Well, is it?

Let's look deeper into this controversial subject. First off, there are some video game developers who like fast-paced action games that allow the player to perform devastating moves on unfortunate foes and enemies. Maybe even their own friendly units. Sometimes there would be the occasional spray of blood or some harsh bumps and bruises. Sometimes they'd be minimal and barely noticable. And sometimes they'd be kind of excessive - to the point where the ridiculous amounts of violence is really - well, ridiculous.

Truth is, there are many gamers out there that prefer games where they can do what they can't normally do in real life - like playing as a box and eating other boxes, or shooting the heads off of zombies and chainsawing their guts out - possibly even repeatedly shooting an already dead person to see how much blood's left by the time you blow him/her up. If there are any gamers out there that prefer this kind of gameplay, well - that's perfectly fine with me. Go ahead; play what you want.

But sometimes there's that feeling in your gut when you're playing a video game you see such inhumane acts of violence performed on another human being or an animal that just makes you want to throw up. Thing is, some of these acts have even been duplicated in real life. Some people have killed other people by copying a fatality move they saw in Mortal Kombat.

I'm not saying, "Don't play Mortal Kombat," - but I'm really saying, "Monitor the types of games you play." I know, video games aren't the only thing influencing violent behaviour that eventually results in real-life murders; there's also music and television that fuel this burning desire to do something crazy. I'm not insulting anyone here, though - no way - that's not what I'm getting at at all. It's just that excessively violent games could have a bad influence on your life.

Could you imagine if you were a parent of a probably five or six year-old child and they saw you...

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[spoiler] ...brutally stabbing the Greek god Zeus in the stomach with blood spurting out in every single possible direction in a God of War game? That's brutal! Could you even imagine what horror would pool up in their eyes? [/spoiler]

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There are people who consider violent video games as a sort of way to vent out rage - a stress reliever. In some cases these have even stopped crimes - there are some cases where these kinds of games have actually prevented people from filling themselves up with rage and setting off several crime sprees. Or killing sprees, if that's applicable.

Everyone's gotten extremely angry at one point in their life. Sometimes the fury is vented out and sometimes the rage is taken out on something or someone, at some place. Everyone's gone through this. Consider Dark Souls. I haven't played it, but from what I've heard it's a brutally challenging game. It might cause you to throw your controller(s) at the screen or smash your fist through a wall and scare the neighbors. Maybe it'll cause you to kick your pet or something.

We've all been there.

Then again, probably most of us have played or seen at least one ridiculously violent video game before. Maybe Doom, Manhunt, Madworld, or something of the like. I'm not saying "don't play them", or "don't buy their games", but is all of that excess blood and gore really necessary? Think about it: Has any video game you've played contained blood and/or gore that positively affects the gameplay?

Not the character's ability to do something, but the gameplay.

I guess you could say The Darkness - if you're into that kind of thing where eating someone's heart makes it more fun if you're that kind of gamer. Which is, you know - perfectly fine with me. There's probably several users here on GameSpot that know a game where violence leads to fun.

But what keeps gamers coming back for more brutal action? Is it satisfying? I guess so. Maybe there's an antagonist in the game which makes you despise him/her so much, and when you finally kill him/her, with all of the blood and gore flying around, makes you feel kinda satisfied, huh? Sometimes blood and gore can positively affect us and the way we play games. Maybe it makes us feel powerful - like if you're someone bullied a lot at school and you play a game of [PROTOTYPE] and you smash the living crap out of people with your giant fists, it kinda makes you feel like you can do anything, right?

I guess playing violent video games can give you a feeling of accomplishment. Well, as long as you keep it within the game. If you were chucked into the scenario I mentioned with you being bullied and you playing [PROTOTYPE], you wouldn't actually think you'd beat the living daylights out of them, would you? But if playing violent video games cools you off and shuts off your anger, then by all means do so.

As long as you keep it in the game. And to answer the question, I guess you could say that blood and gore in video games has its merits and de-merits, depending on the way you look at it. The human population is well over seven billion - that means there's going to be a lot of opinions. So go ahead - share them however you like.

Now all non-violent gamers and violent gamers alike, game on.