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Non-Violent, Cooperative Games?
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?"
I don't know... SimCity? Wii Sports? Jewel Quest & friends?
But much like the real world, it won't get you very far.
... then get Little Big Planet
Have fun.
"We'll need 2000 crickets, 4 cans of Easy Cheese, and the fluid from 18 glowsticks for this plan to work...." - ph0n1c
"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?"
The truth is not enough is known to make such a game, not only that it is subject to aesthetic prejudices and what not. I would imagine text adventures would fall into the realm you're looking for... any GUI based game needs all the bells and whistles to be compelling to an audience.
If the market wanted such games it would demand them and pay for them, you are in an extreme minority IMHO.
The technology is not there yet to do "social" games, the AI and interfaces are pretty primitive and no computer NPC's would be believable, hell games have a hard enough time portraying well voice acted computer animated characters with gusto... the truth is what the OP wants in the story is not technically within our means, and most "help each other games" are subject to the same kind of politics and BS and those who have free time vs those who don't (disproportionately kids, teens or idiots).
Finally.. go do good deeds in the real world, that is what the real world is for. Games are an escape from real life, that is what they are supposed to be - fantasy and wish fulfillment.
The point of games is to do what is entertaining. Almost all videogames have elements of competition in them, or competition against the computer.
Doom.
M.U.L.E, players who cooperated had a better outcome for their colony than when everyone was back stabbing each other. (Not that I knew that when I was playing.) The genre of "German Boardgames" avoids violence and usually has an interplay of cooperation and competition, there are computer implementations of some of the more popular, like settlers of catan.
There's always the Myst [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst] and Monkey Island [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island_(series)] series...
You can win the game by killing or making friends. Pick whatever you want.
That game was pretty much designed just for this scenario. Hell, as a hardcore gamer (logged nearly 1000 hours in FFXI) even I enjoyed it. Sequel's gonna be out in the US on the 16th, too.
I sought long and hard for just the games you mentioned after Myst Online crashed for the second time, and the only thing I found is A Tale of the Desert. This game exactly suits your needs, I think. No violence, you can trade stuff you grew or made, etc. I never played it because I basically want MystOnline to be back online, but I think you should give it a try.
-- Cheers!
Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe. http://www.openttd.org/
It's an open source recode of the original classic game, but with all the tweaks to bring it up to modern standards (8-players multiplayer, huge maps, better cargo routing algorithms, etc). Fantastic stuff.
There's also a large massively OpenTTD cooperative group, focussing on ways of making huge efficient cargo networks and other scenarios. http://www.openttdcoop.org/blog/
But the Victorians had the golden era of cooperative gaming.
Syberia?
You just described *half* the FPS genres out there... Seriously.
There were two different FPS genres establised in the early 90s
The first type (and first 3D FPS game) started with a game called Ultima Underworld, and was an open-goal type of FPS where you could do many things and interact with many people. You could achieve your goals by helping people, or perhaps if you were more ruthless, killing them (although the latter often had consequences).
The second was called Wolfenstein 3D. It's the more common type of FPS. Just run around blowing things up. That's the plot... And make your way through a level.
Still, it's gone of from there - Both types of game type exist within the whole of the FPS type of gameset.
Games such as Dark Messiah and Deus Ex ( and sequels ) is a help-people type of game (if you want to) while games like Doom, Quake etc, are a If-it-moves-kill-it-if-it-doesn't-kill-it-anyway sort of FPS.
The same themes exist in many other games. The extent varies and they often get a bit of each mixed in (eg, System shoch is the latter with a little bit of the first)
Try some of the "Single-player" focus FPS games.... They can often be played mostly non-violently - eg, stealth, skill, persausion.
Of course, if you want violence banned from the game entirely, there's always "My Little Ponies" but as an adult, part of the enjoyment of a game is making decisions and seeing the outcome. Sometimes you choose the stick, sometimes the carrot, but at the end of the day, it's your choice on how you want to play.
GrpA.
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
... best explains this. Play Civ 4. Play it by researching and trading and and expanding with friendly means. Play through the game on settler and never get attacked, and there is never any conflict or risk of losing. Then be so bored you dont want to come back.
After her second game which I forced her to play, on a higher difficulty, she made the comment "war is the part that is more fun".
