User blog comment:Traditionalfire/Killing in games/@comment-9766166-20120920033141

Simple; we do not react to killing in action games, because we are not given a reason to.

Take Heavy Rain for example; the main character is given a choice, kill a man, or risk losing his son. The man in question, a drug dealer, is a father with two children, just like our protagonist. The events leading up to, and after, his death our very emotional for both the protagonist and us. As such, this action sticks with us for a while after.

Now look at any action game; large swarms of enemies and we are told to kill them and rarely are we given a reason why, or a reason to care. As such, we kill them and feel nothing, because we are not given a reason to.