isn't going to make anyone who didn't already want to have sex with a baby suddenly realize their passion for baby lovin'. It’s there to shock us into being scared and while many horror writers consider using shocking imagery to be amongst the cheapest ways to scare an audience, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work.
Freedom of expression is integral to our personal liberties as a society. The last thing I want to see is a bunch of stupid arseholes giving our industry a bad name. But we can't tell these guys what they can and cannot publish in one breath and then in another breath decry the Australian government for telling people what they can and can't play. It's hypocrisy of the highest count. I’m reminded of the controversy a few years ago which occurred when a young couple with a disabled child went to see a live show by the infamous Scottish stand-up comedian Frankie Boyle. Anyone who knows his material will tell you that he does not hold back on any subject and is more than happy to make fun of pretty much anyone or anything. Naturally, when the subject of disabled children came up they got offended and made sure their opinions were published. But they were more than happy to laugh at all of his material about other people’s tribulations. His rants about people on medication were fine, as were his jabs at the poor. But when he came round to poking fun at an issue that happened to be close to their heart he had suddenly gone too far. In my opinion, that is hypocrisy at its worst. Essentially, what I’m saying is, either everything is ok or nothing is ok. You can’t demand that things cease to exist simply because you don’t like them unless you are willing to accept other people’s demands to change or abandon your own projects based on their personal, subjective interpretations of your work. I accept that Hatred is an extreme example of that in practice but it is still someone’s creation and neither you nor I have any right to control the creative impulses of another human being and trying to do so is arrogant and pointless. I don’t genuinely believe that my opinions on right and wrong are the absolute definition of what right and wrong is and even if I did have my head that far up my own arse, I’m not deluded enough to think that every games developer out there is suddenly going to change his entire project based on the fact that some of my friends and me don’t approve of what they’re up to
The truth is that this petition is the easy way out. Attempting to force a studio to stop what they’re doing is a lot easier than the other option, which is to debate the nature of games like this, to warn people not to let their children get their hands on it, to organize ourselves as fans and professionals alike and refuse to give our blessing to this sort of thing. If this game ends up being successful (which all of the controversy surrounding it has probably ensured at this point) then we should be asking ourselves why that is the case and what that says about us as a society.
We, as gamers, have the power of veto over any project by choosing whether or not to support it financially. Make the right decision when the time comes by voting not only with your wallets, but with your hearts.