酷兔英语


Killing is easy in the moral vacuum of videogames. So when Daniel Mullins needed a challenge, he gave peace a chance.


电子游戏的道德真空中,杀戮是件稀松平常的事。因此,当丹尼尔·马林斯(Daniel Mullins)要给自己一个挑战时,他选择了给和平一个机会。



Mr. Mullins, 19, is the creator of 'Felix the Peaceful Monk' -- his character in a videogame called 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.' The game gives players wide latitude over their on-screen characters' appearance and actions. Felix, who is half man, half cat, has become a small-time Internet celebrity for his steadfastrefusal to kill.


19岁的马林斯是游戏《上古卷轴5:天际》(The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)中一位角色"善僧菲利克斯"(Felix the Peaceful Monk)的创造者。这款游戏给玩家很大的灵活性来调整角色容貌和动作方式。半人半猫的菲利克斯因其拒不杀生的特点而一度成为网上热论的游戏角色。



In videogame excerpts Mr. Mullins has posted on YouTube, Felix roams an icy fantasy world doing things like soothing angry wolves with magic. In one video, he explains how to turn away threatening skeletons, noting Felix won't even harm the undead. And when an assassin tried to gut Felix with a knife? While most players have swords and arrows for would-be hit men, Mr. Mullins hit his with a calm spell.


在马林斯发布于YouTube的几个游戏视频中,菲利克斯在一片冰天雪地的幻想大陆上游历,做出各种行善之举,如用魔法安抚愤怒的狼群等。在一段视频中,马林斯解释如何让菲利克斯遣散逼近的骷髅士兵,说菲利克斯甚至连死灵都不愿伤害。当一名刺客试图用匕首刺杀菲利克斯时,马林斯菲利克斯发出了一个平和咒语,而大多数玩家遇到这种情况会用角色手中的刀剑或弓箭还击。



'Apparently someone wants me dead. But that doesn't mean [the assassin] deserves to die,' Mr. Mullins explains.


马林斯解释道,"很显然,刺客想杀死菲利克斯,但这并不意味着应该以牙还牙,把攻击者干掉。"



Videogames have long been assailed for their violent themes and gruesome imagery. But a small slice of players has embraced a new strategy: not killing. They are imparting real-world morals on their virtual-world characters and completing entire games on a 'pacifist run' -- the term for beating a blood-and-guts adventure without drawing any blood.


长期以来,人们批评一些电子游戏主题暴力,内容阴森。不过,有一小群玩家有了个新玩法:不杀生。他们以现实世界的道德标准要求游戏角色,以"和平奔跑"的方式通关,即不伤一人完成一个暴力血腥的冒险游戏。



The cool restraint of pacifism can bring bragging rights and even a taste of online fame. Videogame enthusiasts routinely post videos of their accomplishments on YouTube.


这种和平通关方式很酷,值得炫耀一番,甚至会在网上备受玩家追捧。游戏铁杆玩家经常将他们无暴力通关的视频发布在YouTube上。



Kotaku, a videogame blog, has done posts on a handful of pacifists, including one who conquered the post-apocalyptic world of 'Fallout: New Vegas' without taking a single virtual life. A number of violent videogames award virtual 'trophies' to anyone who can complete the game without killing.


美国游戏博客Kotaku发布过几个这样的视频,其中包括时间设定在热核战争后的游戏《辐射:新维加斯》(Fallout: New Vegas)。在视频中,玩家以和平方式通关,没有杀死任何一个游戏中的人物。有不少暴力游戏会向无暴力通关的玩家授予虚拟"奖杯"。



Stephen Totilo, Kotaku's editor in chief, says videogame pacifism isn't usually a moral decision but rather 'an urge to break the rules' -- and dial up the difficulty of the game. 'One of the most interesting challenges is to get through the game without killing,' he says.


Kotaku主编史蒂芬·托蒂罗(Stephen Totilo)说,玩家无暴力通关一般不是出于什么道德标准,而是"渴望打破常规",以此来增加游戏难度。托蒂罗说,"玩游戏最有趣的一个挑战方式就是不杀人过关。"



Virtual pacifism can be a squishy concept. Ian Jones, a 21-year-old college student in Charlotte, N.C., has also been playing Skyrim as a 'pacifist.' But his method is hardly nonviolent: He uses spells to possess the game's computer-generated bystanders, and they do the killing.


虚拟世界的和平主义也不是那么好界定的。21岁的大学生伊安·琼斯(pacifism)住在北卡罗来纳州的夏洛特(Charlotte),他一直在以一个"和平主义者"的身份玩《上古卷轴5:天际》,但他采取的不是非暴力方式,而是用魔法控制游戏中的闲杂人等,让他们来实施杀戮。



Tweaking the rules to make a game more difficult is as old as play itself. Some golfers, for instance, challenge themselves by playing with one club instead of 14.


