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Anybody else here that does not like hurting NPCs in video games?

Metalhead

Metalhead

Video game and movie addict. All for gay pride.
V.I.P Member
This is the reason why I find most of the TellTale adventure games to be stressful.

I can chainsaw monsters to my heart’s content, but God forbid I ever hurt the feelings of an average NPC during a dialogue tree. I guess the pure evil path in Fable is forever closed to me.

Gears of War I am ok with, but Life is Strange is pure stress fuel to me.

Does this make any sense?
 
Oh yeah, I dont like doing it one bit. It doesnt really matter what sort of game it is. It could be some game with very realistic graphics, or it could be something like Undertale with it's super retro look (no genocide route for me, nope). Heck, sometimes even attacking the so-called "enemy" kinda gets to me. Monster Hunter was the biggest example of that. Yeah, they're the big boss fights, and yeah, they're causing trouble within that world, but it's like... they're really just animals. It's not like they're evil (usually). The game is still fun (I've played a ton of that series), and I like it enough to get past that, but I always definitely preferred the capture missions, when those were an option. I like big boss fights, but I'm not exactly much of a hunter, heh.

And yeah, it aint just about combat and violence, things like dialogue gets to me as well. I always gotta be nice.

The huge exception for me is Streets of Rogue. You CAN play even a complete pacifist character if you want (though it's hard to do), but depending on which character I'm playing as (some are good at non-violence, while others are built for combat and mayhem), I wont hesitate to go beat the cheese out of a shopkeeper or flatten a few cops if it works towards my mission goals. To be fair though, in THAT game, *all* NPCs, without exception (even the freaking cops), can be just as prone to berserk violence as the player. Sometimes that shopkeeper might be the one to start the fight, depending on what's going on, even if what sets them off isnt actually my fault. It's actually one of my 3 favorite games though.
 
Grand Theft Auto? Who cares! They're all procedurally generated AI dummy bots that are just programmed to walk around and be a-holes to each other!

Skyrim? Okay, a little harder to hurt/kill possibly, but not impossible.

Tamagotchi? YOU KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY PRECIOUS MABLE!!!
 
Of course it makes sense; it's a matter of perception and of empathy. In perceptual terms, an NPC in a video game is fundamentally no different from a human being interacted with at the same level: a construct derived from your interpretations of your own perceptions. From a logical standpoint, of course, it doesn't "exist" in a physical sense (not in the same way, at least), but that's not the issue; a human being in pain or distress affects us primarily because we, as humans, put ourselves in their place. I don't know whether autism pushes a person to contemplate the question "what is reality?" differently than an allist would, or if we just subconsciously realize our own difficulty in interpreting signs of others' distress (and theirs of ours) and take the safe route of seeing everyone as having the validity of experience that we give to other humans.

We assign different values to the lives and comforts of different living things: virus to worm, toad to monkey, goose to raven, pine to poodle. We even do it among different groups of humans, based on distance and chromosomes. I'm not trying to get political here, but I really do wonder if our autism gives us an edge in questioning, and challenging, the often arbitrary lines of human behavior. Of course, arbitrary doesn't mean "senseless", and it definitely doesn't mean "wrong".

This is probably a much more abstract answer than you were looking for, but I think that's the root of it. I've scoured whole galaxies clean of life in Master of Orion, Postal 2 has taught me what the sound of one hand clapping actually is, and from Crusader Kings, I- well, let's leave it at "I've played Crusader Kings 2". On the other hand, I've saved Zhao in Bloodlines, Dogmeat in Fallout, and deliberately avoided robbing my neighbors in Deadly Shadows so the poor guard wouldn't get fired.
 
My daughter didn't care what happened in a lot of her games but if her pet died in Tamagotchi, we both felt really down.
 
I rarely ever kill an NPC, in the Elder Scrolls games (nor do I let them die). I fear that I'll soon save my game file, then be parted from them forever. I'll walk around, forgetting their existence, then get reminded of my vice, once I visit them, on a new save file. The permanence of their demise, on a save file, reduces my feeling of control.
 
Depends on the game, the NPC's role and your sense of humour, I suppose.

In Destroy All Humans!, Destroy All Humans! 2 and Saints Row 4, I love pratting about with the NPCs in lethal and non-lethal ways because sometimes you get some funny dialogue/reactions from them.
In Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, I always get a laugh whenever I use Jango's whipcord or flamethrower as NPC's who aren't enemies all run away with their hands above their heads or say some funny stuff if they get caught/set on fire by you - the funniest been the protocol droids.
In The Simpsons: Hit and Run, it's always funny to mess with the NPCs - especially if its a character from the show such as Groundskeeper Willie.
In Red Faction, I go after the NPCs mainly as apparently Ultor has been kinder to them then to me and the miners (who are treated worse than crap). It's also funny hearing an NPC say "Ultor has been very good to me" or "I'm not taking sides in this conflict" only to - upon seeing my gun - shout "Wait, I hate Ultor too!" or "Wait, I'm on your side!".
Also, watching the Medics scream like monkeys if you stick a remote charge on them has me in fits of laughter - as cruel as it is.
 
