I recently heard that Fallout 3 would contain child NPCs, and in Fallout, you can kill anyone or anything. The GTA series avoided as much criticism as possible by not including children in their games, if it had kids then the media would call it a baby killing simulator. fable 2 will come out soon and it will include children that you can beat, but they were wise enough not to let you kill them. So for all of you, I have 2 questions: Do you think Fallout 3 will take a bunch of flak for adding killable children to their game? And do you think it was a wise decision by Bethesda to include children?

EDIT: One more question: What sort of effect do you think this will have on underage gamers like myself?

OK, I'd just like to say that planting dynamite or plastic explosives on a little kid that is running around flailing their arms - is by far one of the funniest God Damned things I've ever seen. Especially with "bloody mess" on.

Anyway, it wasn't just for shits and giggles either, because if you wanted to be an evil character that was the perfect thing to make your Karma plummet.

Ivoryagent:
...Someone gives a shit about what the media thinks?

Holy fuck.

No, I don't really care what the media thinks, I just wondered what your thoughts were about this, and I'll edit the opening post

I don't mind the idea. It helps create a convincing world where there are no 'untouchable people' whom you can only speak with. No doubt it will cause media backlash, unfortunatley.

I don;t give a damm. This game is on Pre-Order for me and it shall stay that way. Sod the media.

Thats a bit much. It really shouldn't be in it.

I do point out that my sister bought me that awful tie in Game to Star Wars: Episode 1. You could kill kids in that and no-one so much as blinked.

shatnershaman:
Thats a bit much. It reall shouldn't be in it.

It's oh so wrong but it feels so right.

Oh snap, you just broke my moral compass. Here I was, thinking of setting off the unexploded nuke in the survivor town, wiping off those damn pest off the planet, women, old men, unborn children, and little children. O M G, how evil of mei.

Back to topic, well yeah, it might be a bad move from Bestheda, killing children in a video game, is a bit going overboard, so is, for example, being able to bomb an entire country in Mercenaries 2. I bet there were a lot of kids in that building I 'accidentally' destroy during my playtime yesterday.

Would you take 4 years and millions of dollars to make a game that would get banned in Europe and might not see shelf life in America because of one aspect of game play? The originals where cult classics that made it big later on, though yes, Black Isle did make it's money back on the originals.

They would risk an Adults Only rating, and Bethsda wants this game to be a block buster, not a cult classic with limited appeal to the established fan base. It's like if in LOTR, Aragon came out and screwed a donkey, yeah that would be hilarious, but they just killed off the kids rating with one scene, thus cutting profits in half, at least.

...though that would be really funny.

God dammit.. You've been able to hit kids in the groin with a sledgehammer since the original fallout..

Why make a big deal out of it now?

I think you can't kill the children NPCs I believe in an interview they would run and hide if attacked.

You can get lap dances from strippers, have sex with EVERYONE, inject, snort, and smoke made-up drugs, drive over, beat to death with a baseball bat, and mow down police officers and rescue workers with countless types of weapons, torture, steal, and disembowel, blow every character in the game to bits...
O.K. With this .. ^

Not with this .. V

Except for the polygons shaped like children.

See how that sounds.

Bioshock?

zen5887:
God dammit.. You've been able to hit kids in the groin with a sledgehammer since the original fallout..

Why make a big deal out of it now?

Animation versus realistic graphics. I could make an 8-bit pixelation of the pope falling down 6 stories into an acid bath with Jesus laughing and no one would care, but bump map it, mesh it with textures, realistic skin and bone, throw in some crunchy noises and wa-la, you'll have a media frenzy.

EvilEngineNumberNine:
You can get lap dances from strippers, have sex with EVERYONE, inject, snort, and smoke made-up drugs, drive over, beat to death with a baseball bat, and mow down police officers and rescue workers with countless types of weapons, torture, steal, and disembowel, blow every character in the game to bits...
Except for the polygons shaped like children.

See how that sounds.

It is not going to show (if it does have it) half that stuff and will cartoonize the rest. Other wise it would have a AO

shatnershaman:

It is not going to show (if it does have it) half that stuff and will cartoonize the rest. Other wise it would have a AO

I'm not just talking about Fallout 3.

Magnetic2:

zen5887:
God dammit.. You've been able to hit kids in the groin with a sledgehammer since the original fallout..

Why make a big deal out of it now?

Animation versus realistic graphics. I could make an 8-bit pixelation of the pope falling down 6 stories into an acid bath with Jesus laughing and no one would care, but bump map it, mesh it with textures, realistic skin and bone, throw in some crunchy noises and wa-la, you'll have a media frenzy.

It's a rule of Journalism: If someone complains, you have to report it.

Direct quote^

EvilEngineNumberNine:

shatnershaman:

It is not going to show (if it does have it) half that stuff and will cartoonize the rest. Other wise it would have a AO

I'm not just talking about Fallout 3.

Well:

A) What game does have all that stuff?
B) Is it AO?
C) Is it banned anywhere?

