Your response to violence in Games

[Hell Kitty]

No, this isn't a thread about the media and non-gamers whinging about games turning innocent little cherubs into the tools of Satan, what I'm wondering is if all the killing you have perpetrated during you gaming life has ever felt totally wrong.

 

I always go to great lengths to avoid civilian and allied casualities, like the Silent Storm mission I restarted when I completed it because I found I had gunned down a couple of innocent peeps.

 

The most notable example is in the game Second Sight. In the beginning I killed some random guard while I was trying to escape from the facility I woke up in. If I remember correctly, killing him was the only was to get past. He wasn't at all unique compared to the bazillion Video Game Badguys I've killed, until I logged onto the computer he was using to have a chat with his girlfriend/wife/significant other. She kept typing about how she was worried that he wasn't answering and stuff. Man, I felt like a great big jerk.

[Musopticon?]

^Exactly the same thing happened to me in Deus Ex.

 

It was that mission which had you steal, if I recall right, a vat of ambrosia from a chinese ship, which was docked on wharfes. Just like with any mission in DE, there wasn't really a point in killing people; the only guys you could call "evil" were the Majestic 12-thugs and I avoided killing even them. Basically, the only thing I disabled was bots and those commandos; they had lost their humanity already, willingly. Killing felt justified to me.

 

How does this all matter when the ship level was strictly a non-MJ12 mission then? Well, from time to time I screwed up, trying to play the perfect ghost, kill no one and only KO people when necessary. Sneaking, invisibility, using vents for travel, etc. It didn't always work out right in the end. I ended up killing some of the crew in that mission, purely out of being too hasty. I should have taken my time and sneaked better, but I wanted to advance. Later, when I searched through the ship logs and registers for codes and the odd email, I came up to this message which was send to a ship officer. Nothing odd in that, just that it came from his relative and it talked about how his son was doing in school, how they wanted dad to come back soon, etc.

 

You could say I felt quite bad afterwards. And there were no loads from before my run in with the crew in the lower levels of the ship. *sigh*

 

Who said I can't post long ones?

Edited December 12, 2005 by Musopticon?

[Slowtrain]

I have no moral objection to slaughtering polygons, Hell Kitty! Sometimes I even enjoy it tremdenously.

 

However, usually I take the approach of the player character I am roleplaying and since that is usually a "good" pc, I avoid killing polygons that don't deserve it. Sometimes I run amok though and things get ugly! Hormones or something, I guess.

 

 

However, I must say I don't think I've ever felt bad about killing a polygon. Sometimes I feel cheap if I've done something that my player character wouldn't do, and in those cases I often reload.

[Reveilled]

I've felt bad about it. Whenever I try to roleplay evil people, I always find myself unable to do overtly evil things like mugging or killing people. Taking over a planet and having millions of its inhabitants killed is easy, I just can't do it when I'm on a personal level with my killee.

Edited December 12, 2005 by Reveilled

[Janmanden]

Only really ever been an issue to me in:

1. FO/2: any party member being gunned down by any party member. Nooo...totally not happening *reloads*
   
2. FO2: Getting a bit too smart with Lil Jesus. I took great effort not to hit any civilians, unlike the Mordinos, which then escalated into a full scale war, but still trying to protect the civilians by focusing on the Mordino thugs that kept hitting on them.
   
3. FO:T:. I always take great effort to avoid friendly neutral casualties even at the expensive of my own health by trying to attract crossfire away from them. When they charge or run and are chased it gets really tricky. Especially in the (nosafe) Tough Guy mode, which means a complete restart.
   
4. VTM Bloodlines: When running thru the Sabbath hideout my initial sentiment is to let the Sabbath blood-fodder, with their eye-balls plucked out, live, when it actually seems like killing would really be the most merciful cause of action.
   
5. VTM Bloodlines: Killing the little slayer girl is something I generally find dishonorable, but it can be really hard to avoid with the berserker style combat system (kicks and hits everything in vicinity).
   
6. BG2: Dealing with peaceful Orcs/Ogres in the 'Ranger' area (forgot name) as a LG Paladin just seems wrong to kill them (and of course there's an alternate solution, but still, I'm often at odds with the stereotype of a lawful good alignment)
   
7. PS: Torment: When Annah go nuts and you are forced to kill her. *big urge to reload*.
   
8. BG2: Killing the friendly thief that first offers the help of the thieves guild after you side with Bodhi just feels so wrong from any alignment perspective.
   
9. BG2: Failing to uncharm the charmed guy in Nalias home castle *reloads*
   
10. K1/2: Extracting debts from poor debtors with their blood *reload*
    
11. K1: Killing Jedi & Malak on the SF has caused me to reload a couple times as LS in the beginning searching for the peaceful liberation alternative.
    
