In the world of video games (or perhaps rather video game worlds), collateral damage is often hardly given a second thought. However, in some titles in particular collateral damage can often take up a good portion of the gameplay (or else can feature surprisingly significantly if the player is that way inclined). Now just imagine if somebody had to insure video characters or, worse yet, somebody else tried to take out a claim against them for the damage caused by uncontrollably destructive protagonists. Let’s take a look at some examples...
- Sonic the Hedgehog (the Sonic the Hedgehog series)
Sonic is a liability for a number of reasons, the main one probably being that he is a giant hedgehog (a blue one to boot) that can move ridiculously fast; would you really want to collide with something covered in spines at speed? Sonic also breaks a lot of things, from television sets to Dr Robotnik’s robots (even if he
is evil, those things are still property). Additionally, who do all those gold rings scattered about the various levels belong to? The kleptomaniac hedgehog snatches them up like they’re candy but they probably aren’t even actually rightfully his.
- Adam Jensen (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)
Adam Jensen is already a very expensive man, having been kitted all with all the latest Sarif technology (whether he asked for this or not) following his unfortunate accident. However, during his conspiracy chasing adventures he can ending causing quite a lot of damages to other people as well as their possessions. If the player is going for a non-lethal playthrough then the former remain for the most part unharmed (if someone what battered, which you could still arguably claim for). However, if they don’t then it’s not pretty. Additionally a fair few non-living things get smashed, shot and blown up in the process; who will pay for those broken security bots, hm?
Alex Mercer is another case where the extent of the damage done heavily depends on the attitude of the person playing him. A powerful shapeshifter with the ability to consume others in order to enhance his powers, it really is a recipe for disaster. However, considering that the rest of New York City is busy being struck down by a deadly plague, the authorities are generally too busy to notice you plummeting off rooftops onto pedestrians or tearing the tops off tanks. I’m pretty sure I’d be hard pressed to find
no win no fee solicitors UK to deal with the latter if I managed to escape and flee back to Britain.
Eli Smith swears that all the characters he played in video games adhered to local laws (especially in the
Grand Theft Auto series).
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