/sigh. as to "sophistication": It's "revealed" not "revelled", "Nosferatu", not "Nosfuroto". Being a troll does not mean you understand or are capable of employing either sophistication or irony with the impact or intelligence you hope your trolling conveys. You may as well have started this thread with "Nun rapist protagonists".Gorrila_thinktank said:
Pedophiliac Protagonist.
- Thread starter Gorrila_thinktank
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Judging purely from some of the theories of game design, a character such as that is likely to fail at being a relatable protagonist.
A lot of games create the 'mute' protagonist as a way of letting the player imprint their own personality on the character and others are wary to even attempt a serious portrayal of anything other than a hetero-normative male (with many noted failures at even that). A character such as the original poster suggested crosses a line in the sand that we still don't really even understand and probably a majority of people absolutely would refuse to try. There's a very real chance that some players would come to empathize and relate to the protagonist and upon discovering the big secret feel personally accused of something on which they have strong opinions and objections.
To be honest, just trying to find some answers on the cause of paedophiliac attraction, or its cousin disorders hebephilia and ephebophilia, appears to be a dead end with the current state of psychiatry. While there is a slight window of empathy towards a person afflicted with the disorder who has an unwavering conviction against acting upon such desires, the character will be demonized by the media if only to chase the entertainment dollar. If such a cause is discovered and can be offered alongside showing the protagonist to be a useful member of the game's society, I'd say it may have a narrow chance but is never going to be known as a mainstream hit.
(For the tl;dr crowd, you may start reading from here and decide if you want to go back)
There is, potentially, hope for this idea, but it's going to probably be decades and require a much greater degree of understanding (not to mention getting society comfortable with a lot more diversity in other types of characters and their real-life counterparts) before I'd evaluate this as anything other than game design suicide.
Now, given the hard analytical is said and done, there's a much simpler question to pose:
How does the character having this disorder in any way add to a fun gameplay experience?
A variation of this question applied to every element of a game is often an effective litmus test of game design.
Exploring personalities or experiences outside one's own can be fun but there's a lot of ethical responsibilities pertaining to portrayal that will need to be addressed. Unless exploration of the protagonist's world view or view of their self is key to the gameplay experience, it's technically irrelevant.
A lot of games create the 'mute' protagonist as a way of letting the player imprint their own personality on the character and others are wary to even attempt a serious portrayal of anything other than a hetero-normative male (with many noted failures at even that). A character such as the original poster suggested crosses a line in the sand that we still don't really even understand and probably a majority of people absolutely would refuse to try. There's a very real chance that some players would come to empathize and relate to the protagonist and upon discovering the big secret feel personally accused of something on which they have strong opinions and objections.
To be honest, just trying to find some answers on the cause of paedophiliac attraction, or its cousin disorders hebephilia and ephebophilia, appears to be a dead end with the current state of psychiatry. While there is a slight window of empathy towards a person afflicted with the disorder who has an unwavering conviction against acting upon such desires, the character will be demonized by the media if only to chase the entertainment dollar. If such a cause is discovered and can be offered alongside showing the protagonist to be a useful member of the game's society, I'd say it may have a narrow chance but is never going to be known as a mainstream hit.
(For the tl;dr crowd, you may start reading from here and decide if you want to go back)
There is, potentially, hope for this idea, but it's going to probably be decades and require a much greater degree of understanding (not to mention getting society comfortable with a lot more diversity in other types of characters and their real-life counterparts) before I'd evaluate this as anything other than game design suicide.
Now, given the hard analytical is said and done, there's a much simpler question to pose:
How does the character having this disorder in any way add to a fun gameplay experience?
A variation of this question applied to every element of a game is often an effective litmus test of game design.
Exploring personalities or experiences outside one's own can be fun but there's a lot of ethical responsibilities pertaining to portrayal that will need to be addressed. Unless exploration of the protagonist's world view or view of their self is key to the gameplay experience, it's technically irrelevant.
I'm going to throw in a solid "no" to this.
For starters, as has been mentioned - pedophiles are reviled by society for a very good reason and I, for one and I seem to be among many, do NOT want to be brought into any sympathy with them what-so-ever through a video game or any other means.
There are plenty of people I'd want to understand better, but pedophiles aren't among them. That's pretty much the opening and closing of the argument from my end. I also don't want to get into character of serial rapists, cannibal killers, torturers, and so forth. Why? Because they're terrible excuses for human beings and I'd so much rather see video games be an outlet for understanding the better parts of humanity, not the worst we have to offer as a species.
