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Insights from the gaming industry

Hero Shooter Games

Hero shooters are a variation of multiplayer first- or third-person arena-based shooters, where players, split among two or more teams, select from pre-designed "hero" characters that each possess unique attributes, skills, weapons, and other activated abilities; players may gain abilities to customize the appearance of these characters, but these changes are usually cosmetic only and do not alter the game's balance. Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match. Such games are inspired by multiplayer online battle arena games. A popular hero shooter is Team Fortress 2, considered one of the first, along with other games such as Outtrigger, Gunslinger Stratos, Overwatch, Gigantic, Paladins, and Quake Champions. Hero shooters have been considered to have strong potential as eSports games.

Criticism: Shooter games have been accused of glorifying and promoting violence and several games have been the cause of notable video game controversies. After school shootings in Erfurt, Emsdetten and Winnenden, German conservative politicians accused violent shooter games, most notably Counter Strike, to incite young gamers to run amok. Several attempts were made to banish the so termed "Killerspiele" (killing games) in Germany and the European Union. Shooter games were further criticised when Anders Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, claimed that he developed target acquisition skills by playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.