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Original post by adam_o I once heard of a psycho-kid who killed 8 fellow students at his school before killing himself. The shocking part of the story is that every single bullet found it's mark in the heads of the other kids. Now, this kid wasn't a hunter or anything, but he learned how to use a gun on video games. I'm not entirely blaming video games for this - because then I would be a psycho killer myself - but the games showed this crazy kid how to kill. I'd say the blame lies partially on the video games, partially in the mental mind of this kid, and the responsibility to prevent these things from happening lies with the parents.

If you've ever even handled a gun you'd realize a game couldn't teach you to shoot. For one all you do is hit 1 button to shoot and 1 button to reload. If anything movies would be more responsible, they show triggers being pulled and how to actually reload the weapon.

That kid had obviously been around guns before if he was able to get it, meaning he already knew how to shoot, and if he was a hunter he probably wouldn't of shot those other kids. Someone who hunts sees first hand what a gun is capable of, it teaches them to treat the weapon with respect.

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Original post by Oluseyi Quote: Original post by owl I'm generalising dude :) Most men have penises, yet there are some who don't. That doesn't mean men aren't meant to have a penis. Yes, there are males who would deeply enjoy the idea of getting pregnant (I guess so) but would you consider them to be representative of the market most males tend to get into? So... what's your point? If some males may be interested in pregnancy in games, and most females may not, then there really is no need for a gender-specific generalization, right? It means that pregnancy in games is simply something that appeals to a minority of gamers, regardless of gender. There, that wasn't so hard, was it? [smile]

You don't think female-gamers would likely get more intersted in women stuff than male-gamers?

I remember I used to like more to play with soldier and car toys when kid than with dolls and makeup. It certainly never crossed my mind to pretend I was pregnant when playing imaginary games with (male or female) friends.

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Original post by owl You don't think female-gamers would likely get more intersted in women stuff than male-gamers? I remember I used to like more to play with soldier and car toys when kid than with dolls and makeup.

Action figures: dolls for boys.

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Original post by Oluseyi Quote: Original post by owl You don't think female-gamers would likely get more intersted in women stuff than male-gamers? I remember I used to like more to play with soldier and car toys when kid than with dolls and makeup. Action figures: dolls for boys.

Agreed. There is stuff for boys and stuff for girls.

It wasn't that hard huh? ;)

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Original post by JonConley If you've ever even handled a gun you'd realize a game couldn't teach you to shoot. For one all you do is hit 1 button to shoot and 1 button to reload. If anything movies would be more responsible, they show triggers being pulled and how to actually reload the weapon. That kid had obviously been around guns before if he was able to get it, meaning he already knew how to shoot, and if he was a hunter he probably wouldn't of shot those other kids. Someone who hunts sees first hand what a gun is capable of, it teaches them to treat the weapon with respect.

THANK YOU! :)

To Jon's point, I played my first FPS when I was about 13 years old, and kept playing them for another 15 years afterward. Only last year did I go real-life shooting for the very first time. Went with a friend, and we started with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Easy, right?

It was terrible. My very first shot missed a 2'x3' target at 10' away. So did second and third. I think I finally hit the target by the eighth shot, in the corner - way the hell away from the dead center where I was actually aiming.

It took multiple trips to the range before was able to consistently hit the target with a nice grouping. I went out and bought a 40 caliber semi-auto, and missed the target all over again - until I got used to it after a couple more trips.

A year later, and I'm finally able to get a nice grouping on a target 75' away and I fancy myself a half-decent shot. But that wasn't after a lot of practice and getting used to shooting. I can't wait to get a .50 caliber revolver - and missing targets all over again!

So - 15 years of FPS playing did nothing to teach my how to shoot a gun. It didn't even teach me how to hold it properly! Now, I may just suck, and may be the one person in the world who learned nothing from FPS playing .. but somehow I doubt that ;)

I honestly believe that people who think that FPS's teach people how to shoot have never fired a gun, or at the very least started shooting from such a young age they forgot how difficult that first shot was.

Circling back to the point about pregnancy and how it may give the wrong ideas to impressionable youth: You know, as long as the details aren't grossly inaccurate (like, oh I don't know, a stork bringing a baby around and the mommy's tummy deflating magically), I applaud these "simplified pregnancies" in games as it teaches said impressionable youth that babies come from their mother's bellies. Hell, knowing that is a step in the right direction toward education instead of shielding our young from the "evil truths" about life.

I think you can implement pregnancy in the fantasy context of MMORPG (this was the context of the original post). For example:


Game: A Playable Model of Relationship and Family in an MMORPG Fantasy Land

In this game, the life of a character has three stages A B C. In stage A, the character grows the fastest. In stage B, the grow slows down, basic stats can no longer increase using experience, only skills can increase. In this stage, the character can mate with other characters to get offsprings. The mother will have the initial control of the offspring, but the control of the offspring can be subsequently transfered to either of its parent. The offsprings are stage A game agents. In stage C, the character can no longer get any new experience, but he can trade basic stats for additional skill levels. In this stage, if the character dies the death is permanent. The player's first game should begin with a stage A character that goes through childhood and earn the right to reproduce by transisting into adulthood.

From Childhood to Adulthood Stage progression of a character is done not by time, but by several tests. The character must pass those tests to progress to the next stage. The first test from stage A to B is a solo test. It could be tried unlimited number of times. There is no deadline for passing those tests, a player could play only with a stage A character if the player wants.

Mating is a two-player test with unlimited retries. The gameplay of these tests (mating and others) are up to the designer. They could be all different or all the same. For example, the test could be symbolic (or backed by the world building of the game), to be combative. In the case that is it combative, the couple must defeat a series of monsters. When all are defeated the mother gets pregnant. If you want you could make this test to be sexual simulation. But if you see that your goal of including childbirth and pregnancy is social instead of sexual then the role of a father and a mother are taken care of with or without sexual depiction. (In the combative case, it could happen that the two characters are too incompatible in character build that they cannot successfully mate.)

Pregnancy/Childbirth Once the mother got pregnant, the mother must complete a series of tests before the baby can be born. These tests are designed to be completable only with at least two players, three players being the max. The mother's partner need not be the father of the child. The test could be tried for unlimited number of times. A pregnant mother character cannot gain any experience in the game until the child is born, although the player could choose not to finish the test and continue to play with a pregnant character up to 1 month. After 1 month, if the test was not completed the mother character would die (with the unborn child).

Parent-Child relation During childhood, the child and one of its parent could do tests to transfer skill types from the parent to the child. These tests have permanant death. The child could die trying to learn it, the father or mother could die trying to teach it. (Note that since the control of the kid is either the mother or the father, in this parent-child bonding sections, you are still playing with your in-game spouse. If you want you could allow any other adult,or adults that are relatives, or including other kids to be the trainer.)

Guardian-Hood The transistion from stage B to C is another test. This test is a very hard solo test with perminant death, with unlimited practice. Stage C characters have access to the most powerful skills, but they cannot mate or have offsprings.


This set of game rules is modular to the overall game goal such as PvE or PvP, group hunting, crafting, city-development, conquest, economy, overall plot, etc. This set of rules can be modified to suit a world-building features different sexual classification, but I suppose that we are trying to talk about human relations.

[Edited by - Wai on February 19, 2009 7:53:07 PM]