I don't recall who said it, but there's the saying "If you stare into the void long enough, the void also stares into you" - not sure we really want to be doing a great deal of interactive void staring - the world is having enough troubles at present without germinating more in our collective psyche.
For starters, as has been mentioned - pedophiles are reviled by society for a very good reason and I, for one and I seem to be among many, do NOT want to be brought into any sympathy with them what-so-ever through a video game or any other means.
There are plenty of people I'd want to understand better, but pedophiles aren't among them. That's pretty much the opening and closing of the argument from my end. I also don't want to get into character of serial rapists, cannibal killers, torturers, and so forth. Why? Because they're terrible excuses for human beings and I'd so much rather see video games be an outlet for understanding the better parts of humanity, not the worst we have to offer as a species.
I don't recall who said it, but there's the saying "If you stare into the void long enough, the void also stares into you" - not sure we really want to be doing a great deal of interactive void staring - the world is having enough troubles at present without germinating more in our collective psyche.
ow.. I think that thats the first time i've been called a troll before. I'm not trying to troll but I am trying to play it off lightly. Thank you for correcting me, im sorry, I guess its back to spell check for me.Zuljeet said:
*sighs* Drakengard already did this for one of their main characters, Leonard. Granted, it was toned down a FUCK-TONNE to the point it wasn't noticeable but it was confirmed by word of god that he is, indeed, a pedophile and a bit of his dialogue and actions definitely hint at it.
Want to know the absolute worst part? Out of ALL the party members, he's arguably the most Moral. Think about that...the blind pedophile is the most moral member of the entire party (but considering the two other primary party members are a bloodthirsty psychopath who has no hesitation in murdering children and the other is a child eating cannibal..).
OT: Even though Drakengard did it, i sure as hell would not want to have a Protagonist/party member with that trait. Yeah, it's fiction and all that but having such a person as the 'hero' is just downright bad and won't receive a lick of sympathy even if they're the most moral party member. To do that for a LEAD protagonist is just inviting your game to be torn to pieces no matter how good it is, and i know i sure as hell wouldn't play it.
Want to know the absolute worst part? Out of ALL the party members, he's arguably the most Moral. Think about that...the blind pedophile is the most moral member of the entire party (but considering the two other primary party members are a bloodthirsty psychopath who has no hesitation in murdering children and the other is a child eating cannibal..).
OT: Even though Drakengard did it, i sure as hell would not want to have a Protagonist/party member with that trait. Yeah, it's fiction and all that but having such a person as the 'hero' is just downright bad and won't receive a lick of sympathy even if they're the most moral party member. To do that for a LEAD protagonist is just inviting your game to be torn to pieces no matter how good it is, and i know i sure as hell wouldn't play it.
*before going into the thread*
Must be a bait thread
*after reading OP*
Yep, comparing idea of adding homosexual protagonist to pedophile one. Bait post...
Must be a bait thread
*after reading OP*
Yep, comparing idea of adding homosexual protagonist to pedophile one. Bait post...
If it made for a good story, *I* would. And I'm not even an acclaimed writer who could make it work.Witty Name Here said:
All the naysayers, "it can't be done"... it's been done, kinda, in Final Fantasy VI.
Flirtatious prince Edgar is implied to sometimes go for rather young ladies; in fact, he has to make a conscious effort to keep his cool when introduced to ten year old cutie Relm.
Flirtatious prince Edgar is implied to sometimes go for rather young ladies; in fact, he has to make a conscious effort to keep his cool when introduced to ten year old cutie Relm.
No. Why? There's no reason to humanize child molesters any more than there's reason to humanize serial rapists.
This isn't a question about raw and emotionally charged content... Manhunt was MUCH more raw and charged then this is (murder is worse than pedophilia). I hate both concepts.
This isn't a question about raw and emotionally charged content... Manhunt was MUCH more raw and charged then this is (murder is worse than pedophilia). I hate both concepts.
How much self-loathing can you handle in a game? You'd probably need much much more to make a non-acting pedophile palatable in any medium, let alone a videogame. Any game play fun there might have been would be buried under the mountain of "I am a huge piece of shit, and I don't know why I let myself continue living" that would have to be spewing constantly from this character's mouth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LolitaWitty Name Here said:
Never underestimate the envelope-shoving of books.
But considering the public relations tightrope that games are balanced on, this is the last thing we need.
