5 days Ago
The grand appeal of video games over other art forms is the freedom they grant us to do whatever the hell we want - within reason, of course. You can become the main character as they set out on their adventure, and while most video games are all about the power fantasy of embodying a beloved hero, many nevertheless offer players the opportunity to harness their inner jerk to the max. Whether intentionally or not, some games grant players the chance to unleash their inner a**hole in the most overt manner possible, by committing actions of tremendous cruelty, savagery, and gut-wrenching violence.
But many developers also foresaw the potential for this to happen, and so baked into the gameplay an appropriate punishment to try and dissuade players from going this nasty route. From discouraging players with hugely negative consequences for their behaviour, to straight-up tapping on the fourth wall and guilt-tripping them, and perhaps even soft-locking further progress, these games all found uniquely creative ways to stop players from indulging the darkest parts of their personality. It's impossible for any game to fully stamp out unconscionable player behaviour, but these ones at least gave it a strong college try.
.. 8.
Teamkillers Go To The Brig - America's Army Who among us has never killed a teammate in an online shooter, whether by accident or for a deliberate, silly giggle? It's a common problem in most shooters either way, but FPS America's Army came up with a hilariously novel way to dissuade problematic players from flanking their own team. Basically, those who repeatedly kill teammates will be kicked from the server and sent to "prison" - a holding cell that effectively puts the player in time-out for a short while, in an attempt to discourage TK'ing. Amusingly, the prison in question is actually Fort Leavenworth's United States Disciplinary Barracks - a maximum security facility designed to hold court-martialled servicemen in real life.
The game will also send you here if you decide to shoot your Drill Sergeant or other soldiers during the training level. But clearly, the operating utility was to curb rampant team-killing online by making the consequences a time-wasting pain in the ass..
