Should gamers be accountable for in-game war crimes?

This is what is happening to america. We are turning people into giant, gapeing pu$$ies.

They should leave it alone! Its not real. HS.

If you really want to reflect reality then no accountability is necessary.

The U.S use depleted uranium shells but is there an uproar for for using a radioactive weapon that contaminates the soil for 10,000 years, NO!

The Australian Government committed the only successful form of genocide against The Tasmanian Aboriginals, was there an uproar, NO!

The NSA spy on citizens, diplomats, scholars and scientists of every nation, but can any other nation on earth do anything to stop them, NO!

History has shown that governments who are never held accountable for their MINOR infractions tend to graduate to higher crimes against humanity if they are not challenged.

In today's world there is no such thing as People Power.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


There is some merit to the idea but only if it contributes to a fun game play experience.

For example, GTA5 Online has an interesting system that I think they'll expand on. Basically, instead of being punished for breaking laws, you are punished for just being a jerk. So if you harass another player, they will eventually mark you as a "bad sport" and will only be able to play with other "bad sports". Genius. Also, if you destroy somebody's permanent car, you get billed for it (because getting your car back is an actual effort).

There are many games that already implement this. Fallout 3 is a perfect example. You can be a goody good or the exact opposite. I don't see why this is even breaking news... IMO this author isn't a gamer or this individual would already know.

Needless to say, it's a virtual world and those worlds have there own rules and standards. They don't have to implement consequences because the game might just be built off of carnage.

Just a humble gamer, opinion~

Ahhh, yes. Government regulations.

For when nobody likes your idea enough to pay money for it.

I gotta put this out there. I played Lineage 2 for a looooong time it's a old game at that, over a decade. It's a very rewarding game in that: If I was partied with other players and they sucked donkey, I could turn around and virtually label a.k.a kill that person for wasting my valuable time I was already wasting playing that game for so many years. It releases endorphines and adrenaline that are very satisfying at the same time.

This does not go w/o consequence though, the moment you starting harming another player, your name goes red and that allows any player that see's you warrant to virtually pillage and plunder you w/o consequence at that.

75prophet ftw~

That's actually a basic standard really in any MMORPG~

Just wanted to share that...

reply to post by sulaw


Fallout 3 is not a great example of a game which steers one toward "normal" behaviour. From levels one through ten of the levelling up process, I only used a knife to do my killing. When I came across a group of bandits, I would draw them out, split them up, gut them one by one, and then, when they were all dead, I would drag their bodies to one spot, cut them up, and pile up the bits, or make person collages out of them.

On one occasion, later in the game I had just killed this random bandit, and cut off his head. I was walking around with it, and I came across a steep drop over a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff were some Enclave troops. I dropped the head off the cliff, and then followed it up with a rocket shot. The follow up rocket shot was in VATS, and so I was able to see the cretins eyes follow the severed head to the ground, just before the rocket impacted between them, ripping their arms and legs off in the blast.

I mean dude... You can dismember your victims and mess with their bodies. I'm not against that or anything, in a game environment, but that's not really normal, and the thing is, there is no negative karma modifier for that, or for using the railway rifle to pin bits of different enemies to the wall.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


This is no different than playing cowboys and Indians.

The Indians turned out OK right?

Sounds like another attempt to condition young minds to respect tyrants....oops, I mean authority. However plenty of games have this already. The GTA series comes to mind, as well as games like Skyrim. Even games made a decade ago have this action/consequence type of system.

reply to post by TrueBrit


I was leaning more towards the Karma System they have in Fallout 3... If you walked into town and started harming vendors or innocents then your karma would drop, vendors wouldn't sell to you and sometimes you would be chased out of town.

They had a similar system in Fable.

Cutting up bandits doesn't warrant a drop in karma as they are bandits and the main source of enemy kills.

Likewise a high karma warranted "Special pricing" or "options" that a person with negative karma would not receive.

reply to post by sulaw


I see what you are getting at now. I just think that it's worth mentioning that it also allowed some pretty nifty brutality to be enacted upon the bad guys without any manner of consequence, and doing that in the real world, no matter how sick, evil, twisted and bastardly your target is, will get you vilified by your fellow man in most cases.

reply to post by TrueBrit


I totally agree Brit~ The graphic horror you can impose on bandits, zombies et cetera is brutal to say the least... Nor did I chop bandits up and stack them in a pile... I'm honestly suprised I didnt' think of that... hahahahah!