And that is why games center more on violence.
There is a Wii game called World of Goo. Sounds a lot like what you're looking for.
Many sports games may fit what you require? Some simulation games?
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Games such as Dark Messiah and Deus Ex ( and sequels ) is a help-people type of game (if you want to)
I think the OP's point is that even games like Deus Ex cannot be played in a completely peaceful way. While DX did give you ways to end many situations peacefully, you would be quite hard-pressed to not commit any acts of violence through the entire game. I've gone through without a single kill (except those required by the story), but I don't think it's possible not to *attack* at all.
If you want non-violent games, then try Hello Kitty Online. It's truly innovative.
Example of the latest game: LEGO Batman.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
How about Planescape: Torment?
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.
Harvest moon...you farm and help other people out i mean you still get money to increase your house and farm and what not but there isn't any violence in it
I believe the perfect game for you is Hello Kitty Online. 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.
I think you've rather eloquently made my example - You didn't kill people out-of-hand, but only when offered no other choice.
The choices you make throughout the games ( eg, do you release the nanites to clean the air or allow them to be withheld making it poisonous for people to live outside ) - there are often no clear right and wrong choices - each choice makes you acutely aware of the consequences of the decision and you must talk to many NPCs and gain insights from each perspective into the problem to make a choice.
Being anti-violence to the point of denying it entirely is a form of violence itself, because it takes the option (choice) away from you, which is fundamentally evil in an of itself.
There are trade games, but the aim is to get rich. Puzzle games, but the aim is to beat it. The only games that really teach you about consequences are the ones that place you in a difficult position and make you decide on the course of actions.
In Deus Ex, if you kill someone, you can't discuss things with them and maybe learn something that will help you. If you start killing people, your brother attempts to teach you why you are wrong, his attitude towards you getting stronger and stronger the more violent you are. If you open your eyes and look for other ways, you win his praise and people are more likely to help you.
The inclusion of non-lethal weapons is novel as well. It makes it harder to play, but you gain more respect for your action.
And you must learn insight in the way you ask questions. Which responses convince the person to help you?
Deus Ex was a good game for this reason. It excelled.
Even the original Ultima Underworld was a good game. People needed your help and you performed quests for them, many spanning the entire game. The result was that you received your eight "Virtues" and could use these to defeat the evil at the bottom of the pit. You also gained other items of value from people you helped, such as goggles that let you see traps.
But sometimes the simplest reward in a game is praise. After all, that one rewards is what we all grew up learning to look for,
Even Bioshock proved that point. It wasn't any more difficult to defeat the end-game boss if you harvested the little sisters (I couldn't) but I really liked the ending I got and I enjoyed anticipating the next teddy bear waiting for me.
GrpA
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
There is a certain irony in seeing ads for D&D right below this post.
I feel it would be remiss not to mention Okami if you are looking for a story-based game truly about doing good. Yeah, you fight some demons and collect money. But you also feed starving animals, rejuvenate plants and the land as a whole, perform miracles to help people, etc. I don't think I've ever played a game that seems more about making the world a better place.
Otherwise, look into puzzle games and games. Myst seems like a no-brainer recommendation.
It's not a game you need, it's to work for a NPO. Past a certain point, real life's challenges might meet your expectations better than virtual ones. Or maybe try dating simulations! There's a lot of befriending going on.
http://www.atitd.com/
(Damn slashdot javascript ate my comment)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_in_the_Desert
It's non-combat, based around social interaction, development and construction. Very tightly knit community. I'd really give it a try, monthly fee but first 24 hours of play are free.
Try Foldit. It's a game where you fold proteins to get a ranking / score (no money incentive at the moment). If you want to cooperate, join a team and evolve someone else's folded protein. There's also a duel mode, where you battle against someone else, trying to fold a protein in as few moves as possible.
And just in case you're interested, the folding helps researchers who are looking for ways in which humans can fold better than computers.
Ask me about repetitive DNA
How about Instant Messaging and facebook?
;)
Seems quite popular. Lots of people go about collecting friends/"friends".
Some of the AIs involved may even surprise you once in a while and say something coherent and intelligent.
Then there's also Slashdot.
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What exactly is it that you do want?
