Bit of an explanation as to what prompted me to make this post: I recently played through Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 1 and 2 and I just felt off. I've slaughtered hundreds of innocents for my amusement in games like Fallout and TES, I play through No Russian with a grin, but for some reason, I refrain from killing bad guys in SGW? The first one has you hunt down Russian oligarchs and war criminals, while the second one is about Middle Eastern terrorists and this is the game where I feel bad about killing? There's just something about the soldiers talking about their daily problems like making no money, uncomfortable boots and sweating too much, or showing eachother pictures of their dogs, not to mention the absolute horror when you've got a knife against their throat or when they find a body. I hope this isn't weird, but I've never experienced remorse for killing a video game enemy, and I've played a lot of different games. I'd like to hear about your experiences, and which games do a good job humanising common enemies, the concept intrigues me.
I felt genuinely bad when GTA V forced me to torture some dude. I hate that scene and it stuck in my memory.
My wife had to get me to do that part because she couldn't do it. I decided to only waterboard the guy. Apart from the trauma and the injury/pain of being tipped over whilst tied to a chair, I figured that was the least physically damaging form of torture available.
Ironic, since waterboarding is considered one of the worst.
It's supposed to be absolutely pants-shittingly terrifying, but it's also not meant to leave any lasting physical damage.
Yeah, you beat a guy or slice him up, you have to treat his wounds if you don’t want him dead. But I reckon you could waterboard a fella quite a bit before you needed a doctor.