How do people enjoy violent games like God of War?

I have mixed feelings on this and am glad you asked as I have been thinking about it myself. I had stopped gaming in 2009 because I wondered if the violent nature of them was good for me mentally and spiritually. Because he is a boy who loves video games and has adult supervision, I gave my 8 year-old cousin my PS2 and all games - I gave God of War 2 to my uncle, so hopefully my cousin is not playing that - hopefully. On Thanksgiving last month, my cousin asked me to play PS2 (Spiderman) with him indicating that, because I am a "girl", I would not know how to play. I promptly reminded him that I was the one who gave him the system and proceeded to play the game quite well - In your face, couzy wouzy!!! After playing with him for a while, I realized that I missed gaming and needed to keep up with this kid! I went out the very next day and got a PS3.

I just finished God of War 3 yesterday, after having (finally) purchased a PS3 just after Thanksgiving. I have been gaming since I was a little girl and am now in my mid-30s. I have played and beaten all of the God of War games available on the PS platforms. I have also played several versions of Grand Theft Auto and wondered if I was not beginning to think like a thug - it was scary. So I stopped and moved onto simple computer games like Diner Dash, Solitaire, Mahjong, and some of those time-management games.

Ultimately, I agree with you about the mentally disturbed aspect - not only of the creators, but all of us included. ;-) We are inundated with violence in our society and I believe that some of us are managing some sort of dormant interest in it by playing these games. Make no mistake - we all have issues. The creators are artists and they create these games for us. They know what will amuse us and they are right, don't you agree? Tough day at work: come home, slay some dragons and blow things up using your gaming system. Mad at the world, but nice to everyone you meet: shoot zombies, I suppose.

There are other non-violent games to play on the PS platforms which are totally fun to play like Katamari Damacy. However, it may be necessary to come to a place of acceptance: there is a piece of the violence in all of us, so we play games like this. As long as we do not believe we are Kratos or any of these other fictional characters in real life and we are not responding to our emotions with violence and harm to others (or ourselves), I suppose all is well. I would like to hear others' thoughts on the matter.

Because it's really hard to sell games to teenagers-early adults (the main portion of the gaming community) that don't contain any violence. Generally, the more blood and gore the better. I have never played God of War 3, but some violent games do appeal to me; people find it fun that they can unleash their anger on virtual monsters and people rather than real people :)

I think you're taking things too seriously. It's a video game. You could easily say the same about CoD and AC.

I could argue that you're retarded for suggesting those that created GoW are mentally disturbed. Oh wait. I just did.

God of war 3 is pretty much the best game i ever played alone and i hate playing alone i rather play multiplayer games like call of duty witch i do

It's still better than doing those things in real life to real people.

TBH, I thinks there's a part in all of us that really likes that kind of stuff. Good thing most people don't act on that though.

You should be happy that none of that stuff is REAL. I know the graphics are BRUTAL and SAVAGE I play it. Some teens may have a "phase" so yeah.

i think games like god of war, which has been one of my fav games since it's release on the ps2, are badass and help me refrain from brutally using my blades of chaos on stupid people who ask stupid questions...