12. KOTOR: Doing consistently humanly Evil or DS is hard, but I liked it still in K1, where as in K2 it did feel a bit too nasty sometimes.
    
13. K1: Dealing with Juhani on Dantoine has caused me to reload a couple of times, even though I did kill her in my first game. Too much waste.
    
14. K1: Dealing with the family feud on Dantoine or Kashyyk DS brrr...
    

[alanschu]

I may not like it when it happens, but I usually stick with the consequences of my actions. It makes for a more interesting experience afterwards, from a roleplaying perspective.

 

I used to have a real hard time being evil in most games, but I seem to find it a bit easier now. Perhaps I have become more sadistic??

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

I used to have a real hard time being evil in most games, but I seem to find it a bit easier now.  Perhaps I have become more sadistic??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

More likely been desensitised at least to computer violence.

 

I was playing Fire Emblem and it came down to a choice of saving on of my men and letting a spider eat an innocent. I chose to save my man. I didnt feel good about letting the spider chomp on the kid, but since we were not deep into the campaign the unit was important. If the choice had actually been left to Erika (shes the leader of the army at the time) I'm pretty sure she would have saved the innocent.

[Kaftan Barlast]

As with most people, my inability to perform acts of violence against innocents is directly paralell to the level of immersion Im feeling in game. The more real I feel that the people on my screen are, the greater is the length to which I will go to keep them out of harms way.

 

 

If on the other hand, the game fails to immerse me, I might start to kill off 'civilians' just to see if I can get them to die in a funny way.

[Child of Flame]

Hm, I don't usually have a problem killing all innocents in games, except for killing Julius in Bloodlines.

 

Yes I know you can save him by letting him run away, but I was roleplaying a Gangrel that was one evil dude, in fact, he died by frenzying in public (broke the Masquerade one too many times), and it wouldn't have been appropriate to let him live.

 

My last words to him were something like "You never deserved to be Kindred." while he was pleading with me to "FUH-FUH-FUH-FIND YOUR HEART!" then I bashed his head in (the Gangrel was a brawler) I felt awful.

[Judge Hades]

Called shot to the eye with a plasma rifle on a kid. GAWDS, Fallout is fun. Mission Vao's death was very fulfilling. Go Zaalbar go!

Edited December 12, 2005 by Hades_One

[Janmanden]

Hm, I don't usually have a problem killing all innocents in games, except for killing Julius in Bloodlines. 

I know. Makes you wish more enemies would be like that, actually. SO close and SO cruel that you could actually taste it. It was torture and GOOD.

[ramza]

Well, I can't sleep at night if, in some games, I have killed some innocent characters (by mistake) or failed to protect them. Call me crazy, but that's the way I am. Here are a few examples:

 

-in BG1, I try to save the guys that are attacked some kobolds (both inside and outside of Nashkel mines)

-in BG2, I try to save Coran from the werewolves at all costs

-in NWN, I try to save as many trainees in the academy, when you get attacked by the mysterious mages after talking with Aribeth for the 1st time

-in all the Syphon Filter games, I try to protect my allies at all costs

-in IWD2, I try to protect all the "survivors" when the pallisade is under siege

 

that's all I can remember...

[Magnum Opus]

In general, ther are a few rules that seem to apply to me when I'm playing games:

 

1. party-member death is generally unacceptable.

 

Exceptions to this rule include the following: a) party member is annoying (Anomen in BG2 -- clubbed him to death several tmes myself -- and Dogmeat in FO. Mongrel creature kept blocking me in, and finally enough was enough), and b) Resurrection is relatively convenient (a temple is within a gameplay hour away, or I'm not loaded down with items that I can't carry without that person, that will disappear when I interrupt my adventuring to go get them raised).

 

2. NPC death is also generally unacceptable, provided said NPC isn't Mr. Generica ... if it's just a random beggar that gets fried I'm likely to just press on, whether I was the one that fried him or not. If it's someone intersting -- a shopkeeper, or even someone with relatively non-standard dialogue -- I'm going to reload. I'll go to ridiculous lengths to protect innocent bystanders if I'm given the opportunity of doing so.

 

3. Hostile NPC death is fine, almost no matter what. Hostile beggar? Die. Hostile children? Die die die. Hostile puppies and kittens? Toss 'em into a blender and hit "pur

Edited December 12, 2005 by Magnum Opus

[~Di]

Eh, I've been known to reload after having accidentally killing a hapless squirrel that darted in front of my bow at an inopportune moment. I just play "good" folks; can't help it. Every time I've tried to role-play "evil", I've eventually deleted the entire game and run screaming into a hot shower.

