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Thursday 30 August, 2018
So this site apparently will log you out if you take too long to write the entry, and if you then submit the diary entry, I guess since you're logged out it doesn't record the submission and deletes it instead. So the rest of this entry will be in a rushed, mildly angry tone. Hitman is a good game. I'm usually not a fan of assassination games because I don't like the idea of finishing the mission but then failing to escape. But Hitman is well made enough that the stress of playing it becomes part of the experience.
Hitman and other assassination games' existences bring new light to the question of whether or not violence in video games results in violent behavior. Typically, most games that heavily feature killing are ultimately not about killing. Killing is merely the narrative tool used to explain the objective of eliminating an opponent. Thus, there is a large disconnect between what the game is showing and what the players are thinking. But in Hitman, this disconnect is less evident. After all, Hitman's objective isn't to rack up points through killing, nor is it to secure an objective that typically requires killing your opponents. The sole objective is to murder a target and get away with it. Even so, it would be a mistake to assume that because murder is the objective, it is also the appeal. The fun in Hitman is not in fantasizing about assassinating powerful figures, it's in solving the problems and overcoming the obstacles that prevent you from doing so. When analyzing how a piece of media affects a person, examining its appeal is just as important as examining its content.
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