Should you be allowed to hurt/kill kids in video games?

[esserius]

There are already indie games where you can put kids in meat grinders. There's also a reason as to why they're indie games. Senseless violence is all well and good, but you cannot expect a self-respecting conglomerate like EA or Activision to touch Nazis or children or other politically "bad" things with a ten foot pole. It's bad for their business image. Now, if people at large suddenly decide they want to play as Nazis or kill children, the corporations will gladly oblige. But not before that moment occurs.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

If kids are in the game and the game allows you to kill people, hell yes.

 

[Instant K4rma]

Th killing of unarmed, innocent children by means of punching your fist clean through their body (compliments of Alex Mercer) would most likely get your game banned in a few countries, thus lowering sales.

 

[twistedshadows]

As opposed to killing a middle-aged person or the elderly? I don't see why not.

I don't see a problem if people can choose whether or not they are actually going to kill them (like in Bioshock).
I'm not sure how I'd feel about a game that forced me to kill defenseless/innocent children in order to further the storyline, though.

 

[pakker]

Meh I personally dont want a child killer option in games... It would be a step down for the community, and specially as an accepted art/entertainment form... To me, it would be intelectual degrading to go down that line... It's opening Pandoras Box...

 

[philzibit]

I don't see killing kids adding to gameplay, so no.

Then you've obviously never played a game where you can kill anyone BUT the little brats with their invincibility forcefields.

No, I played Fable 2. If I would have been able to kill the kids, it wouldn't have stood out as a highlight of the game, so it's not like I feel like I'm missing out.

 

[TerraD]

I don't think so. It serves absolutely no purpose than to be utterly sadistic and sick for your own amusement.

I still remember the day that games stopped being for your own amusement

 

[HentMas]

yes, its a matter of choice and if they take away the coice to be a bastard with kids, it´s just stupid

althought very therapeutic none the less, i went to little lamplight the other day and started to beat the crp out of "princess" (i hate her), and her not dying made for a very therapeutic release hehe

 

[jodko]

Yes other wise in games like fable fallout etc you are given a morality system and it just seems odd that you can destroy megaton or some other really evil thing but just stop short of killing the kiddies.
If your going to give people the option to be evil go all the way with it.

 

[Mr Companion]

Well I would usually support the devs freedom to do such things, but I really cant see how killing children would make a game better, so nope.

 

[Federalist92]

Yes it really takes away from the realism when; i punch and adult in the face and the graphics are so good it looks like real life, with the blood and everything, but then i go to do the same to a kid andd they just laugh and skip off.

 

[Khaos Theory]

Yes

After having been on the recieving end of Princess of Little Lamplight more then a few times, i confess towards wishing an untimely demise on that devil child certainly more then once. Yet, it is in my opinion that giving gamers the option of re-enacting infanticide is till an unrealistic notion at best.

When taking into account how immersive and realistic videogames have become,i think that its a common misconception that "what you do in a videogame is what you do in real life". No doubt such a school of thought spawned the distorted image of the eponymous "murder simulators" (thank you Mr Thompson) and speaking as a gamer, i still respectfully believe that those twats should go stuff themselves.

However regardless of my convictions, although videogames are ideally supposed to give you the freedom of choice, it should be remembered that there are still moral limits that society as a whole, certainly does not like to cross. An example of which would be deviant sexual behaviour and most certainly the murder of children, regardless of their innocence.

Therefore until it becomes socially acceptable to actually kill children, by which then we would probably be royally screwed, it would probably be a cold day in hell when game developers would be willing to risk public igdination just to make their game a bit more realistic/edgy.

 

[MarsProbe]

Yes.

I recall playing games where it was actually possible to inflict harm on kids in games (the last two Deus Ex games as an example). As Khaos Theory said above, when I was faced with such insolent little brats as Princess and Mayor Macready in Fallout 3, the desire to finish them off was very strong.

Some people would argue differently I'm sure, but I don't think there is really a distinction between killing an adult or a child in a game, besides the age difference. In the real world, people would be just as upset over a death of an adult as they would a child (though the media hysteria would make you think otherwise)...I wonder what difference these same people would see in the ingame slaughter of a child and an adult.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

If there's any killing at all, why discriminate? If you don't want to kill kids, don't put them in the fucking game in the first place.

Exactly. Morrowind had it right when you could kill EVERYONE, quest related or not.[/quote
That actually bugged me since I didn't know who had what quests so I screwed myself over. I was fond of the fact that Oblivion had characters that couldn't die until after you finished their quest arc. Just meant I got to wait which wasn't a big deal. I was busy going on sprees against guards anyway. Besides, the characters that can't die can be tortured to no end... >_> Let's not mention all that I have done to Count Hassildor.

As for the child argument, I find that the children of Lamplight are all the reason I ever need to kill kids. I don't care what age the NPC is, putting somebody to deride me that I can't avenge myself upon is a dick move. Don't want kids to die, don't put them in. If you put kids in the game, man up and make them vulnerable as anybody else.

I was able to live without killing kids in Oblivion as I had so many other people to kill.

 

[General Ken8]

Go ahead and do whatever floats your boat, but they should let you kill kids
If Ashley from RE4 is considered a kid, though, then HELL YEAH!!!!!

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Sure, there's no difference between kids and adults besides age, size, and innocence.