Pedophiliac Protagonist.

[Mylinkay Asdara]

It's been done, kinda, in Final Fantasy VI.



Flirtatious prince Edgar is implied to sometimes go for rather young ladies; in fact, he has to make a conscious effort to keep his cool when introduced to ten year old cutie Relm.

Edgar was not a pedophile - he got flustered around pretty much everyone at various points (I assume you are referring to the brief low bit animation where he combs his hair back with his hand to regain composure) and Relm was a somewhat boisterous youngster who wanted to act adult - she flustered her grandfather a dozen times at least, and pretty much everyone actually - including a boss octopus.

There is a world of difference between someone humoring a kid (or getting thrown off by one) with saying she's pretty and might make a good princess one day and someone lusting after children.

 

[joshthor]

the reason straight characters, gay characters, lesbian characters, even transexual characters of any races can be protagonists is because even if only a minority of people find them likeable the game can be reasonably successful. a pedophile protagonist will never be in a AAA game because (sorry to put this bluntly to all the pedos out there) being a pedophile is a purely unlikable (and even hated) quality for 99.99999% of the population. im open minded but pedophilia is a horrible thing, if a game hit the market with that i would straight up boycott the game, probably even protest it (i dont boycott or protest freaking anything), particularly if the game is marketed as a game with a pedophile character.

this leads to a bigger problem: (good) characters should not be defined by their sexuality or their race it should be a side fact, where if possible not even brought up or it should be your choice. there are obvious exceptions to this, but i think the best kind of protagonist is the kind you can imagine has your own ideals.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

Being a pedophile isn't a "characteristic." Characteristics are personality traits, or facial features. Pedophilia is a mental sickness that isn't any more natural than a serial killer.

Take your Nomolestol and go to bed.

How does one define "natural"? Do Pedophiles and serial killers not naturally exist in our world, however immoral? Just because something is immoral doesn't mean a game shouldn't explore it. MANY games use violence in a way that does not necessarily endorse violence. In the same way, a game about a pedophile could deal with the subject manner in a mature way that does not endorse its practice.

Pedophiles and serial killers are the result of a flawed society that has yet to advance to the point where it can prevent the development of such individuals. "Natural" is a genetic marker that determines what characteristics we are born with. There is no pedophile gene.

Video games are a medium meant to entertain. There is no way it can "deal with" subject matter like pedophilia in any way but as a form of entertainment and THERE IS NOTHING ENTERTAINING ABOUT PEDOPHILIA.

End of discussion. No. Stop. It's over.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I don't recall who said it, but there's the saying "If you stare into the void long enough, the void also stares into you" - not sure we really want to be doing a great deal of interactive void staring - the world is having enough troubles at present without germinating more in our collective psyche.

It might be the whiskey talking, but to me it sounds like you're honestly suggesting that playing a game whose protagonist is a paedophile will in fact turn the player into a paedophile.

...

 

[brainslurper]

that...actually is a very good idea.

Not that it will be happening anytime soon of course, people still can't even bring themselves to play a game with a homosexual character, let alone a peodophile, but it would add quite alot of depth to the character. I wish more game designers thought like you.

Call me when you find anything in which the protagonist is a pedophile. Book, movie, whatever. Some things the public just won't like, regardless of medium.

 

[drosalion]

I think this idea is much better suited to film or book.
There's no real way to make an interesting or good game around that idea.
I can see the interest in making this kind of thing in media (exploring a person's deepest thoughts and secrets can always be interesting if done well), but as a game I don't see it.
What would the gameplay be? Try to keep the main character's hands from touching a kid with quick time events? It's just a bad idea all around.

I think there's one instance where it might work and that would be the Psychonauts/The Cell approach, either entering his mind or his dreams and having the events be more symbolic than real, but that's sort of a catch all. Pretty much any subject can be tackled like that. But then what would be the point? If we're not actually confronting the entire idea, then there's no need to use it all.

EDIT: So, overall, I don't see a way to make a good game with a pedophile as a protagonist. And if we aren't making games to be good games, then I think we're missing the point (don't get me wrong, I love artistic games, but if they're artistic for the sake of art and at the expense of game, then they're interactive art not artistic games).

The gameplay doesnt actually have to have anything to do with pedophelic (is that a word?) acts. The stigma surrounding pedophiles is quite obvious (as can be seen in this thread), and this would be a very sound way of creating a protagonist that is quite hated by most of the other characters in the game, and then this can play out in the story etc. Think of it as creating a protagonist that is hated/despised and how that affects the world around him and the way people react to him.

Please don't tell me you are one of the freaks on here that is attracted to children.

This is the problem with the topic right here, anyone or any protagonist as the OP is suggesting would be stigmatized by someone like SillyBear here without a second thought. Even if you made the character a great person, who never did anything, but is eaten away at his / her thoughts of children on the inside they'd be screamed at, hated, and the media (read: Fox News) would make a shitstorm out of it without understanding it. When society stops screaming and closing their eyes at issues and instead tries to figure out the cause and how to cure it, then we can work on these sort of issues.

Thats not the problem with the topic, imo its the topics strong-point. You even said it yourself, the protagonist could literally be the most heroic person ever and save everyone yet they would still have a negative stigma towards him - How would this play out? How would people react to the protagonist? How would the protagonist react knowing that no matter what he does everyone will despise him? How would others or even the player react to this person having mixed emotions about him? etc.

