Kid Friendly/ Child appropriate

[rptb1]

Forget the blood. Skyrim makes it very hard to be consistently morally good and treat other people well. Most of the morally evil choices have good results or no consequences. It's a libertine fantasy. I think if you're worried about the game's influence on your children then you're looking in the wrong place. I don't believe you can "fix" this with a mod.

 

(For what it's worth, my 9yo nephew plays, supervised. He just likes hunting dragons using magic.)

Edited February 4, 2012 by rptb1

[Staind716]

I personally think this whole thread is ridiculous. Mods currently available that change horses into My Little Ponies and armor into Superman styled outfits are asinine in my opinion. But that is the beauty of mods, if you don't like it simply don't use it. Everyone has different tastes. I also don't understand why the person who started this thread is so worried about what other people think. If that's the mod you want to make then make it. I find this approval seeking very childish in itself.

[sbz619]

I'll be blunt with this: I won't cast my hand one way or the other regarding the argument. I posted suggestions regarding the concept of the mod.

If it's not your thing, you don't have to download it or use it. If the idea leaves you flabbergasted and unable to coherently express your rage, please go calm down before replying.

"But he/she/it asked for my opinion!"

I will remind everyone that RenownedWolfman also asked for

a good friendly debate is something this forum needs right now. (not those flame wars we've been having)

...and sarcasm and bashing does not a friendly discussion merit. I'm not trying to micro-moderate, only to call attention to a request for civility. (Bear in mind this post was started when there were only three posts in the thread other than it, and two were sarcastic. I'll leave this here, though, because it should always be taken into account: sarcasm doesn't promote healthy debate.)

 

Do I think Skyrim should be made kid-friendly? No. But then, my mother ingrained in me the knowledge that there is a distinct difference between what's real and what's digital. She also talked to me like a sane human being as an infant/small child (none of that GOOJIE WOOJIE WOO crap) and sat me down and talked with me about relevant, intelligent matters such as death (of a pet, and how it fits with the rest of the world) alcohol/tobacco (and what it does) and procreation (and what constitutes the good and bad of both). I was ready, morally and mentally, for a game like Skyrim before I was old enough to drive, because I was treated like a human being, and taught what it all means.

 

That said, Skyrim has a large world, with a deep backstory. There's nothing in Skyrim that's worse than what you'd find in books like the Lord of the Rings series, or Stephen King's Dark Tower series, or any number of other fantastical worlds. I'm all for bringing access of that to the younger generation, within reason, and provided they have been certified as being able to handle it. And, to address a direct quote:

>

What's next, changing swords to feathers and turning death into laughing fits? This is a game filled with violence. You can burn your enemies to toast, behead them with swords or crush their bones with a mace. To censor violence in a game filled to the brim with killings sounds ludicrous.

I'm not suggesting the removal of violence entirely (nor does the mod creator). The alternative opening scene I suggested removes the beheaded soldier, and doesn't run the risk of replacing one potentially nightmare-inducing scene (for an impressionable mind, however mature it is) with another (say, the guy's throat getting slit). You could just as easily have Ulfric Dragon Shout the guy into a wall and achieve the same effect: taking the Imperial out of the equation without a big bloody mess. To be honest, I'd suggest taking that route (if Ulfric has a Fus Ro Dah sound file, at least) just to replace the lack of Alduin's neck-saving shockwave in the vanilla game.

 

The mod aims to remove decapitation, and I suggested further removing specialty kills entirely (thus, no beheading with swords or crushing with maces). Remove those and the blood-splatter, and while you effectively castrate the gravitas of combat, you also remove much of what turns a game from a T rating to an M. It's the difference between Superman and Lobo slugging it out, and Supes tearing Lobo's head off and punting it into low Earth orbit.

 

 

+1

[AlienSensei]

Personally, I think you added a bit too much by changing alcoholic drinks. I guess you are gonna do skooma now too? Anyways, my little brother is a huge lore fan, if he were removed with those (Or I removed them for him with a mod) he'd get pissed at me for it. Besides that I do see how some things may be a little too violent and scary/too evil for children (dark brotherhood for example) but blood shouldn't be much for a problem. It's supposed to be realistic and it's still killing somebody no matter if there is blood or not.