I actually think censorship is more of a problem than "violence" in games or other media entertainment. I work in the film industry so this is more about film... but..
Basically with the lower ratings.. less than R or w/e... just means you can not show "agony".
You can have a film or a game where people are decapitated or mowed down with machine-gun fire, but unless you have a R rating, the directors and actors are unable to show any consequence of violence.
Marvel films are a great example of this in the modern film landscape. If you look at what happens in those films they are actually shockingly violent but there is no blood, and no aftermath no consequence. They are not even bruised. This is a much stronger link to viewers desensitisation than the gore itself.
A PG-Film, imo, that has a guy shooting and throwing grenades to zero effect, with no blood and no agony and no consequence is actually more damaging than a film where a bullet causes blood and gore and horror.
The 1st step to making violence in media less worrisome or some would say more responsible, imo, is to remove the ratings and make it more real. If the rock throws a knife at a guy in that new Rampage film, it should be gory AF.. like in real life.
The PG rating is trying to protect youth from violent images, but we as viewer and humans like that kind of stuff so it is all still in the films. So all it dose is remove the ramifications of violence... which is objectively worse than the violence itself.
That is the key I think to making responsible media violence. Remove the censorship of the agony, because it is agony that triggers empathy and the connection to violence should never be removed from its brutal consequences.
