gaming Child Death in Videogames

[Yes-Man 597]

(Sorry if there is already a thread for this. I looked up the same words as the title and nothing.)

This is probably one of the most controversial and heavily debated topics in videogames history(the again, there was Nintendo's super-child friendly craze. And heavy amounts of sexual content in games. But those are for another time.)

I believe that this is separate from death in video games period

On one hoof, it adds realism and doesn't sugar-coat it. On the other, some already mentally unstable person could try and do the same.

So where do you stand in this debate?

 

 

 

Also, consider that perk in one of the Original Fallouts, Child Killer. It's a wonder it wasn't murdered by FOX News. And here is the unused image for it.

Edited February 23, 2013 by ~Lonesome Dovahkiin~

[Freewave 1,145]

Mentally unstable people will do mentally unstable things. Big issue with gaming is if you are exposed to violence continually and become not only numb to it but actually enjoy the thought of killing people then the games can work as pornography for those who may eventually want to do the thing in real life. That's not to say that games should be censored as many of them are for adults and are not and should not be sold TO kids but the point is that violent games are an epidemic and are seen as entertainment. That's not a single games fault that's an issue with society and the industry. Definitely violence is just as prevalent in movies as well. Most people can filter out this violence and not effect their personality but not everyone does.

 

I would say sexual content in games is very low (except in japan of course where its very prevalent) and that child deaths in games (the point of this thread) aren't much of an issue as they aren't part of many games content, are they? I'd make an opening statement on what games have child death as there's not many that i even know of. Those games should deal with the repercussions OF such content (and they often do get negative social feedback) but keep in mind sometimes bad publicity still feeds sales of those games.... 

Edited February 23, 2013 by Freewave

[Shanks 10,816]

I haven't really seen much child death in games I think because it is seen as so much more taboo than deaths of adult characters even in more violent games. I personally have no issue with it being there as these aren't real people dying but have never really been a fan of having violence for the sake of violence not because I am offended or disturbed by it but because I find it a bit unoriginal and boring. That is not to say there aren't good games out there that are a bit on the violent side but there are scores of games are there that have just for the sake of having it.

[Throwaway19573639385 764]

I need to have everything killable, wether they're quest characters, animals or children. Otherwise it just kills the realism for me, I can't stand it when I can't do something just because some people thought it wasn't "acceptable", they can go and participate in politics with their stupid acceptable terms.

 

Anyway, mentally unstable people will either heal overtime or do something stupid anyway. I have been playing very violent games since I was 6, I have been playing games that, during the time when the game was released, either almost overstepped their boundaries or completely overstepped their limit yet I do not feel any need to hit someone nor kill someone. Violence IRL is a sad thing which shouldn't exist since we are reasonable human beings, yet it still does. And guess what, let's think about the ones who fight wars or kill others, not even half of them have ever played a videogame, let along TOUCH one. It's completely unreasonable to either blame games or limit the worlds producers want to create just because of some stupid matter that shouldn't have even taken place anyway.

 

I'm a gamer, I hate boundaries, I want to live in the world that a producer has made, not in a world where the producer had to limit his imagination.

 

Oh, and characters aren't real people, they are an AI, I don't consider anything that I have done in videogames to be realistically possible nor something I would want to do (well, except for maybe a few stupid things though >.<).

 

TL;DR No, everything should be the way the producers of a game want it to be and not limited to some stupid congressman that only wants to win a few hears over to his side.

[Soundgarden 2,758]

Killing in video games is fun and satisfying for one huge reason: It makes you feel like a boss, an awesome and bad ass character that nobody can stop. But do you get that feeling when killing small, innocent children? Of course not, you feel like a coward, and besides, why on earth would you kill children for? It adds realism, sure, but not for the better

[Mutemutt 773]

I haven't really seen any killable children or child deaths in games. The children are either absent from the world (which is a little awkward when you notice they don't exist) or invincible. 

 

I'm not really bother either way to be honest. Child NPC's are just like adult NPC's and I'm not especially disturbed when seeing their deaths  in a video game; they're all just bits of data after all, all fake. I think the only game with child violence that bothered my was Bully and that game ended getting banned in a number of places.

 

Killing in video games is fun and satisfying for one huge reason: It makes you feel like a boss, an awesome and bad ass character that nobody can stop. But do you get that feeling when killing small, innocent children? Of course not, you feel like a coward, and besides, why on earth would you kill children for? It adds realism, sure, but not for the better

Actually when I go around killing random people in games, I usually feel like a maniacal serial killer. So yeah, I would probably kill the children too and enjoy it. I'm not a maniacal serial killer; I just play one on tv in games (on occasion). 

