The violence in Mortal Kombat is supposed to be over the top on purpose and be funny. I won't lie when I say I find it uh funny and they also get creative with those fatalities, even if they can get a bit nasty at times.
Yeah that might be true in the older games but in the newer games, as I linked above, people apparently have to look up really horrible videos to simulate how guts and gore play out realistically. I don't think it's worth the price to pay for our entertainment. You might ask, do they *have* to, and I say if you're going to be realistic in your character design and anatomy and stuff, then yes. Should we? No.
I love ultra violence. Doom, Mortal Kombat, Mad World, Borderlands, Wolfenstein, etc etc.
The more gratuitous and ridiculous it is the more I enjoy it.
I think it's fine if your violence isn't realistic and has never aimed to be realistic, I just don't want artists having to look at reference images or videos of decapitations to try replicate this in our games. Hence, I think video games are too violent and should tone it down a notch.
I enjoy Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, Warhammer Vermintide, DOOM, and decapitating ragdolls in Garry's Mod but I also will feel a lot better knowing that the artists that simulate the violence didn't have to pay attention to an image of a brutal murder that has taken place.
This is especially concerning for me since I'm working as 3D modeler, not a character modeler, but the thought of me doing this, looking at images and videos of brutality for extensive periods of time to try to model something, that horrifies and disgusts me and fills me with dread.