Pedophiliac Protagonist.
- Thread starter Gorrila_thinktank
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yeah, I can think of absolutely no reason I would ever want to play or work on that game. I've often walked away from games simply because the main character is a bit of an asshole without being horribly fucked up. I truly enjoy games where the character's emotions and actions are in line with my own desires.
Not to mention that it would be pretty much Fox News's wet dream for someone to try and make a game like that. The media backlash would be a nightmare, and you'd be creating the controversy for no compelling reason, unlike, say, Six Days in Fallujah.
Not to mention that it would be pretty much Fox News's wet dream for someone to try and make a game like that. The media backlash would be a nightmare, and you'd be creating the controversy for no compelling reason, unlike, say, Six Days in Fallujah.
An interesting concept indeed, but 3 things:
#1: I would never play it.
#2: The game would probably sell about 70 copies worldwide.
#3: Fox News would have a field day with it.
I like different characters, and I'm a little tired of the rugged vengeance seeking handsome male stereotype as well, but a character who is a pedophille wasn't exactly what I was thinking.
I was thinking more along the lines of protagonists like Caleb or Francis York Morgan. Caleb is very clearly insane, and while he's also driven by the revenge motive, the twist is that there is no day to save. Everyone Caleb cares about is dead, including himself, and rather than grumbling and being heroic, he laughs maniacally while he murders everything in his path, completely indifferent to whether his victims are gun toting cultist psychopaths to innocent bystanders.
Francis York Morgan, on the other hand, is a different type of hero. Mainly, he talks to his imaginary friend, he reads the future in his coffee, he interprets his dreams as facts, he likes to talk (usually to himself) about 80's horror movies and punk rock, and he has the social skills of a penguin.
And yet, both of these characters are loveable, simply because of how different they are. Caleb's insanity or York's... peculiarity seem a lot more believeable and interesting than a handsome space marine heroically saving earth from generic alien species #456.
#1: I would never play it.
#2: The game would probably sell about 70 copies worldwide.
#3: Fox News would have a field day with it.
I like different characters, and I'm a little tired of the rugged vengeance seeking handsome male stereotype as well, but a character who is a pedophille wasn't exactly what I was thinking.
I was thinking more along the lines of protagonists like Caleb or Francis York Morgan. Caleb is very clearly insane, and while he's also driven by the revenge motive, the twist is that there is no day to save. Everyone Caleb cares about is dead, including himself, and rather than grumbling and being heroic, he laughs maniacally while he murders everything in his path, completely indifferent to whether his victims are gun toting cultist psychopaths to innocent bystanders.
Francis York Morgan, on the other hand, is a different type of hero. Mainly, he talks to his imaginary friend, he reads the future in his coffee, he interprets his dreams as facts, he likes to talk (usually to himself) about 80's horror movies and punk rock, and he has the social skills of a penguin.
And yet, both of these characters are loveable, simply because of how different they are. Caleb's insanity or York's... peculiarity seem a lot more believeable and interesting than a handsome space marine heroically saving earth from generic alien species #456.
Up until paragraph 3, I thought you were being clever in a satirical way.
... then I was like "wait....you're serious?"
... then I was like "wait....you're serious?"
Except it's "dost," not "doest," so.holy_secret said:
As for the OP...
Well, that's about enough time spent on the internet, time to go sit in the corner and shake my head sadly for a few hours.
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.SnakeoilSage said:
And now for something completely different.
Yeah I think it is a good idea. Less of the child sex, more playing up the conflict, his reactions to others, strong use of internet memes and hidden pedo-bear.
Yeah I think it is a good idea. Less of the child sex, more playing up the conflict, his reactions to others, strong use of internet memes and hidden pedo-bear.
/sigh. as to "sophistication": It's "revealed" not "revelled", "Nosferatu", not "Nosfuroto". Being a troll does not mean you understand or are capable of employing either sophistication or irony with the impact or intelligence you hope your trolling conveys. You may as well have started this thread with "Nun rapist protagonists".Gorrila_thinktank said:
Judging purely from some of the theories of game design, a character such as that is likely to fail at being a relatable protagonist.
