Games and excessive violence

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This is something I've noticed for a while, and always wondered. Basically, why do so many of the games out there throw in obscene amounts of gratuitous violence, that really serves no purpose to the plot, gameplay, or enjoyment of the game? And no, I'm not complaining about violence in video games or anything, what I am complaining about is violence that's thrown in in extreme quantities for no real purpose.

As an example I'll take bioshock. A really fun game, with a pretty interesting backstory and environment. However, you spend the vast majority of the game mowing down 1 wave of crazies after another, and it just gets extremely repetitive. By the end of the game, you've probably killed thousands of enemies, whereas had that number been reduced to just a few dozen, I'm sure the gameplay wouldn't have suffered in the least and would have been far less repetitive. Additionally, just running in and mowing down wave after wave of bad guys simply isn't believable. Sure they're games, and aren't exactly made with the utmost realism in mind, but still...

You find that even more-so in RPGs...you have all the random encounters, and then games where you have to beat 1000 rats to get to level 2. In the end, you spend more time pressing the "1" key to attack then you do actually, ya know, role-playing, exploring, or experiencing the story.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you think that games have kind of gone overboard on the violence and such, or do you enjoy that sort of thing?

I find it a bit tedious as well.
But then again, I'm clearly not in the main target demographic audience for most violently themed games (ie, I'm not a teenage or pre-teen boy, or even a man)

Roleplaying is designed through scripts, for each and every interaction you have in the game. Really really hard work. Fighting is just putting in front of you a new ennemy. Once you have the game working, adding new ennemies and levels is quite easy in comparison.

This is the basic reason.

Honestly, I'm a little unsure what to think... :/

I don't mind it, depending on the game. It can be quite cathartic, too. I tell you, when I get really pissed off nothing calms me down better than booting up Saints Row The Third and killing everybody in sight ( especially on the Zombie Island part of the map with its infinite zombie spawn... ). I'd never do something like that in real life since a) I'm not an idiot and 2) I think guns are for p***ies with no honor. But when you get so mad you want to kill somebody, a violent game can make you feel better

I like jumping on the bad guys' heads. And throwing turtle shells at them.

Don't forget to loot the bodies for useful items!

I had Max Payne 3 sitting unopened for quite some time before I finally started playing it. It's insane the amount of people you have to kill in that game, over a thousand easily. I was amazed that the ludicrousness of it is actually acknowledged in-game in some of the dialogue. I find myself wanting games to acknowledge that part of things more, like if you've killed hundreds of raiders in Fallout 3 or something shouldn't the raiders start avoiding you? They could start saying things like "Oh no, it's him. I'm out of here!" If I was a desert outlaw I wouldn't want to go near somebody who's killed hundreds of people just like me.

I think it can certainly be entertaining to some. Not in some sick perverse way where they like violence in real life(it would take a lot for someone not to see the line drawn between fantasy and reality), but I think it's certainly possible to enjoy violence in games or other media. Otherwise, I doubt they would try to make it a selling point for some products.

I can enjoy a lot of vastly different games for various reasons. Those like Kirby or Mario are about the least violent you can get - outside of stuff like the Sims where there isn't really that kind of a conflict. But at the same time, over the top games like Saints Row or No More Heroes can be fun. For Suda51's games, it's true most of it is there just to be entertaining, but I do think I remember a quote from him saying that he feels it's important to make the deaths of characters seem "real"(probably not those exact words). I've found in most of them, there are reasons that connect more to the overall storyline beyond just being an assassin or demon hunter or whatever else.