TOTAL NEWBIE: Seeking Fun, Non-Violent Games

As narsnail suggested, NHL 08 !!
Also for Need For Speed, I'd honestly suggest the older games like NFS : Most Wanted or NFS : Carbon, NFS : ProStreet , the new one, was a complete let-down!

 

Inkball in vista! i played that for about 3 hours when i first got my vista pc.

 

Civilization IV might be another one. There is a fighting aspect to it, but you do not need to fight if you develop your economy well. Admitedly I didn't play the game much, tho I did play it for a week, and every game I played my economy was so well developed that all the computers wanted to be my allies

Oh, and flow, it requires next to no hardware resources, but it looks awesome, and well you are a small creature floating around and swallowing other creatures... I guess that's violent, but it's also on the most basic level what it is to be alive.

 

So right now, it's...
Portal
Need For Speed
NHL 08
Harry Potter

in order of preference... Ideally, I'd place RCT3 (RollerCoaster Tycoon 3) above all.....

 

flight simulator x

 

try your luck with sims2

 

Ah yes... Sims 2 too! And Sim City....

And theres also these all-time classics!! -
Uplink : Hacker Elite (fun hacking sim)
Bejeweled 2 (loads of addictive fun!)

 

Just get Portal, you wont regret it.

 

go to
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?type=games&platform=5
from the pull down menu choose genre then see them one by one with snapshots & video reviews before you put your money on the table.
May take you some time but i am sure you will choose well.

 

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.

Flight Simulator X.

 

Thanks everyone!

I've exhausted my Rep-props for today!

I can't thank you all enough. Before today, I'd never heard of steam, Portal, or a lt of these games before!

@dtwn83... yep, that's a Bothan in my sig and avatar... with a Watchmen theme. (Yes, I am going to watch a violent movie on 03-06-09... but my kids won't.)

@morningstar and comper... I bought this system on the recommendations from folk on this board when I was seeking something powerful to do video editing. I always over-buy when it comes to computers, but I hang onto them for a really, really long time. I really, really want to try to see if I can go the peaceful route in Spore; it will be very interresting to see if it is actually possible to go down that path (and survive, and thrive).

@masterchief (and everyone else)... I don't disrespect you, your ideas, or your insights-- I just don't get a kick out of killing things anymore.

I have had quite a few courses in psychology, but not philosophy. I am awol (ABD) in a PhD program in Communication, and I did my masters of divinity at Yale, but I never really took a lot of classes in philosophy (besides philosophy of religion courses). I will probably do some online courses in Philosophy from Yale in the future, but I just don't have time for that right now. When I was younger I really enjoyed crawling around on my friends farm, dressed in camo, toting plastic uzis and BARs-- it was like living out "The Most Dangerous Game." Back then, it was thrilling. Now, I am just a different person. Now I know people who are (and have been, and continue to be, and have died being) traumatized doing the things (with real bullets) that I used to just "play" at doing.

I really didn't intend to start a discussion about the effects of FPSs or violence on TV and all that, but I really appreciate everyone keeping the tone civil and helpful.

Maybe I have such an intense aversion to killing people (and other creatures) in video games because I got so INCREDIBLY motion-sick playing doom on my first PC.

 

As anybody talked about Audiosurf, Darwinia, Tumiki Fighters(fun, free, good time killer), Black and White?

 

I kinda feel ya there. For different reasons. I understand completely not wanting to have violent video games around when you have kids around.

It's funny, many of my friends are growing so bored with FPS games. Its like... not that much fun. Like the last half of HL2 was just killing crap. So boring. Guess some of us want something more... dunno how to put it. But we want more than killing crap.

But part of what some of us were trying to say, wasn't anything with that your wrong about your views, but I myself wasn't really sure why you didn't want violent games. Some people just don't understand that a game can be violent, yet have a great story and have a lot of emotional drive in it. But I see you do understand that.

Anytime violence and video games gets brought up, the subject of violent media and its effects is likely to follow. Not your fault that we kinda semi-hijacked the thread on that. It's something that has been on the minds of many of us gamers for the past few years due to people like Jack Thompson. It's too bad we don't have a Jello Biafro to attack Thompson like Biafro did to Tipper Gore and party back in the 80's. Biafro was such a great spokesperson for freedom of speech in regards to music.

I do feel bad that you do have such an aversion to killing things. And motion sickness must really suck. I've never had it, but I think most of the games that would likely give you motion sickness are games you would likely be avoiding anyway.

BTW... someone mentioned Spore! That looks AWESOME!

 

lol That's exactly what it is but not as bad but again the story is great.

