Is Killing Aliens In Video Games Really OK?

[MovieMaker5087]

Yo.

Back in August when I was taking my brake from MoFo (the one no one knew about since I really wasn't all that popular yet... sorry if I sound like I'm bragging) I was at another forum, HBO (http://halo.bungie.org/), a Halo fan web site. And I was on their forums under the same name, and I brought up a question that is the exact same question that is used for this thread's title:

Is Killing Aliens In Video Games Really OK?

What you're going to read next is exactly copied from HBO's forums. Just to let you know, Frankie is an employee who works for the company that makes Halo, Bungie. Back in the day before Halo 2's release, he would do something called Frankie's Weekly Update, which would basically update fans on Halo 2's status. Well, in one particular update, Frankie went to Europe to show different countries the violence and language Halo 2 had in it, and to see if it could meet the censorship standards (which it did). My post on HBO is directly copied and pasted, and went as follows:

I was reading Frankie's latest Halo 2 weekly update (the one wear he goes to Europe) and I found the part interesting when the two Brits were OK about killing off a thousand Covenant soldiers, with all the blood and gore and such, as long as they weren't humen. Well, has anyone ever thought of this before? First, let me say that my mother and sister-in-law appose violence in video games, but they say that "killing aliens is OK". Well, what if, somewhere out in the far regions of space, some advance speices of aliens (say like the Covenant) somehow manage to see a demo of Halo, and take notice that we're killing them off. What if they got angry and came and rose hell of Earth cuz of it? Or what if aliens decided to live on Earth? Then how would we get away with it?

"In your video game, do you kill any species belonging to the Zorgon race?"

"Why, yes! You can destroy thousands of them in one shot and splatter blood and such everywhere!"

"Well, we're gonna have to ban your game due to the fact some things... I mean people might get a tad offended by the mass alien carnage..."

I could hear my mom and sis-in-law now: "Turn that game off! It's far too violent! You know your cousin Aafwearojfd is from Zorgon and he would find that very offensive! But it's OK as long as your killing something other than that..."

Has anyone else ever thought of such a thing before? What do you guys think about this? I mean, you never know...

So basically, yeah... what do you guys, the MoFo, think about this? I mean, to be serious, you really never know...

If you want to see what the people on HBO said, you can read the entire discussion here (http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive16.pl?read=460058).

[Garrett]

Unless Covenant forces invade earth, I think we'll be fine.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I think this is a very interesting question.
While it seems funny to consider the feelings of aliens that we don't know exist, there is a related question that is a lot closer to home: why is it ok to kill some people and not others? What if someone isn't an alien, but they're a murderer? What if they're not a murderer, but they're a soldier? What if they're not a soldier, but they want to take your car? What if they don't want to take your car, but you don't like what they look like? Where would aliens fall in this range? What do we base the answers to these questions on?

[Garrett]

Confusing words.

What?

[Garrett]

I generally try to avoid intelligent discussion.

(this is indeed a double post, but fear not, friends, I did it for the sake of comedy)

[SamsoniteDelilah]

What?
hee...
It's ok. You have a cute AV. :)

[Nitzer]

Yes it is ok. Fire up HL2 and whoop some vortiguant ass!

[Tea Barking]

If aliens are offended then the solution is simple, whoop their hides in an online grudge match!

[Mose]

I see nothing wrong with it, but not b/c I'm concerned with Aliens misunderstaning the human race :) As long as parents pay a reasonable amount of attention to what their kids are doing they should be able to monitor what games they are playing. A game like Halo isn't meant for young children and hopefully the adults who play the game can differentiate between aliens and us... although it can be damn fun to see how many marines you can kill before they bring you down... Yup, I'm a sick bastard!

[Nitzer]

Most of the 18+ games are played by a much younger range of people (me) and i don't see how it made me a whole lot more violent. Look at SoF, must be the most violent game ever made, but it's fun, that's all I can say. Games were meant for fun, if some psycho decides to pretend hes Gordon Freeman and whack a few people with a crowbar, it's not the game's fault, he msut have been mentally ill before and it's no reason to say that violent games are responsible for anything. Don't like it, don't play it.

[SpoOkY]

Where would aliens fall in this range? What do we base the answers to these questions on?

Simply put; I don't think aliens fall into that range at all because all those examples are human circumstances. You're unlikely to be offended when something a game developer invented (covenent) is killed because it's so unreal it doesn't relate to real life.

There is a point concerning how violence is portrayed in games and movies and how this can affect children, but as long as they know the difference between real and make-believe then in my opinion Alien killing will affect them far less (if at all) than human killing in games.

So yes kill the aliens....kill them all!!

[The Taxi Driver]

i dont have a problem with killing Aliens. in fact i dont have a problem killing anyone in a game because i know its a game. The only time i have a problem in a game is when a killing game sets a part inside a church and bullets are flying around the church. i dont believe in that

[MovieMaker5087]

You guys are taking this in the wrong direction: who cares about kids and the violence in video games in a topic like this! I'm just asking is it OK to kill an alien if they should ever come down to Earth with ray guns and decide to stay here?!?!?!

