Should you be allowed to kill children in games?

[instantbenz]

To quote me some Metallica "Kill em All"

Vija games shouldn't be held back by stuck up bullshit. Babies and animals should be killable in sandbox games as well if we're following such a trend.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Depends. If it has reason. If you're playing a game like GTA, and you get to kill children for no point, that's not to cool. However, if you play a game where you alternate between playing as the hero and the villan, and you kill children as the villan to make you hate him more, that's character building. However, I'd lean towards not doing it, not because it's REALLY morally unacceptable, but because the controversy would make non gamers hate games more, saying "Yeah, but you kill children in games! BAN! BAN! BAN!"

 

[nightowl195]

I guess they should be able to without people making a big fuss about it. I don't think that it will add much to a game, other than it not breaking immersion by making some NPCs invulnerable while the rest are not. Story-wise I don't think any one should worry about including scenes of children dying because it adds to the realism. It's always been kind of a no-no to imperil children in movies, books, films, etc... but I don't think it necessarily should be this way.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

Only if the little bastards really piss you off...

 

[UnwishedGunz]

killing little sisters in bioshock 2 was fun, but sometimes you had to suffer the music and deal with the big sister...i wish my gf was that thin

 

[DaBozz]

So its not morally wrong to destroy a city with a nuke, but its morally wrong to murder a child ? I mean really, this annoyed the shit out of me in fable 2, I was happily going on a rampage killing anything that moved, and then my nice peaceful city of death had all these annoying brats running around screaming, spoiled the image of my icon of pure evil somewhat.

Edit: also if you can kill old people in games why can't you kill children?

 

[Sacman]

only if they're little ass holes like in Deus Ex...

 

[Contun]

It'd give gaming more bad rep.

I say nay.

 

[JTLW]

Honestly? When a game makes children off-limits, it's the only time I will go out of my way to kill them.

Fallout 3, to take a common example. Now currently has a lovely, fat, golden mod that makes kids fair game. Hooray. Now that I can do it, I don't particularly care. If it fits the moment, I can go all out in true sandbox goodness and slaughter the lot. If it doesn't, I will go on my merry, happy-go-lucky way, farting rainbows, pissing sunshine and leaving a messy trail of wonder in my wake.

Pixels are pixels, and that be it.

I'm sure a RapeLay comparison will be or previously has been made, and while I think that that is a very horrible game, I think so partly from a personal perspective. Much in the same way that someone who had a child murdered would object to killing children in games. But there is a difference between glorifying an act and allowing freedom in a game. I wouldn't have any objection to the primary character in any GTA game or the like having the option of raping somebody. Granted, I wouldn't do it, but then again, I wouldn't try, even if it were there.

I'm sure I made sense at one point.

 

[discordance]

Alright, let me lay this down. There are two kinds of kids in the universe:

1. Real kids. These charming youngsters make adorable finger paintings, are full of curiosity and questions about the world, and will eventually grow up into healthy and responsible adults.

2. Video game kids. These annoying miniature adults start their own exclusive settlements in the middle of nowhere, are experienced with firearms, swear like sailors, and verbally abuse even the friendliest of passerby.

Now is it right that it's possible to kill Type 1 but not Type 2? Is it right?

 

[M4yce]

Hi all first post here, not really sure if there's an proper way to join a discussion but yeah hi.

Anyways as for the topic, I kinda feel that if it's a bit biased to portray kids getting used and abused in shows like law and order but it's not okay in games. Is it okay then because it's from actual headlines, I don't understand why one form is okay and not the other?

That being said if they do involve children in video games I'd like them to do it in a way that makes you understand why it's badong to kill them(kung pow was awesome). In bioshock I dunno but I felt for the little sisters, and I wanted to protect them and make anything threatening them stop breathing in the most painful immediate way possible.

Now in Fallout which is a game I love truly, and I can't wait for New Vegas to come out, doesn't really do that at all. People there never really made me feel like I wanted them to live, *spoiler to fallout 3 broken steel* hell I felt saddest when liberty prime "died," if such a thing even is possible for robots. Something about the way he crawled on trying to complete his mission just made me want to hurt the enclave that much more, I didn't even care that paladin cross died (I was standing way too close to the missile attack stupid me) *end spoiler*. I think that's because in fallout 3 when people die it's very...fake, I don't feel like a life has been lost I feel like I just bagged me another 25 exp. Because that's people are in fallout, at least to me. To me Fallout should be more like Book of Eli, I really wanted to hurt that biker gang and watch them feel the pain they inflicted on others. That never really comes through in fallout in it's people and that lessens the experience for me.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that if you can't convey the pain and sorrow of the death of a child or the terror and horror of rape, then you shouldn't even try. Which while I hate GTA 4 (because it was a boring game with shitty controls) I like that it didn't put kids in it. People weren't anything but targets in that game, and children should never be targets.

 

[Jamieson 90]

I think it should be an option, you can implement it in a clever way too. For example a mission might require you to raid a bandits base and kill their leader. After killing their leader you discover they have young child.

You have 3 options.
Take them in and see they go somewhere safe (good option - nothing happens)
You leave them for dead to fend for themselves (nuetral option - the kid later tries kill you out of revenge)
You kill them in order to prevent revenge (extremely bad option huge karma loss)

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Mayor MacCready's skull tastefully adorning Godfrey's chassis should make my stance clear.

 

[demoman_chaos]

If you can murder everyone else and tehre are children around, I don't see why not. If you have to, call them midgets and no one should care.

 

[helldragonX]

I would allow it in games,but I would have very harsh consequences for it.

 

[Tanis]

I don't see why not, as long as it's not done in a 'creepy' (like rape to death) fashion.

War is hell, that's why I blew a hole in the head of that mutant kid.
Sorry folks, this is Fallout country!

 

[Cliff_m85]

If it's for the story, yes. For example in Dragon Age you have that choice at one point, and that worked really well. But when it's just gunning down children for the sake of it, then it's just pointless and is controversial and violent for the sake of it.

Nothing wrong with just "for the lulz".

 

[Jimmybobjr]

No.

Just no.
It is wrong.
the next worst thing you could do in a video game is rape someone.

last time I checked murder was a worse crime than rape.

To be honest, I don't notice the difference, I wouldn't care if they put children into the games, it would just me more dead pixels, with no actual difference.

Well, its really up to the viewer to see what is worse, Rape or Murder.
Theres a dozen factors that go into these crimes; Motives, Methods, When, Who and so on.

For example, if i Murdered the Pope, During a Easter Celebration, By Crusifying him, For only the reason that i felt like it, i would expect that this would be a "Worse" Crime than raping a girl.

And Vice Versa.

But thats not the topic of this Thread.

 

[Vuljatar]

Yes.

A better question would be "Why the hell shouldn't you be allowed to kill children in games?"