Killing children in video games.

[Lithary]

I was surprised when I found out what sort of taboo this was.
Anyway, tell me your opinion on all this.
Should we be able to do that and why.

I personally think that it all depends what kind of game it is.
For example, I think that we should be able to kill children in Skyrim.
Why?
Well, that game is about civil war, dragons and is trying to be serious, realistic and believable as much as possible and wants to give us freedom of choices.
I can't remember that kids had any sort of god mode during war or any other situation like that.
Don't believe me?
Ask my grandfather to tell you a story of when he was 9 and had to run with his brothers and sisters while soldiers killed his both parents and 1 year old brother with sabers (bullets were expensive) just about dozen meters behind him.
Also, I find all this children killing taboo in video games somewhat retarded.
What, it's bad if you kill a kid and good if you kill that same kid when it grows up?
Wtf?
It's not like death asks you for your ID when it comes knocking at your door, might.
I think that stuff like that should be given as option for to a player and let the player decide if he wants to bash or pet their little heads.

About other games and children killing, they should also say goodbye to this stupid taboo.

Also, what is the reason behind all this?
Why did it become such a taboo?

[Diablo]

In Fable u can kill childrens..but i didn`t do that

[Lithary]

Originally Posted by Diablo

In Fable u can kill childrens..but i didn`t do that

Not that I will do that because I love children (there is a whole personal philosophy behind it), but I also don't go around killing adults in video games also.

[PuЪLiㄷEиəℳy#1]

Originally Posted by Diablo

In Fable u can kill childrens..but i didn`t do that

Wait, I used to play Fable. Iirc, I can't do that, even as I set my hero to attack them. I can kill normal village people but not children (and bards and traders). Can anyone confirm this?

[BattledOne]

^ Yup.

[Sonic_Stream]

In War3 you kill children too

[BattledOne]

^Really? I thought I was making pixels turn red.

[Lithary]

Originally Posted by Sonic_Stream

In War3 you kill children too

Yap.
You could do that in Bioshock (yap, you can call it whatever you want, but you kill them if you harvest Little Sisters), Painkiller (I think that there is level in orphanage where there are some demonic children, Doom 3 (those baby demons) and... can't remember any other game.
But those are games that have guts to do things properly.
Also, someone told me that killing children in game is will only cause people to go violent and stuff.
Well, I think that it could be said for killing adults too.
Still, I think that violence in video games will only make you less violent since you will have your place to blow your steam off when you need to do so.

[tech-ladan]

and sims series! u can kill them
i remember sims 1 when I made a pool then when sims inside sell the stairs! they will drown!

[Cp6uja]

Its Video Game.

Notice the Video part.

[The Observer]

Originally Posted by Cp6uja

Its Video Game.

Notice the Video part.

Maybe you were pointing at the Game part.

[Lithary]

Originally Posted by tech-ladan

and sims series! u can kill them
i remember sims 1 when I made a pool then when sims inside sell the stairs! they will drown!

Didn't know that.
When I played Sims 1, I only designed houses and that's that.
Rest was boring for me.

Originally Posted by Cp6uja

Its Video Game.

Notice the Video part.

Don't get it.

[мusịĸ]

The industry geniuses and analysts don't seem to comprehend the fact that games are, in fact, entirely fictional. They might be related to and be based off of real-world events, but in the gaming environment they are fictional.

By that logic I would like to answer to the query that "no": it is not unethical nor is it wrong by any standards.
There's a line to be drawn here, however: if it is just for the sake of telling us that killing is good (in which case the age nor any other trait should not matter, anyway) it should be looked down upon. However, if it is some artistic license or the game trying to tell a message (i.e: how cruel the world can be etc.) it is totally okay and, in fact, should even be promoted I dare to say.

Unnecessarily strict beautification of reality, is all censorship boils down to.
Beeping curse words; stupid or totally fucking retarded?

[Yendor]

Originally Posted by Cp6uja

Its Video Game.

Notice the Video part.

What exactly shout that tell us now?

I know plenty of horror-VIDEOS where kids die in horrible ways...

Notice the Video part.

[мusịĸ]

Originally Posted by Yendor

What exactly shout that tell us now?

I know plenty of horror-VIDEOS where kids die in horrible ways...

Notice the Video part.

I think he was referring to the facts I presented above; he probably just cited the wrong word.

[BlizziC]

nah, i kill them whenever i can, both irl and video games

[Lithary]

Originally Posted by мusịĸ

The industry geniuses and analysts don't seem to comprehend the fact that games are, in fact, entirely fictional. They might be related to and be based off of real-world events, but in the gaming environment they are fictional.

By that logic I would like to answer to the query that "no": it is not unethical nor is it wrong by any standards.
There's a line to be drawn here, however: if it is just for the sake of telling us that killing is good (in which case the age nor any other trait should not matter, anyway) it should be looked down upon. However, if it is some artistic license or the game trying to tell a message (i.e: how cruel the world can be etc.) it is totally okay and, in fact, should even be promoted I dare to say.