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Depends on the mood, I suppose, and my attitude towards people and myself during the day. If I'm good, I don't want to hurt anyone and I become goody-goody Paragon. If I'm angry, I'll play things like Prototype or Mass Effect Renegade. If I hate myself, I'll play Genocide Undertale after resetting True Ending.

Well, I used to at least. I don't really play games other than Diablo II these days.
 
I relate to this a lot.. My connection with all of the Minecraft animals is too deep. The times that I need to kill for food or materials make me feel like I'm watching something real die. I have this sensitivity in me that overpowers the fact that I'm aware that it's some lines of code :)
 
I have absolutely no feeling for NPC's as I know they are just AI and not real. In fact I had fun with one of the Amusement Park Tycoon games making rides that made almost everyone that rode them throw up.
It's the same reason I can't comprehend people getting scared by watching a movie, because it's all fake.
 
Ken S. said:
I have absolutely no feeling for NPC's as I know they are just AI and not real. In fact I had fun with one of the Amusement Park Tycoon games making rides that made almost everyone that rode them throw up.
It's the same reason I can't comprehend people getting scared by watching a movie, because it's all fake.
Click to expand...

I remember once I played the open source version of RCT2, I had disabled the speed limit on all my rides and I had built one that was pure insanity, I don't remember the name of it but I think it was something like "Swirl The Whirl But Don't You Hurl" or something along those lines. It started by spinning riders upward through a four minute spiral of madness at maximum speed the game would allow, then zigzagging downward toward the ground into an extremely narrow crevasse that goes upward and then....eh, you get the idea.

TL;DR the ride would just slingshot people around until they just implode into vomit.
 
Ken S. said:
I have absolutely no feeling for NPC's as I know they are just AI and not real. In fact I had fun with one of the Amusement Park Tycoon games making rides that made almost everyone that rode them throw up.
It's the same reason I can't comprehend people getting scared by watching a movie, because it's all fake.
Click to expand...

Aye, the immersion factor in normal video games or movies doesnt work on everyone. Though, it also depends on the smaller aspects. What scares one person may just seem silly to another.

It also depends on the medium. Like, say, the FNAF series. I've played those plenty, they're fun, not really "scary", though the jumpscares can be startling. But yeah, nothing I'd actually get scared over.

And then... I played the VR one. Jumped in, did the intro, not too bad, jumped from there into one of the actual games (the first one). Didnt make it through the first night. I dont mean I lost. I mean I got on the express train to freaking Nopeville. Had to take the headset off and sit down for a bit to regain control.

And note, I've had the VR unit for quite awhile. As in, I completely have my "VR legs"... I've been doing this long enough that I dont get side effects, period, no matter what the game in question is doing. Can zoom all over the place, no problems. So I'm very used to VR. But it still went that way.

Which might sound silly, and honestly it sounded silly to me before I got the thing. I thought it was just a gimmick. Then I actually tried it. Turned out, it wasnt just a gimmick. I've done things like trying to set down the controllers on tables that dont actually exist, loopy stuff like that. And that bit, that hasnt worn off. VR messes with your head... that's the whole point. But there's no way to truly give a sense of that to anyone that's never used it, which is what I learned the first time I put it on.

But that's VR, absolute immersion is the whole point. Video games on a screen, well... I often love the creepy factor, as I love creepy stuff in general, but "scary"? Nah. Though I understand that other players get more immersed into those than I do, so for them the fear makes sense.

I've always found the whole thing fascinating.
 
KagamineLen said:
This is the reason why I find most of the TellTale adventure games to be stressful.

I can chainsaw monsters to my heart’s content, but God forbid I ever hurt the feelings of an average NPC during a dialogue tree. I guess the pure evil path in Fable is forever closed to me.

Gears of War I am ok with, but Life is Strange is pure stress fuel to me.

Does this make any sense?
Click to expand...
I used to feel like that but then my curiosity took over and I started to wonder how being the bad guy would effect the outcome. Kinda fun once your not immersed in it.
I played deus ex recently and chose to pick the most aggressive answers and always fight. Game was actually quicker and easier to complete but you don't get into it as much.
 
Nope I show no mercy in the toon world. I get a kick out of shooting rabbits with an arrow in the game I play because they die so dramatically in a comical way. Although in real life I absolutely adore bunnies.
 
Ezra said:
Nope I show no mercy in the toon world. I get a kick out of shooting rabbits with an arrow in the game I play because they die so dramatically in a comical way. Although in real life I absolutely adore bunnies.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's about differing between what is real and what is fake, as long as we maintain that divide when we put down the controller and switch off the console.
 
Yup. I cannot bring myself to play as a character with evil alignment because I always feel guilty for being mean to or hurting NPC’s. Even worse when it’s an RPG with romance in it. I really hate hurting an NPC’s feelings, which is why I usually install concurrent romance packs so everyone is happy (and I end up having a happy harem)
 
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Ed
 
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