Yoko Taro: The Reasons Why We Kill in Video Games Shine a Light on What's Broken in Humans

Yoko Taro, the game director of NieR:Automata, expressed a particularly deep thought on killing in video games and what that says about humans as a whole.

[Jackhass]

This guy always has some interesting insights.

[robtion]

He does. I like that he speaks his mind.

I think some people are misinterpreting what he said. He is not saying there is no difference between real life and virtual killing.

He is basically just pointing out that humans have an inate fascination with violence as a form of entertainment (that is, we have a dark streak).

For example horror movies, action films, most video games, or say the UFC.

[abstractel]

For me it's never been about what I am shooting, it could be a non-sentient glob of goo moving around that react in an awesome way when they are shot.

I believe this will become more of an issue when games near photo realism, but I also feel that developers has matured with it and will continue to do so.

I consider the gaming medium relatively new, compared to the other formats that deliver fictional stories like feature films. IMO story isn't that great in most games and does not compared to books and movies etc.. Last of Us is one of the few titles I really felt had a quality script executed really well so I am not saying there aren't exceptions but our industry has a long way to go (as much as I passionately love it!).

[-Gespenst-]

Speak for yourself. I don't play super violent games, because I don't enjoy the violence. Moreover, even if you do enjoy violent videogames, that doesn't mean that you'll enjoy real violence. They're two very different experiences, no matter how similar they appear. Yoko Taro himself should know this given that he makes videogames. Exaggerated and ridiculous sound effects and visual effects - you don't get these things in real life. Killing is brutal and traumatic for all involved (especially the victim) unless you're a psychopath. It's far from fun, unlike how it is often portrayed in entertainment. To be honest, the fact that he's saying this sort of betrays his own confusion about the difference between entertainment and reality. That's worrying, because he's a grown-ass man. People like him need to stay grounded in reality and not let entertainment inform them about it.

[SixFragz]

I agree with your comment, but i'm not sure why you got many dislikes, so maybe we are missing something. Maybe those who dislike can tell us something we've missed, because you bring up a clearly valid point.

It is simply intrigue and human nature to sort of be fascinated by action and violence through ENTERTAINMENT. Of course, some people such as yourself don't enjoy violence in video games, and that's completely understandable.

Entertainment and reality should be kept separate, but there are some cases where idiotic people mix the two, and think that some of the things they see in video games would be alright to replicate in real life.

It's quite ironic how someone who is ingrained with video games such as Taro can echo such a thing. I assume he was trying to be enlightening and insightful, but I don't agree with him at all.

[Timesplitter14]

If you play anything from Chess to Zelda to Fortnite, then the "we enjoy killing in games" comment still applies to those. Graphic/realistic violence is completely superficial and doesn't make much of a difference

I don't think he necessarily means that we'd enjoy killing things at random in the real world, but rather that we enjoy imagining that we'd have some kind of terrible enemy that we could fight and destroy. A bit in the same way that most superhero fantasies involve villains, and they're not just about some person helping others at random. We want to have something to fight, because that sounds more fun to us

I'm not saying that's a good thing, but I think that's how things are right now

[Timesplitter14]

(cont.)

...even when it's not technically "killing", like in sports or in superhero stories where the hero never kills, I think it still caters to the same basic instinct as violent games. We want to have stuff to fight against and vanquish, or else we get bored

[fr0sty]

In the beginning, it was the virtual villain that got us to enjoy simulated harm/killing. Now, when given the freedom to, we will mow a taxicab over a street full of virtual pedestrians, blow up a police station, stab a hooker, etc... regardless of what lipstick you put on it to make it morally acceptable, beneath the surface it's all the same thing.

It's the same reason we get off on violence on TV, the news, etc... The song "Vicarious" comes to mind.

[rainslacker]

More often than not, when you kill in games, it's done so from the point of view of being the right thing to do. Or at least, the player has the moral high ground. I don't think that it's people subconsciously enjoy violence, I think it's that people subconsciously want to do the right thing, or be the hero. Our media, in general, has perpetuated the idea that violence is an acceptable way to be such a way, at least when it's done in a fictional sense, and occasionally it's OK when it's not fictional.

Some games attempt to blur that line, like where you play a bad guy, but even in those games, there is often some form of twisted logic which makes it acceptable.

[EloquentRooster]

No you're all getting his message wrong. Hes explaining that we as humans ALLWAYS WANT what we cant have. Always. And hes right. Yes we have a fascination for action that has been adultered through entertainment. But it's more of violence that we have a problem with. Yet we want peace. If we were a peaceful world we would want what we couldnt have. It's a double vortex of sin is in our nature!!! This is what he means philosophically

[mogwaii]

You are completely missing the point, completely.