In line with the OP you are spot on, but that would be the main point of a "Fallout" game world, in that the "Normal" everyday rules are not applicable because we are playing a fantasy world where we can pile up body parts just for the fun of it.

I can see the war crimes being implement in realistic war video games... But that's a double standard imo... Our leaders are just as dirty so implementing those rules is calling the kettle black for me at least... And there's something satisfying in playing a FPS when a teamate is sucking , turning around and taking them out, over and over until they log out of game or cry over the headset "STOP IT!!! *Insert profanity* WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!!!" call me cynical~

Trubeeleever
If you really want to reflect reality then no accountability is necessary.

The U.S use depleted uranium shells but is there an uproar for for using a radioactive weapon that contaminates the soil for 10,000 years, NO!

The Australian Government committed the only successful form of genocide against The Tasmanian Aboriginals, was there an uproar, NO!

The NSA spy on citizens, diplomats, scholars and scientists of every nation, but can any other nation on earth do anything to stop them, NO!

History has shown that governments who are never held accountable for their MINOR infractions tend to graduate to higher crimes against humanity if they are not challenged.

In today's world there is no such thing as People Power.

That's all fine and dandy...don't screw with our ability to play video games!!! You're talking about our entertainment!!!

Yer walking a fine line, my friend...watch yourself!!!



- SN

people don`t play games so that they can simulate real life they play games so that they can do things that they can`t do in real life.
People don`t play war games to learn about the geneva conventions stance on war crimes.If you make games too life like they will be boring,for example how much fun would it be to play a war game where the game ends after you die once?

hknudzkknexnt

So, in GTA V, jumbo jets only need about 30 meters of runway to take off?

How's about we fix that bit of irrationality before we start bringing on the in-game Nuremberg Trials, eh?

Hmmmmm could this Red Cross report be the article that I seek... Politics... Games... Hmmm Red Cross, are they credible?

Thank you OP for posting this, you dont know how much this has helped me

Leave the games alone. I have never been arrested for anything and as a matter of fact, I am pretty close to being a pacifist. However, when I play video games, I like to cut people up or shoot them to death or whatever else I can do. I may even laugh after getting a perfectly placed head shot. It's fun, but it's not reality and that's the beauty of video games. I can take out whatever anger that has accumulated throughout the day on the video game with no consequences.

However, I disagree with the idea that video games cause violence. It's way too convenient to say that entertainment is causing these things in society. The content in video games, movies and TV shows are a reflection of what we have become as a society. Violence is entertainment and I think most people have a fascination with violence on some level even if they themselves are not violent. Video games are an outlet to do things you can't do in real life. To change that would be to strip them of their entertainment value and give one less outlet for people to take out anger and frustrations on. I will never buy into the idea that violence in media causes more violence. If the violence didn't already exist in society, it would not be in entertainment or at least, would not be such a popular form of entertainment.

Holding gamers responsible for "war crimes" that occur in a video game is definitely on my list of stupidest ideas I have ever heard.

Just. Plain. Stupid.

If a particular game wants to add this as a feature, either optional or standard, and market it that way, that's one thing, but to arbitrarily force it, is ridiculous.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


A lot of games already implement some sort of control mechanism in regards to "intolerable" behavior. This seems rather late to the game (couldn't resist) so apparently Red Cross has no clue what they're talking about. It's already done in a whole lot of games and has been the case for years.

Beyond that, there's also an inherent inanity to the concept. I have a weapon that counts kills in a game and it racked up tens of thousands of kills. I was playing mostly against kids and it kind of prompted a gross act factor for me. I basically killed tens of thousands of "kids" in-game. Yuck. Never had a problem with it until I had a weapon that counted kills because it didn't register but most people think my response is silly. Maybe it is as when you're playing an online fps game, you're going to be "fighting" against both "adult" and "child" soldiers and the latter, ttbomk, is a war crime, is it not? That's the inherent war crime of online fps gaming, lol (and why I play coop mostly now lol).

Wrabbit2000
I think some people in this world take themselves and life far far more seriously than is healthy for either one.

It's a G A M E .... Make believe.. Fantasy ... Un-reality. If it were accurate to life, we'd call it America's Army and refer to it for what it was. Virtual Combat Training packaged as a harmless free game.

I agree with Wrabbit on this. Should people be held accountable for the crimes they read or write in books? What about the ones they watch on the big screen? Netflix? The movie theater? Anime? This is silly.