Edited February 23, 2013 by Cota

[Soundgarden 2,758]

I haven't really seen any killable children or child deaths in games. The children are either absent from the world (which is a little awkward when you notice they don't exist) or invincible. 

 

I'm not really bother either way to be honest. Child NPC's are just like adult NPC's and I'm not especially disturbed when seeing their deaths  in a video game; they're all just bits of data after all, all fake. I think the only game with child violence that bothered my was Bully and that game ended getting banned in a number of places.

 

Actually when I go around killing random people in games, I usually feel like a maniacal serial killer. So yeah, I would probably kill the children too and enjoy it. I'm not a maniacal serial killer; I just play one on tv in games (on occasion). 

 

I should have been a bit more specified there, I meant when you kill bad guys, criminals or monsters, that's when you get that feeling. When I kill random villagers, I don't get any feelings, I only do it for the lulz

[Алексей 110]

Other than very indie horror games, I can't recall any deaths of children in games I've played, other than implied ones(e.g. in Blacksite when that child runs out of site into the backyard of some house, and, upon following her, she is gone and there is a big freaking alien creature there). What games have you played that depicted child death?

 

Anyway, I don't see a problem with it, personally. Not too much of a leap from the deaths of anyone/anything else in games, at least to me, so I can't really get all the taboo about it. I don't find it too realism-breaking, especially since I normally play the good-guy in games, and don't kill innocents(unless they irritate me somehow, at which point I brutally murder them and reload a save, or something). It is somewhat irritating when a child character that won't stop pestering me is invincible, though.

 

EDIT: Actually, after thinking a bit, I thought of one well-known game that depicts child death in a very gory manner: Happy Wheels, heh. Not sure if I have already been ninja'd about that by others who have posted after me, but I just thought of that.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Андрей

[Kamarat 103]

I think I find it needless.

Yes it could add some realism but it is not bugging at all. I mean if there are only adult characters in a game I'm ok with it. I don't think that adding children would be a huge problem but still it could be. So why add them? Just don't.

But also it could be funny, it is always funny to do random stuff. Not a huge requirement anyway.

It is best to don't add it.

Edit: I think Deus-ex had children 

Edited February 23, 2013 by Hitpony

[Betez 1,734]

Well, I don't think I can recall a game I've played where a kid has died, or more specifically has been killed. I'm sure I have, though. Anyway, while it does While I do believe that it can add to the plot, I feel like it should only be done when the game calls for it.

[Le Kvlt Dawn 2,364]

This reminds me of GTA III. There was originaly supossed to be a school bus,but they took out when the game was about to be released. If you've ever played GTA before, then you've prabably noticed that there's a fire truck, garbage truck, dump truck and even a city bus but, no school bus.

[GrimCW 658]

I'm not for it, but i'm also not against it.
If it advances the story and serves a purpose similar than it almost should be. If it makes sense, and has a place, then possibly.

But just for the sake, is a so-so.

I won't lie i was somewhat disappointed when I realized that Dead Islands resort had no kids in it anywhere.

 

But if others want to know of games where kids can be or get killed (since I'm seeing some questioning it) The Walking Dead, Dead Space, Doom 3,  Deus Ex 1, Fallout, Fallout 3 (via mod), Skyrim (also mod), Spec Ops the Line (white phospherous is bad mmkay, the games wired to deliberatly mess with you), and a few others i can't recall ATM.

 

 

Mentally unstable people will do mentally unstable things.

 

Not sure where you went with it after, but this sums it up. Those that can/could become affected by the violence in a game already will have the problem.

If it were an epidemic, or a real issue though than it would manifest itself FAR more often.
Stats show however its actually had a sort of calming issue as far as crime rates go.
While the acts may be more gruesome (or maybe are just reported as such) the actual number of cases have decreased drastically since home consoles and PC's became more openly avail and gaming has risen.

 

Point in case is that gamers have convened at LARGE conventions that'd last weeks for almost 20 years now, We're talking thousands of players, developers, and even kids. Yet not one noteworthy case of violence has broken out at these conventions despite the ability to carry realistic toy guns (or are they toys? hard to tell).

