10 Awful Things We All Did In Video Games
When games let you harness your inner a**hole.
What are video games if not a means through which players can do things they simply can't in real life, be it visiting mysterious worlds, harnessing amazing superpowers, or just being a total a**hole without suffering any real-life consequences?
Video games are an escape from the anxieties of the real world, but they can also be a cathartic avenue through which players let out their frustrations, often by doing deeply terrible things they'd never actually do in reality.
And while none of these games forced players to do awful things, they nevertheless gave them the tools to figure it out for themselves.
Let's be honest, every single one of us has indulged our darker side within the safety of a video game, most often torturing or even killing poor NPCs in grimly creative ways.
Sometimes the core gameplay loop just isn't enough - you felt the need to go a little outside the box and perform an act that was only as hilarious as it was cruel.
You might not want to admit to it, but just about everybody who played these games carried out these heinous acts...
10. Throwing Baby Penguins Off A Cliff - Super Mario 64
When somebody gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and when a giant penguin gives you her baby, you throw it off a cliff, right? Wait a minute...
Super Mario 64 may be one of the most adorable and seemingly harmless platformers of all time, but it nevertheless allowed players to indulge their inner psychopath in the level "Cool, Cool Mountain."
At one point you'll encounter a mother penguin who has lost her baby, Tuxie, and she requests your assistance to locate the child.
Once you bring Tuxie back to her mother, though, you're still able to pick the li'l penguin up and run around with her. So of course, many players couldn't resist but just throw her off the nearby cliff edge.
To make matters more horrifying, Tuxie's mother will look on in an anger when you scamper off with Tuxie, though at least you're not actually committing penguin murder, as Tuxie will respawn at the top of the mountain once you've carried out your horrific act.
Even so, needlessly traumatising a mother and her child for your own fleeting amusement sure is what psychiatrists call a "red flag."