This is a very unusual topic, but I think you might find it interesting. After all, it is a topic we all understand yet it rarely gets much attention in the gaming media: Pregnancy in Video Games I recently came across an interesting article about this issue so I decided to blog about it.

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Clary's concern about over-simplified pregnancy in kids' games is that children will see this and it will be their only exposure to pregnancy 'til the real thing happens.

That's...extremely silly. Even most of the US has good mostly-mandatory sex education.

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"It's like Guitar Hero," she said. "You play Guitar Hero and it's nothing like playing guitar.

Right!

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"I would definitely argue that Guitar Hero and the like should become more like real guitar playing."

Wait, what? So should Fable also implement realistic medieval combat, injury, medicine (including a high infant mortality rate)? Or completely realistic personal relationships in The Sims? Or an appropriate investment of labor and time for farming in Harvest Moon?

No. They're games. And games and movies take extraordinary liberties with realism (and I don't mean the "omg there are elves and dragons wtf" kind). Anyone trying to take serious lessons or learn things from them is (almost always) deeply misguided. It's just not their role as entertainment.

I don't think it'd be tough to add stuff in for dealing with being a pregnant female player character. How many games out there have you partnering up with other npcs anyways? You can simply hire a few extra henchmen or focus on areas and tasks that involve less combat while pregnant. And if you're in a world where you have pregnant adventurers running around everywhere, wouldn't some enterprising armourer think to develop specialized armour for that tricky third trimester? How about specialized potions or medical treatment? This is the realm of fantasy... make something up.

I think it would've absolutly kicked ass if in Fable2 you could swing by home, give your kid a toy sword, go hunting some of those stupid bugs that are everywhere, drop the kid back at the house and go on your next quest and chalk it up to time that your spouse and kid want to spend with you. Maybe, getting your kid killed counts as an evil act.

But no doubt that since these days if you were caught doing something as benign as driving with your kid in the front seat of a car you'd be labeled an unfit parent, be the main topic on the news for weeks, and never be able to show your face in public again... well it's no wonder game companies are reluctant to put pregnancy into games.

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Original post by drakostar No. They're games. And games and movies take extraordinary liberties with realism (and I don't mean the "omg there are elves and dragons wtf" kind). Anyone trying to take serious lessons or learn things from them is (almost always) deeply misguided. It's just not their role as entertainment.

If only everybody were as sensible as you! The problem is that most people take in media - whether it be music, movies, TV shows, magazines, or games - as reality. Even if they don't (and I can't see how you would take a game like Fable as reality), there is something with the human subconscious that absorbs everything it sees and does.

I once heard of a psycho-kid who killed 8 fellow students at his school before killing himself. The shocking part of the story is that every single bullet found it's mark in the heads of the other kids. Now, this kid wasn't a hunter or anything, but he learned how to use a gun on video games.

I'm not entirely blaming video games for this - because then I would be a psycho killer myself - but the games showed this crazy kid how to kill. I'd say the blame lies partially on the video games, partially in the mental mind of this kid, and the responsibility to prevent these things from happening lies with the parents.

Now I know that most people say, "Well I'd never do that... that's not me," and you're probably right. But the point is that people learn from video games. It's our nature; we are curious and inquisitive naturally, and this sort of learning takes things to a whole new level.

Back to the pregnancy issue... there's a reason they teach kids sex ed in junior high and high school - they're just not prepared for it, mentally and physically, at younger ages. I'd never thought about pregnancy and sex in video games, but... here it is.

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Wait, what? So should Fable also implement realistic medieval combat, injury, medicine

Fable isn't supposed to be a simulation, you just press buttons, you don't move around swords.
Guitar hero kind of is, since they give you a guitar and all.

How come people always tout the negatives, and never the positives when it comes to corrupting the young.

Honestly now, if it's the fault of video games for teaching kids how to kill, etc, why isn't it also because of video games that people turn criminals in, fight crime, etc?

