Non-Violent, Cooperative Games? 329
jandersen writes "While I generally don't play computer games, I do occasionally play games like Crossfire or The Mana World, because they have more of a story line and allow you to go at your own pace. What I don't care much about, though, is that they are still focused on killing monsters and amassing wealth, and it gets very tedious after a while. Are there really no games where the goal isn't so much about increasing your own power and defeating others, but where you instead grow by doing things that benefit others, where enemies shouldn't be killed out of hand, but befriended; where learning, teaching, research and social skills are more important than killing and conquering? Would people be interested in a game of that nature?"
Classics (Score:2, Informative)
There's always the Myst [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst] and Monkey Island [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island_(series)] series...
Animal Crossing (Score:4, Informative)
Re:World of Goo (Score:4, Informative)
World of Goo is on the PC too.
Missing the obvious... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Animal Crossing (Score:3, Informative)
I'd go for the old detective games, like Under a killing moon. Or go for puzzle games, like myst.
Hello Kitty Online (Score:2, Informative)
Re:You can do that in regular games (Score:4, Informative)
But much like the real world, it won't get you very far.
Yes, there are a few games that can be won without any violence at all, but they either wind up being too boring or too difficult. For instance, in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka, there is a journal that keeps track of quests and kills and such, and it is entirely possible to beat the game with 0 kills. There are quite a few quests than can be completed with no violence at all, you can run from pretty much every battle, and even the end boss of the game can be defeated without violence. However, it is very, very difficult. Think beating Final Fantasy with a 1 white mage party.
Likewise the Civilization series, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Master of Orion, and other games of that nature can often be won with pacifistic strategies, at the expense of enjoyment. Sure, they're somewhat enjoyable the first time through to see all the technologies and city/planet upgrades, but there's hardly any replayability.
Another one that comes to mind is Europa 1400. It is a game that really doesn't fit into any genre. Sort of a version of The Sims set in 15th century Europe with careers such as blacksmithing, alchemy, and masonry. Amassing your wealth is the point of the game, but violence is difficult to find: you can become a thief or robber baron, or in the right circumstance challenge another npc to a duel, though it rarely results in death.
I played a MUD heavily back in high school when I first got a computer called Dragonrealms by Simutronics. At the time it was a free game in the AOL Games arena, back when AOL first offered a plan that did not charge by the hour. It was entirely possible to play some classes without killing mobs at all, like Cleric, Empath, or Trader. In fact, for one class (the Empath), harming another was strictly prohibited, and doing so was punished heavily in game.
As for a game that is intrinsically nonviolent, the Sim games are probably the only popular ones I can think of. Sim City, Sim Tower, The Sims, and the like are all well known titles, The Sims and expansions, in particular, sell very well and frequently visit top 10 seller lists.
So yeah, there are games that do not revolve around killing monsters or amassing wealth, or both, and some games can be played and enjoyed using pacifism, but they are certainly rare.
Planescape: Torment (Score:4, Informative)
How about Planescape: Torment [wikipedia.org]?
The complex and storyline-based nature of the game means that gameplay often focuses on resolution of quest and story objectives through selection from available dialogue choices, rather than combat. Simply stopping and having a long (often very long) chat with one of the other members of the player's group can often advance the game more (and reveal more surprising things) than hours of combat and questing in other games. In fact, there are only four or so required combat encounters within the game, while contemporary role-playing games have tens or hundreds. All other encounters can be resolved or avoided through dialogue or stealth.
Planescape: Torment is notable for the quality and quantity of textual dialogue it contains. It is estimated that the game's script contains around 800,000 words. A review in the New York Times noted that, "The game's level of detail and its emotional impact have prompted some players to cast about for literary peers."
It has some pretty witty dialogue too, and it's an interesting universe. You may be familiar with the general principles if you ever dabbled in D&D, though naturally some adaptations were made to make sure it worked better as a computer game.
It has some issues(for one, finding a legitimate copy). There were some bugs in the final shipped version and it's not supported anymore, but fans have fixed a few more of the bugs and have a patch available(linked in the wikipedia article, reference 9).
You are of course free to slaughter all sorts of things in the game(though there are consequences for killing lots of townfolk or dabus' in particular). But you don't have to by any stretch of the imagination, and usually you shouldn't just stick your knife in things for fun. Heck, the final boss fight at the end of the game can be resolved in a couple different ways through dialogue(and this approach gives IMO by far the most satisfying ending). Wisdom is by far the most important stat in the game for The Nameless One, followed by Int and then Cha.
I'd heartily recommend it, as do some game reviewing companies for what that's worth.
You'll have to wait for it... (Score:2, Informative)
I believe the perfect game for you is Hello Kitty Online. [hellokittyonline.com] I think the beta is still open if you'd like to try it early.
Yes, it does exist.
No, I am not making this up.
Re:M.U.L.E. (Score:2, Informative)
Pioneers is a great free software implementation of Settlers of Catan. You can play over LAN, internet, or single player with AI opponents. I'm not sure I'd say it is cooperative, but there is resource trading between players and there's certainly no violence. Oh yeah, and it's fun!
Pioneers homepage [sourceforge.net]
Re:SimCity (Score:5, Informative)
Puzzle Pirates [puzzlepirates.com]. Play puzzles to bilge, sail, build clothing, etc. It's a (vaguely) player driven economy with a mostly laid back group of people. And, of course, there is Viva Pinata [xbox.com].