A lot of games create the 'mute' protagonist as a way of letting the player imprint their own personality on the character and others are wary to even attempt a serious portrayal of anything other than a hetero-normative male (with many noted failures at even that). A character such as the original poster suggested crosses a line in the sand that we still don't really even understand and probably a majority of people absolutely would refuse to try. There's a very real chance that some players would come to empathize and relate to the protagonist and upon discovering the big secret feel personally accused of something on which they have strong opinions and objections.
To be honest, just trying to find some answers on the cause of paedophiliac attraction, or its cousin disorders hebephilia and ephebophilia, appears to be a dead end with the current state of psychiatry. While there is a slight window of empathy towards a person afflicted with the disorder who has an unwavering conviction against acting upon such desires, the character will be demonized by the media if only to chase the entertainment dollar. If such a cause is discovered and can be offered alongside showing the protagonist to be a useful member of the game's society, I'd say it may have a narrow chance but is never going to be known as a mainstream hit.
(For the tl;dr crowd, you may start reading from here and decide if you want to go back)
There is, potentially, hope for this idea, but it's going to probably be decades and require a much greater degree of understanding (not to mention getting society comfortable with a lot more diversity in other types of characters and their real-life counterparts) before I'd evaluate this as anything other than game design suicide.
Now, given the hard analytical is said and done, there's a much simpler question to pose:
How does the character having this disorder in any way add to a fun gameplay experience?
A variation of this question applied to every element of a game is often an effective litmus test of game design.
Exploring personalities or experiences outside one's own can be fun but there's a lot of ethical responsibilities pertaining to portrayal that will need to be addressed. Unless exploration of the protagonist's world view or view of their self is key to the gameplay experience, it's technically irrelevant.
A lot of games create the 'mute' protagonist as a way of letting the player imprint their own personality on the character and others are wary to even attempt a serious portrayal of anything other than a hetero-normative male (with many noted failures at even that). A character such as the original poster suggested crosses a line in the sand that we still don't really even understand and probably a majority of people absolutely would refuse to try. There's a very real chance that some players would come to empathize and relate to the protagonist and upon discovering the big secret feel personally accused of something on which they have strong opinions and objections.
To be honest, just trying to find some answers on the cause of paedophiliac attraction, or its cousin disorders hebephilia and ephebophilia, appears to be a dead end with the current state of psychiatry. While there is a slight window of empathy towards a person afflicted with the disorder who has an unwavering conviction against acting upon such desires, the character will be demonized by the media if only to chase the entertainment dollar. If such a cause is discovered and can be offered alongside showing the protagonist to be a useful member of the game's society, I'd say it may have a narrow chance but is never going to be known as a mainstream hit.
(For the tl;dr crowd, you may start reading from here and decide if you want to go back)
There is, potentially, hope for this idea, but it's going to probably be decades and require a much greater degree of understanding (not to mention getting society comfortable with a lot more diversity in other types of characters and their real-life counterparts) before I'd evaluate this as anything other than game design suicide.
Now, given the hard analytical is said and done, there's a much simpler question to pose:
How does the character having this disorder in any way add to a fun gameplay experience?
A variation of this question applied to every element of a game is often an effective litmus test of game design.
Exploring personalities or experiences outside one's own can be fun but there's a lot of ethical responsibilities pertaining to portrayal that will need to be addressed. Unless exploration of the protagonist's world view or view of their self is key to the gameplay experience, it's technically irrelevant.
I'm going to throw in a solid "no" to this.
For starters, as has been mentioned - pedophiles are reviled by society for a very good reason and I, for one and I seem to be among many, do NOT want to be brought into any sympathy with them what-so-ever through a video game or any other means.
There are plenty of people I'd want to understand better, but pedophiles aren't among them. That's pretty much the opening and closing of the argument from my end. I also don't want to get into character of serial rapists, cannibal killers, torturers, and so forth. Why? Because they're terrible excuses for human beings and I'd so much rather see video games be an outlet for understanding the better parts of humanity, not the worst we have to offer as a species.
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.
