Non-violent games

[Vigafre]

My question is:

Does she dislike the violence, or does she dislike the "killing aliens" trope? I ask because I can think of plenty of games that fall outside the "let's kill all the things" gameplay, but they still have violence (like, Legend of Zelda, for example).

[RedNightmare]

My question is:

Does she dislike the violence, or does she dislike the "killing aliens" trope? I ask because I can think of plenty of games that fall outside the "let's kill all the things" gameplay, but they still have violence (like, Legend of Zelda, for example).

Good guestion, I don't really know. I'll ask her next time I see her.

[AdmiralMemo]

Yeah. MineCraft is totally outside the "Killing Aliens" type, but still has you fighting creepers, skeletons, zombies, etc. That is, unless you just want to hide from them.

[empath]

Another thing to consider is: violence enacted on the protagonist - take Minecraft; you can be as pacifistic as you want, but a skeleton is still going to fill you full of arrows. Now MC has the option to avoid this matter by changing the game's difficulty to "Peaceful"...but still.

"Beyond Good & Evil" gets lauded not for being a 'non-violent' game, but by encouraging the player to avoid violent ways of resolving conflict.

Heck, Mirror's Edge is another game of that vein, but even more of a 'anti-violent' game (the ANtagonists are loose and easy with violence, while the PROtagonist leans more to 'flight' rather than 'fight'), but again, if you're looking for "no violence at all", it might not be the best choice.

Even moreso Deus Ex (it IS possible (though by no means easy) to go through the original with maybe only a handful of deaths on your hands, but DXHR (the only real sequel) is pretty overt in offering 'pacifistic alternatives')

...but then you've still got a fair amount of violence as the primary form of conflict driving the game's story.


And that MIGHT be the rub here - ANY game has to have conflict to be resolved, challenges and obstacles to be overcome. But, Peggle or Grand Prix Legends and Sim City (minus the disasters) manage to convey all that without resorting to violence.

...while Counter-Strike and Contra and Carmaggedon do - heck, the latter revels in it.

(Any racing game, Gunner? )

And then you get the grey area - Mario Kart; a rather light-hearted, fun game...but some would say it still has violence as a means to resolve competition. Ditto for just about anything by Traveller's Tales (all the LEGO games) - 'cartoon violence' might be dismissed by some as innocuous, but still a problem for others.


So I guess Vig's question (reworded) of "Does she dislike violence present in the game, or is it more a case of her not wanting to be made to act in a violent manner to progress in the game?" is the most germane right now.

...



...which has been responded to and we'll have to wait and hear back what you learn from her.

(I really wish I had paid more attention before I started pontificating like this. Oh well, I'll 'come down' off all this brain-fizzing intellectualism and go fiddle with the 'shooting gallery' teaser-game from the prospective Interstellar Marines. )

[Myrph]

--The Last Express: I played this one earlier this year, and it immediately went to the top of my absolute favorite games I have ever played, and I have been playing games for a good fifteen years now. Also just got re-released on iOS, so there's a bit of renewed interest in it. (Although I played the PC game and will heartily recommend it.)

Admittedly I was probably only 9 or 10 at the time, but my Dad gave me Last Express after I got heavily into Myst, and by god, that game gave me nightmares. That opening scene on the train, with the corpse and all the blood? Terrifying.

Now that I'm 21, I'd love to go back and try it again, but those terrifying memories of it have kinda put a dampener on it...

[Cureless_Poison]

Garry's Mod technically isn't a violent game, it's a sandbox/construct program.

Can do anything from posing art, to making contraptions and make-shift machines, etc. etc.

[EikoandMog]

Maybe try some visual novel style games. The DS has the Ace Attorney games as well as 999. They both have violence, 999 featuring some rather grotesque descriptions of violence but nothing truly shown and Phoenix Wright has murder as the key plot device. There's a sequel for 999 on 3DS and Vita as well but I can't say if that's good or not.

For iOS or DS, Ghost Trick is fantastic. Still has violence much like Phoenix Wright but preventing said violence is more of the point there. The iOS version lets you pay per chapter or just get the whole thing outright so that's a nice testing the waters approach.

If all else fails... Professor Layton?

EDIT: Scratch all that, didn't see the part in the first post about PC only games. I am dumb.

[empath]

Visual Novels...that makes me think of another DigDist platform, Desura. I find there's a bigger proportion of indie games there (for better and worse) and a surprising amount of free games or at least playable demos for same.

Recently I'd tried one V/N over there, "Re:Alistair++", and was pleasantly surprised by the writing. As far as I can tell, that's the only free Virtual Novel Desura's got, but the others I noted in my skimming are rather economically-priced. She could always try the above free V/N I mentioned - there's no violent action present, and only some mentioned/referred to indirectly - and go from there...

