Can there be graphic violence in text?

By describing violence in graphic detail.

It’s as old as Homer: “Running behind and overtaking him, Meriones hit his buttock on the right side and pierced his bladder, missing the pelvic bone. He fell, moaning, upon his hands and knees and death shrouded him.” (one of many, many gory deaths)

One of the definitions of graphic (3rd per Merriam-Webster ) is “marked by clear lifelike or vividly realistic description” or “vividly or plainly shown or described”, and that’s what they mean.

As to why Google Play thinks it makes sense to censor graphic violence in apps, I don’t know, but I think it’s foolish, lame, and stifling, and makes me shy away from developing games for mobile devices. But I wonder if you can’t just set appropriate flags or something and get it published acknowledging that it has violence in it.

The graphic in graphic violence means explicit.

Oh, and welcome to Fluther!

What’s your game like?

@Zaku :: I think their problem might be that it actually has graphic text and screenshots on the page you go to if you actually see what the game is about and click the install button. If that is the case than it isn’t that different from using the NSFW tag here.

@johnpowell Oh, yeah. I’m tired an up late working and didn’t take time to research. Checking out the Google Play store and easily finding games such as 1000 WAYS TO KILL and Carmageddon (for examples, LOL), apparently one just needs to set the Rating appropriately. Unless uJatala’s text is really really graphic. ;-)

Welcome to Fluther.

It’s a good editorial catch on your part.

There is no “graphic violence” in text, unless it’s arranged in such a way (as we have seen in ancient .MAC files) of showing an image using nothing but printed text. But no one does that any more, even though it’s still as possible as it ever was.

I doubt that you did that, did you? The criticism could have been about “explicit depictions” of violence in your text, but that’s not at all the same thing.

It’s like the warning that television newscasters often give when they’re about to show some gory images about an accident or murder, for example, and they warn viewers that “the images that you’re about to see are very graphic”. Well, duh! EVERY image is “graphic”. That’s how the medium works.

I used to pass out in medical settings. Just visiting a hospital I could fall over. I think it was due to cutting off the top of my finger as a toddler.

Even reading about surgery or traumatic violence could knock me out.

So aside from the language question here (interesting!), I can tell you that mere text can be as upsetting as gory images.

“Upsetting” isn’t the issue, though. The word “graphic” has a specific meaning that has to do with “images shown”, not “imagined scenes”, or “descriptions of real or imagined scenes” or “feelings about the meanings of words”.

So, sure, no one would disagree that even non-explicit text, euphemisms and the implication of violent or other images that could cause bad thoughts (for whatever reason) isn’t upsetting – hell, good writing SHOULD create images, some of which will lead to upset – the point is that “plain text” is non-graphic. It’s not “an image”, but perhaps a description of an image.

Something like, “She described the wreck in graphic detail.”

@CWOTUS The word “graphic” has that meaning, and it also has the meaning I quoted from the dictionary in my original answer above.

Text is not the same as graphicS, and it is not graphicAL, but it can be graphic (q.v. above).

Meanwhile, in Google Play Store land:

“Here are some examples of inappropriate text, images, or videos within your listing:
[...]
* Language inappropriate for a general audience. Avoid profane and vulgar language in your app listing. If it is a critical element of your app, you must censor its presentation within the Store listing.
* Graphic violence prominently depicted in app icons, promotional images, or videos.
[...]”

So while they do use the word graphic (which I would say is the meaning I quoted – meaning vivid) they are also referring to pictures. They also refer to text but not with the word “graphic”, but rather in other terms.

And my original reaction that it was censorship actually isn’t the case there, because they’re referring to the descriptive listing that people use to see what your app is, not the app itself. (Though it still makes me uncomfortable that the rules are unilateral and they reserve the right to not approve your app.)