Originally Posted by BlewHedgehog
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I doubt this will elicit tons of laughs, but this is one of my favorite times of EQ past.
I was a human... paladin maybe... a newbie (as usual, I think levels 1-20 were my favorite. Never made it to any high-end content) wandering around outside of Blackburrow and whooping on some gnolls, when my sister comes over along with her son who must have been 4 at the time. He's always been fascinated by watching me play games, but was a really shy kid and never wanted to play himself. No biggie, he seemed to get enough enjoyment out of just watching. Whatever.
The problem arises because my sister was a tremendously overbearing parent. She takes ESRB at their word and never fudges on movie ratings or anything like that, so we have to keep it strictly non-violent (or at least something cartoony like Super Mario Bros). However, as I'm sure you've all experienced, I was addicted and wasn't about to camp out. As a good friend of mine once said, "It's not like you can level up at the movies or anything." The gnoll slaying continued as my nephew quietly spectates for a good while.
I'm not sure if it was the innocent justice often found in children or just naivete, but eventually the obvious questions start to come out.
"What are those? Are they bad guys?"
I ponder this for a second. "Yeah," I say. "Well, no. They're trying to steal our land, I think. Cuz we took it from them first. They're like Indians, I guess."
"So you have to kill them?"
My own character is being challenged here, as for a moment or two I'm actually considering the consequences of my hostility toward these animals. I imagine Mrs. Darkpaw raising her children alone whilst fielding an incessant query of phone calls notifying her that her husband has been killed... again.
Soon enough I come back to my senses, though to be entirely honest I don't disagree with his mother's concern. This kid's at a malleable stage right now and doesn't necessarily need to think that his uncle says killing natives is not only okay, but a pleasant way to spend your weeknights. Basically, I'm glad that Squirtle only faints or gets knocked out and so on. Death is a heavy topic for a youngster to have to deal with. I decide to take inspiration from his Pokemon interest.
"Well, see, I'm not killing them. I'm like... the sandman or something. I have to go around putting these guys to sleep with my, um... sleep stick!" Not terribly clever, sure. Except for the fact that they're dogs and I'm putting them to sleep. See? It's a half truth. I play on. "Hey there, puppy! Night night!" *whack*
He seemed to have bought it, to which I must say 4 year-olds are idiots. We wasted the next 3 hours scavenging the Hills for harmless animals to bring sweet dreams to and all the while, he was cheering me on, yelling, "Go to sleep!" at every mob I encountered. Bonding. Man, what a good time.
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