[Omnislashver36]

Way to completely misinterpret what he said.

The point is that we enjoy it because we have things to fight for. Whether or not we're conscious of it, everyone has a reason for fighting.

It could be survival, it could be a struggle of ideals, it could be philosophical to some extent, or a combination. It could be to protect those you care about.

And when you have all of this at your disposal you can write an interesting game. It has nothing to do with whether you enjoy violence in real life, most of us aren't under the same circumstances of a videogame so it's easy to differentiate as fantasy.

The point is it's some allegory, a fantasy metaphor for something. And whether it be DOOM taking on hellish monsters(survival) or Kingdom Hearts and friendship(ideals), it reflects something about our personalities. If we had no "fight" we would be NPCs.

The very fact you have a stance against him shows you have the urge to stand for your opinion. That's the EXACT thing he's speaking on and being insightful to the writing of new videogame material.

[Cobra951]

Thank you, EloquentRooster. That's the most thought-provoking interpretation of the short statement that I've seen yet.

[PhoenixUp]

He’s had this message since the first Drakengard

[bluefox755]

While I enjoy his work, I completely disagree with this sentiment.

[Captain_J_Sheridan]

We still carry a lot from our primal age, we like to identify an enemy, kill it and rejoice on our survival and protection of our own

If there's no enemy to be found, we'll create'em

[PurpHerbison]

Stay away from this guy.

[Hungryalpaca]

He’s not wrong. It’s what people do. Not everyone but it is what happens.

[Tapani]

100% agree. I've been talking about this very same thing with my buddies for years. I had to stop RDR2 due to not wanting to take part in a massacre that took place in a local village as part of the story. The main character didn't really react to it "because that is what outlaws did normally" as everyone said to me. I don't know too many outlaws from Wild West who committed these kind of war crimes (killing more than 100 or 200 people) without being infamous and hunted until found, and essentially getting tried.

[rainslacker]

True. I also don't know of many towns in the old west where most of the citizens got involved in a gun fight because two parties had a dispute, nor did the law go after the winning party. But you know....."realism", with emphasized quotation marks. What's more ironic is that just getting on the wrong horse will have you hunted and wanted.

[WickedLester]

Reeeeeaching!

[monkey602]

The sentiment is hard to contradict but as usual there are exceptions to the rule.
Myself I love shooter games and some of my favourite games have gruesome moments. They don't even phase me, However I'm not so forgiving to violence in film. There's needs to be a purpose to it's portrayal.
Yet however comfortable I might be with violence and gore in game I'm opposed to it entirely in reality. I don't agree with possession of firearms and I'm sceptical at best of Military careers. Zero tolerance on Violence as a resolution to any matter.
I guess Yoko Taro has got a point to an extent in that the general populous is desensitized and more passive to brutality but there are always going to be good people at heart too that don't think the world is as black and white.

I don't think I'm being a hypocrite here at least ha

[Platformgamer]

it's just a game bro

[HeisenbergX]

The framerate and the awful stuttering in this game made ME wanna kill some humans..

[spektical]

The fallacy falls apart quick because we’d have a lot of effects bleed over into the real world. And quite frankly it doesn’t happen for this to be remotely true. Most people are cognizant of reality and the absurdity in video games.

[ludicrous]

Violence and killing are absolutely uneccessary if only we understand ourselves, others and everything else (not just human nature). Book like "enders' game" and the film "enemy mine" show that the concept of enemy come from lack of understanding one another.

BUT since we don't and stayed ignorant, killing and violent are resolutions to the problems that we ourselves created. In a weird way, killing may also be justified like onzymendez killing million to save billions in "the watchmen" or Thanos "avenger infinity gauntlet" balancing the universe through killing half of it because of resources scarcity and greed will eventually lead human to killing themselves anyways (he wasn't wrong about his home world destruction).

[Cobra951]

I haven't seen Enemy Mine in forever. Good movie. I think you meant "Ozymandias".

You're right; but fictional killing in fictional settings is role play, catharsis. It doesn't reflect our real nature, or indict us as a species.

[TargusX]

Too many games insist on excessive violence, very gory killing moves, torture scenes which really spoil allot of games for me. I can also never play them in front of my family. But for some sadist(?) reason - these cutscenes or actions in video games seem more popular than ever. Question is, why?

[Hungryalpaca]

Because people enjoy fantasy and being able to experience things they’d never do in real life.

[Germaximus]

I like killing or defeating evil more than I do the idea of killing actual people. That's exactly why I don't really enjoy games like GTA and I'd rather play something like Diablo or any game where I'm killing an actual "evil" type of enemy that isn't human.

