How Would You Make A Non-Violent But Fun Free-Roaming Game?

[Minky_man]

Was having a chat with my mother (as you do) about gaming and telling her about the games I had. After the brief summery of blood, guts, gore and the ability to cut a man in two!!! She asked me the valid question of "Why can't their be a non-violent game that you would play?"

Now I know most people will start giving me examples of Katamari (That weird 'ball' game), a bunch of games I have never heard of from older systems and a whole heap of puzzle games, I don't want games that have already come out, so heres some good old fashioned guidelines to keep me happy:

1./ Free-roaming, 3rd person game
2./ Needs to be a game ending side effect if you were to beat up the people around you (The reverse of Violent games where if you were to try to strike up a convo with an enemy, they would eviserate you)
3./ Tell me the storyline
4./ Tell me how a game about a character walking about, going to work, coming home and writing an angry letter to a T.V show would be fun in anyway.

 

[xMacx]

The Sims? It fits 1 and 4 at least. And they're sure to release another one soon!

 

[soul_rune1984]

Storyline- A strange light flashes in the sky, rendering all unconscious. You wake to find that all the old folk have become evil and powerful beings and want to wipe out humanities youth and only you can save the world using your amazing ability to scream heart stopping obscenities. Rated T-M

What would make it fun?- Your characters method of defense wold be to scream insults and/or make gestures, and the challenge would be that they have to be creative. As you progress, you unlock more obscene words and gestures.

Penalties of violence- Your enemies are immune to physical violence and the result will be you will either be caned or talked to death

 

[jezz8me]

I have not played it but i am guessing beyond Good And evil is quite like this.

 

[Same River New Water]

I have not played it but i am guessing beyond Good And evil is quite like this.

I haven't played it either but I'm fairly sure there is combat in it. Still, the focus of BG&E is photojournalism, which is relatively peaceful.

1./ Free-roaming, 3rd person game
2./ Needs to be a game ending side effect if you were to beat up the people around you

Oh, oh! Monopoly! Board games usually end when you start beating up the people around you (at least in my family).

 

[Rolling Thunder]

BG is violent, but at the same level as say... Okami. Which is..... U-rated violence- no blood, no real anger. It's like watching disney.

But for me, I would create something like Fallout- where you CAN use violence OR negotiate- and i would make it incredibly difficult to use violence- the damage system would be super-real- bullet to the arm- you can't use that arm- bullet to the the leg- you drop sorta thing

 

[Professor Ardwulf]

This is very doable. Even in 'violent' games, there are areas or tasks that require stealth or adherence to certain rules, or other skills -- such tasks could be strung together in a rich, interesting environment with an engaging backstory, the aesthetics of which are entirely negotiable. A mission based game without a combat system requires a different sort of 'grind', but it's very possible, might even result in a better RPG or an interesting action/thriller style game.

For example, imagine a game where you live in a dystopian, authoritarian futuristic setting -- detailed cityscapes, rich environments -- where your character is routinely monitored by the government and can only avoid incarceration/summary execution by blending in with the other citizens. Lots of skills for your character to learn and lots of ways to use them, cool gadgets and tools, interesting places to go and people to meet (ideally with great AI). In this game, you can't just pick up the biggest gun and blow away the glorious leader of this horrible place and his minions; with persistence, though, you can link up with resistors who have escaped to the wild areas, become leader of an underground movement, become a spy, a mole, a double-agent, build gadgets (non-lethal, but interesting things) and, perhaps, become the next glorious leader via politics and subterfuge (the 'evil' ending, and alternative to the many 'good' ones in which you bring down the government or save enough of the people).

If you don't like futuristic dystopia, etc., there are many, many other possible settings and backstories. How about a game, for example, in which you are a very powerful hero (say a Superman) who is committed to saving the world without killing anyone for moral/aesthetic reasons. The job is to save people, stop or moderate disasters, and stop criminals without using the full force of your incredible strength. It would be easy to just kill people, but it's against your code. And I can think of many others, but I have a life to get back to.

With the right interface and game design, even hardcore gamers wouldn't mind that they can't just blow everything up and kill everyone.

 

[jezz8me]

I like the idea but i would prefer it in a modern day fascist dictatorship than in the future.

 

[Quistnix]

Take a look at Noctis [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctis].

I've spend countless hours in that game, without any violence at all.

 

[edinflames]

Using a modded Crysis engine: David Attenborough's BBC Documentry maker. Film many wonderful and bizarre animals, all the while trying to operate on a budget.

 

[schwal]

Portal kind of fits, but it's first person and rather linear. BG&E has some violence, but it is mainly done by the bad guys, and in a cartoony sort of way. Nothing else comes to mind, but I'm sure there are some.

 

[jezz8me]

You could have a game about a Homing Pigeon. The story could be around anything really. Maybe a theft. And the pigeon finds out about what is going on as he sends messages and overhears. He then needs to avoid being seen by his owners at the end (for fear of being put back in his cage and his letter being read) whilst letting authorities know of what has happened.

It could be called the Pigeon Detectives >.> or maybe not.

It is free roaming in that the city is open and you can choose where the letters end up and in what order you send certain ones for certain people. Right or wrong person in order to change the course of the game.

You may also do all sorts of pigeony activities in the game on the side. And pigeon races.

 

[Gildedtongue]

Couldn't D'Artagian solve the problems of France without making Roman Catholic shishkebabs with his rapier?

Couldn't Jack Ryan in all of his boring Superman glory solve the problems of the Eastern Bloc through just having tea with the Kaiser?

Couldn't Lancelot come to a friendly understanding with Arthur on why he slept with his wife without the whole civil war that caused Camelot to go into ruin?

Violence is just as much a part of literature as it is in gaming. It's a rather easy and basic form of conflict resolution that leaves the main character without the issue of possibly being wrong (as the other side of the conflict is now no longer in a position to disagree). Your mother pretty much is spouting the same tired lines and phrases that most seem to.

It's fantasy because we sit down and have to deal with reality the rest of the day and at times we like to forget the moral complications of the world and enjoy smacking imaginary people around with a wrench, or shotgun.

And if she's too concerned about the moral absolutism and violent strategies, then why don't you ask her why all her romance novels objectify the male gender and promote unprotected premarital sex?

 

[GloatingSwine]

Endless Ocean.

Go and play it.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

I can vaguely recall a thread where a user came up with a diplomatic game where you a female spy sleep with foreign dignitaries in order to gather information on there respective countries, like Mata Hari.

 

[Tanthalos]

Ecco for the PS2.

Beautiful game though not 100% violence free if you go near sharks you will need to defend yourself.

 

[Dectilon]

...an adventure game? ^^

Possibly one could make a game similar to Hitman, but instead you're a spy and not nearly as good at soaking bullets as Mr.47. Basically, if you get into a fight you've failed. Apart from disguises (and a distinct lack of a barcode tatoo on your neck) you'd be able to talk your way out of situations. Either through quick-time events or by picking a response that seems reasonable for the situation.

If you're found by the janitor for example you could bribe him to make him go away, whereas if it was a guard you might have to claim to be looking into something or other. If you shut down the power in one part of the building you can claim to be an electrician for example.

There'd be the usual sneaking stuff, climbing walls, crawling through pipes and the like. You'd have access to high technology like tiny cameras and microphones that you can use to gather information. On most missions you'd be given the choice to enter the building in question and plant things before you actually attempt the mission (which could be to steal some secret files for example). A few missions would be based around social interaction, where you're trying to pump people for information, using different methods, like flattery, seduction or perhaps blackmail.