Shooting glass humanoids that shatter in harsh angles, choosing an airplane or a graveyard as the setting, and ducking from bullets are only a few of the things you can do in Superhot. Having never played a VR game, I was amazed at how real the experience felt. I almost forgot that I was in discussion with people watching me play. In fact, the game became my world. It felt like being completely blind to reality but the virtual world seemed so real to me that my crouching, crawling, and side movements were actions I had no choice but to perform. However, after taking the goggles off and remembering how others looked while playing, I realized that I must have looked so ridiculous to people watching me.
This jolt into reality helped me to realize just how immersed in the game I had been. What does this immersion mean? For me, it was being able to keep my physical identity because there was no real figure I could see representing me as the game materialized around me. The game catered its movements to accommodate what I could feel as my own physics of movement. Sure, there was an uncanny valley effect when the movements of the game did not match my intentions of movement specifically, but for an amateur player like myself, it was enough for me to feel like the game had become my reality. In fact, one of the players I was watching even accidentally bumped into the wall.
The muted narrative of Superhot allowed me to be more immersed in the game not only because I had a first person view of the game that my body in space could help me navigate, but also because of the relative mutedness of the narrative. For a narrative to be muted means that I do not know who my character is exactly and there is no inundation of information as I play, telling me who I should be; I am myself regardless of the job I have (hacker). As I mentioned earlier, this helps me to be more engrossed in the game. As a result of this, I feel a greater accountability for the actions I take in the game. Because my whole body is involved in the play of the game, there is no blaming the platform for being difficult to play due to my poor hand-eye coordination. Any glass humanoids I kill are my responsibility.
The creators of the game can use this immersive accountability to comment on how it may feel to be a mob boss shooting people in a graveyard, an airplane hijacker, or a mall shooter (even though this does not follow with the narrative story). The parallel between superhot as a game and mass shooters could be rooted in the fact that they do not see people in their way as actual humans. The glass humanoids do not gush blood or make sounds indicating that soft tissue is harmed. For a shooter with a specific goal of doing the most damage, perhaps people are not actually humans for them either. Instead, they are analogous to the glass humanoids that die with no gore because the shooter does not think nor care about the gore caused. Violence without gore is an interesting concept in video games because it separates the real damage that violence can cause from the leisure and catharsis of shooting things.
Alternatively, the creators may be trying to dissociate the gore from the violence in order to keep the fun of first person shooter games but discourage any violent behavior that may manifest as a result of the games. The glass humanoids let the player have fun while shooting but do not let brutality and true evil to be the point. It is almost like moving target practice. The game may even allow people to displace their aggressive or violent emotions by exerting themselves in this game since it meshes closely with the player’s idea of reality.
Do you think VR games can be applied for therapeutic uses of catharsis? What can be some of the dangers of playing a shooter-based game with the whole body as it applies to the psyche?
I really like the point you make about the relation between violence and gore. In some ways, Super Hot (VR specifically) is WAY closer to a "real life shooting simulator" than a lot of the games mentioned in this thread. In terms of mechanics it is certainly closer to one than Doom, Call of Dury, Fortnite, or any first person gory non shooter.
That's what's so interesting about calling this game therapeutic. I would absolutely call Doom therapeutic, and especially not realistic competitive FPS. I wonder if it's the realism in mechanics and lack of gore that makes it feel therapeutic. It's honestly really difficult to pinpoint this differences, but I'm definitely interested in exploring it.
i actually personally found that the distinct color (or lack of it) and geometry of superhot's aesthetic was quite... alarming and far off from anything therapeutic. the fact that these figures are only minimally humanoid, alien and expressionless. because their only actions that show intent are intent to harm and kill you, i find their detachedness from actual human forms even more terrifying. i recall watching someone play one particular level where as soon as it begins, you were immediately surrounded by a mob of them only a few feet, if not inches, away from you. even just watching the screen rather than playing that was lowkey terrifying. their bright red color and sharp glassy texture stands out abrasively from…
It's interesting to hear about your experience! I played super hot long ago before it was ever a VR game, and found that it seemed in VR to be as a completely different game (Although I didn't actually play it.) A little searching revealed that the game was essentially almost completely redone design wise in order to mold it to better suit the VR experience. That said the core game remains the same. Shattering red humanoid fractals in every stage. I don't know how my opinion would change if I'd actually tried the game in VR, but I find myself a agreeing with the idea that the surreal nature of it all perhaps detaches the player from the reality of…
I think the point that you raise about the use of VR games as a form of catharsis is an interesting one and that argument should be explored more in-depth through research studies. I would argue, however, that this game forced you to react with a violent action and just because there isn't any gore in the game, it does not mean that a game cannot be violent. In SuperHot, with each level, you were tasked with performing the same action of killing the glass humanoids and the designers eliminated any level of player freedom. Thus, I would argue that the action of killing the glass humanoids is what makes the game violent, independent of whether or not gore is…
I really enjoyed reading about your experience using VR, I have the game for xbox and while it is immersive it must be an entirely different experience. Being consumed by such a different world from our own and behaving under such different rules makes adaptability so important. While the lack of gore and violence in the game may aid in the cathartic feeling it provides I think it also plays around with much deeper issues like mental health and following directions which raises questions about personal freedom. Yes the enemies you kill just break up and it can even be considered enjoyable, but didn't you feel like the constant repetition and use of orders almost like you are being conditioned…