You write a little about what you don't want, and hint at why, but really not enough to answer your question. Are you fundamentally opposed to violence for some reason, or is it just that mindless shooting bores you?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Try Pingus. It's a free lemmings clone covered by the GNU GPL. http://pingus.seul.org/
Puzzle games /thread
you can all go home now!
Eat sleep die
Why not go to board games like chess or Monopoly?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
SimWork? Sounds like fun. What do you imagine the benefits would be?
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
The game Leisure Suit Larry seems to fit your description perfectly. Enjoy!
A great board game and apparently a great XBox Live Arcade game as well. I'd imagine that there are other versions floating around too. Absolutely no combat (unless you get Cities and Knights, the expansion), just building, trading, and negotiation. Great fun.
http://www.tenjou.net/
..you can win Master of Orion, Civilization etc by clever trade & diplomatics.
A completly non-violent game: http://mysqlgame.appspot.com/ Just sit peacefully and look at your very own rows ;)
The Japanese have an entire game genre dedicated to building social interaction. :-)
The end-goal might not be what you're looking for, though
"I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. It's the one thing I am indebted to her for."
From what I've read about the differences in the sexes, it seems to me that this is the main problem. Games tend to focus on violence more because most game developers are male, and they make what they like. I think if we had greater sexual equality in the development community, we'd have more games that were quite interesting but with a lot less violence. Just because current games that have violence as an option are often more entertaining with said violence is only an indication that the developers didn't spend enough time and effort on the non-violent paths. It does not indicate that violence is inherently more fun.
As for existing non-violent games, you could definitely try Galactic Civilizations 2 from Stardock, which has the option for violence, but can be won in completely non-violent ways as well. The AI of the computer-controlled players also makes for some interesting interactions.
... Black and White series?
I've not played B&W2, but B&W was certainly playable without killing everything within your field of vision.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
I think the current apex of cooperative games has to be Eve Online (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) 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.
Oops -- forgot to log in!
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Smile at someone as you walk past. Have a conversation with a stranger at a bus stop. For more hardcore players, try volunteer work at a local charity.
I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
Some more notes on the multi player SimCity user interface from a talk I gave about pie menus at Xerox PARC in 1998:
Natural Selection: The Evolution of Pie Menus
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
This reminds me an awful lot of a story from the Acts of Gord....
It's a truly cooperative board game (either you beat the game as a team, or you all lose), non-violent, and a lot of fun!
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/30549
Really the only problem has been finding a copy, but I think the new batch is finally in stock at many stores.
How critical is social interaction to you in gaming? If not terribly important, then SimCity or something similar. If so, then The Sims or similar. Both had extremely long, successful 'careers' and are still played. I would love to see some of the clever simulation logic in SimCity into an FPS engine or similar. Building worlds, creating some basic rules and letting those rules develop a complex system... or crash/stop... would be interesting, especially if one had the ability to step into that world and walk around it and experiencing it as the automata that inhabited it did. The original game of Life is kind of interesting that way, but not terribly much fun (in the 'gamer' sense) unless you understand what is happening - the UI on most implementations is a simple grid with colored dots.
The first two Fallout games *allowed* combat, but didn't require it. Via stealth, social skills and occasionally running away you could bypass all combat and still win the game. You got bigger XP awards for quests than for kills, so while advancement was slowed, it was still tenable to play without combat.
Unfortunately, from what I've heard, this may not be possible in Fallout 3.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
How about a nice game of chess? Just aim for stalemate.
alias possession='chmod 666 satan && ls
http://cultivation.sourceforge.net/
Lemmings is an often overlooked gem. There is "peril" in the sense that the lemmings are in danger, but its the players job to keep them safe. I think there's a huge overlooked market for games like this. Its not exclusively a kids market, but providing a kids market is important, since games are becoming increasingly relevant in social development. To clarify, replacing rocket-launchers with mushrooms or teddy-bears doesn't make the game any less violent.
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It's called life. That is the stuff you do in life. The whole point in a game is that you can do fun stuff that you cant do in life. The only person who would play this sort of game is one who doesn't have a life of their own.
http://www.citiesxl.com/
Wait for Cities XL the new simcity type game the road systems looks to be much much better then it was in simcity 4 RH.
