Poll: So I just felt some compassion for a random NPC...

[Pegghead]

In Bioshock I had this thing where I would always, ALWAYS escort little sisters all the way up to their vent (and even stood behind them in a non-sexual way as though I were helping them up into the vents) even though it was physically impossible for anything to happen to them after I had saved them and none of my interaction helped in any way so I guess there's that.

And I had to stop playing Dead Rising due to the fact that it's almost impossible to save all the innocent people who were just going out for a day at the mall when all the monsters came.

And in all RPGs I play the good guy. I'm not even talking "asshole but gives so much to in-game charity that everyone gives him presents" good guy, I'm talking good to the mmax, reload saves if an innocent dies, never exploit anyone good.

 

[vazzaroth]

You know, it's all about power.

In Halo, your a super soldier, and the men around you are regular guys. You feel you must take on the burden of keeping them alive, for you have the power to do so.

But in Half-life 1, after the alien sheit hits the trans-dimensional fan at Black Mesa, I felt very little empathy for the scientists. They were all flipping their shit at the stuff they'd seen, but if I was going to get out of this alive, goddamnit, I had to toughen up. Was it a tragedy that hundreds of scientists died? Yes. But now was NOT the time to dwell on it. I had to get my crowbar, and I had to beat some headsuckers off while I fled. They all had their chance to do the same.

Anyway, I hope more devs pick up on this kind of human emotion they can evoke in games with the right script. Then we'll sure have alot more ammo for the games are art arguments.

You Oughta watch "Freeman's mind" it's an extremely funny machinama that basically amounts to "what if Gordon Freeman behaved the exact way you just described with added sociopathy for comedic effect."

Haha, I have watched a decent amount of it. I liked it quite a bit. I love taking game characters and fleshing them out way more than they were intended to be. Since that's what I do whenever I play a game myself.

 

[Eternal Skies]

Have I had such an encounter? Well, I haven't met Uncle Leo and it's likely I never will with 80+ hours to my knowledge in Fallout 3, I did however meet a squad of Talon Company mercs once near the boat you get on to start Point Lookout... after killing all but one of them, I saw the last guy, without a weapon (I broke his gun via VATS) start running away from me so I went into my inventory and dropped a Combat Knife I picked up earlier.

The guy runs back to me and picks it up, so I go back into my Inventory and equip a Combat Knife of my own, I couldn't really help but wonder how that same merc must have felt, facing the Herald of Tranquility (Level 28, Very good Karma) in battle, staring at same man in Chinese stealth armor that ended the lives of countless colleagues without them even knowing.

He lasted nearly half a minute. As a reward, I placed his body near his colleagues. (I had 100 points in the Melee weapons skill so it wasn't that fair.)

 

[Cheesus333]

Normally, I would be able to kill them at faster than you could blink, but I was low on health and ammo. I was screwed.

Or so I thought.

Behind the raiders came a lone super mutant. He crushed each one of the raiders and I was saved! He didn't hurt me or anything.

Oh wow, you were saved by Uncle Leo!? When I fought the Raiders I did that shit alone. And it took me a fair few tries too, completely put me off the Metro -.-

That's a pretty nice story, with a pretty sad ending. The closest I've got was flying into a Beserker Rage with a big fuck-off hammer when a Cazador killed Veronica on Hardcore mode of New Vegas. Also, Rex the faithful Cyberhound made the ultimate sacrifice during my frantic escape from Hidden Valley, having just initiated the reactor self-destruct. God bless you, Rex.

Also, TVTropes dubs this phenomenon the Videogame Caring Potential [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VideoGameCaringPotential], wherein a game inspires you to do merciful or compassionate things rather than wantonly destroy everything you see.

Yes, that's a TVTropes link. Hope you weren't planning on being productive today >

 

[Berserker119]

I was playing Oblivion one time, and I went into a gate with another person. We were almost out, and they died, and I was devastated. I stopped playing the game and just sat there with my head down for a couple minutes.

actually, this recently happened to me. in clearing the first gate, since i had dicked around alot, the baddies were pretty tough. the npcs had no chance against them. so i quicksaved before entering, and told the guy to go back. after that, i quicksaved many times through clearing kavach, and whenever someone died, i turned the difficulty down some, and tried it again untill everyone lived through the whole experience.

i tend to always do that, i never ever let my allies die when i can, oftentimes charging in headfirst when i know i would get raped just so the other guys can get a chance.

Usually I don't care about that, but I did everything else possible before the story, so I was about level 30 and I had to try to run through. The person I brought in was the Adoring Fan, who had survived everything up to that point, but just couldn't handle that last bit.

 

[MysteriousStranger10]

I have had similar experiences like that. The most memorable one, however, was similar to Uncle Leo in Fallout 3.

Her (or his) name was Aunt Lilly (I think). She lived a quiet life in Jacobstown in New Vegas (I think). She tended to her Brahmin stock and mistook me for her grandson. I met a nice human doctor trying to help these Nightkin with their mental afflictions. I decided to help out and enlisted Lilly's help in retrieving a broken Stealthboy. Once the scientist/doctor had it, he asked me to see if Auntie would help. She did. Nothing bad happened. Then, the kicker came when she left and he talked to me further. He wanted her to wear the Stealthboy all the time and he'd monitor her readings. I felt uneasy as soon as he said "all the time". Up to this point, she'd been managing her instability with medication and was quite pleasant to be around. So, my first concern was for her mental state. He told me flatly that she'd have permanent brain damage, but that the readings might someday provide a stopgap, even a cure. Thing is, the damage done would be irreversible. She'd never be cured. I felt horrible deciding for her, so I went and asked what she thought. She seemed so happy to help and volunteered immediately. Despite the fact that I told her that she'd be permanently crazy, she didn't care. She'd lived a nice long life, and if sacrificing her sanity meant one day helping further the development of a countermeasure or cure, she was all for it. I just stood there with the textbox open, debating whether I should just flatly tell her that I won't allow it, or let her. Eventually, I felt bad arbitrarily deciding, even though she wasn't all there to begin with. I let her and ran as fast as I could from Jacobstown without once looking back. I had just let a nice mutant who probably didn't have the mental capacity to decide choose to go crazy for the sake of others. I kept thinking of how I could become a mutant and take her place. It felt like the nice grandmotherly side I'd seen had been murdered, and that blood was on my hands. I then lost myself in the whirl of combat and carnage.

 

[Chamale]

I've had the same sort of feelings for characters in Fallout games. In New Vegas, after a few citizens of Goodsprings were killed by Powder Gangers, I spent a long time dragging their corpses to a graveyard so I could bury them properly.

 

[Khinjarsi]

M'Raj-Dar in the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion. I always feel bad doing one particular quest after he recently decides he should be nicer to the character. Also Dragon Age Origins companions - no matter how much I hate them and that I never use them or speak to them by choice, I do what I can to make them stay with the party.

 

[Danny 6Speed]

I have tried to save all the marines in halo(all of the really) Because to them I was there Hero
and felt a need to protect them and keep there spirits up or just because they were in my command so they trusted their lives to me.

Did you see the ads for Halo 3 where old men talk about how Master Chief brought them hope, and only lived thanks to him? After watching that ad, I looked at the marines differently...

Mostly it was reading the books.