why there arent ANY kids in the entire game?

I blame all the violence in the States on Gangsta Rap music, sorry, I know that's ignorant, but I do.
It wasn't much of a blessing either when the two Columbine dipshits said that their rampage was gonna play out like 'Doom'.
The way I see it, there's a fair amount of what we call 'evil' floating around in the world, the intelligent folk see it as a form of entertainment, an opposing force of sorts to spicen up stories, stupid folks let it program their emotions and actions. Without evil, the world would be a boring place. Imagine if you couldn't kill anybody in Arcanum but rather had to talk out all your differences with the monsters in the game, or maybe just handed out Panari flyers to convert all the creatures into a more peacful way of living, how much fun would that be?
I was wondering though, the person in Ashbury, kicking Worthless Mutt, wasn't he a kid?

 

I think it was a gnome, Acacia.

BTW, isn't Acacia a name or type of a tree?

 

Yeah Friend, an Acacia is a tree, however I derived the name from the title of an old Iron Maiden song, which was part of an ongoing series of songs on their albums about a prostitute. The songs title was
'22 Acacia Avenue'. =)

 

Yeah, that was a Gnome kicking the dog.

 

Hmmmm, blaming it on any form of medium (music, games, tv, etc.) is rather inaccurate.

You want to find the REAL culprit, it's the huggy-feely schmucks that should be dealt with a good lead pipe. Can't punish your kid, parents get told by counselors and psychiatrists that they should let the kid do what they want, etc. Hell, as it goes now, if a kid goes to Social Services and makes up a story the parents are already guilty by default.

Add on top of that the fact that it's becoming en vogue to blame something else. Whatever the problem, it's not my fault.

Parents unable or unwilling to parent
.: Children that can do whatever they want to do
.: Children that for the most part don't have many/any scruples
.: Tragedies, large and small occur to various degrees
.: A scapegoat is found to conveniently blame

Right, like rap music and video games are to blame... So does that explain why some of these things occur in the middle of white-bread land who don't have a computer in the house? Another fine culprit is the media, they love to sensationalise things out to hell and beyond.

 

That's the irony of the whole thing, is that the media is probably the next most accountable after the parents, or in reality "The Perpetrator Themself." It's fairly ridiculous to suggest that a teenager has no mind of their own.

And think about it? Even if Games did somehow say to these dickheads "Hey, go shoot up your school," you'd have no fucking chance of convincing them whatsoever. Now tell 'em "Whatever you do, don't go kill your classmates...I'm warning you, that would be a really bad idea..." and they're sold on the idea. That's why the media are evil.

And continuing my rant, society and authority are in so much fear, that anyone teenager with a few screws loose and a desire to power trip has the perfect platform to do so. Even here in australia, we had a public apology from the Minister of Education to a student who he broadcasted widely through the media as a potential Klebold, because of a few things he'd written in his personal diary.

I could go on for hours, but I'll leave the mic open for someone else...

 

I think the mindset behind Columbine, as well several other slayings, was kamakaze/suicidal.
Everyone enters into the world and for the first few years it's interesting, but when you come to your teens, for most people, it's the deciding time of who you want to be and how you wish to play the game of life.
From a chaotic viewpoint I can see where some kids are deciding that life is a joke, not something to be taken seriously, and they didn't ask to be alive. They find life to be such a lame, ridiculous idea that they decide they're going to exit it, and "hey weren't there a few people along the way that crossed me? How dare they? Who do they think they are, they are what is contributing to making life as trivial as it is, if they are allowed to continue, they won't do any good for the world, they'll just end up pissing on everyone, they're a waste, and I'm leaving, so why not take them with me?".
I think everyone, rather they will admit it or not, has imagined themselves destroying someone else that has detracted from their quality of life. Those kids that didn't distribute their character points properly and ended up with an intelligence of 3, will more than likely allow their emotions and imagination to dictate their actions, leading to shootings and stabbings in school.
I think the rest are kids caught up in a theme that wish to fit in with promoted images.
I think there realy is no solution for any of this other than trialing all of them as adults, but again this won't stop the kamakaze/suicidal murderers.

 

Ironicaly, I wrote this during and before I was aware of the destruction of the World Trade Center.