Massive "be-friending" ensured!
on the other hand lots of mmorpgs let you become a crafter, you don't really need to kill monsters, just buy stuff from auction house and make things out of those items. Pretty much like the real world, where you don't really have to slay a cow to get beef, just buy from the local butcher... heh
Where is the "Ignorant" mod tag?
X3 (can get it from Steam) can be played without firing a shot. Although you have to ignore the plot.
It is a space based game (simulator like Star Wars which is really not much of a simulator but more of a fantasy) that you build an empire and cooperatively trade with the other races. It takes about 6 months to get really good at the game and have a massive empire built.
If you get bored with just empire building, you can shoot bad guys (AI alien ships and Insect like race ships, or pirates, or for the evil in you, other races).
There is also the Railroad Tycoon games that empire build that works well with working with others.
How is rolling up cows, humans, islands, etc, into big balls and then throwing them into space to make stars out of them, not violent? =)
/.Mattsson - My native language is not English, so please don't whine over linguistic errors. (That's lame anyway...)
I don't know if it was already said, but RPG games are usually a good way to go. The best one I can think of would be the Elder Scrolls. Great story line, so many options you can choose from, help people till you fall over dead, and more. Cheers --KOMODO
They may or may not be quite as free as you want in terms of development (i.e. the story generally drags you along whether you want it to or not) but the classic graphics adventures are great for storyline. Find a copy of Grim Fandango if you can. Also look at The Longest Journey.
Puzzle games are fun, and World of Goo seems to be the current addiction, with a bit of a silly storyline to it. Also, a few years back was Psychonauts, with surprising depth. (And not coincidentally, written by the creator of Grim Fandango.)
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
This is an old one, but it still stands as one of the best games ever designed. It's non-violent in the sense that enemies are indestructible and may only be avoided (specifically, jumped over). If you like a game that throws unique challenges with every permutation a la the Civ series, check it out.
"...and social skills are more important..."
I think you just narrowed down your gaming community to English teachers and slashdot readers.
Allucarrd: I have sword 4 sell!!!!
* System: Your social skill has decreased 5 points.
The MMO called A Tale in the Desert fits the bill very well. The level of competition varies, but it is an incredibly social game, very player driven, and requires a lot of cooperation to be successful. There is no violence of any sort, at least not when I was playing. It's the perfect environment for those people that have the urge to let their inner trade-skiller out.
http://www.atitd.com/
Karma: 0 (But I wield a mean +10 Vorpal Apathy)
Find a friend with Animal Crossing whose town has a different native fruit tree (this is for the DS version)
You can get all fruits even without visiting another town. If you write letters to your neighbors that contain recognized keywords (such as "friend") and enclose a native fruit or any other cheap item, they send you something based on the length of the message. For shorter messages, this is either clothing or sometimes a foreign fruit.
But if you need help getting all fruits and a perfect town, and you have a friend code, I'd be glad to hook you up.
SeaMan on the Sega Dreamcast was non-violent and encouraged interaction, they even did a good job making the lone character in the game quite passable as a personality and worked out voice recognition fairly well, also.
id's Catacomb 3D came before Ultima Underworld: FPS History
Sure, there are plenty of cooperative, non-violent video games out there. Reader Rabbit, the entire Barney series, Mavis Beacon teaches typing, Dora the Explorer, the Barbie dress up series, there are just a few of the popular games that have sold greater than 5million titles.
None of them made any money and none are really geared for adults (with the exception of Mavis Beacon, which is for adults who don't know how to use a keyboard). Just take the brand for any popular children's show on PBS or Nickelodeon and you will find a beavy of non-violent, non-competitive titles released for it.
Real gaming is always competitive, in the sense that chess is competitive. There are always challenges to be worked out, which can be done through slick moves executed as combos, puzzle solving, outstrategizing the computer, building a fortress, developing an economy, and the like. There is no reason why games have to depend on violence to acheive this basic goal.
The reason there are few non-violent titles out there is simple. Games have to appeal to the widest possible audience to be appealing, and consumers have grown up with a set of expectations for their entertainment corresponding to Hollywood archetypes. Blowing things up, fantastic settings, oversexualized female characters, strong good guy / bad guy roles, etc. are all part of what modern audiences have been spoon fed, and this is an important step in the evolution in games. People are still not used to the idea that being able to interact with others online, solving puzzles, etc. can be rewarding in itself.
