Violence in narrative has always been part of the “story teller’s toolkit,” says Levine

By Stephany Nunneley

Irrational’s Ken Levine has voiced his opinion on the violence in games subject – a subject which as cooled recently, but is still hanging around enough to warrant being broached on NPR’s On Point radio program with Tom Ashbrook.

Speaking during the show, Levine said violence in narrative has always been a part of the “story teller’s toolkit,” no matter what the medium and games are no different.

“Violence, for better or for worse, is…going back to the dawn of narrative,” Levine said. “I think there’s a couple questions here. I remember when I was a kid; I was not a very popular kid. I was a nerdy, little kid. And I didn’t have friends because I wasn’t very good at socializing, and I found Dungeons & Dragons.

“If you remember, back in the 70s there was this big human cry about Dungeons and Dragons; kids were going off and killing themselves and disappearing into caves. And that happened with comic books and that happened with rock and roll music.”

The host, Tom Ashbrook, then brought up the Sandy Hook shooting, and how the result was an instant loss of many lives.

“My point is, for me personally, games were a way around being ‘that kid.’ I’m not speaking as a scientist here; we can argue the science, but I’m… not the best guy to do that,” Levine said.

“I think the other point is they call them first-person shooters; F-P-S. There’s the F-P, the first-person aspect of being, inhabiting a character’s role, and then there’s the S part, which is the shooter part. And I’m not sure that they’re necessarily one in the same.”

Irrational’s BioShock Infinite is out now on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Thanks,
Gamespot.