Everyone seems to think that if the main protagonist is a pedophile that he has to run around actually being a pedophile in-game and they're against that, yet it can just be someone who did something in the past and is an easy way of making everyone hate him (again as evident by this thread) and then play with the dynamics of that.

I also do find it amusing that people are so incredibly against this but wouldnt even bat an eyelid at playing a protagonist who's a mass murderer, an assassin, a psycho who enjoys killing people, a terrorist, etc, and then actually goes around doing those acts THEMSELVES in-game - yet they are so opposed to this idea.

I think theres a really good idea here and could create for a very interesting story, if done correctly.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I don't recall who said it, but there's the saying "If you stare into the void long enough, the void also stares into you" - not sure we really want to be doing a great deal of interactive void staring - the world is having enough troubles at present without germinating more in our collective psyche.

It might be the whiskey talking, but to me it sounds like you're honestly suggesting that playing a game whose protagonist is a paedophile will in fact turn the player into a paedophile.

...

No, I'm not saying that.

I'm saying I don't see anything good coming out of playing as a pedophile though.

 

[jawakiller]

What kind of pedophile are we talking about here? Like the bangs-hot-teenage-chicks or the wtf-thats-a-little-boy-you-fucking-retard? Big difference. Like the difference between kinda fucked up and OH MY FUCKING GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS HE-OH GOD, OH! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!!!

 

[Bishop99999999]

All the naysayers, "it can't be done"... it's been done, kinda, in Final Fantasy VI.

Flirtatious prince Edgar is implied to sometimes go for rather young ladies; in fact, he has to make a conscious effort to keep his cool when introduced to ten year old cutie Relm.

Japan doesn't count.


Anyway, this would have to be a Heavy Rain-like story driven game. Done right, with a great writer, it could be quite moving.

Unless the developer wants to do an epic troll and release a Serious Sam clone where the protagonist spouts increasingly creepy innuendos as one-liners while moving down hordes of aliens with a machine gun.

 

[Twilight_guy]

It could be interesting but I doubt you could make a whole game around just that. Games need to have gameplay, not just story. Aside from that, themeing a whole character around one element, good or bad, is not a good way to write characters. They need to have other motivations and feelings and thus the story must explore other things. It'd be interesting if written right though. Course that's true of lots of stories.

 

[2733]

it would only work if you made a party member the pedo. Then we could explore the character and idea without feeling like we are being forced to be the pedo. You could play this straight but that would be unpleasant at best. The only way this will work is if it is taken to the extreme and your other party members are even more horrifying so it comes back around and becomes funny.

yes, Drakengard, which I now want to play.

 

[the spud]

that...actually is a very good idea.

Not that it will be happening anytime soon of course, people still can't even bring themselves to play a game with a homosexual character, let alone a peodophile, but it would add quite alot of depth to the character. I wish more game designers thought like you.

Call me when you find anything in which the protagonist is a pedophile. Book, movie, whatever. Some things the public just won't like, regardless of medium.

Sad to say it, but your right. It will take quite some time before the public realizes that "Hard to stomach"=/="bad".

 

[SidingWithTheEnemy]

I like the idea. It will not happen because our society consists partly (or mostly) out of biggot hypocrits.

Oh and to all those special nay-sayers out there who seriously think that a psychotic pedophile maniac raping and killing half a dozens kids is far worse than someone who nukes a city killing 50.000 people, irradiating 25.000 more: You might want to revise your moral standards, they seem quite rotten to me.

Spoiler: Want another example?

Nico Bellic (the Protagonist from GTA IV) can be a mass murdering psychotic on a killing spree. How many innocent people can he kill? Hundreds? Thousands? In cold blood without being provoked. Why should he be a better guy than a random 19year old who rapes the 15 year old girl? Explain that to me... That makes absolutely no sense at all.

 

[the spud]

that...actually is a very good idea.

Not that it will be happening anytime soon of course, people still can't even bring themselves to play a game with a homosexual character, let alone a peodophile, but it would add quite alot of depth to the character. I wish more game designers thought like you.

How is that a good idea? Being a pedophile will add absolutely nothing to a game (not to mention adding in awkward mini games) besides shock value. Just because something is taboo and off, doesn't make it deep or interesting. A perfect example is the movie "Antichrist". It's a terrible movie that too many people praise due to it being aloof and visually traumatizing.

Pedophilia is just a hot topic here at the Escapist and gets way too much forum time.

Why is it so many people seem to associate character depth with controversy and social taboo?...

Thank you.

Allow me to clarify. NOTHING is deep as a topic alone. Nothing (at least not in media, anyway). It's how you present a situation that gives it its depth. However, I do think that having a main character (note that the essence of the thread doesn't denote that the peodophile be THE main character) that has a sexual orientation that he/she is forced to repress has a lot of potential to be a deep and compelling character study.

 

[Volothos]

I'm not sure but Ragna the Bloodedge from Blazblue might be a pedophile. If not, they just love joking about that.

Edit: ALSO! I know he's not the actual protagonist but still! I don't remember his name but the blind guy who forged a contract with the fairy from Drakengard 1! Oh wait... you guys beat me to it.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

There is a world of difference between someone humoring a kid (or getting thrown off by one) with saying she's pretty and might make a good princess one day and someone lusting after children.

From a scene in the game, I understood that he pretty much had to tell himself: "Too young, better not, must control myself." If a conscious decision not to tap dat was needed, that means there was lust there in the first place.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

I don't recall who said it, but there's the saying "If you stare into the void long enough, the void also stares into you"

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." - Friedrich Nietzche, Beyond Good and Evil [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_and_Evil].