Whilst some NPCs unfortunately is essential (unkillable,) it is a necessary evil that we must endure, so that we can reap the benefits of many wonderful quests and stories - But children ain't really all that important on that account, are they?A guy on the TES forums came with a good example for the con list. He spoke of an annoying, un-immersive scenario that he would hate to happen to us. Should he kill the denizens of an entire town (for reasons unknown,) he would not want the children to continually run away from him as he approached a town that should be un-populated.
That is undoubtedly a mighty fine argument for why we should be able to violently butcher innocent children, but alas, we must take everything into account.
When Hines was asked on Twitter, I distinctively remember him answering that a lot of the people who work at Bethesda are fathers, and wouldn't feel comfort or joy in letting any harm come to children, virtual or otherwise. This is fairly understandable, and whilst a concentrated population of internet trolls and bullies would argue that Bethesda consists of a bunch of pussies (not my opinion,) but lets not forget a secondary argument, which I am sure that Bethesda has also thought of. Should they have done it in spite of being uncomfortable with it, they would have been staring straight at lawsuits and riots, consisting of angry, displeased parents (Them I don't like, though.)This could all boil down to a matter of taste. Some can take it; Some can't. But I guess where I am going with this explanation, is that I want peace on the matter. The verbal fight that rages across forums is a war unnecessary - And you know why? Because 5 days will pass after the release and we'll have a mod, making the offspring of Skyrim quite potentially dead.
Don't have a PC? Well, then I guess you've got to rethink your life a bit.
Who needs a mod. I presume console commands will still be available to us. The best spell in our arsenal has always been ~kill (click) and it costs 0 mana!
ReplyDeleteBrad
Amen to that cousin! PC all the way!
ReplyDelete-Dovakin's Father in Law
I have nothing against, nor am i for killing children, as I really don't like butchring towns.
ReplyDeleteI like the RPG feel of going into a "living town".
But, say that I do butcher a town, but the children still live... Imagen what mind of phsycos those kiddies would have turned into. With such trama in their lives, there is no doubt in my mind that they will end up as necromancers, bandits, marauders and the like.
I think those people are kids who have gone through a traumatic expirinece from some strange fellow/woman who just walked into their twon and started killing everyone.
And didn't even bothered to look at the kids!
So... this is scary. Think before you do this.
These kids could turn into phsycotic monsters, and a worse killer than yourself, and if they get WORSE than us!(the players)
God help us!
- Mike
While I understand perfectly the idea of wanting to decimate a town's entire population, including the ability to kill children typically creates a massive headache for the PR department of the gaming studio. It would be awesome to absolutely wipe out a town, and watch nothing moving except the snow collecting on the corpses piled in the town square. It would not be cool reading for months about BGS fighting off lawsuits from parents, or being challenged by ratings groups. It also would not be cool for many people if the game was deemed too much for an M rating, and had to go to something brutally higher, like the good old NC-17.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why the parents freak out. To many, it hasn't been conclusively proven that video games do not lower sensitivity to violence. I'm not saying that video games create social problems, and this is definitely not the place to have that conversation. Just remember that the people who object to the ability to murder children in video games, are only doing so because they believe allowing it crosses a line. In their minds, they are just trying to keep things safe (as heavy handed as they are about it).
It is definitely a case of forcing one's morality onto others, but in this case, I personally don't think it's asking too much. There are already thousands of other people in the game for us to murder. And, as noted, I'm sure some generous and uninhibited citizen will be happy to provide the ability to first create orphans, then free them from the trappings of mortality.
Here's an idea. Kill everyone in a town, and then take the children, and train them to be immortal soldiers!
ReplyDelete