Next-gen death: Where do the dead bodies go?

It’s not really a morbid question, it’s more like question we thought stupid to ask. Well, take a look at this game-cliché and see if we can find out where the corpses go. What happens to bad guys after we shoot, decapitate, dismember, or blow them into oblivion (the poor bastards)?

In the gamer’s universe, corpses go “poof” and basically vanish into thin air. It’s been happening since time immemorial that it’s easily explained by: “Because it’s a game.” Therefore, it’s a game-ism or a game-cliché much like the omnipresent crates and barrels.

The main reason for this is that the older consoles could only support a number of sprites or polygons at a given time. If they let the dead bodies lie around, they would sacrifice some objects that are more essential to gameplay.

The systems evolved and so did some of the rules. Devs have learned something called dead-body management (can’t help thinking of it as a euphemism for an undertaker). In some games, the corpses would disappear when you’re not looking (smart eh?) while the others, specifically Splinter Cell and MGS, allowed players to actually move the cadavers around.

With the power of next-gen, the devs are spreading their wings. In Resistance: Fall of Man, zapped Chimera corpses lie where you killed them. The next question maybe – what do you do with all the dead bodies? Or what’s the point of having the cadavers litter the game world?

Since it can be done? Or for Realism?

It’s not really a morbid question, it’s more like question we thought stupid to ask. Well, take a look at this game-cliché and see if we can find out where the corpses go. What happens to bad guys after we shoot, decapitate, dismember, or blow them into oblivion (the poor bastards)?

In the gamer’s universe, corpses go “poof” and basically vanish into thin air. It’s been happening since time immemorial that it’s easily explained by: “Because it’s a game.” Therefore, it’s a game-ism or a game-cliché much like the omnipresent crates and barrels.

The main reason for this is that the older consoles could only support a number of sprites or polygons at a given time. If they let the dead bodies lie around, they would sacrifice some objects that are more essential to gameplay.

The systems evolved and so did some of the rules. Devs have learned something called dead-body management (can’t help thinking of it as a euphemism for an undertaker). In some games, the corpses would disappear when you’re not looking (smart eh?) while the others, specifically Splinter Cell and MGS, allowed players to actually move the cadavers around.

With the power of next-gen, the devs are spreading their wings. In Resistance: Fall of Man, zapped Chimera corpses lie where you killed them. The next question maybe – what do you do with all the dead bodies? Or what’s the point of having the cadavers litter the game world?

Since it can be done? Or for Realism?