Smoking in games- love it or hate it, not enough or far too much...

[CrazyMedic]

OT: I absolutely DESPISE smoking in real life, to the extent I have gotten into (physical) fights about it. I do however have no problem with it in games, as long as it has a purpose. No smoking for the sake of it.

why as long as the person isn't a douche bag and smokes in a restaurant I don't see the problem, I mean when my dad needs to smoke he goes to a corner and smokes I don't see the problem with it. and unlike alcohol once he stops his smoking no longer affects others where as a drunk person still could go drunk driving or what ever. so over all I don't see why smoking is so bad.

 

[Supertegwyn]

OT: I absolutely DESPISE smoking in real life, to the extent I have gotten into (physical) fights about it. I do however have no problem with it in games, as long as it has a purpose. No smoking for the sake of it.

why as long as the person isn't a douche bag and smokes in a restaurant I don't see the problem, I mean when my dad needs to smoke he goes to a corner and smokes I don't see the problem with it. and unlike alcohol once he stops his smoking no longer affects others where as a drunk person still could go drunk driving or what ever. so over all I don't see why smoking is so bad.

Because it kills you? Fairly simple.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I think smoking has no place within a game because it serves no purpose in a virtual interactive medium.

The best use of a character smoking will always be Solid Snake using cigarette smoke to see lasers.

OT: I don't care. I don't think it is a big deal. If people are that easily influenced, let evolution sort them out.

And there's why it's good, saved me from getting blown up. I think Fallout New Vegas should've allowed you to smoke, you find enough cigarettes and it would be roleplaying a virtual me.

 

[UrieHusky]

Honestly I don't think it's because of censorship, it's because graphic engines as is are yet to grasp realistic looking smoke, smoke in games these days still look horrible, and adding in realistic smoke just so one guy can light one up is counter productive (at least in my mind)
Then you have the opposite problem, the devs spend weeks on creating realistic looking smoke, so then they want to use it more than just once or twice for a guy smoking for dramatic effect, so then you end up having it thrown in randomly to make it not feel like such a waste of time and money

 

[Neverhoodian]

Spoiler

I don't have a problem with smoking in games as long as it's not taking the "Joe Camel" approach.

To be honest, I don't really notice one way another with fictional characters unless someone points it out to me. Perhaps it's because I've watched my fair share of old movies and TV shows, when smoking was still socially acceptable. I might dislike the habit in the real world, but I don't have any problems with it if it's in the realm of fiction.

 

[Insanity72]

While i dislike smoking in real life, i did find it rather enjoyable to flick cigarets at Nazi's while playing the Saboteur.

 

[evilneko]

In games I don't really care one way or the other. I barely notice it.

IRL I can't stand cigarette smoke so I avoid being around people smoking.

 

[Maximum_Power_Cheese_Supreme]

The Spy in TF2, and that's free to play now, and smoking is good because it lets you disguise.

The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2. The Spy, TF2.

And I'm pretty sure I've seen this topic done before.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I don't know...

I will say, after watching Metal Gear Solid 4 cutscenes I really did feel like smoking bent cigarettes.

Honestly I don't think it's because of censorship, it's because graphic engines as is are yet to grasp realistic looking smoke, smoke in games these days still look horrible, and adding in realistic smoke just so one guy can light one up is counter productive (at least in my mind)
Then you have the opposite problem, the devs spend weeks on creating realistic looking smoke, so then they want to use it more than just once or twice for a guy smoking for dramatic effect, so then you end up having it thrown in randomly to make it not feel like such a waste of time and money

Metal Gear 4. They got smoking down.

 

[UrieHusky]

Metal Gear 4. They got smoking down.

I haven't played MGS4 so I wouldn't know, but generally speaking smoke seems to be difficult for devs to get right

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

For some reason japanese games have a whole lot of smoking in them. Guess they dont posess the hatred of smoking modern young westerners do.

 

[Esotera]

It can really ruin a game, not seen a single good use of it.

Even worse is when it creates a stereotype, like at the start of Halo 3, where Sgt. Johnson takes the role of gigantic black sergeant with a cigar.

 

[CrazyMedic]

OT: I absolutely DESPISE smoking in real life, to the extent I have gotten into (physical) fights about it. I do however have no problem with it in games, as long as it has a purpose. No smoking for the sake of it.

why as long as the person isn't a douche bag and smokes in a restaurant I don't see the problem, I mean when my dad needs to smoke he goes to a corner and smokes I don't see the problem with it. and unlike alcohol once he stops his smoking no longer affects others where as a drunk person still could go drunk driving or what ever. so over all I don't see why smoking is so bad.

Because it kills you? Fairly simple.

so you hate bacon,cake,waffles,ice cream, booze, vitamins and allowing people to move, see just about everything CAN kill you and a lot of these murderous things have worse side effects then smoking and besides who are you to tell a grown as man what to do?

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Smoking in games? Never thought about it as its never been issue that i deemed important enough to need discussing. Why would it even matter if a character smokes in a game or not? Anyway, at this stage in life i think everybody is aware of the dangers of smoking so i doubt smoking in games and movies will get anyone smoking anyway. After all, smoking is a part of life, we see it everyday and removing it from games and movies wont remove it from childrens worlds.

Still, i dont think a game is lessened whether it has/hasn't got smoking in it. Its irrelevant.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Even worse is when it creates a stereotype, like at the start of Halo 3, where Sgt. Johnson takes the role of gigantic black sergeant with a cigar.

Same character in the movie Aliens....black army guy with a cigar. Makes me laugh when Hicks tells him "Youll get lip cancer smoking those." lol

 

[Vrach]

I like the option of it in some games where appropriate. I remember some game had you light up a cigarette during downtime (I'm thinking GTA games, but I'm probably wrong), loved that despite being very anti-smoking at the time, it was a matter of appropriateness, not whether you support smoking or not.

Talking about ratings, what's the deal with TV getting away with shit? Due to a set of circumstances, I happened to notice Sex and the City airing the other day and saw it was a 12+ rating - you've got sex scenes, nude scenes (at least arse scenes, guessing there were some tits from time to time too), smoking etc. A game'd get M for that stuff, where's the logic in it? :\

 

[Fimbulherjan]

I was shocked and a bit disappointed when I did not see anyone mention Grim Fandango.

I personally love the use of smoking in this game, out of two simple reasons.

It fits perfectly with the film noir style. And every smoker in the game is dead.

 

[ReverendJ]

As a proud chain-smoker, I gotta say I approve of smoking in games. Not that big a fan of using smokes to define someone as cool, but as it is something that one encounters in real life I figure it has a pace in games.

That said, I have to tell you all how much I love you at this moment. All too frequently the mere mention of cigarettes brings out the militant anti-smokers. What I've seen here has been a rational and mature discussion, whereupon it seems to have been agreed that we don't/shouldn't care about the long term health risks assumed by fictional characters who we're probably going to kill a dozen times trying to get past this %$^#$%ing level.

Thank you, Escapist community, for not spewing hate all over the tobacco enthusiasts when given the chance.