Araga, now officially on the "DO NOT TAME" list (UPDATED)

[Moore]

Technically there's a pocket nuke quest in that area, you are technically cleansing radiated kittens >_>

[Saturo]

Why would it push up the rating, Azu? We kill millions every day already.

[SgtMakkie]

*cheers for Azu* That post made me chuckle

[Azunara]

*bows.*

And I think the difference is, essentially, the fact it's kids. Sure, killing millions is fine. Lots of games you kill millions. But I don't think I've ever seen or played a game where you actually had to kill a child. And I think it's the age factor that resonates. No one cares if an adult dies in a game. Everyone cares if a kid does.

[Yoruko]

But I don't think I've ever seen or played a game where you actually had to kill a child. And I think it's the age factor that resonates.

You could kill little sisters in Bioshock! Although I don't really know if they count. Are those things human anymore?

[Saturo]

I really can't see the problem with killing kids vs. killing adults. Guess I'm just evil then. :/

[Azunara]

Heh, I think we all knew that, Sat. I really wouldn't care either, personally. Then again, I'm good with slaughtering baby bears, or their moms in front of them, THEN killing the babies.

And yet I love my pixel pets. I have strange priorities.

[Royi]

No particular reason, just a curious observation. The baby gorillas in Sholazar weren't killable.

But we can torment them with a poking stick...

We cant torment the SW kids with a poking stick...

Now give hordies poking sticks and let those children be targetable with the poking sticks.

Problem solved.

[SgtMakkie]

naa royi, better to just slap the alliance themselves..

[Novikova]

Don't be shocked if people object to killing the kittens. We get oddly attached to NPCs around here. That said, if someone is genuinely offended or triggered by something, I sincerely doubt the proper response is 'WELL MILLIONS OF KIDS DIE EACH DAY IRL'. Sure they do. There's lots of horrifying truths in RL (Ask sometime where most major candy companies get their chocolate. It's not pretty). Doesn't mean it's wise or polite bragging about 'teehee I like killing cute stuff in a video game because I'm ~EVIL~ AND OH SO DARK. LIKE DARK CHOCOLATE. I ALSO HAVE DARK HAIR AND DARK CLOTHING. Laundry day is a paaaaaain. Which I like because I'm ~evil~'. Belittling people for objecting is kinda silly. After all, a lot of people would object if the SW kids were killable. Granted, I think kittens are 10x cuter than the kids in game but hey.

That said, I really don't always get the 'must not kill kids in a video game/story/movie ever' thing personally. Well, I do. A lot of people find it incredibly triggering or disturbing. I've honestly only ever seen it happen in movies a couple of times at the most (And one of them was the most recent AvP - which a lot of people complained about /because/ the kid was killed. But honestly, kid in forest vs. Predator is a really, really one sided fight). Personally, I find each life is worth just as much as another - regardless of age. And that it's really, really silly to make Deus Ex Machina or bend a story over backwards so a kid lives.

Truth is, there's two sides to each opinion and - well, opinion man.

Hopefully this didn't seem offensive or attacking, because it really isn't. I'm just old and grumpy. And yes, killing kids does up the rating. Apparently you can rip out a woman's heart, drop some F-bombs, get your groove on with a vampire and mow down people with guns, but god forbid that woman not have a shirt. Our rating system is whack.

[Celi]

Ehhh, I tamed her and then had her kill the kittens.

[Nubhorns]

Edit: In retrospect this seemed like a pretty jerk thing to say. No harm meant. <3

For those not inclined to look it up there is no 'law' that explicitly states that children are not to be slain, but it's a rather deep seated taboo that has sort of bled over into everything we do. There's an instinctive desire to protect children on a whole(in before someone says "UH I DON'T HAVE THAT"): mothers and fathers and complete strangers give and risk their lives to save their children - heaven forbid you end up on the wrong side of a mama bear - even a good chunk of our culture is child-centric. Children are the future, think of the children, protect your children from threats A, B, and C. Much more emphasis is put on how tragic the deaths of children are in popular media. And while we're at it, video games are corrupting our...what? Children. With as much emphasis on children and how wonderful and beautiful they are there is today, it's not hard to imagine that this might bleed over into games and influence the way they can be played.

Kids in Fallout 3? Completely immune to nukes. Bioshock's Little Sisters can be slain - but you don't actually see it and you are eventually punished for it. There are no kids in Grand Theft Auto. You can't even kill them in Sims. It seems like it's a touchy subject altogether.

However this does not typically apply to animals, ex. Araga's cubs. In movies it's typically reserved for really really bad guys to prove how evil they are - oh god he shot a dog! Cats...I don't know much about cats - dogs are the victims of choice more often than not due to society viewing them as endlessly loyal - hell there are animal abuse cases where the dog didn't even fight back until the last minute or sat through terrible things. Whether that is loyalty or stupidity is up to you.

But as far as most video games go, animals aren't held up on the same pedestal as children are. We kill horses and dogs and cats all the time - pretty sure there are Wintersaber cubs that we have killed and had no issues with because...why? They don't look like cubs? They're still cubs. I kill the cats in Silvermoon all the time. Sand Kittens - critters for an achievement!

I guess the bottom line is that child killing in video games isn't even considered to be anywhere near animal killing, even when baby animals are involved. Also Araga's cubs are lootable, but drop no loot.

[Shirubia]

Paid Araga a visit today on hunter, just to see her in person (Never, NEVER found her in the wild prior the shattering), and she's just gorgeous, but didn't had the heart to tame her with cubs now ><
Funny things, when clicking the cubs, they perform a ''I wanna be like my mommy'' roar and when engaging Araga in combat the cubs run away, just for when she leaves combat, scratch the floor and have her cubs come back.

Yeah, I can slaughter entire towns of NPC's in front of their children, then kill the children and then loot their corpses.
But im a sucker for cats and really have a hard time (or skip completely) quests that ask me to kill felines :X

[Cerah]

There is a pretty simple solution now if you want a cat with Araga's looks, but don't want to take her away from her kittens / kill said kittens.

Just tame one of the Araga look-alikes in the Southern Barrens.

You might not have a sparkly rare, but you can tame guilt-free

[Bonita]

No particular reason, just a curious observation. The baby gorillas in Sholazar weren't killable.

But we can torment them with a poking stick...

We cant torment the SW kids with a poking stick...

Now give hordies poking sticks and let those children be targetable with the poking sticks.

Problem solved.

I wouldnt mind poking the children in sw with sticks (me being an ally)
All they do is run around saying stupid things and spamming chat logs lol

[Spiritbeests]

I flew in to see Araga right after Cata was released, for the first time. She was sitting there surrounded by her so-ugly-they're-cute cubs. I just sat next to them, watched them a while, shot the yeti lord so he couldn't eat the babies and then flew off. I fly back in to check on her sometimes and she's always there waiting for me to /pet her, kill the yeti lord and fly away.

[Banirofthehoof]

So should the clutchmother in Darkshore be included on the no tame list? She is after all in charge of the clutch and likely those two protecting her are her offspring.

And what about killing Beauty and her adorable playful kids Lucky, Spot and Buster in Blackrock? I know they are part of a dungeon, but still...

Oh and Araga's cubs seem to do fine when she is not there. I have checked.

I just wanted to add my $.02 to the discussion.

[MajorThor]

All plainstriders must die, that's a fact.

Beauty cheated on Beast with Urvos so, she needs to die too.

[Saturo]

All plainstriders must die, that's a fact.

Beauty cheated on Beast with Urvos so, she needs to die too.

Wiser words have never been spoken. Or, well, written.

[ServÅntos]

i think im still gonna tame it cuz i love Araga