 

 

 

 

This reminds me of GTA III. There was originaly supossed to be a school bus,but they took out when the game was about to be released. If you've ever played GTA before, then you've prabably noticed that there's a fire truck, garbage truck, dump truck and even a city bus but, no school bus.

 

IIRC GTA, GTA2, and GTA London all had school buses. No visible kids though.. haven't played in ages either, so not 100% on that.

Edited February 24, 2013 by GrimCW

[Harmonic Revelations 8,836]

If somebody is already mentally unstable, and they hurt a child in a video game and then in real life, they were probably planning to hurt someone before they even played the video game, it's an invalid point.

 

I have a mod for Skyrim that allows you to kill children, and I've never hurt a child, and never plan to. It's up to the consumer to choose what they view.

[MuXu96 1]

I think it's not bad to kill anything in games, but I think when games like Call of Duty explode a child in fron of your eyes, that's just dumb..they are like the news and always do such drama OMFG things^^

[Shanks 10,816]

I think it's not bad to kill anything in games, but I think when games like Call of Duty explode a child in fron of your eyes, that's just dumb..they are like the news and always do such drama OMFG things^^

Yes exactly that is the problem with certain games like Call Of Duty is that they just throw extreme violence at you simply for the sake of having it which as I have said previously I find incredibly boring. But if a game is good and happens to have this level of violence I will of course play it though.

Edited February 24, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[GrimCW 658]

Yes exactly that is the problem with certain games like Call Of Duty is that they just throw extreme violence at you simply for the sake of having it which as I have said previously I find incredibly boring. But if a game is good and happens to have this level of violence I will of course play it though.

 

Have you played Spec Ops the line then?

It has a few points where decisions (not made by you sadly, the game shows it was incomplete upon release as such) that your character makes have a real impact on the people of Dubai (where the game is set)

At one point you use White Phosphorous to take out a load of enemies coming at you only to realize you just literally burned the civilians you were looking for, to protect, and it doesn't sugar coat the affect of the stuff, it shows the corpses huddled and burned with parents still holding their children close.

Truly gruesome, but its to show the facts of war, and implicate that the choices made often have TERRIBLE consequences you may not even think of at the time. But choices that need to be made when made, may not be as you'd hope.

The game was slammed as a mediocre shooter (and boy is it a pretty generic one) but its story and purpose rocketed its user reviews for being almost so gruesomely honest that it stands to put most into a state of uneasy stomach churning.

Edited February 24, 2013 by GrimCW

[Shanks 10,816]

The game was slammed as a mediocre shooter (and boy is it a pretty generic one) but its story and purpose rocketed its user reviews for being almost so gruesomely honest that it stands to put most into a state of uneasy stomach churning.

If that is really the case then perhaps I didn't give it a fair chance, yes violence such as that to in order words make the point of how horrible it really is is something I am 100% for and think should be emphasized quite a bit more. I confess I haven't played very many shooters these last several years mainly because they all seem like the same game to me.

[DR Leper Lupinstein 410]

Man, i ahte when people blame videogame violence for all of societies issues. i played some very violent and gory games and went on berserker killing sprees while watching freaky movies and listening to really messed up tunes after spending the early part of my childhood in a broken home with my dad, but i'm not a serial killer. infact, because my mom and STEPfather taught me right from wrong i'm a sane, thick-skinned guy. it's bad/neglectful/apathetic parenting that's to blame! people need to stop being panty waists and "wah,  those videogames, death metal, horror movies, and black clothes made my kid into a mass murder". it's those Stepford-ish parents who drug their kids on ritalin, prozac, and other drug they need that cause kids to become mass murders, because they spoil them and never discipline them. the things i heard some of my friends say to their parents woulda got me beatdown by my mother. infact, if i told my mother NO i was set straight. i think parents need to really draw a hard line with kids now. i'm not saying break out the belt and flog them, i'm saying discipline your children while teaching them how to become adults.

[Jessper 735]

I don't see a problem with it. I don't even see the controversy, to be honest. When it comes to games with a lot of death, it gets pretty immersion-breaking and straight to ridiculous if the kids are immortal.

Example: Skyrim. You can gut a whole city, but the annoying kid will still keep running around you and shout offenses.

 

In some games, as mentioned before, it's just distasteful, as it's there just for the "shock" value, but then again, it simply is lame interpretation, not really about killing kids.

The worst kind is when a game shows you mass graves, then sends you to kill 50 people and then tells you "War and violence is like really bad, m'kay?". Yea, I have one particular game in mind there. But then again, you can just ignore those games.