The tastes of audiences changes over time, and something tells me that 100 years from now violent games will be as alien to adult gaming audiences as Barney's Puzzle Time Theater is to them now. But right now people are still infants in the world of online gaming, and non-violent, cooperative play is something that will enjoy widespread popularity in the future moreso than today.
M
" it seems to be working" That's what we (a game developer) were told, seriously.
Having developed a co-op MMO shooting game, we were told to stop and develop an online multiplayer competitive one. Not just by our investors and industry experts, but by focus groups of 9-15 year olds. ( http://www.moondo.com ).
While we made it non-bloody and fun as possible, the result is very competitive based.
Basically, to develop a game these days you need over a million dollars -> to get that , you need to focus on a genre that sells -> most of the top-selling genres are competitive (not to say violent) , that's why you'll find very few good coop or non-violent games.
Katamari has no killing or wealth-amassing, you just roll around a giant sticky ball and pick up anything in your path. We Love Katamari has a mode where you and a friend can cooperatively control said sticky ball and try to achieve the same objectives. This is harder than it sounds, but if it's cooperation and communication you want, this is it. As for learning, teaching, and helping others, there isn't too much of it of any real value in the Katamari series, but I still recommend it.
Also, anybody who recommended anything from Sid Meier's Civilization series for the PC was spot on. I almost never conduct wars in that game. I instead concentrate on science, culture, and exploration to a ridiculous degree. I don't get bored of it--that's the game to me. Seeing an advanced civilization that's large, learned, and wealthy is its own reward.
Rock Band seems to meet your criteria, assuming you're not tied up on the whole MMORPG thing. It can also teach you some real-life musical skills. Little big planet probably mostly qualifies as well. Assuming the occasional comic punch, or jump on the head of a cartoon enemy isn't too "violent" There's actually quite a few non violent games in general. Just not of the huge, lock you in, timesucker MMORPG type.
For non-violent, cooperative games, I preffer Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted. Sure, there is lots of 'kill the monster' content, but there is a HUGE crafting side to the game, for both biped and dragon players. It is possible to max crafting and dragon lairshaping without fighting, and it's possible to help others and get others to help you when you build on your own personal lair or plot. Istaria has the best crafting content I've seen in an MMORPG so far. It's a shame that the game is getting dated, and it's a shock that it's still alive after what it's been through. But it's an amazing game, and deserves more players than it actually has. The world in the game is also quite huge.
Every time I've played German boardgames in real life, backstabbing, blocking, and competition was everyone's M.O. There's some cooperation in certain games but ultimately everyone's out for themselves.
Charisma is the measure of someone's ability to lie with a straight face.
My wife normally hates video games, but she really liked Boom Blox for the Wii. It's mostly nonviolent (there are some levels where you shoot baseballs at ghosts with a gun) and has a pretty good multiplayer mode. Some of the multiplayer is competitive, but there is also a good amount of it that is cooperative (although frequently that cooperative means taking turns). At the very least there are so many different game modes that if you run into something you don't like it's ok, just move on to the next mode.
I read the internet for the articles.
I've looked for the sort of games you're talking about, and they're exceedingly rare, and yes, I would also be very interested in finding one.
Here's one in the meantime:
Based on the documentary/book series of the same name about nonviolent political struggles, A Force More Powerful: The Game of Nonviolent Strategy seems to be basically a 'sim protest'.
I don't think this really gets to the essence of 'building cooperation', but it's a start.
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
No
"Being anti-violence to the point of denying it entirely is a form of violence itself, because it takes the option (choice) away from you, which is fundamentally evil in an of itself."
Sorry, but that statement is nonsense. Violence is violence. Choosing not to be violent is the opposite of violence, not 'another form of it'.
Being anti-violence isn't some kind of fashion statement. It's a tactical choice which flows out of a deeper vision of the universe, which is that all life is connected and that ultimately living as a fulfilled human requires respect and cooperation with others.
*That* aspect, the deeper vision of cooperation, is what is missing in even 'mostly nonviolent' games - there's no sense of *working together toward a common goal*. There's no sense that people on opposite teams can even *have* a shared goal, and no way to live from that philosophy; it's instantly rejected by the game world. You kill, or you die, and those are the two verbs the game is structured around. In story-driven FPSes, you may well switch your alliegance between multiple factions, but it's usually done just to give you a change of what colour uniforms you kill.