[Myrph]

Maybe try some visual novel style games. The DS has the Ace Attorney games as well as 999. They both have violence, 999 featuring some rather grotesque descriptions of violence but nothing truly shown and Phoenix Wright has murder as the key plot device. There's a sequel for 999 on 3DS and Vita as well but I can't say if that's good or not.

Except for the part with the character 9 exploding at the beginning, then having you work through the blood stained room where he died. That was incredibly vivid.

[Sieg Reyu]

Crayon Physics Deluxe
Cogs
Osmos
SHATTER!!!! (love that game)

[ANeMzero]

Rock of Ages is destroying STUFF but not people... Still too violent?

You can roll over peasants for extra cash. Peasants are people too, you classist jerkface.

Also, the ultimate goal of each and every level is to roll over the opposing leader, who is a person.

[AdmiralMemo]

Fair enough. I bought it during the sale and haven't actually played it yet. I was just going by trailers.

[Dave-O_Boy]

Suggestions from my steam list:
Beat Hazard
Bit.Trip Beat
Blueberry Garden
Chime
Cities XL 2012
Closure
Cogs
Droplitz
English Country Tune
Fractal
The Next BIG Thing
Osmos
Puzzle Agent (1 and 2. 1 is better)
Puzzle Dimenison
Q.U.B.E
Quantum Conundrum
RUSH
Shatter
Solar 2
Splice
Universe Sandbox

Hope that helps!

[RobertMc123]

Animal Crossing? Seems very non-violent to me. Pullblox or as it is called overseas Pushmo.

[EikoandMog]

Maybe try some visual novel style games. The DS has the Ace Attorney games as well as 999. They both have violence, 999 featuring some rather grotesque descriptions of violence but nothing truly shown and Phoenix Wright has murder as the key plot device. There's a sequel for 999 on 3DS and Vita as well but I can't say if that's good or not.

Except for the part with the character 9 exploding at the beginning, then having you work through the blood stained room where he died. That was incredibly vivid.

Well that's why I said descriptions and a lot of them truly are horrible and disgusting. Going to see 9 again for the Safe ending is just wrong. Worst you see is the blood splatter. Same for door 3 where the fake Snake is waiting for you but in that case the state of his body is a plot device.

[Jopoho]

Animal Crossing? Seems very non-violent to me. Pullblox or as it is called overseas Pushmo.

Tom Nook's aggressive business practices make you wish there was violence though.

I had a lot of fun with Snuggle Truck on Steam. It's about driving stuffed animals, so I think it's in the clear in terms of violence.

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

I would say Uncharted Waters II, since I always found the battles in that so stupidly hard and I always lost that I never did them.

I mean once I was exploring down the Nile and some pirates AMBUSHED ME!

Seriously? They decided to have their WHOLE pirate fleet at the source of the Nile just hoping some poor shmuck would come and be ambushed? I mean seriously?

And I'm not talking about a 3 on 2 battle either, I'm talking about at least 15 on 2. And my two ships are not fully armed, since y'know I wasn't expecting a whole armada to try and take me out.

ugh... /rant.

EDIT: Although saying that I only ever played as the trader or explorers, not the pirate, so I can't fully criticise the combat system since I never tried to win, I just always got outnumbered.

Yeah so if that doesn't float your boat (Before post edit:no pun intended BTW) you can always try Princess Maker 2. It's oddly an addictive game for such a simple concept, plus it's so re-playable as there are around 20 different endings and some of them are impossible to reach without some sort of cheat IMO. Although that might just be a reflection on how poor of a parent I would be.

EDIT 2: Thinking back on it, since I haven't played PM2 in ages, I think there is a combat system in it where you can send your 14 year old daughter to fight various monsters, because y'know, that's what all good parents do right? Let their teenage kid fight monsters all on their own.

So yeah, may not be as non-violent as I remembered, although you can argue it's optional.

[RoyalBlue]

Thomas was alone, you're literally a square with no arms who can only jump. Zero violence.
I'm pretty sure that you can play fallout new vegas without killing anyone.

[Geoff_B]

You can play FNV without killing anyone (including the last boss if your stats are high enough) but a lot of violent stuff happens around you so it may not fit the bill.

[Smeghead]

Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe

[Geoff_B]

How about Koi-Koi?

[RedNightmare]

Man, this thread really took off! I need to compile a new list to send her with all these suggestions. Thanks people, you're awesome!

[Lmadison]

I love World of Goo. Make sure that is part of the list.

[DeltaStrata]

I am gravedigging a bit, I apologize. But I didn't see To The Moon on anyone's liste. And To The Moon should be on everyone's liste. >=/

[RedNightmare]

^Amen to that. Don't worry, I'll relate that one to my friend first