 

I know. I'm a wuss. *sigh*

[kirottu]

If on the other hand, the game fails to immerse me, I might start to kill off 'civilians' just to see if I can get them to die in a funny way.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I played manical evil character in NWN that killed everyone he possibly could in Neverwinter... When second chapter started I was greeted as hero of Neverwinter... I stopped there, because it wasn

[Volourn]

I play my character. If he is good he doesn't go around killing people, and if an innocent dies I deal with it, and make it a part of the character experience. If he's evil, the character kills wheoever whenever if it will benefit him.

[Calax]

the only time I actually killed npcs was in Fable. I wanted to see what I looked like in full evil mode so I started to sack a town. I got full evil and was finially booted out of the town and couldn't go back for a week because of the price on my head.

[Magnum Opus]

Eh, I've been known to reload after having accidentally killing a hapless squirrel that darted in front of my bow at an inopportune moment.  I just play "good" folks; can't help it.  Every time I've tried to role-play "evil", I've eventually deleted the entire game and run screaming into a hot shower.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

*nods* I'm the same way... only without the screaming. Typically, how my character acts is as close to how I'd act as I can get it (when I'm not deliberately powergaming).

 

I was never able to get the hang of creating a character and then playing that character to the hilt no matter what he/she was doing or was supposed to be like. Little bits of "me" keeping slipping through the cracks. *shrugs*

[Volourn]

"couldn't go back for a week"

 

Equivelant of a time out? LOL

[ramza]

Only really ever been an issue to me in:

1. BG2: Dealing with peaceful Orcs/Ogres in the 'Ranger' area (forgot name) as a LG Paladin just seems wrong to kill them (and of course there's an alternate solution, but still, I'm often at odds with the stereotype of a lawful good alignment)
    
   
2. BG2: Failing to uncharm the charmed guy in Nalias home castle *reloads*
   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I also forgot to mention those 2. There was a bug though with the charmed guy and I never managed to figure out how to fix it. Since I couldn't bring myself to kill him, I just dominated him, pickpocketed him and left the room after closing the door (so that he wouldn't bother me again). I just pretended that he came back to his senses after beating the boss...

 

I really can't explain why I refuse to harm polygons for which I have some sympathy... However, I can be very cruel with my foes... some of you guys mentioned the game Second Sight (first time I am hearing that title) and the event with the guard's wife writing to him... well, I wouldn't feel sorry for him... he just messed with the wrong guy... I find it unacceptable for someone to oppose me (and that is also valid in real life :cool: )!

 

I also reload whenever a party member dies... I just find it unacceptable (and particularly irritating in BG2, when you lose all the extra spell slots that you got thanks to magical items).

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Well I've lost count of the number of people I've shot in the face playing COD:The Big Red One.

 

Can't really say I've felt much sympathy for any of them except for one guy I suprised and emptied an entire clip into him. He was twitching like a puppet.

Edited December 12, 2005 by ShadowPaladin V1.0

[Laozi]

I've killed thousand in real life when experimenting with my heat vision, so I only play as good guy in video games as to escape my grim reality

[Darque]

I'd only reload if the npc was someone I felt bad about killing.

 

Usually I mark it down as acceptable losses of people who should have been somewhere else. :cool:

[Surreptishus]

I like to kill everything unless they have and ability or item specific to them. Even when playing "good" i'll save and then see if i can kill some people for fun.

[Deraldin]

Eh, I've been known to reload after having accidentally killing a hapless squirrel that darted in front of my bow at an inopportune moment.  I just play "good" folks; can't help it.  Every time I've tried to role-play "evil", I've eventually deleted the entire game and run screaming into a hot shower.

 

I know.  I'm a wuss.  *sigh*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This coming from the "Square root of all evil!"? "

 

Generally I find myself in the same situations that Reveilled mentioned. It's no problem to slaughter millions of people from and orbiting Star Destroyer, or just hacking through anything that moves, but generally if there is some dialogue with a character, then I feel awkward about killing them. It's not so much that I feel bad about actually killing them, it's just that I don't really know how my party will react to my murderous ways and I hate upsetting them, because I have to continue to travel with them.

 

It's kind of like the internet really. Because it's anonymous you tend to do things online that you would never do around the people you hang around with everyday in real life. It's the same with video games for me. If there are party members watching then I have a hard time doing anything really evil, because I know they are watching and will generally say something about it.

 

If I'm all alone though then all bets are off and I don't feel bad about anything. "

 

And about those death animations in Fallout. The first time I saw them, I laughed and said "COOL!" I used a sniper rifle to blow a gaping hole in someone's right side. :">