For starters, as has been mentioned - pedophiles are reviled by society for a very good reason and I, for one and I seem to be among many, do NOT want to be brought into any sympathy with them what-so-ever through a video game or any other means.
There are plenty of people I'd want to understand better, but pedophiles aren't among them. That's pretty much the opening and closing of the argument from my end. I also don't want to get into character of serial rapists, cannibal killers, torturers, and so forth. Why? Because they're terrible excuses for human beings and I'd so much rather see video games be an outlet for understanding the better parts of humanity, not the worst we have to offer as a species.
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.
ow.. I think that thats the first time i've been called a troll before. I'm not trying to troll but I am trying to play it off lightly. Thank you for correcting me, im sorry, I guess its back to spell check for me.Zuljeet said:
*sighs* Drakengard already did this for one of their main characters, Leonard. Granted, it was toned down a FUCK-TONNE to the point it wasn't noticeable but it was confirmed by word of god that he is, indeed, a pedophile and a bit of his dialogue and actions definitely hint at it.
Want to know the absolute worst part? Out of ALL the party members, he's arguably the most Moral. Think about that...the blind pedophile is the most moral member of the entire party (but considering the two other primary party members are a bloodthirsty psychopath who has no hesitation in murdering children and the other is a child eating cannibal..).
OT: Even though Drakengard did it, i sure as hell would not want to have a Protagonist/party member with that trait. Yeah, it's fiction and all that but having such a person as the 'hero' is just downright bad and won't receive a lick of sympathy even if they're the most moral party member. To do that for a LEAD protagonist is just inviting your game to be torn to pieces no matter how good it is, and i know i sure as hell wouldn't play it.
Want to know the absolute worst part? Out of ALL the party members, he's arguably the most Moral. Think about that...the blind pedophile is the most moral member of the entire party (but considering the two other primary party members are a bloodthirsty psychopath who has no hesitation in murdering children and the other is a child eating cannibal..).
OT: Even though Drakengard did it, i sure as hell would not want to have a Protagonist/party member with that trait. Yeah, it's fiction and all that but having such a person as the 'hero' is just downright bad and won't receive a lick of sympathy even if they're the most moral party member. To do that for a LEAD protagonist is just inviting your game to be torn to pieces no matter how good it is, and i know i sure as hell wouldn't play it.
*before going into the thread*
Must be a bait thread
*after reading OP*
Yep, comparing idea of adding homosexual protagonist to pedophile one. Bait post...
Must be a bait thread
*after reading OP*
Yep, comparing idea of adding homosexual protagonist to pedophile one. Bait post...
If it made for a good story, *I* would. And I'm not even an acclaimed writer who could make it work.Witty Name Here said:
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.
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.
No. Why? There's no reason to humanize child molesters any more than there's reason to humanize serial rapists.
This isn't a question about raw and emotionally charged content... Manhunt was MUCH more raw and charged then this is (murder is worse than pedophilia). I hate both concepts.
This isn't a question about raw and emotionally charged content... Manhunt was MUCH more raw and charged then this is (murder is worse than pedophilia). I hate both concepts.
How much self-loathing can you handle in a game? You'd probably need much much more to make a non-acting pedophile palatable in any medium, let alone a videogame. Any game play fun there might have been would be buried under the mountain of "I am a huge piece of shit, and I don't know why I let myself continue living" that would have to be spewing constantly from this character's mouth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LolitaWitty Name Here said:
Never underestimate the envelope-shoving of books.
But considering the public relations tightrope that games are balanced on, this is the last thing we need.
Marketing wise its not a good idea. Thats kinda like the protagonist of those rape lay games.
Now should we? ... eh? itd be a new take on a character, thats for sure, and an interesting one.
I dunno. i dont think you can do it without offending someone (either pedophiles or everyone else against pedophiles) but if you did I'd be interested in seeing how.
DISCLAIMER: I am not NOT advocating or endorsing pedophilia.
Now should we? ... eh? itd be a new take on a character, thats for sure, and an interesting one.
I dunno. i dont think you can do it without offending someone (either pedophiles or everyone else against pedophiles) but if you did I'd be interested in seeing how.
DISCLAIMER: I am not NOT advocating or endorsing pedophilia.