Why don't the superhero games cause more honesty in children?


If you think about it, all games do is show possibilities. If a kid is stupid enough to do something they shouldn't, it's 100% the kids fault.
If you're going to follow the social line of thought, than it becomes the parents fault for not watching their kids.
And, if you're going to say it's not the parents responsibility to know what their kids are doing all the time, than screw the kids and the parents.
It's called priorities, and the moral character of other people's kids is not one of my priorities.

Games are meant for entertainment. If people are entertained by the content, I'm happy.

I'd love to see a game with a better take on sex than your typical Grand Theft Auto. Wouldn't you?

I didn`t know that there was a problem.
Should we hit the panic button?

Rampant stupidness.

It's not accurate, but it's fun, and that's all that matters in a game. Do we tell little boys and girls that their depiction of "house" is inaccurate, fearing that they're perpetuating errant notions? "Oh, little boys, 'Cops and Robbers' is a woefully imprecise simulacrum of the real world of criminal enterprise. Follow me; I have scheduled a showing of The Wire to edify your young minds!"

I think it's silly. Integrate real-world experiences in your game in a manner that makes sense and adds to the experience/gameplay. fin.

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Original post by adam_o If only everybody were as sensible as you! The problem is that most people take in media - whether it be music, movies, TV shows, magazines, or games - as reality.

Bull. People, even in general, aren't as stupid as you make them out to be. Can you think of any ACTUAL examples of people, that you know personally, who would take a fantastical game as reality?

It's easy to say that people are influenced by things like games, because it makes good headlines and good politics. But it's wrong.

You personally can separate fantasy from reality in fictional sources, like games. But guess what? So can everyone else.

In other words, you're NOT THAT SPECIAL.

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Even if they don't (and I can't see how you would take a game like Fable as reality), there is something with the human subconscious that absorbs everything it sees and does.

We're not slaves, beholden to our subconscious. We "absorb" everything in that we store it as memories - that doesn't necessarily warp our logical thought processes and ability to distinguish clear fantasy from reality.

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I once heard of a psycho-kid who killed 8 fellow students at his school before killing himself. The shocking part of the story is that every single bullet found it's mark in the heads of the other kids. Now, this kid wasn't a hunter or anything, but he learned how to use a gun on video games.

More likely, he was a logical, thinking human being who reasoned that shooting someone in the head is more likely to kill them - that's where the brain resides. It's common knowledge, irrespective of video games.

He knew how to use a gun not from video games specifically, but from society in general. Everyone knows how to point a gun and pull a trigger because it is common knowledge in our society! Even someone who had never played DOOM would know that.

The only reason you knew he played video games was because the media and politicians irresponsibly, for their own purposes, harped on it over and over again.

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I'm not entirely blaming video games for this - because then I would be a psycho killer myself - but the games showed this crazy kid how to kill. I'd say the blame lies partially on the video games, partially in the mental mind of this kid, and the responsibility to prevent these things from happening lies with the parents.

No. The blame lies ENTIRELY on those who have free will and responsibility, yet fail to act. That includes the kid, the parents, and the school officials who consistently failed to prevent the in-school persecution of the kids in question. That does NOT include video games, a simple form of entertainment.

You can't blame games for the actions of human beings.

Remember: New Media Are Evil.

'Videogames are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock n' Roll!'
- Shigeru Miyamoto

Back to the issue at hand - pregnancy in video games is a good thing as long as it actually contributes to the gameplay. Do I want to eat food and use the toilet in games? Even Roguelikes (which are basically RPG simulators) don't do that (well, not using the toilet - eating is fairly standard). So long as it's interesting and contributes to - rather than detracts from - gameplay, I can accept most any body function in-game. Though an interesting concept with incorrect balancing may destroy an otherwise fun game - see Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life for an example of this problem. The speed at which energy ran out and you had to eat destroyed that game for me.