Listen, I know the obvious reason,"their kids why would they do that?" and," What do you mean? Haven't you played Final Fantasy or any other JRPG?" Yes I have, but two things about the JRPG take on kids in video games:
-The main character is usually a young man being somewhere between 16-18 years of age
-if their is a child in the game, he'll look like he is about eight years old and is usually a game or a completely unimportant character
-The young people who take the job that usually involves saving the world never really seem they understand the circumstances that are at stake and see the job they've been given as whimsical never ending party over a scenario that could end the world. I repeat: THEY TREAT SAVING THE ENTIRE F)(*& PLANET AS A JOKE
But let me paint a picture for you: You've seen the Mass Effect 3 trailer by now, I'm assuming. If you have you must have seen how royally f%$#@ England and Big Ben were. Everything is blackened by fire, buildings are crushed and broken, people run in fear as monsters run the streets, the attack is so unprovoked and unnoticed that the Earth has no plan to act against an invasion like this so they just do what they can. It cannot, one more time now, cannot be hard to imagine that a child has begun toting a gun in order to protect his friends. I mean, the Reapers are going no prisoners so it's almost every man for himself. Plus, wouldn't it create that moment of," Oh my God...that kid is using a gun...he can't be like 12 years old and he's fighting for his life with a gun...my God, this is...this is just...*tear* God awful. The world is f***** bad!" And another piece of this argument, anyone see the Dead Island trailer? Did you cry? Did you cry when the little girl, possibly the purest from of childlike innocence and good,
was trying to outrun a horde of zombies, but didn't make it? (If someone could dig up that Dead Island trailer for me that would be very appreciated)
Why would a child doing this create such an emotion? Because we imagine children as ignorant to hate and evil, it comes out a little when their 10-15 years old but they haven't experienced real hate, and they have never seen a real battlefield or a real gun outside of a video game. I mean, imagine for me right now, a small child lifting an M-16 in order to protect himself from a monster. Don't try and cheat by making him an anime character or a Japanese video game character, no imagine an actual child that, appearance bordering actual human appearance, picking up and using a gun. Can you do it? Can you see him? You can't can you?
This is why I want to see more kids in video games, like kids between 9-15, in more serious situations. The team of Extra Creditz pointed out how tear jerking a video game would be if it had a mother fighting and guiding her children through a war zone and than dying right as they reached safety, imagine how much more emotional that would be if instead of their mother you were the older brother. Imagine what Dragon Age 3 would be if we had a 12 year old Mage was sent to battle darkspawn on his own without his mentor, practically the only thing he has to a guardian, and is expected by the other soldiers to perform up to par. Imagine how scary it would be if their was a level in COD:Modern Warfare 3 where you played a 14-year old JROTC cadet(HS program) and son of a soldier that is now in Russia, and you had to navigate through a territory occupied by Russian troops unnoticed and doing whatever it takes to reach safety, even if that means killing someone. Imagine how much more serious Left4Dead3 would be if one of the members of the new survivors was a high school kid, barely old enough to drive, and is expected to pack heat and kill people who once lived, people that may have had families and that maybe some of them may have been some of his friends or family.
If you ask me, a child in as serious a scenario as those could possibly not touch the heart but grope it with fear, love, joy, anger, or whatever emotion a situation is supposed to bring out. A mother is one thing, a son of a mother is another matter entirely. What do you guys think? You think video games could benefit from children in more serious roles that involve more of the dread mask of Drama and and less the beautiful mask of Comedy? Offer your opinion and which type of game series/genre/developer/publisher that would give a higher sense of emotion in games and give them a chance to receive a more serious role in the art community.
-The main character is usually a young man being somewhere between 16-18 years of age
-if their is a child in the game, he'll look like he is about eight years old and is usually a game or a completely unimportant character
-The young people who take the job that usually involves saving the world never really seem they understand the circumstances that are at stake and see the job they've been given as whimsical never ending party over a scenario that could end the world. I repeat: THEY TREAT SAVING THE ENTIRE F)(*& PLANET AS A JOKE
But let me paint a picture for you: You've seen the Mass Effect 3 trailer by now, I'm assuming. If you have you must have seen how royally f%$#@ England and Big Ben were. Everything is blackened by fire, buildings are crushed and broken, people run in fear as monsters run the streets, the attack is so unprovoked and unnoticed that the Earth has no plan to act against an invasion like this so they just do what they can. It cannot, one more time now, cannot be hard to imagine that a child has begun toting a gun in order to protect his friends. I mean, the Reapers are going no prisoners so it's almost every man for himself. Plus, wouldn't it create that moment of," Oh my God...that kid is using a gun...he can't be like 12 years old and he's fighting for his life with a gun...my God, this is...this is just...*tear* God awful. The world is f***** bad!" And another piece of this argument, anyone see the Dead Island trailer? Did you cry? Did you cry when the little girl, possibly the purest from of childlike innocence and good,
was trying to outrun a horde of zombies, but didn't make it? (If someone could dig up that Dead Island trailer for me that would be very appreciated)
Why would a child doing this create such an emotion? Because we imagine children as ignorant to hate and evil, it comes out a little when their 10-15 years old but they haven't experienced real hate, and they have never seen a real battlefield or a real gun outside of a video game. I mean, imagine for me right now, a small child lifting an M-16 in order to protect himself from a monster. Don't try and cheat by making him an anime character or a Japanese video game character, no imagine an actual child that, appearance bordering actual human appearance, picking up and using a gun. Can you do it? Can you see him? You can't can you?
This is why I want to see more kids in video games, like kids between 9-15, in more serious situations. The team of Extra Creditz pointed out how tear jerking a video game would be if it had a mother fighting and guiding her children through a war zone and than dying right as they reached safety, imagine how much more emotional that would be if instead of their mother you were the older brother. Imagine what Dragon Age 3 would be if we had a 12 year old Mage was sent to battle darkspawn on his own without his mentor, practically the only thing he has to a guardian, and is expected by the other soldiers to perform up to par. Imagine how scary it would be if their was a level in COD:Modern Warfare 3 where you played a 14-year old JROTC cadet(HS program) and son of a soldier that is now in Russia, and you had to navigate through a territory occupied by Russian troops unnoticed and doing whatever it takes to reach safety, even if that means killing someone. Imagine how much more serious Left4Dead3 would be if one of the members of the new survivors was a high school kid, barely old enough to drive, and is expected to pack heat and kill people who once lived, people that may have had families and that maybe some of them may have been some of his friends or family.
If you ask me, a child in as serious a scenario as those could possibly not touch the heart but grope it with fear, love, joy, anger, or whatever emotion a situation is supposed to bring out. A mother is one thing, a son of a mother is another matter entirely. What do you guys think? You think video games could benefit from children in more serious roles that involve more of the dread mask of Drama and and less the beautiful mask of Comedy? Offer your opinion and which type of game series/genre/developer/publisher that would give a higher sense of emotion in games and give them a chance to receive a more serious role in the art community.
