Posted November 05, 2022
So I came across a debacle that might be useful for future reference. I know a parent that simultaneously spoils their kids and is overprotective, and that got me thinking, "hey, you should buy games from GOG" I would probably tell them (no need to pay me for advertising, just give a stipend in my GOG wallet) should they ever actually listen. But obviously they aren't going to let their kids play extremely violent video games or smut (not that you'd recommend that. I hope.) I already looked through the family friendly tags, but methinks it's skipping over huge portions that you wouldn't find.
Let's set some guidelines for different aspects:
Non-violent. Games that features no violent gameplay or imagery. I think any game I would recommend would be the Monkey Island games. It has some imagery, but it's so cartoonish and passed off as a joke, I wouldn't bother worrying about it. City building games might also work.
Cartoon violence. Violence is part of the game, but it's either abstracted well enough or is too silly to be taken seriously. I think most strategy games might work, but obviously Shantae and ilk would also work.
Violence against monsters, but not humans. Basically some people are fine with the murder of monsters as long as it's clear they're violent creatures. Humans or sympathetic creatures should not be part of the casual mayhem. Something like Quake might work, buuuut that still might have too much horrific imagery.
Violence against humans, but no blood or gore. The violence is abstract enough that you can shoot humans with real guns, but they don't spurt blood and spawn meat chunks when hit with explosives. I think Star Wars games hit this sweet spot, but maybe "yeah, you're killing people, but they're in stompy robots and tanks".
And mind you, this is on the basis of "Hey, maybe your kid would like ..." and there should be no Soldier of Fortune, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, or Jagged Alliance. I don't care if your parents let you play those games. This is a general recommendation thread that others would probably find helpful, not just for me.
Let's set some guidelines for different aspects:
Non-violent. Games that features no violent gameplay or imagery. I think any game I would recommend would be the Monkey Island games. It has some imagery, but it's so cartoonish and passed off as a joke, I wouldn't bother worrying about it. City building games might also work.
Cartoon violence. Violence is part of the game, but it's either abstracted well enough or is too silly to be taken seriously. I think most strategy games might work, but obviously Shantae and ilk would also work.
Violence against monsters, but not humans. Basically some people are fine with the murder of monsters as long as it's clear they're violent creatures. Humans or sympathetic creatures should not be part of the casual mayhem. Something like Quake might work, buuuut that still might have too much horrific imagery.
Violence against humans, but no blood or gore. The violence is abstract enough that you can shoot humans with real guns, but they don't spurt blood and spawn meat chunks when hit with explosives. I think Star Wars games hit this sweet spot, but maybe "yeah, you're killing people, but they're in stompy robots and tanks".
And mind you, this is on the basis of "Hey, maybe your kid would like ..." and there should be no Soldier of Fortune, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, or Jagged Alliance. I don't care if your parents let you play those games. This is a general recommendation thread that others would probably find helpful, not just for me.
