> The main reason games are violent is that you are usually presenting the player with a challenge to be overcome. That challenge has to be simple and visual. The simplest way to do this is with a fight - it’s why my game will have combat for example.
I wish I read this point more often.
I would love a game where you had to convince someone to change their mind or get a team of people to help you achieve something by only talking to them (like being a character in a non-violent movie). We're just nowhere close to this level of AI yet.
That's why we have so many games where button press = shoot gun in my opinion. It translates the physical controller actions we have to actions that the game can practically react to in an interesting way, in terms of graphics and gameplay. There's probably a similar mapping to why most TV shows and movies revolve around murder.