Sending all my love out to the people of Paris. xxx
I've spend a lot of time over the last few years thinking about violence in games. Tonight's violence has given me much more to think about.
The last time I saw violence happening in France, I was on YouTube making Let's Plays of shooters. I haven't played a shooter since then.
I stopped being able to separate my in-game acts of killing from real-life acts of killing. All I could think was "I am KILLING."
There are victims on the receiving end of my gunfire. It doesn't matter that they're made of polygons, I am causing their lives to end.
That's all I've been able to think since then. As a result, I'm now unable to play games that require you to simulate acts of murder.
Something that has troubled me about Paris tonight is how all the acts of violence that have happened there are commonplace in games.
Now, I'm not criticising anyone who enjoys violent games or trying to say that violent games make you a violent person, that's not my point.
My point is that as a game developer, the LAST thing I want is to use games to simulate this violence and have the player CAUSE IT to happen
My job is to make games to entertain. Violence has caused a lot of sadness for a lot of people. Those people mean something to me.
To use violence to entertain is to smack each and every one of those people in the face. That's not something I'm interested in doing.
My games will never use killing or simulated acts of violence as a way to entertain the player. Games don't need to do that to entertain.
Please don't think I'm trying to be holier-than-thou with these tweets or take what has happened in Paris and make it all about me, I'm not.
It's just that the world is a violent place, gaming is a violent place, and if you ever play one of my games, you should know where I stand.
Once again, I send all my love out to the people of Paris. My heart and prayers are with you. Stay safe. xxx
