Why is there so much violence in TDM FMs?

[PranQster]

Again, I ask, how many FMs actually have "excessive violence" in them? I know mine does, but I specifically wanted to make it darker and more "adult" than average.

 

Other than that, how many other missions use excessive violence? BI has reports of violence but nothing visual. I can only think of:

 

Patently Dangerous

 

Bloody suicide victim, bloody corpses

 

 

Glenham Tower

 

Trails of blood and dismembered corpse

 

 

The Transaction

 

A torture scene (relatively tame, IMO)

 

 

 

I'm sure there are others but I can't think of them atm.

 

I did that decapitated prisoner in the dungeons in my first mission, complete with ends of spine and trachea sticking out of both severed ends of the neck. Not to mention a liberal use of blood decals on and around the chopping block and axe.

Hence my red, bold text warning in my release announcement. I think that map makers should provide warnings for graphic content, rather than either censoring themselves or causing offense to younger or more sensitive players.

No, I'm not planning on including this type of content in all missions I make, but such acts were rather common during the dark & middle ages, especially in places where justice was dispensed.

[Schatten]

(Re: Lack of explicit violence as 'saving grace')

How?

I think I know where fraten's coming from. The problem with explicit violence in video games is, it's just not scary. It's pretty much the same as BOO! scares, it dulls after a while. The original Thief's design created tension with atmosphere, and left gory details mostly to the imagination of the player. Rule of the thumb is, your own imagination is almost always better equipped to scare you than something external. Compare the attic door of the Shalebridge Cradle with Doom 3's own monster closets, or how the puppets making the light flicker and weird movements makes them seem a lot more dangerous than they are.

In fact, the Cradle is a good example. The whole level is set up as leaving the gory/horror stuff to your imagination, until you have made yourself so scared that when you finally encounter a real threat you do everything to avoid it.

 

I agree that understated horror is usually the best. There'll always be exceptions of course, and well placed BOO! or cut off finger can work nicely when set up correctly.

 

As for the FMs, from what I played I didn't notice much excessive violence- or maybe I'm so used to it from other games and movies, I just ignored it.

[stumpy]

the only thing to fear is fear its self, as for fan missions you can cause fear with silence and sudden noises that aren't expected and unrecognised shadows moving in the darkness.

 

or a place I sometimes go which is known to be haunted, footsteps down a corridor, but there's no one in the corridor, something breathing behind you but there's nothing there when you turn around, and a creepy monk with his hood up although I've only seen the creepy monk once and that was in a well lit room.

[lowenz]

In fact, the Cradle is a good example

Not good, godly example

[fraten]

Wow, there are some interesting replies, so thanks to you all for that so far.

 

Of course, I didn't want to offend anyone, so my apologies if you did feel offended.

 

And this goes especially to Springheel and Trickster: If you think that I am a sissy so be it. I will not count FM's to 'prove' what I feel. I was just expressing my humble opinion, so there's no need to explain myself. If you do not agree and if you are not willing to take my point then you don't have to. I fully respect that. No problem. As I said before: I could be wrong on that.

 

[demagogue]

On a topic like this I think it's safe to say no one was offended and nobody thinks down on your opinion. It's just a game, so everyone can have their own opinions & preferences. (And I think those guys were just trying to understand what you meant by "so much violence", not actually trying to attack your preference, which I'm sure they weren't because they're decent fellows.)

 

The next FM I was planning is actually going to be a total fluff one, like a KFort FM, just because my last one had a lot of "mature themes", I thought it might be fun to swing in the other direction for the next one. Just goes to show you there's no hard rules; people just do what they feel like at the time.