[The Taxi Driver]

well if Aliens come down with ray guns and they see us killing them in Halo and stuff then they can go play Grand theft Auto and kill humans that way we can all kill each other in peace.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

You guys are taking this in the wrong direction: who cares about kids and the violence in video games in a topic like this! I'm just asking is it OK to kill an alien if they should ever come down to Earth with ray guns and decide to stay here?!?!?!
Only if their planet is rich in oil.

[HellboyUnleashed]

I think as long as we dont shoe games killing innocents it will be ok. Even if there were aliens and they got a hold of a demo and showed us killing them then that might make them scared of us and never promote an attack. i'm not worried about it in the least and you shouldnt be either.

[Equilibrium]

Aliens are meant to represent the unknown..not a specific peoples.



And plus, I seriously doubt game developers know what aliens look like.

[DexterRiley]

I think this is a very interesting question.
While it seems funny to consider the feelings of aliens that we don't know exist, there is a related question that is a lot closer to home: why is it ok to kill some people and not others? What if someone isn't an alien, but they're a murderer? What if they're not a murderer, but they're a soldier? What if they're not a soldier, but they want to take your car? What if they don't want to take your car, but you don't like what they look like? Where would aliens fall in this range? What do we base the answers to these questions on?


I wonder if the AP will run stories from the press conference today, featuring former Air Force Officers discussing this very thing.

Reports claim that U.S. Air Force and British RAF officers say UFOs tampered with nukes. Over the years, there have been several stories about UFOs near military installations where nuclear weapons are stored. These include an incident where UFOs tampered with nukes, deactivating ten Minuteman missiles according to Captain Robert Salas. He says “I was on duty (March 16, 1967) when an object came over and hovered directly over the site. The missiles shut down – ten Minuteman (nuclear) missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later.”




Captain Salas goes on to say “There’s a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they’re not from planet Earth.” Salas adds “The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it.”

Captain Salas was stationed at the time at Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana. He is just one of a half-dozen former military officers who have gone public, speaking at the National Press Club. Furthermore, some 120 military officers and enlisted personnel have made similar statements. UFOs appearing at military bases with nuclear weapons have been reported as far back as 1947, the year of the infamous crash at Roswell, New Mexico. The unit stationed at Roswell was none other than the 509th Bomber Group, the same which dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War Two.

[Sexy Celebrity]

Don't expect anything big to come from that story. I saw it as well, yesterday, on CNN.com. Now I see a story called "Gay Man Denied Rainbow Cupcakes". It's all just filler. UFO stories pop up all the time, but if UFOs/aliens actually exist, they're still not gonna tell us, no matter how many Air Force officers take the stage to tell their stories.

[DexterRiley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Y6VkvU_Cs

the blonde is a bit of a dingbat..or at least she plays that role on TV.

[earlsmoviepicks]

NO it is not OK. Anal probes are not funny, and they hurt.

[rufnek]

Is killing aliens in a computer game OK? Wait a minute--do you think those are living little creatures behind that screen and that they actually die when you zap 'em???? Relax, buddy, it's only a game. None of it is real.

[PumaMan]

Killing aliens is always good! Even Stephen Hawking might agree:

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

“If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

[earlsmoviepicks]

Then we better start getting busy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUJfkaczxlI

[Naisy]

If the options are be eaten alive or use a shotgun to blow apart an Alien then I have no problem with the example being set as its okay to kill killer Alien's its not like your killing cuddly, peace wanting, friendly e.t.'s the situations are kill or be killed. I also feel the same way for demon's, ghosts and Oprah

[earlsmoviepicks]

Is killing aliens in a computer game OK? Wait a minute--do you think those are living little creatures behind that screen and that they actually die when you zap 'em???? Relax, buddy, it's only a game. None of it is real.

“What is ‘real’? How do you define ‘real’? If you mean what we can taste, smell, hear and feel then what’s ‘real’ is nothing more than electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/earlsmoviepicks/morph.jpg
:D:D

[rufnek]

“What is ‘real’? How do you define ‘real’? If you mean what we can taste, smell, hear and feel then what’s ‘real’ is nothing more than electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”


http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/earlsmoviepicks/morph.jpg
:D:D


Real is almost anything but this bird! What a weird looking flake.

[rufnek]

If the options are be eaten alive or use a shotgun to blow apart an Alien then I have no problem with the example being set as its okay to kill killer Alien's its not like your killing cuddly, peace wanting, friendly e.t.'s the situations are kill or be killed. I also feel the same way for demon's, ghosts and Oprah

I kept hoping the townspeople would hunt down ET and chop him to bits with their axes. He's the best argument I know of for open season on aliens.

But I liked the concept of using Slim Whitman recordings to wipe out the aliens in Mars Attacks. Now that was cool!!!

[earlsmoviepicks]

Blasphemy!