Kids in games: Should they be invulnerable?

Wolfe Tone

I see in Skyrim there will be child characters, and they will be indestructible as kids generally are in games.

This got me thinking, should they really be? Sometimes in Oblivion, or fallout or other RPGs if I was playing as an evil character sometimes he would go on a rampage and kill everyone, blowing up Megaton in Fallout 3 is an example.

Personally I think there should be no kids in games, its stupid having indestructible NPCs. I have visions of a kid discovering me robbing a house in Skyrim and running off and telling the guards, if an adult character saw me a quick arrow generally shut them up.

In games these days you can do all kinds of mad things and kill people in any way you want really, should you be able to kill child characters?

Penn

They just shouldn't be in the games. I know it's realism to a certain degree, but the kids are more noticeable if they're there and indestructible, whereas if they're not there, you'd wouldn't really care.

They can be in cutscenes or whatever, but shouldn't be in the actual gameplay if they're indestructable

megaten

Don't really care either way. If you want it I'm sure someone will mod it in.

Mr E

I've added a don't care option to the poll.

Kiith

Don't include them if you don't want them killed. If any adult is killable, then a child should be killable. People will always do it, and then reload if they didn't mean it/were messing around. But they shouldnt be in there in general. There's almost no reason to have them.

You just know someone will mod killable kids into Skyrim though, and Fox will have a field day :rolleyes:

I really don't care that much though...thanks Mr E

Genghiz Cohen

In the words of the Postal Dude;"I'm an equal opportunities maniac."
If they look like they can be killed, they should be able to die.

Helix

they shouldnt be, no

theyre not in movies

Kiith

Helix wrote: »

theyre not in movies

They are sometimes :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSKr27dyt9E

Burgo

If they are in a game then yes.

DaveDaRave

You used to be able to kill children in baldur's gate and fallout.

Where did we go wrong?

Retr0gamer

Won't someone think of the virtual children?

Shiminay

I'm not all that pushed tbh, but if it's on the screen, I should be able to swing a sword or shoot a gun or have the full range of NPC communications with it.

<_<

>_>

<_<

Especially the romantic ones...

^_^

(yes, I am joking you sick fups )

Robert ninja

All I wanted to do was punch kids to death and then eat them in FALLOUT... is that so much to ask for?

The only thing making kids indestructable in games does is make the comparison that it's now harder to kill kids in games than it is in real life. Lol at the quote from bathesda (in Skyrim thread) saying how sick society is that they have to put in features so kids can't die in the games. So I suppose being able to kill hundreds to thousands of adults is like, not sick? Innane, pointless game features such as invincible kids are just there so the game doesn't get any negative media attention and then suddenly all the students asking their mum to get the game won't be able to because the mother witnessed a distasteful hit piece on the news or something.

ríomhaire

If the game features friendly fire for every other character then yes the kids should be murderable (but it should be seen as an appalling act by all characters). Of course having indestructible kids is I think a good compromise seeing as being able to murder kids in a game is just asking for trouble for any big developer.

Edit: So ideally a game that is about freedom should let you be free to be an unredeemable monster (they generally do already other than giving children invulnerability) but I think it's unfair to complain about developers who make kids unkillable as not doing so is just asking them to bring a huge ****storm on themselves.

No, but that's only because I've yet to hear a decent voice actor for the child. They're generally ****e.

Helix

Kiith wrote: »

They are sometimes :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSKr27dyt9E

i mean theyre not invulnerable

i say kill the lot of them

Mr Freeze

I remember in one of the 1st Rainbow 6 games back in the good old days, there was a mission where you had to rescue hostages in a film or tv studio or something, and 2 of them were kids.

I remember the young boy making a run for it and getting sprayed with gunfire from a terrorist with an AK. It reminded me of the scene in Leon where the young brother gets killed.

It was unexpected to say the least.

I don't think the virtual kids in games should be invulnerable, it adds to the game if they are as vulnerable as everything else.

how is that sick but it's not sick to have a mission to lock a bunch of people in a house, win their confidence and trick them all before you pick them off one by one while they nearly die of fright. come on. :pac:
if they can't be killed they shouldn't be in the game. and it wasn't that bad to have them killable in bg!!