 

Rollercoaster Tycoon ~ Can be violent (& fun) depending on how the rollercoaster is designed. Dead ends, anyone?

Black & White ~ Is violent considering you can beat your avatar into submission (Black). And the villagers are always experiencing horrible methods of death that you are trying to save them (White) from, or not (Black). It is a 'God Game' after all.

Yes, Spore is THE game to get when it comes out. Not sure about the violence factor in that one, tho'.

 

Darwinia would be one of my highest recommendations, but the little pixelated dudes ARE shooting at each other, even if it looks no more violent than a game of Pong.

Darwinia is really a work of art. The problem is, even though the violence isn't that bad, the plight of those ADORABLE little darwinians is almost too much to handle sometimes. I mean, you are essentially trying to preserve the future of an entire RACE of people against what could be construed as internal (literally) corruption. Seriously, soul draining stuff.

But yeah, now that they have been said to death, Portal then get Spore when it comes out!

I'd also recommend Sins of a Solar Empire, except for that part where you end up bombarding an enemy planet with nuclear weapons...

 

Well. To the OP. We all probably did our share of Cops and robber, Cowboys and indians in our days. I'm sure most of us have shouted some form of "Bang Bang, you're dead" at times. we all probably grow up watching some form of violent cartoon shows. Is that real violent? Did it scar our physc? Did it turn us into a violent person? I hope not.

I was taught the difference between real life and make believe. I know how to separate the two. I think part of our problem today is that kids gets sheltered too much and they loose the ability to tell what is real life and what is make believe. It's the duty of the parent to teach them. Not shelter them.

That said. I wouldn't let anyone under 13-14 play any of the GTA titles.

 

Right Wiz. My son plays a lot of age-appropriate games on the Internet, and even the Buzz Lightyear games have him shooting robots and whatnot. I totally agree about parental guidance, and helping children deal with the real world, not sheltering them from it. (But then again, I am speaking as someone who grew up watching all the Friday the 13th movies and Nightmare on Elmstreet Movies on like Showtime and HBO without any real adult supervision when I was really young.) I've also paid for time in a local LAN gaming center for my secretary's kid, because he is old enough for that stuff and my secretary is a darn good parent.

And hollownail, I wouldn't say anyone has hijacked the thread... I just wanted to be clear that I'm just not some troll trying to make people mad.

And I want to say again to everyone who has posted:

"Thank you."

I am soooo looking forward to my surgery tomorrow. Maybe playing portal will help me with my lousy sense of direction!

BTW, when you download from steam, are these like cracked copies that could have like viruses and things or is this an official distribution channel?

 

Steam is a legitimate download service created by Valve, the makers of Half-Life, Portal, et al.

In fact Steam is designed to prevent piracy. Completely safe and convenient to use.

Have fun!

 

Steam is more than trustworthy.

I own about 100 games with them right now.

They are 100% official and legal and legit and are likely to become the largest online distribution platform for gaming in the next few years (impulse second, heh).

 

Oh, I get it.

Valve. Steam.

Thanks!

 

Attempts to prevent piracy.

I do own legitimately almost the whole Valve package: Half Life, Blue Shift, Opposing Force, Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, as well as all their Source equivalents, plus Portal, TF2, etc. Great games.

 

Well, I think some of us got damned close to hijacking it :-D

But no, I didn't think you were trying to troll at all.

In regards to steam... I thought I'd hate it. The idea of not having physical media... scares me a bit. But since I've bought HL2 and Titan Quest on there I have to say it's mostly awesome.

There are still bugs with it though. For instance, many (if not all) people have issues with TQ. It happens to be missing a DLL that is required for the game. The expansion took me a week before I could get a working copy. But the whole concept of being able to go to a new computer, and download my copies of the games is actually really nice.

Having the ability to get a digital distribution of a game is great. In fact, whenever I have to reinstall WoW, I just download it from blizzard (dont have the discs anymore). It's nice!

 

I don't have a problem with that. If your parent taught you well. You would know that what you see in those movies is not real. It's make believe. You don't really need your parents sitting next to you to keep reminding you of that while you're watching.

BTW, have you tried Civilization IV? Not really an eye candy game but it's a really good strategy game. Even the fighting is fairly abstract and shouldn't really bother a young child.

 

Guitar Hero 3? for PC?

 

Portal! It's a $20 download on Steam. Will totally tweak your brain! The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!

Lego Star Wars. My 3 year old son and I play it and both giggle. My adult friends and I play it and we also... Giggle. There I said it! Lego Star Wars makes me giggle!

It's not full of eye candy but it is full of fun... Peggle

 

Or you can try Frets on Fire if you want a free alternative.