I haven''t put a ton of thought into this, but I just had this idea: A 3rd person action game, kinda like Grand Theft Auto 3. The setting is a school + playground. You start off as a wanna-be bully, and get missions from the head bullys. Missions could include: - beat up some kid and take his lunch money - protect some nerdy kid who pays you for your services - Take down a kid who ratted you out to the teachers - Steal stuff from an empty classroom without getting noticed - participate in playground brawls etc... The "combat" would be simple, kinda like GTA3, except mostly punching, kicking, and maybe using simple weapons. You''ll have to watch out for the teachers, cause if they see you throw a punch you''ll end up in detention... Anyways, just some thoughts...

What is the motivation to play this? It''s not something you couldn''t do in real life (and it''s a mirror of a real word situation), it''s not something particularly attractive in real life (bullying is usually the result of peer pressure, not an intense fascination with human psychological response under strenuous circumstances)... why would anyone play it?

Before you bother to design a game, ask why anybody would play it. Is it in good taste? Is it worthwhile?

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Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!

You know its strange...I remember a while back, I was in a
computer club that met after school. One of my classmates was
trying to code something like that on an Apple IIe...

I guess if you make your target audience people who always got
picked on it might work...who knows maybe there''s a niche for
it somewhere...(personally I kinda doubt it but...)

You''d have to make it really simple though as the target audience
probably does not include kids above 12 years old...

-=Lohrno

quote: Original post by Oluseyi
What is the motivation to play this? It's not something you couldn't do in real life (and it's a mirror of a real word situation), it's not something particularly attractive in real life (bullying is usually the result of peer pressure, not an intense fascination with human psychological response under strenuous circumstances)... why would anyone play it?

Before you bother to design a game, ask why anybody would play it. Is it in good taste? Is it worthwhile?

Well, as you can see I didn't really do much "designing", I just threw out an idea I had so I could get people's reactions. But hey, you don't think it would be fun so that's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for!

Edited by - gir on February 22, 2002 2:20:30 PM

I''d play it!

----
Herb M. (mdfmKoRn)
www.sky-meyg.com
s3202@attbi.com

Oh lord, someone''s actually pickinging up ideas from the Bad idea for a game thread from a couple weeks back. Well, that made my day.

oh sure! it would be great! then you could start giving the kids guns! yeah right...
no, the idea of your game would be extreamly controversial and you could end up with several lawsuits from angery parents who blame their kids actions on you. they tried to pin the gaming industry after columbine...they''ll do it again and get through if you go and try to do a crazy stunt like that. just forget about the idea, not only for the good of others, but for your own self.

Well, based on everybody''s reaction I''m glad I tested the waters here before quitting my day job to work full time on SimBully

You know, what? In an ideal world I''d say screw what they think,
I''m gonna do it anyway but...It''s true...parents will start suing
I mean christ someone sued DAoC for not being able to sell
fictitious $%@#%# items. "Hi, I wanna sell my invisible friend
pete''s super cool box that when you press the button makes all
your wishes come true." It''s true...people get pissed and turn
to lawyers now. =( Really I''m sorry but I think anyone who would
sue over a VIDEO GAME needs to get a life. But I''m so sad
because now there are so many people out there who do!

I dont like this kid''s idea...(sorry, gir, I just kinda don''t)
But to use the controversial argument makes me very upset too.
And after the tragic events on 9/11, people are even more insane.
I''m glad that no one has yet tried to claim that RTCW is a
training simulator for Terrorist attacks. (but I''m realistic to
realize the day might come =( ) I think we all need to be
somewhat more supportive of "Controversial ideas." As our
freedoms may be dwindling. I mean people who like to play these
games have little legal power, while people who oppose can easily
get the attention, and support of religious/conservative groups.
The thing is, games with "controversial ideas" have little legal
backing, and people who find them too offensive, and that they
should be banned right now have too much power. I know, I could
be marching on Washington, and lobbying, or donating to some
legal fund, but I''m not THAT much of an activist. =P But just
dont blast people because their ideas are "controversial." I
think it sucks...sorry...
rant.end();

-=Lohrno

quote: Original post by Oluseyi
What is the motivation to play this? It''s not something you couldn''t do in real life (and it''s a mirror of a real word situation), it''s not something particularly attractive in real life (bullying is usually the result of peer pressure, not an intense fascination with human psychological response under strenuous circumstances)... why would anyone play it?

Before you bother to design a game, ask why anybody would play it. Is it in good taste? Is it worthwhile?

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Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!</small>

If your just posing questions to flesh out the design of this game, that''s fine. But if you think it is bad for the reasons you give, then I disagree with you.

GTA3 got very good reviews and I think it is great fun to play too. I could go steal cars and go on a crime spree in real life if I wanted to (I doubt I''d be able to try more than once though!). There is nothing attractive in this, in the sense that everyone would hate me and it would cause many people grief. A game based on this is also bad taste, really.

However, it is still a very fun game so these reasons are a poor motivating factor in choosing good design.

On a side note, the closest I''ve ever seen to this is School Daze (try some emulators or the amatuer remake). By the way, why limit it to bullies? How about letting the player choose who they want to be?