 

 

 

Honestly, it's just big whoop today, while it was ok few years back, you know, since we already fixed all the problems in the world, the humanity has to focus on imaginary violence or sex.

Edited February 24, 2013 by Jessper

[doublechris 20]

Child death in video games, at least as far as the player murdering children, is pretty much non-existent, and there's probably a very good reason for that. 

Sure, it messes with the immersion in games like Skyrim where you are an ultimate evil killing off villages...except children, of course.  However, the video game industry knows that it draws enough heat as is.  The amount of violence in games as perceived by the general public is already too high, and add in the problem of video games being the latest scapegoat for real world violence, and there's no way the industry wants to makes things worse by adding in child murder.

Imagine if you could kill children in Skyrim.  Do you know how much worse off gamers and the industry would have been after the string of school shootings?

So, while I think there is a place for it, ONLY for reasons like immersion, now's really not the time for it.

[MuXu96 1]

Have you played Spec Ops the line then?

It has a few points where decisions (not made by you sadly, the game shows it was incomplete upon release as such) that your character makes have a real impact on the people of Dubai (where the game is set)

At one point you use White Phosphorous to take out a load of enemies coming at you only to realize you just literally burned the civilians you were looking for, to protect, and it doesn't sugar coat the affect of the stuff, it shows the corpses huddled and burned with parents still holding their children close.

Truly gruesome, but its to show the facts of war, and implicate that the choices made often have TERRIBLE consequences you may not even think of at the time. But choices that need to be made when made, may not be as you'd hope.

The game was slammed as a mediocre shooter (and boy is it a pretty generic one) but its story and purpose rocketed its user reviews for being almost so gruesomely honest that it stands to put most into a state of uneasy stomach churning.

 

Mh I saw that, but isn't it a bit..don't know how to say^^ ahm a bit ironic that they want to show how bad war is, but you just killed thousends of "enemys" without questioning why?^^

[GrimCW 658]

C  However, the video game industry knows that it draws enough heat as is.

 

I dunno, some companies, like EA, thrive on causing that sort of thing.

They even created the "Your mother doesn't like Dead Space" commercials after all...

Others have even gone so far as to start fake protests against their own games, really adding to the issue when people think its real :/

[doublechris 20]

I dunno, some companies, like EA, thrive on causing that sort of thing.

They even created the "Your mother doesn't like Dead Space" commercials after all...

Others have even gone so far as to start fake protests against their own games, really adding to the issue when people think its real :/

 

True, some companies do seem to thrive on the concept of "Any press is good press", but they almost always end up regretting it and apologizing.

[Jessper 735]

Imagine if you could kill children in Skyrim.  Do you know how much worse off gamers and the industry would have been after the string of school shootings? So, while I think there is a place for it, ONLY for reasons like immersion, now's really not the time for it.

Well, you can kill children in Skyrim, you just have to change one 1 into a 0. Literally.

It's taking all the possible flaming from Bethesda and I'm fine with that - I wonder tho why add kids in the first place, when you'll portray them as a huge annoying targets with a little "Btw, can't hit those." in a corner.

 

Additionally I see no reason why many people should be limited in any way because there are crazies (with no correlation to gaming) who kill people in a country with one of the worst mental healthcare systems in the world. I honestly don't think immortal kids in gaming is such a big deal (even tho I think it's pretty hilarious and sad in a way), but this line of reasoning can be applied to anything and then it becomes a real problem.

 

 

Bottom line: If I want to kill kids in a game or even if I wanted to play a game just to kill kids, I should be able to do it and I cannot see any valid reason or argument why I shouldn't be (apart from a little bit of fascism).

Edited February 24, 2013 by Jessper

[GrimCW 658]

Well, you can kill children in Skyrim, you just have to change one 1 into a 0. Literally.

It's taking all the possible flaming from Bethesda and I'm fine with that - I wonder tho why add kids in the first place, when you'll portray them as a huge annoying targets with a little "Btw, can't hit those." in a corner.

 

People wanted adoptable kids to go with the new marriage mechanic.

Bethesda was kind of iffy on the idea given the whole killing kids problem, and knowing the modders would make it possible regardless of default settings.

But in the end caved in.

Just imagine if they made it possible to actually MAKE a family rather than adopt...

Maybe Bioware will take that step, they seem to be willing to push the bar up a few notches once in awhile usually. And in good ways, the story options this could open up for future titles that actually tell stories!