But real people are more than killing/dying machines, and the problems we now face as a planet are far more interesting than 'kill all the guys wearing the other uniform'. In fact, it's that kind of us/them thinking which has created many of our scariest problems.
I'd like to see a game, for instance, which starts from trying to *stop* a war and goes from there.
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
URU, AKA Myst Online http://www.mystonline.com/forums/index.php was a valiant attempt - twice! Featuring unparalleled graphics, an absorbing back-story, and challenging puzzles, URU offered a whole universe of destinations to explore, alone or in cooperation with others. Unfortunately, the first attempt by Ubisoft in 2003 and the second by GameTap in 2007 both met with economic failure. Speculation is rampant as to why, but each incarnation had about a years' run before it was withdrawn. Supposedly Cyan Worlds, the game's author, would consider having another run at it if sufficient financial backing could be found. Otherwise, there is a slim possibility of opening the game up to fan authors while still keeping control of content with Cyan. IMHO, this has been a major tragedy of the century in the gaming world. Walt
I agree Arkham Horror is an excellent game. You do have to kill monsters to win. I'm guessing if you tried to skip this portion you'd lose pretty quick due to terror level problems. My board gaming group has played this quite a bit and we've found the more we play together the better we do. It is also nice because if everyone in your group is not at the same level strategically you can help out those that are having trouble. If they die they just start over with a new character. No sitting out waiting for the next game to start.
I have the Lord of the Rings game. I got it for Christmas a while ago and never took it out of the box. Now that I know it is cooperative I'll take a look. Thanks for the recommendation.
Don't anthropomorphize computers. They *hate* that.
...working on clean drinking water, lighting and cooking
Dude, most engineers I know haven't even managed that in their homes.
I'm a little surprised that SL is not better represented in the comments here. I guess it depends on what your definition of "Game" is.
For the serious social interaction while still a game with rules and stuff, there are all the Nomic variants on various mailing lists.
Coming into this topic a little bit late, so I'm sure this comment will be pretty well buried but if your mainly looking for games that are not all about killing monsters and gaining power, points, etc you should look into adventure games.
Take the DS game hotel dusk for example. No one to kill, no monsters, no competition. It's a story, and you lead the main character through the events of that story. You get to the end of the story and you win.
If you looking for something multi-player and cooperative things get more difficult, but if you just want something different from the standard RPG grind or mindless FPS, games that are interesting, with a story, and where your success is due to thinking, creative reasoning, learning, exploration and a small amount of social skills (where how you treat others in the game does matter) adventure games are just the thing.
They are not so common anymore (however there are few good ones for the DS), but the adventure games of old are worth looking into (like books - when the story is what matters, age doesn't matter much) although the amount of fighting involved might vary a bit with some. I suggest a copy of dosbox and a few of the lucus arts classic adventures (loom, monkey island, zak mccracken, etc). If your not put off by the concept of violence in general, and just don't want that to be the whole focus of the game I'd also look into games like the first gabriel knight, and the first phantasmagoria. For (relatively) modern PC games check out the longest journey, syberia, and even fahrenheit (the censored US version is called indigo prophecy).
Baldur's Gate. The Big Bad is trying to engineer a war by manipulating local power blocs; your mission is to prevent this. Among a few other things.
There's a mod for Baldur's Gate 2 which imports the game data from the original and lets you play it using the BG2 engine. Much better, since BG2 supports higher screen resolutions. You should be able to find the whole saga right through to Throne of Bhaal for pretty cheap now. See you in, oh... April.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
This one is really cool, so called edutaiting... http://www.powerupthegame.org/ alas, windows only =(
Medieval life simulation with great 3D graphics. Unique blend of RPG, strategy and business simulation. Four different character classes with specific abilities and advantages, from honest craftsman to fierce rogue...10 different professions, including alchemist, smith and rogue, countless titles, elected positions and benefits. The game had immense depth and lots of means to succeed in life without bashing people or monsters. There are some game flaws, but it has been completely playable. Online forums answer those questions not covered in the manual. Playable learning embedded in game is usable. Get The Guild 2 Gold for $20 and download the 2.1 patch. This is what I am using and enjoying.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure.