First of all, :joker-troll:
Second of all, I’d like some videogame recommendations
Here’s some background info. My kid downloaded School Simulator 2017, which is kind of like a pared down Yandere Simulator, except it’s more sandboxy, has no story, and the violence is more cartoony. But the way they described it to me, it basically just sounded like a school shooter simulator. I knew that they didn’t see it that way, but kids have been punished more for less and I don’t wanna set them up for failure and act like this isn’t a taboo subject.
So here’s the deal. I’m a firm believer that contradicting kids’ immediate lived experiences is awful for their self-confidence and erodes their trust with you. Also, shooting things in video games is really fun. Also, it’s funny when the cops run scared instead of helping in the anime mass shooter video game. I’m not sure it’s funny to both of us for the same reasons, but I needed to find a way to get my worry across without literally telling them that their enjoyment of this thing was fake, actually.
I told them that when I was little, people said that playing violent video games makes you violent. They said that doesn’t make sense and I said I know. So to try and explain why it might be bad for them to go to school and talk about this game, I had to first explain what a school shooting was, that it was frequent, but not frequent enough for them to be afraid of going to their school. Probably an exaggeration, but the alternative is that they are terrified and start refusing to go to school, which will get CPS called on me. I don’t want my kid to be the victim of a state-sanctioned kidnapping for not attending government-mandated daycare, so I downplayed school shootings to my 10yo. Sue me.
Needless to say, :amerikkka:
And from there I explained that people often enjoy violence in movies and games and think it’s funny because they’ve never experienced that kind of violence. And then if they ever do experience that kind of violence, those same video games or movies can make them upset now. So for the adults who know about mass shootings, they’ll get upset if they hear about this one kind of violence, but not necessarily another.
So I think they get it… but also playing as an anime schoolgirl with a katana and a pistol genuinely does look pretty fun. So are there any games which could potentially replace this one but wouldn’t sound so mass-murderer-y if they talk about them to other people? Maybe a shooter that isn’t super fashy and isn’t US propaganda?
Edit: they said they want cute demons, if that’s checkbox anyone knows how to check. Anything resembling anime would be good too. They originally found this game by searching “anime games”
Maybe the new Wolfenstein games (starting with New Order). You can teach them how it's always ok to kill Nazis.
I was thinking that, but that might be a bit too graphic. Ideally the violence would be more cartoony. If it doesn’t fuck with them I don’t care and I trust them to self report that, but I also don’t wanna drop money on a game that’s obviously just gonna scare them. Also Wolfenstein: Youngblood has coop, which is appealing, but the reviews are shit
alternatively, definitely teach your kids to steal correctly so they don't get caught
:this: My kids know that if you don’t grab if from the seed box we’re gonna get an angry letter from the ISP
unironically father of the fuckin' year over here, you're raising some good ones
For more cartoony violence I would say maybe TF2, but it's not 2012 anymore. Maybe Fortnite? As long as you can keep them away from whatever microtransaction bs it has.
Or maybe expand genres with a 3D platformer or something. In fact, seeing your edit as I was writing this, I realized Demon Turf could be perfect.
Edit: Demon Turf has a free demo so they can see if they like it.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is perfectly playable at this point. It's not as good as the other games in the series, but a lot of the criticism was because it was kinda messy at launch (Denuvo) and a lot of people played it solo, which was... a poor choice on their part.
Yeah Wolfenstein 1 and 2 are way too gory and inappropriate, like I remember this one scene where the protagonist's pregnant wife throws grenades at a bunch of Nazis, gets her jacket lit on fire, rips it off and grabs two assault rifles while straddling the protagonist, and sprays gunfire into the Nazis as the blood hits the ceiling and sprays all over her naked pregnant torso, and he's like... damn.
I mean, neat, but,
Yeah and youngblood is a cool concept ruined by bizarre health bar grind leveling, I never finished it
the protagonist’s pregnant wife throws grenades at a bunch of Nazis, gets her jacket lit on fire, rips it off and grabs two assault rifles while straddling the protagonist, and sprays gunfire into the Nazis as the blood hits the ceiling and sprays all over her naked pregnant torso, and he’s like… damn
:volcel-judge:
Oh this may work. Probably gonna show them some gameplay and see which ones they’re interested in
Serious Sam is also super cheap, has like 3 different game styles, and even allow local split screen with multiple keyboards and mice. Kinda wild
Serious Sam is great - all the parts in between waves are about as good as they need to be but the big battles are excellent.
Damn it I remembered wrong, it's one mouse and keyboard and 3 gamepads
I had a lot of fun with the 4th one. Turning down the difficulty to like difficulty 2 or 3 of a decent # gave me not too many hard times!
