Fans ofMortal Kombat 11may be gleeful when performing theultra-violent Fatalitiesof the games, but crafting those moves and sequences is an entirely different story. An anonymous developer working in the game’s cinematic team disclosed toKotakuabout the mental toll that work and research took on them, eventually leading to a PTSD diagnosis from a therapist.
Those followingMortal Kombat 11sinceits announcementhave gotten used to the animations—a spine being torn out, a face being ripped off followed by a brain being eaten, and so on and so forth. It is cartoonish to a somewhat delightful degree, but remember that developers spend extensive periods of time working on these animations, and as such, they are likely to be more affecting for the developers and the players.
Not to mention, real-life research goes into depicting the blood, gore, and overall violence of these Fatal Blows and Fatalities—NetherRealm can’t just depend on explosions of an unrealistic number of rib cages anymore, so the ways bones crush and organs blow up are based on some real-life point of reference. This developer, who worked onMK11throughout 2018, described walking around an office and casually seeing images of real-life violence on co-workers' computers for research.
“You’d walk around the office and one guy would be watching hangings on YouTube, another guy would be looking at pictures of murder victims, someone else would be watching a video of a cow being slaughtered,” they said. Within a month, the work began to take a deeper effect. “I’d have these extremely graphic dreams, very violent. I kind of just stopped wanting to go to sleep, so I’d just keep myself awake for days at a time, to avoid sleeping.”
It is important to point out that according to this developer, there isn’t any formal process or procedure within the studio for anyone working on the game who may need to step away from the violence for some time. At best, they might have gotten a slight verbal warning saying that the work could be “a little violent.”
And look,Mortal Kombatisn’tMortal Kombatwithout the extreme violence. Yes, those working on anMKgame should know what they’re getting into beforehand, but any professional company should have these sort of mental health resources at the ready—viewing videos and images of real people and animals violently dying is not a normal office job. Plus, on a personal note, as someone who has followed and played games in the series sinceDeadly Alliance,MK11is the first game in the series I’ve been really grossed out, giving me a sense that NetherRealm is needlessly attempting to top themselves with each successive game.
This developer also revealed that they discovered that other co-workers had similar concerns and issues. As the developer says:
“We’ve talked a lot about how the end product isn’t so damaging as people make it out to be, and I tend to agree with that,” they said, referring to the industry’s acceptance of violent video games. “But I think the process of making these things can be harmful for people. It can cause them to burn out, or lose a sense of self, sometimes. I would hope that something, at least, that developers can do with their coworkers is just start talking to each other about these things. If we’re not solving things, at least having supportive people around, I think, is really crucial.”
This isn’t the first report of NetherRealm’s practices coming into question: another report detailedstories from former and current employees of the company regarding crunchon games likeMortal Kombat 11.