Hercule

i want to kill the kids in fallout 3 that stop you from passing through their little cave fort unless u do a load of menial fetch quests (made even more irritating given that they hide behind a rickety child-made fence that would be destructable in most games) - I also want to kill the "mick and ralphs kid" from fallout new vegas because the voice actor sounds like someone dragging nails on a chalkboard.

This doesn't make me a bad person - I have annihilated an entire city worth of adults in other games - it doesn't mean I am a trainee murderer or have murderous intentions

ScumLord

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

should you be able to kill child characters?

Won't ever happen, it tends to be more the parent who has a problem telling the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to movies and games or they just work under the assumption that everyone else on the planet is an idiot who can't tell the difference between fact and fiction.

Anyway if you think about it you don't really see a lot of children around in this day and age. Parents keep them locked up in paedophile safe boxes.

Morag

Some parents not all parents, I cheerfully sold kids in slavery playing the first fallout game and killed them in balders gate. Was pissed off that there wasn't an option to kill the street rats in NWN2, you get into a fight with them and then they cry uncle and slope off and you can't wipe them out.

Wolfe Tone

Hercule wrote: »

i want to kill the kids in fallout 3 that stop you from passing through their little cave fort unless u do a load of menial fetch quests (made even more irritating given that they hide behind a rickety child-made fence that would be destructable in most games) - I also want to kill the "mick and ralphs kid" from fallout new vegas because the voice actor sounds like someone dragging nails on a chalkboard.

This doesn't make me a bad person - I have annihilated an entire city worth of adults in other games - it doesn't mean I am a trainee murderer or have murderous intentions

Glad I'm not the only one who wanted to kill the little bastards

sacrificing newborns in black&white got you the most prayer power

CrazyRabbit

No poll option for 'All games should have kids that are killable because I enjoy slaughtering the little b^$t^4ds'?

Seriously though...what's the big deal? They're no more real than the 'adult' characters.

penev10

In the Sims you can become romantically involved and impregnate adults, should you be able to do this to children too?

I'm just stirring

If there wasn't a sensationalistic media wating with baited-breath for any excuse to expose the games industry as the corrupters of the youth of today - then yeah, killing any NPC sounds ok.

Some day we can hope that the games industry has enough moral and artistic clout to release "Infant Defiler 7" to barely a whimper.

Somnus

I agree that if they are in the game, you should be able to kill them. Just like any other character. If you don't want to have kids killed in your game don't add them in.

You could kill them in the original Deus Ex as well (even though I don't think I even thought of it back then)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnkkBlRqyuQ

ShadowHearth

Right. I don't know what so big fuss about killing a child in videogame. I killed more woman and men in video games then there are people in Europe. Killing a child in videogame is just meh.


I have to say it's annoying when they put in children in games like fallout 3 and then you can't do **** to them!!

Remember that little lantern hole? I fecking hated that part of the game. I wanted to murder all of them, but not because they were kids, but because I disliked as characters. So in game which has such a freedom I get a slap on my wrist and a nono...

Oh yeah, I totally gave that little girl to slavers...

Okay, I am ready morality police, come get me!

o1s1n

Never saw the big problem with it to be honest. I was well pissed off when I found out the EU version of Fallout 2 had the kids censored out. Thank feck for patching. Childkiller perk ftw!

Sarky

The child-removal in Fallout 2 made some of the quests impossible to complete.

Leave them in. Let them die. Ensure there are consequences, like in Fallout 2.

Or at least make them less bloody irritating.

Sand

Where they are present they should be destructible.

If game designers are worried about players going on killing rampages through their game GTA 4 style (which resolved the kids issue by having no kids present) then build in some consequences to a player going on a killing rampage off kids, women or random punters.

Theres a time honoured tradition of grabbing pitchforks and torches when confronted with a murder. If someone is going around depopulating villages, then the global AI of the game should respond rationally by spawning a mob of concerned citizens that relentlessly pursues the player and overwhelms them. It should be a global 6 star police chase which never "resets". In game rampages would then be minimised by the fear of being detected, hunted and killed.

The indestructible kids thing is just lazy pandering to fears of media backlash. They dont want "Ban this sick filth" headlines, but they dont want to invest much effort into building a rational AI response to some maniac slaughtering locals at will.

dreamers75

Little bastards at LampLight in Fallout got that was coming to them !!!

Via mod of course.

Dot rerally care but like in Fallout they annoy me well they meet an unfortunate end.