Damned kids
Depictions of violence against children in videogames.
There’s been some heated discussion lately about the practice of using children as characters in violent videogames. While I don’t particularly care, I do find some of the arguments coming from both sides quite interesting.
A little bit of background on the topic: a game called No More Room in Hell was recently released on Steam Greenlight, and it contains zombie children. Players can attack these characters, just like they can attack the zombie adults, and they’re encouraged to - because both the big and little zombies will kill the players if they’re allowed to roam.
Cue the dissenting vocal minority, the official statement maintaining their stand, and the self-congratulatory back-patting of many fans. All this drama, and more, in here!
I don’t have much to add here, as most of what can be said about the issue has already been voiced in the 38+ page thread where it originated or among the various websites where it’s been covered. That said, this isn’t the first time children have been used in entertainment media for both the shock value as well as a means to portray the concept of total human annihilation.
If AMC knew their portrayal of zombie kids would get them in trouble, The Walking Dead wouldn’t have flopped. Oh wait…
Why stop at zombie kids? Babies are human, too. (I draw the line at zombie puppies and kittens though)
No More Room in Hell’s zombie kids aren’t even as graphic as Dead Space 2’s (Warning: Even I’m a little bit grossed out after watching this one).
Obligatory Minecraft reference.
Again, for me personally it doesn’t really matter whether a game has kid characters in it or not; and until they become marketed as actual notable in-game features, it’s really not a big deal. People choose to take offense in things, and can just as easily choose to avoid or ignore trivial offenses such as the topic of a book, content of a TV show, or characters in a videogame.
Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn’t exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you are offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people.
I can walk into a bookshop and point out a number of books that I find very unattractive in what they say. But it doesn’t occur to me to burn the bookshop down. If you don’t like a book, read another book. If you start reading a book and you decide you don’t like it, nobody is telling you to finish it.
To read a 600-page novel and then say that it has deeply offended you: well, you have done a lot of work to be offended.