Battlekid

[plasticflesh]

Hi Idlethumbs Forum! A friend sent me this random interesting link of screen shots for a fake game "Battlekid". I don't know a good place on this forum to put it, so I am making a new thread for it.

http://www.monogocoro.jp/2012/11/20/battlekid.html

[Lu]

That is awful.

[plasticflesh]

I think it's an expansion pack for Real Lives 2010

[youmeyou]

Ah so it's just an Amnesty International PSA... interesting. I'm at work otherwise I'd see if you can actually play it at all (or if it just says "YOU'RE ACTUALLY TRYING TO PLAY THIS, YOU MONSTER?")

[plasticflesh]

Oh! Indeed it is. Here is the official site: http://battlekid-thegame.com/

It's taking a while to load.

[plasticflesh]

youmeyou is 100% accurate, the game lets you choose a location and a creepy load out, and then gives you a splash image saying in french there are tons of child soldiers in the world.

[Lu]

Is the conclusion I draw from that as patronizing as it sounds in my head? "This isn't a video game, people!"

[youmeyou]

It's essentially Spec Ops but way more explicit.

[TychoCelchuuu]

youmeyou is 100% accurate, the game lets you choose a location and a creepy load out, and then gives you a splash image saying in french there are tons of child soldiers in the world.

Whoa, spoilers!

[Orv]

Is the conclusion I draw from that as patronizing as it sounds in my head? "This isn't a video game, people!"

It is.

[plasticflesh]

I guess i erred by posting a non-Video game in a Video game subforum. I'M SORRY ALRIGHT

[arccos]

youmeyou is 100% accurate, the game lets you choose a location and a creepy load out, and then gives you a splash image saying in french there are tons of child soldiers in the world.

I always wondered who they let join the French Foreign Legion.

The sequel should let you put stickers on the guns. That SKS would look pretty sweet with some Spongebob on it!

[Orv]

I guess i erred by posting a non-Video game in a Video game subforum. I'M SORRY ALRIGHT

Shuuuuuun!

(It's cool, even if the topic isn't.)

[syntheticgerbil]

I enjoy the Spongebob and Hello Kitty marketing tie ins. I want a cereal!

[brkl]

So is that speaking against the use of child soldiers in war or against video games? It's weird, because this kind of approach could be somewhat successful in raising the issue of child soldiers for people who play games. However, if it's trying to decry games as well, it's not going to get that point across, is it?

If one wanted to make a game about the use of child soldiers, I think it's the wrong approach to place the player in the child soldier's position. Player's don't feel empathy towards the player avatar. They can, however, feel empathy towards NPCs. A better approach would be to place the player in the role of the commander who's sending the kids to battle. The player either has to use his child soldiers more effectively than the opposition, or he will lose, which will of course make the player feel like drowning himself. The game would have to drive home that there is no way to win the battle without child soldiers. That is, it's not a matter of strategy or tactics, and you can't just choose to not use the child soldiers if the other side is using them. The solution has to be peace through peacekeeping forces, negotiation, empowering civilians, etc.

Sorry for taking the maligned thread seriously

[I_smell]

Yeah, strategy games are all about being as efficient as possible to overcome being outnumbered or outgunned, so you can imagine exploiting that with an increasingly spooky "kidnap people's kids and teach them to kill people" upgrade path.

...Actually I guess that'd more give the player EMPATHY for african guerilla leaders. Maybe that's not the best idea.

[brkl]

I don't think so. Hitman doesn't give you empathy for sociopathic killers. I was thinking the game could show there's no way to do these guerrilla wars cleanly and that they are not just going to die down. That shit will stay horrific until it's somehow stopped.