Target games (point blank, duck hunt), rhythm games (beatsabre), war bad games (spec ops the line)
I uh can't fathom explaining school shootings to a child and your approach sounds very fair/understanding. Thanks, dad
making my kid play spec ops: the line because at least it doesnt take place in a school
lmao
I uh can’t fathom explaining school shootings to a child and your approach sounds very fair/understanding.
I somehow managed that explanation on the spot and was pretty happy with it tbh
Thanks, dad
Anytime, kiddo!
All you computer guys who are great with the cyber, should be modding video games to be based and just dropping IRL physical links to them at your local playground
nothing will radicalize a kid more than playing sailor moon shoot up the hogs
nothing will radicalize a kid more than playing sailor moon shoot up the hogs
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I played Destroy All Humans remake not long ago, they make fun of America, cops and military. Lots of probing jokes might be fun for a kid.
Does also make fun of the era where it's "blame communists for evrything", maybe can be a little conversation starter for your kid.
Edit: the sequel Destroy All humans 2 Reprobed is coming out soon
I remember Stubbs the Zombie being a funny parody of red scare times. Been a while since I've played it but tons of fun
I read your post to the end, but by the time I got there I'd forgotten you'd said they were 10 in the title and was like "anime cute demons, give them Bayonetta lmao"
Do not give your 10 year old Bayonetta yet, it is way too horny
Just looked that game up and Jee-Zus it looks like a bit much for a kid to have context for. So anyways for suggestions:
Chex Quest -https://store.steampowered.com/app/804270/Chex_Quest_HD/
Fashion Police Squad (ACAB, but it's a nonviolent shooter ) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1319460/Fashion_Police_Squad/
Portal series? co-op is probably not happening but playing single-player pass-the-controller and figuring out the puzzles together might be fun.
also maybe just some older emulated games? would probably be quite fun, oppos for playing some games with your kid and tell him where red barrels come from.
We’ve done a bit of emulation stuff before so leaning into that would be decent. I’ve considered playing some GoldenEye with them
Haha I remember finding out that my mom was really close to taking away Goldeneye because it was too violent
Lmao
Neir Automata. They want Neir Automata.
Might send them into a cycle of existential despair over the inevitable death of all humanity, but it has cute anime girls with swords so mood booster on balance I say.
God this is so spot on it’s scary. I really just worry that it’s too hard. I died several times during the initial half hour opening sequence and having to restart several times and lose that much progress right off the bat would destroy this kid
I grew up with SNES and N64 games so I suspect kids can take Neir if I managed to complete Alex Kidd in Miracle World.
Doesn't the easy mode have the ability to basically play itself?
MechWarrior games? I was just a little older than 10 when I got into those. No gore because you’re never shooting infantry really, just 30-100 ton mechs powered by nuclear reactors built by GM and Nissan (don’t worry the pilots eject) and other conventional vehicles. Lots of fun in the customization of your mech - swapping weapons (different lasers,cannons,missiles) juggling a balance of armor, heat sinks, electronic warfare, engine performance to stay within the mech chassis’ max weight.
Not really shooting cops but the universe is basically game of thrones in space with battle mechs instead of knights. You get to shoot monarchists, space imperial japan, space at&t turned techno cult , and psycho eugenicists
Mw2-4 are kind of a bitch to set up on modern machines but if you’re interested look into “ Mechwarrior quadrology ” it’s freeware meant for modern computer which i had luck getting 3 and 4 to run on win 10. Mechwarrior 5 is pretty good too and is even better with lots of cool mods installed. You can play all of them with either mouse keyboard or a joystick
There’s also old mech commander RTS/tactics games as well as the turn based strategy Battletech, a tabletop game which started it all, and a bunch of novels
For more traditional FPS maybe quake 1? Spooky gothic theme and the gibs are pretty primitive but some of the monsters are pretty scary. They can do what my friend and I did which was record all our own sound effects to make the game really funny. Half Life 1 falls into this same category of scariness, but you get to shoot US soldiers which is cool. Maybe wait on these two games for a year or two.
Cute demons? Uhh Luigi’s mansion?
Jet Set Radio taught me to hate pigs as a kid without being a hyper violence simulator
Tried to pirate Jet Set Radio Future a few years ago and it’s surprisingly difficult to find
I recommend payday just for the fact that killing cops is fun. Probably not a good recommendation otherwise
I had to first explain what a school shooting was, that it was frequent, but not frequent enough for them to be afraid of going to their school.
I'm so not looking forward to this. The thought of explaining such awful shit to my baby girl, not even a year old, has me terrified
You’ve got time, friend. It’s weird realizing and accepting that your kids will experience both the immense joy and the deep despair that comes with life. But for now, hopefully the worst thing she’s experienced is an earache or some bad gas. I’m sure you’ll make her feel safe and be encouraging to her when she’s kind. Laying that foundation makes conversations like this a lot easier down the line. Do your best to just enjoy her for now.
