Now you can kill kids in Skyrim! Update at 11

[hidekipooj]

http://kotaku.com/5861221/hooray-now-you-can-kill-kids-in-skyrim


Back in September, Bethesda's Pete Hines got into a scrape on Twitter with some PC gamers who resented the fact they were not permitted to kill children in games like Fallout and now, Skyrim.

"It's sad that modders are forced to fix a game that's being released as broken," sniffed one. "Because we don't let you kill children," Hines shot back. "Got it."

Even though committing a crime in front of a child makes him an immortal tattle and a tremendous pain in the ass to your designs, whatever they are, Bethesda is never going there, for obvious reasons. ("Video Game Gives You High Score for Killing Children! Next on Nancy Grace.") Well, aspiring child killers of Skyrim, rejoice, for modders hath delivered the means of murdering the wee ones, barely nine days after the game's release.

The mod is available on Skyrim Nexus [registration required; you'll also need to unblock adult content in your preferences]. "Allows the children of Skyrim to die. Affects the Breton, Imperial, Nord and Redguard children," says its description. "Also lets you play as them if you create a new character with the mod enabled, a funny, unintentional bug."

Fine. Go kill 'em. But this isn't "fixing" a broken game. There are games in which children can die—BioShock? Hello? But in that example, by then they were either sub- or nonhuman, and their deaths were part of an active choice the player must make to advance the story along one of two paths.

People who want to pick a fight about the legitimacy of killing kids in a video game need more than "I need to be able to do that randomly because it's an open world game" to justify it.

So I know there are a few skyrim topics already but I feel that skyrim is just the example. The real question is, do you think, to make an RPG or any game for that matter feel even ''more'' realistic should you be allowed to murder children"?

My opinion has always been:
a.) freedom of speech allows whatever you pretty much want in an entertainment medium. It may be tasteless to go around killing kids for no reason, but if a game was structured so your character were to suffer consequences, I think that would be okay. Thoughts?

[Samus-Fan]

Thing is, you CAN kill children. It doesn't require you to. So with that, people should realize if you think Killing Children is wrong- DON'T KILL THEM. I hate when people try to dictate what is good for others.
What a stupid argument. "Well if the only reason they want it is so they can, don't do it."
Like it says, immortal tattletales. Makes Dark Brotherhood and Thieves quests very difficult sometimes. It's an open-world game, where you can do everything but kill a child. It isn't quest related, so you wouldn't have to. I wouldn't go around and say "LOL I CAN KILL KIDS" and just hack them down. It just adds realism to the game. It makes the game complete. It makes it so the player can make his own choices.
And by the way, Little Sisters aren't dead or unhuman- they were mind controlled children. CHILDREN. HUMANS. When you "rescue" them, you are releasing the control, and making them an individual, and saving them from the grasp of Rapture. Killing them gave you more ADAM, but it turning the innocent child into plasm of some kind, literally juicing them for your own good. They weren't dead already, that was how you saved them. Sounds like this article doesn't know everything its talking about.

[BobTD]

In this example we are talking about a game with a decent mod community. We already knew this would be an available option eventually, so I dont see why anyone got upset in the first place.

No matter. Having a wide open game with freedom restricted by little things like that can be pretty annoying. But if the company thinks its a liability we have to accept that. The bottom line is some countries will outright ban games or force changes in order to sell them legally (like Australia). Stopping short of crossing obvious lines so that the game is more easily accepted allows more people to enjoy it. Sometimes its just selfish to make unreasonable demands of a developer.

However....

This reminds me of the event in the new Modern Warfare (even though Im not a big MW fan I still keep up with the single player side), that cut scene with the father holding the camera and that little girl dies... yeah. But there is a line drawn there between observer and actor. Lots of people find that shocking. But its a fitting example of a developer knowing its core audience. Its important to know that video games are enjoyed more often by young adults with disposable income than any other category. And because of that not all games will be child friendly. So eventually we can hopefully move past the mind set that video games are an activity for kids that should be censored.

So right now we have a conflict where what is good for a company may not live up to the expectations of its fans. I understand why Bethesda is playing it safe. I just dont agree with them.

[CraeSC111]

Oh God I hated the children in fallout. Made my killing sprees leaving me feeling incomplete. But I would have to agree with Bethesda on this. There's too many people that would criticize them if they put child killing in. They would lose more than they'd gain by putting it in the game.

[paecmaker]

That a mod came that makes you able to kill children is no surprise. But why did bethesda put in children in the first plae if they dont want them killed because they knew someone would mod it.

I am not negative, like earlier said in the thread its not that you are forced to kill children, its still your choice. And I would hate if I did some small modding and unleashed the fury of the beast that are can kill everyone except the children.

[LemonRising]

I don't really think it's that big of an issue. Whether it's in a game or not. The only problem is that some countries may ban it and what not, so it's probably just smart not to have it in the game. I don't think that people wanting the children to be kill-able are bad or immoral, killing ANYONE is wrong.. it's just another option within the game.

[Exentenzed]

Bethesda did the right thing.

The modding community did the right thing.

Togheter they can create a great game, while circumventing the crowds trying to convince people that games are satan in disguise.

Good job EVERYONE. :D

(Except the whiners that can't comprehend the meaning of the word "consequences")

[Mizel]

It really sucks that just about everything that is made in this world has to be catered to closed minded people- it's just absolutely ridiculous. On the other hand it's hilarious that when something comes out that we feel is incomplete, we just mod it to our liking :P

It's also really funny that killing kids is the line that can't be crossed. You can do drugs, bang hookers, rob stores, and shoot people--errr, I mean *adults*-- in the face.... but involve killing a kid or wearing animal fur and that's just going too far >_<

[CraeSC111]

Oh no! You can wear fur in skyrim! May PETA have mercy on Bethesdas soul

[Trunks]

I think it is kind of dumb, when I get bored, I normally just save it and go on a mass killing spree in one of the cities. One of the kids in the game said "watch it" so I was going to kill her, got kind of mad when I couldn't kill her because she was running her mouth while I was beating her with my sword.

[Mizel]

I think it is kind of dumb, when I get bored, I normally just save it and go on a mass killing spree in one of the cities. One of the kids in the game said "watch it" so I was going to kill her, got kind of mad when I couldn't kill her because she was running her mouth while I was beating her with my sword.

Lol That’s exactly what happened to me! When she said that I was like, whaaaa? Kid doesn’t know who the hell she’s messing with! Then I couldn’t take my wrath out on her :(