I don't think Fallout 3 is going to get in trouble for this. Fallout 3 is going to be one of those games that proves that the media doesn't really care about the content of games, they'll just attack any game considered violent that people will recognize (Like GTA) in order to get a story. You could put just about whatever you want in a game, chances are the media won't pay any attention to it if it's not called GTA. Which obviously isn't fair for GTA. Fuck the media.

shatnershaman:

Well:

A) What game does have all that stuff?
B) Is it AO?
C) Is it banned anywhere?

Collectively, Fallout 1, 2. Grand Theft Auto Series. Carmageddon, Mass Effect, NARC, God of War 1,2, Manhunt, and pretty much every game with guns in it.

None are AO.

I do believe than NARC, Manhunt, and Carmageddon have been banned in a few countries.

Holy shit. I love that. I'm gonna take out my rage from Tae Kwon Do and small childrens not listening in FallOut 3.

Oh right, I'm thread creator, I should probably state my view:
I personally don't care what the media thinks, I'm still getting this game no matter what, though I think it may have been an unsmart move on Bethesda's part:

shatnershaman:

C) Is it banned anywhere?

It was banned in Australia for the drugs

zen5887:
God dammit.. You've been able to hit kids in the groin with a sledgehammer since the original fallout..

Why make a big deal out of it now?

Cause the world is a different place now, and the media takes games way too seriously

ElephantGuts:
I don't think Fallout 3 is going to get in trouble for this. Fallout 3 is going to be one of those games that proves that the media doesn't really care about the content of games, they'll just attack any game considered violent that people will recognize (Like GTA) in order to get a story. You could put just about whatever you want in a game, chances are the media won't pay any attention to it if it's not called GTA. Which obviously isn't fair for GTA. Fuck the media.

There are others:

God of War II
Left Behind: Eternal Forces
Super Columbine Massacre (actually real game)
Ethnic Cleansing
DOOM
Leisure Suit Larry

and of course

Custer's Revenge

EvilEngineNumberNine:

shatnershaman:

Well:

A) What game does have all that stuff?
B) Is it AO?
C) Is it banned anywhere?

Collectively, Fallout 1, 2. Grand Theft Auto Series. Carmageddon, Mass Effect, NARC, God of War 1,2, Manhunt, and pretty much every game with guns in it.

None are AO.

I do believe than NARC, Manhunt, and Carmageddon have been banned in a few countries.

Keyword: Collectively and none of those shows explict sex (unless Fallout 1,2 does) on purpose San Andreas only has a sex mod and they gave it an AO.

You CAN'T kill children in fallout 3 why is this even a topic? http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/07/08/no-children-will-be-harmed-in-fallout-3/

sneakypenguin:
You CAN'T kill children in fallout 3 why is this even a topic? http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/07/08/no-children-will-be-harmed-in-fallout-3/

Yahtzee Croshaw:
*Clap**Clap* OI

First off, look at the date, July, this is October, plans change, and during last week I saw on some site while browsing that plans changed, although if that was a crap and uncredible site I was on, don't blame me.

Ivoryagent:

sneakypenguin:
You CAN'T kill children in fallout 3 why is this even a topic? http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/07/08/no-children-will-be-harmed-in-fallout-3/

...

...Well, that's a pre-order canceled. Congratulations, Todd and Bethesda. You gave in to the media.

You are now full-fledged pussies.

Actually this is not a recent thing I've known about it since I first heard of it, so I don't think it's giving in just doing what's acceptable with many people

Ya know, they should do what Crysis did. Give the ability to kill animals but make it so damn unsatisfying that no one will bother doing it. Make the kids immune to gore or something.

Though that's the only reason I killed them in the first place ;_;

I think its about time kids were included in RPGS ok for games like GTA it isnt necessary because civilians ar just destructible road blocks but games were you are supposed to interact with the civilians on a regular basis needs it. I mean are we supposed to believe that they are born as adults because i imagine birthing a child i painful enough, its about realism. If they cop any flack for it it'll be from Mother Groups and Jack "I wanna fuck over every good game" Thompson neither of which play these games and so niether of which any one should give a flying fuck about.

shatnershaman:

Keyword: Collectively and none of those shows explict sex (unless Fallout 1,2 does) on purpose San Andreas only has a sex mod and they gave it an AO.

Not a keyword at all. You can do all these things in all these other games yet killable kid NPCs are where the ESRB draws the line? ESPECIALLY irksome when you could actually DO it in the previous games. Your keyword stands out more though. EXPLICIT sex scenes. Of course they don't allow full-on sex scenes in games, that would just be pornographic and worthy of a rating reflecting that. But you CAN have implied and sometimes barely obscured sex in many games. This isn't an argument, just a case of double standards.

In the long term I think it's good for our favourite hobby if there is not the slaughter of children in Fallout 3. Yes, games, even high-profile ones, should be free to explore the limits of taste. However, I'm a little afraid that eventually someone will go to far, cause a backlash, and ruin it for everyone. Personally, I didn't mind the child-killing in Fallout 1&2. I just wish it didn't give me an erection. (Worst. Joke. Ever. I apologize to the entire Escapist community and the world in general.)