Marketing wise its not a good idea. Thats kinda like the protagonist of those rape lay games.
Now should we? ... eh? itd be a new take on a character, thats for sure, and an interesting one.
I dunno. i dont think you can do it without offending someone (either pedophiles or everyone else against pedophiles) but if you did I'd be interested in seeing how.
DISCLAIMER: I am not NOT advocating or endorsing pedophilia.
Now should we? ... eh? itd be a new take on a character, thats for sure, and an interesting one.
I dunno. i dont think you can do it without offending someone (either pedophiles or everyone else against pedophiles) but if you did I'd be interested in seeing how.
DISCLAIMER: I am not NOT advocating or endorsing pedophilia.
Edgar was not a pedophile - he got flustered around pretty much everyone at various points (I assume you are referring to the brief low bit animation where he combs his hair back with his hand to regain composure) and Relm was a somewhat boisterous youngster who wanted to act adult - she flustered her grandfather a dozen times at least, and pretty much everyone actually - including a boss octopus.Rodrigo Girao said:
There is a world of difference between someone humoring a kid (or getting thrown off by one) with saying she's pretty and might make a good princess one day and someone lusting after children.
the reason straight characters, gay characters, lesbian characters, even transexual characters of any races can be protagonists is because even if only a minority of people find them likeable the game can be reasonably successful. a pedophile protagonist will never be in a AAA game because (sorry to put this bluntly to all the pedos out there) being a pedophile is a purely unlikable (and even hated) quality for 99.99999% of the population. im open minded but pedophilia is a horrible thing, if a game hit the market with that i would straight up boycott the game, probably even protest it (i dont boycott or protest freaking anything), particularly if the game is marketed as a game with a pedophile character.
this leads to a bigger problem: (good) characters should not be defined by their sexuality or their race it should be a side fact, where if possible not even brought up or it should be your choice. there are obvious exceptions to this, but i think the best kind of protagonist is the kind you can imagine has your own ideals.
this leads to a bigger problem: (good) characters should not be defined by their sexuality or their race it should be a side fact, where if possible not even brought up or it should be your choice. there are obvious exceptions to this, but i think the best kind of protagonist is the kind you can imagine has your own ideals.
Pedophiles and serial killers are the result of a flawed society that has yet to advance to the point where it can prevent the development of such individuals. "Natural" is a genetic marker that determines what characteristics we are born with. There is no pedophile gene.theemporer said:
Video games are a medium meant to entertain. There is no way it can "deal with" subject matter like pedophilia in any way but as a form of entertainment and THERE IS NOTHING ENTERTAINING ABOUT PEDOPHILIA.
End of discussion. No. Stop. It's over.
It might be the whiskey talking, but to me it sounds like you're honestly suggesting that playing a game whose protagonist is a paedophile will in fact turn the player into a paedophile.Mylinkay Asdara said:
...
Call me when you find anything in which the protagonist is a pedophile. Book, movie, whatever. Some things the public just won't like, regardless of medium.the spud said:
The gameplay doesnt actually have to have anything to do with pedophelic (is that a word?) acts. The stigma surrounding pedophiles is quite obvious (as can be seen in this thread), and this would be a very sound way of creating a protagonist that is quite hated by most of the other characters in the game, and then this can play out in the story etc. Think of it as creating a protagonist that is hated/despised and how that affects the world around him and the way people react to him.lovest harding said:
Thats not the problem with the topic, imo its the topics strong-point. You even said it yourself, the protagonist could literally be the most heroic person ever and save everyone yet they would still have a negative stigma towards him - How would this play out? How would people react to the protagonist? How would the protagonist react knowing that no matter what he does everyone will despise him? How would others or even the player react to this person having mixed emotions about him? etc.Devil said:
Everyone seems to think that if the main protagonist is a pedophile that he has to run around actually being a pedophile in-game and they're against that, yet it can just be someone who did something in the past and is an easy way of making everyone hate him (again as evident by this thread) and then play with the dynamics of that.
I also do find it amusing that people are so incredibly against this but wouldnt even bat an eyelid at playing a protagonist who's a mass murderer, an assassin, a psycho who enjoys killing people, a terrorist, etc, and then actually goes around doing those acts THEMSELVES in-game - yet they are so opposed to this idea.
I think theres a really good idea here and could create for a very interesting story, if done correctly.
No, I'm not saying that.Loop Stricken said:
I'm saying I don't see anything good coming out of playing as a pedophile though.