[franwex]

Quintin Tarantino said something around the lines that violence is like spicy food. It makes things interesting. So we like it for the entertainment.
Why do we find it entertaining? Because it’s like satire I feel.

[theshredded]

That's why rpgs are my favorite games and games where you don't kill like MGS and Deus Ex.

[Tankbusta40]

Video games are not real...the violence in them is not real, thus why people don't care about murdering NPC's(or online opponents) in video games. Its that simple.

I like your games Yoko...but before telling millions they are broken because they kill in video games, maybe you might want to address the fact that you can't show your face in public without a mask.

[theshredded]

it's just that why do we have a lot of games with violence or shooting? Us humans incite violence and that's a fact. It's a primal innate thing. He's right.

[Cobra951]

I'll do you one better: We get a cathartic effect. By playing out aggressions and violent fantasies in a safe setting, we dissipate them, so we are less likely to succumb to them in the real world.

[Shinox]

I don't like you or your overrated mediocre games .. as a matter of fact : Fxxx You

[StormLegend]

Killing in video games has never made me have the feeling of wanting to kill someone in real life, It does nothing but make me hate evil people more than becoming a murderer.

[Cikatriz_ESP]

I think the argument—at least the serious one that deserves attention—is that it decreases our overall sensitivity to violence. When you bring society’s awareness down a notch it has a trickle-down effect, similar to the way recently elected officials have lowered the bar in regards to the way we converse with each other.

[tonyjames404]

Kind of on the same line of thought. Australia is super strict when it comes to video games and what they allow. I think there needs to be more education for parents of children and there needs to be stricter laws in place to stop young kids from playing games like GTA V and getting ideas of this is how humanity behaves

https://cogpoweruppodcast.p...

[Cikatriz_ESP]

What kind of laws are we talking about?

[Cikatriz_ESP]

Don’t his own games feature rampant killing? Maybe not humans specifically (I don’t know, I don’t have much experience with his work) but a robot can certainly be considered a human surrogate at least as much as a computer generated person can be. Either way you’re ending something with a perceived life, which perhaps says more about us when you consider we only really care when the thing we kill is human.

[tochi]

Japanese IPs are almost always tied to creator's personality, regardless of scale or production budget. So, a boundary between commercial product and art is burr. This is a double-edged sword in terms of globalization, especially in business. Nier and MGS are good examples. Yoko and Kojima's personal insights on subjects are the reason people can distinguish their IPs from ocean of games in similar theme, and also the reason many casual games avoid their games. Believe it or not, MGS series never sold one million copies in Japan, even though everybody knows what it is.

Point is, that, for art, creator is allowed to stand on higher ground and ask consumer to understand meaning of artistic expressions. agree? For commercial products, of course, consumer is king, we tell creators what we need.

Japanese games are an art.

[mogwaii]

Life is a juxtaposition of violence and beauty and humans are the only beings that try and justify it. We slaughter and imprison millions of sentient creatures every day and don't bat an eye yet if it when it is us being slaughtered and imprisoned it's a tragedy. Then we turn and adore and hold up other creatures as pets and would dare not hurt them. We obviously also do it in war with each other and justify that yet go on as if life and humanity is so wonderful and peaceful. What yako taro is talking about is our inherent violence as a species.

[moomoo319]

I like yoko he's a real broken artist type in a pretty vanilla industry, at least when it comes to directors other than kojima. Truely the drunken master lol

[AK91]

I hope we see another project from him that’s not on mobile in the future.

[Nacho_Z]

Everything from Mario to God of War features killing as a primary gameplay feature. It might look cute in Mario and Zelda but it's still violence and those creatures still die. For this reason he's right, if people weren't naturally drawn to physical combat then it wouldn't be by far the main gameplay mechanic in so many games. If humans didn't have that instinct we'd only be playing non violent puzzle games.

[bujasem_89]

This. It's been on my mind for years.

[Cobra951]

"We want peace in the world, but we also enjoy killing others in video games, like shooting guns in video games. I think that’s karma in a sense for humans, the way that video games grasp the true essence of humanity, whether or not that’s what they were aiming to do."

Am I missing some transcendental wisdom here? Because what I see there doesn't even rise to the level of a haiku. We like shooting in games. We like killing in games. We want peace in the real world. Yes, we knew that already. Karma is about eventually getting what you deserve, and that has no bearing on the rest of the statement.

[FanboysKiller]

Resident Evil: obsession with mutations
Onimusha: demonizing the age of samurais
Devil may cry: demonizing modern age
Metal gear solid: war
Gta: gangsters
Doom: obsession with blood
Halo: aliens
Tomb Raider: Genuine archaeologists
Mortal kombat: demonizing eastern martial art
Megaman : fear of machines and AI
The last of us: don't know but I like it