I think the original poster's goals are unreachable with current technology and techniques. You can't befriend a game in any more substantive a fashion than you can befriend your television... lots of games have tried various ways of simulating human interactions, but humans are notoriously complex. Emotional simulation systems quickly break down into either simplistic grinding or laughable parodies of humanity. If you attempt to replace those computer entities with actual other online human beings... Let's just say that you can't rely upon other human beings in online games to act like human beings.
The closest thing to what the grandparent poster asked for is the sims [ea.com]. It's a good example of how simplified human interactions have to be made in order to work in a simulated environment.
Re:Get a PS3... (Score:0, Informative)
Since you're an ignorant asshole, I won't go into the technical details, otherwise you may not understand it.
The Cell has 8 SPEs or 'cores', but one is disabled to increase chip yields, the other is reserved for the OS. You have 6 usable 'cores' in retail PS3s, which you can utilize fully if you obtain a developer's kit and know what you're doing.
Not open-source, but chip R&D costs money, and that has to come from somehwere.
Don't confuse the Cell Processor with NVidia's RSX engine which handles graphics processing. Access to the RSX is limited due to the hypervisor on the PS3, but there are some workarounds which you'd have seen had you followed that link to wikipedia above.
Linux on the PS3 does not run as fast as on a PC due to the limited amount of system memory available (256MB for OS, 256MB for RSX Engine), but it's not nearly as slow as you mention, and has good hardware support.
Now crawl back to your hole.
Settlers of Catan (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You can do that in regular games (Score:3, Informative)
Part of the allure of MMORPGs is the accumulation of wealth and the feeling of dominance and superiority.
Have a look at Richard Batle's four player personality types (http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test [wikipedia.org]).
Brief outline: Achievers want to win the game; they want all the bottles and poe souls, all 120 stars and an FC of all songs. Explorers want to know the game; they are the ones reverse engineering all the formulas describing hit probability, damage calculations, loot drop tables and so forth. Killers want to rule the game; they want to be able to kill everyone by whatever means. Socialisers just want to stay up all night and... just talk.
What you're describing is probably a mixed Killer/Achiever. Dominance and imposition is typical Killer; Superiority is also an Achiever thing--we all like to be best and what we like doing, so having the fastest Kessel run is appealing to the Achiever [although the main appeal is just having a good time].
For those of you who play(ed) magic and read Mark Rosewater's articles, you may know Timmy, Johnny and Spike. I'd be interesting to think about how much these three overlap or are independent from those four.
</edge-wise>
If we fiddle with your criteria (Score:3, Informative)
I think the current apex of cooperative games has to be Eve Online [eve-online.com] (genre: massively multiplayer internet spaceships game) At first glance, it doesn't seem that suitable. It's pvp-oriented, with nonconsensual pvp even in the supposedly safest parts of the game (well once you're flying in space, technically anyone can attack you though there are consequences in the securer regions, namely dying in 10-20 seconds due to massive law enforcement retaliation). Scams are allowed and the game admins will not compensate you unless the loss in question can be shown to be due to a game failing. The secure regions are known collectively as "empire" and there are some repercussions to attacking other players in these regions which can range from certain death to security rating penalties (which collectively govern where you can go in Empire without getting shot at). The game can have tens of thousands of users on at a time. All those users play in the same world.
Massive corporations (what a guild is in Eve) and alliances (groups of corporations) can compete both in the relatively safe Empire regions and the completely unfettered "0.0" regions. In the 0.0 regions the largest cooperative efforts, of any game I know of on the internet, exist. Thousands of players work together to hold territory and exploit the bounty contained therein. This is also the zone of primary violence with battles of dozens or hundreds of players being common.
However those fighters need a lot of logistics in order to function well. This leads to numerous roles for the less violently inclined either supporting these fighters directly or making products elsewhere for use in these wars. The paradox of the game is that while scams, random violence, piracy, theft, and other forms of complete noncooperation are commonplace, cooperation is amply rewarded and a vital part of the game.
Further the game has an interesting and very sophisticated manufacture and trade aspect. Industry is quite contrived as to materials. You take fantasy elements and minerals and turn them into fantasy spaceships and other gear. However, one interesting feature is that a considerable portion of the equipment in the game is made directly by the players, including most spaceships. Further, the economics model is amazing. More than any other game I've seen, investment makes sense. One has player capital, assets that can be used to produce income even when the player is not online. Industrialists often construct and maintain elaborate supply chains to produce highly valued goods. The market system is very sophisticated and the best effort I've seen.
So this is a violent, often fustrating game, but it is remarkable for the degree of cooperation and competition present. The annoying non-cooperative aspects spice up it up and I doubt there is any online game (outside of some bizarre niche games like nomic [wikipedia.org]) where one sees such a wide range of legal noncooperative behaviors to overcome. Who to trust and how far to trust them is an integral challenge of the game.
Re:A Tale in the Desert (Score:2, Informative)
Re:SimCity (Score:2, Informative)
Uh, I guess it's not a very popular game or anything but there's rumors of some sort of "guitar hero", and the guy in it might be forming a "rock band" with his friends if they could ever stop playing "ddr" so much.