Have you ever felt bad about killing a npc?
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When I first arrived at Megaton in Fallout 3, I saw an NPC standing at a small lake outside it. Thinking he was an enemy, I sneaked up on him and opened fire. I only realised after he was dead that he was an innocent. I felt bad about that for a while, and I still remember the life I took every time I see the lake. I also felt bad when...
Burke killed the Sheriff. Seeing as I was partially responsible for it by leading him to Burke. I was outraged that there wasn't a way to hunt down Burke and get revenge afterwards.
On a similar note..Spaceman_Spiff said:
Cleansing the Brotherhood hideout, I felt so sad about the whole affair.
Oddly enough, I only feel a connection worth losing if the game gives me a connection to feel the loss of. In Oblivion, I honestly had a connection to the Dark Brotherhood. Sithis and the Night Mother's philosophies hit a cord to the persona I typically play in video games. Protect and love your own, do for the family, and make some money. I loved that guild, it was the only guild that I felt a part of, welcomed into. So imagine my horror when I was given the order to purge them.
The Draconis family mission was interesting and poignant but didn't move me. Why should it? If I am remembering timeline correctly, I had already killed the only NPCs that I cared about. I found the missons inventive and fun, and the members of the guild paid you and loved you. Except that cat but he can fuck off and even he liked you before you killed him.
The Draconis family mission was interesting and poignant but didn't move me. Why should it? If I am remembering timeline correctly, I had already killed the only NPCs that I cared about. I found the missons inventive and fun, and the members of the guild paid you and loved you. Except that cat but he can fuck off and even he liked you before you killed him.
Shadow of Colossus. I felt awful after almost all of them. I mean there they are, just wandering about a totally uninhabited area, doing no harm to anyone and you just climb up and stab them in the head. They were just so passive and unthreatening. Except the lil'bastards the small ones I enjoyed, but mainly because they took me so long to get through. Also I had no sympathy for the last one, but you can't get much more evil looking than that. I still have some guilt about the first Colossi...the big green one...he reminded me of the Spirit of the Forest in Princess Mononoke.
No, I don't. 8 times out of 10 they did something to deserve it (i.e. they looked at me funny), and even when they're innocent, I enjoy being a dick in games.
Leaving either of those poor soldiers to die is Mass Effect bothered me. Even though I was playing mostly renegade at the time, I still felt like I had failed them as a commander. I don't like failure or how morality systems make you either a moron or a bigger moron. I wanted to play that game as a tough badass who took care of his crew. Ditching one of my troops just pissed me off.soren7550 said:
Oh Companion Cube, how I regret sacrificing your life for my own selfish gains.Jedamethis said:
But yeah if the npc is generally nice or cool to me I feel like a dick if I turn around and kill them. Dwayne is a good example. The other dude is such an effin little prick that you can't help but like Dwayne. Same thing applies to the cop and his brother. (Don't remember ther names, the Irish guys)
Well, in moral choice games like Fallout where there is actually the freedom to be a bad guy... But since I rarely take the evil route, I mostly just regret failing to keep the occassional good-grunt assisting me alive, despite them being designed to be complete cannonfodder.
Granted of course that they aren't completely faceless minions.
I suppose it really comes down to whether you have a choice and how well the game maintains the illusion that the NPC are real people. For example, I agreed completely with KoTOR2's final boss's philosophy and goals, but I didn't feel bad about the inevitable killing because there was no other way to finish the game.
You don't question why you kill relentlessly in a game because it's what you're supposed to do (which is by the way one of the themes in MGS2).
On a side note, it seems like there are pretty many people saying they can't feel sympathy toward game characters because they aren't real... Which is total bull.
Empathy, or any other emotianal reaction for that matter, isn't based on logic. People can be very easily be manipulated to feel sorry for completely inanimate objects, let alone fully voiced, reasonably well written, graphically detailed virtual characters.
What I'm trying to say is; Do people just have this hard time getting immersed in their games, do they play badly written games or is our time really this great breeding ground for sociopaths?
Granted of course that they aren't completely faceless minions.
I suppose it really comes down to whether you have a choice and how well the game maintains the illusion that the NPC are real people. For example, I agreed completely with KoTOR2's final boss's philosophy and goals, but I didn't feel bad about the inevitable killing because there was no other way to finish the game.
You don't question why you kill relentlessly in a game because it's what you're supposed to do (which is by the way one of the themes in MGS2).
On a side note, it seems like there are pretty many people saying they can't feel sympathy toward game characters because they aren't real... Which is total bull.
Empathy, or any other emotianal reaction for that matter, isn't based on logic. People can be very easily be manipulated to feel sorry for completely inanimate objects, let alone fully voiced, reasonably well written, graphically detailed virtual characters.
What I'm trying to say is; Do people just have this hard time getting immersed in their games, do they play badly written games or is our time really this great breeding ground for sociopaths?
There were quite a few times I felt guilty about killing someone in a video game. The one that struck me the hardest though was killing The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3. The last time I played it a few months ago, I felt so damn sad I cried my eyes out.
Some of you say that it all boils down to a bunch of numbers and whatnot, but believe me, games like MGS3 are supposed to strike an emotional chord, the way movies, novels, etc. should. Sure, I sometimes go on killing sprees in GTA IV, but that's when I'm not being serious.
Some of you say that it all boils down to a bunch of numbers and whatnot, but believe me, games like MGS3 are supposed to strike an emotional chord, the way movies, novels, etc. should. Sure, I sometimes go on killing sprees in GTA IV, but that's when I'm not being serious.
I kinda felt strange while completing the House Party quest for the Black Hand ... Especially when I got the Nord to kill the old woman for me. I felt strange because that was my favorite quest in the whole of Oblivion ^^;
oh, hell yeah. Qualifier: I only feel guilty in killing what the game portrays as "good" npcs. This is why in every "karma" system game (Fallout 3, Bioshock), I always, always, ALWAYS take the good guy route because I feel bad causing trouble or murdering little innocent NPCs.