Unnecessarily strict beautification of reality, is all censorship boils down to.
Beeping curse words; stupid or totally fucking retarded?

Censorship actually turns people into bricks and make them lose touch with actual reality.
That's the reason why censorship is one of the rare things I actually hate.
People say that they want reality, but in fact they just want nice part of it witch is just an idealistic fantasy.

Originally Posted by Yendor

What exactly shout that tell us now?

I know plenty of horror-VIDEOS where kids die in horrible ways...

Notice the Video part.

Not only horror films.
Lot of kids die in other movies as well.

Originally Posted by BlizziC

nah, i kill them whenever i can, both irl and video games

lol

[ChildLikEmperor]

Theres enough crazy shit in video games, why do we need to add to it. In all honesty it does desensitise people and this isnt a good thing.

[Domenico]

I lol at the way developers interprete this taboo. Unkillable kids are FTW.
Seriously, if game supposes that you player will commit some massacre in some place, placing kids who refuse to die when anyone else do... WTF? What a design failure.

Though in any video games I hate to kill people who can't fight back (it pisses me off when it's an objective), or who are "just passing by", even if they maybe can, no matter children or not.

So, I have to agree with CLE. Maybe it sounds too simple to work, but infact it works.
When I and my friends were younger and were behaving in games artlessly, I noted that I can really match character (I mean, character of that man, not ingame hero) of my mate with his playstyle. Eventually I found out that I rarely (I mean, really rarely) can find a nice person among those who enjoy massacring people in video games for fun (for example, in fallout2 or such).
Besides, it is possible already to notice shift in people's mind caused by that TV policy and such. VG aren't exeption either.

It is common to think that gore in VG makes people cruel, but it's not that simple. Scenes of gore in general mean shit actually, but when player can really associate what's going on with RL (like killing civilians you was talking 5 minutes before), now that can be too much to leave no trace in one's mind, especially if it happens regularly, in different games.

I can hardly see any solution to resolve this problem of open-world games. You can't make town look realistically without adding children. You can't make that open-world game without making it possible to interact with townfolk in any manner available to your character. Good luck with avoiding both taboo-breaking and design failure aka "immortal kids".

[Lithary]

Originally Posted by ChildLikEmperor

Theres enough crazy shit in video games, why do we need to add to it. In all honesty it does desensitise people and this isnt a good thing.

I think that if it's designed well, it will actually stop people being such tools about stuff like that.

Originally Posted by Domenico

I lol at the way developers interprete this taboo. Unkillable kids are FTW.
Seriously, if game supposes that you player will commit some massacre in some place, placing kids who refuse to die when anyone else do... WTF? What a design failure.

Though in any video games I hate to kill people who can't fight back (it pisses me off when it's an objective), or who are "just passing by", even if they maybe can, no matter children or not.

So, I have to agree with CLE. Maybe it sounds too simple to work, but infact it works.
When I and my friends were younger and were behaving in games artlessly, I noted that I can really match character (I mean, character of that man, not ingame hero) of my mate with his playstyle. Eventually I found out that I rarely (I mean, really rarely) can find a nice person among those who enjoy massacring people in video games for fun (for example, in fallout2 or such).
Besides, it is possible already to notice shift in people's mind caused by that TV policy and such. VG aren't exeption either.

It is common to think that gore in VG makes people cruel, but it's not that simple. Scenes of gore in general mean shit actually, but when player can really associate what's going on with RL (like killing civilians you was talking 5 minutes before), now that can be too much to leave no trace in one's mind, especially if it happens regularly, in different games.

I can hardly see any solution to resolve this problem of open-world games. You can't make town look realistically without adding children. You can't make that open-world game without making it possible to interact with townfolk in any manner available to your character. Good luck with avoiding both taboo-breaking and design failure aka "immortal kids".

They should label them as midgets and allow us to kill them. >_>

Seriously though, I don't meet people who will go on a mindless rampage even in a video game just for hell of it.
Especially if that game is realistic so it add weight to the act of murder.
I also hate killing defenseless people (that's why I wouldn't kill kids) since it's simply below me and it's no fun at all.
Also, banning stuff like that will only make us more bloodthirsty since I never had an urge so strong to twist a kids neck before they told me it's forbidden and that they don't allow me to do that. >_>

Also, all these restrictions are kinda dumb since they don't allow people to decide what's good and what's bad by themselves.
Some brainless sheep may have no problem with that, but I do since I see that as bitch-slap to my brain.
That kinda reminds me of anti-racism actually.
Instead of just trying to let go all that crap, they just brag and brag about it to the point where it seems fun to call some black guy a nigger or beat the crap out of that Asian kid from next building.
The point is, too much restrictions and bragging how some things are bad and immoral can(will) actually lead to counter-effect and will make us more violent and intolerant.
''Successful'' version of that is that people will turn into mindless sheep.

I really hope that they drop that stupid taboo (especially in games like Skyrim since it ruins them) and they let us decide for ourselves what's good and what's bad.
I believe that people can do that.
Those few that can't will not change for the better with or without that restriction.