通过扭曲规则来提高游戏难度的方式同游戏本身一样古老。举例而言,一些高尔夫球手挑战自我,只用一根高尔夫杆完成整个比赛,而不用一整套的14根球杆。



In the 1980s, enterprising videogame players used to try to get through Nintendo's 'Super Mario Brothers' without squishing the orb-like enemies encountered along the way -- just to see if it could be done.


20世纪80年代,不甘平庸的玩家们努力发起尝试,希望不踩死路上的球状敌人就能通关任天堂(Nintendo)游戏《超级玛丽》(Super Mario Brothers)──他们只是想看看这到底能否实现。



Today, many videogames involvecomplex fictional worlds and give players free rein to create and shape characters -- including the chance to mold their moral compass. In the Skyrim game, players can slay dragons or plunder tombs, but also get married or do tasks like chop firewood or cook.


如今,很多情节丰富的电子游戏都允许玩家自由创造和调整游戏角色──包括角色的行为方式。在《天际》中,玩家可以去屠龙或盗墓,但也可以选择结婚、伐木或烹饪。



When an enemy comes along, a player can take the obvious route: Pull out their sword and hack away. But they can also sidestep conflict with peaceful methods such as spells that make enemies friendly (albeit temporarily) or simply run away.


当敌人出现时,玩家可以做出自然反应:拔剑迎敌;但也可以用一些和平的方式避免争端,比如念咒语让敌人变得友好(暂时性的),或者简单地拔腿就跑,一走了之。



Todd Howard, who directed the team of developers who made the game, notes killing isn't the only morality test. 'Many [players] won't steal,' he says.


《天际》游戏总监托德·霍华德(Todd Howard)说,不杀生并非唯一的道德考验,"很多玩家选择不偷窃。"



On his first run through Skyrim, Mr. Mullins took a more traditional path: He built an avatar that was obsessed with fire and went around torching people. The character engaged in cannibalism and acquired a valuable artifact by killing a priest with a rusty mace.


第一次通关《天际》时,马林斯采取了传统方式:创建一个拥有火焰魔力的角色,然后四处杀戮,用魔法把敌人点成火球。这个角色还会吃人,并用生锈的权杖杀死一名牧师,得到一件珍贵的器物。



When he was sufficiently sickened, Mr. Mullins sought redemption in a new peace-loving avatar: Felix.


玩厌了打打杀杀后,马林斯创建了一个新的和平角色以寻求救赎:菲利克斯。



'I really wanted a change of pace,' says Mr. Mullins, who goes to college in Kingston, Ontario.


在加拿大安大略省金斯顿市(Kingston)上大学的马林斯说,"我真的想换个方式。"



DeeAnna Soicher isn't all that comforted by the idea that a subset of videogame players are merely choosing to play as pacifists. Her 16-year-old son, Brock, is an avid fan of videogames, despite attempts by Mrs. Soicher and her husband, Drew, to keep him away from them.


然而,一小撮游戏玩家以和平方式来玩游戏的做法并不能让迪安娜·索切(DeeAnna Soicher)感到完全满意。迪安娜家住丹佛郊外,她16岁的儿子布拉克(Brock)沉迷于电子游戏,迪安娜和她丈夫德鲁(Drew)多次劝说,但都徒劳无功。



Brock's first videogame system came connected to a treadmill. Worried that videogames would turn him into a couch potato, the parents' stipulation was their son could only play when the treadmill was moving.


布拉克得到的第一个游戏机是与跑步机挂钩起来的。他父母担心游戏会让布拉克成为一个沙发土豆,于是要求他先在跑步机上健身,然后才能玩游戏。



Today, after wearing down his parents with wit and good grades, Brock has a PlayStation 3 that he plays on a denim beanbag chair in the basement. The double zeros in his online identity, BrockyBoi00, come from an old football jersey that hangs framed above the television.


如今,布拉克以聪明才智和良好的成绩说服了父母,得到一台PlayStation 3游戏机,他在地下室坐在一个牛仔布豆豆椅上玩。他的游戏网名叫BrockyBoi00,最后两个零来自于电视机上方用镜框挂起来的一件旧球衣上的号码。



But Mr. and Mrs. Soicher still don't want any violent titles in their suburban Denver home. Brock can't have any game that has a rating above 'T' (Teen). Recently, when Mrs. Soicher found a copy of a shooting game called 'Kill Zone,' she laid it on the kitchen counter so Brock would know he'd been busted.


不过,索切夫妇还是不想让家中出现任何暴力游戏的身影。布拉克不能玩任何评级在"T"(未成年人)以上的游戏。最近,迪安娜发现一张名为"杀戮地带"(Kill Zone)的射击游戏盘,就把它放在厨房操作台上,这样布拉克就知道自己犯的错被揪出来了。



Thus, she was pleasantly surprised to learn Brock posted an online video for how to complete a 'death match' in the game 'Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception' -- but without actually killing anyone. Brock's method, as explained in a voice-over in his online tutorial, was to climb away from opponents and hide along a rafter.


因此,当迪安娜得知布拉克在网上发布一段视频,教人如何不杀戮就能完成《神秘海域3:德雷克的诡计》(Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception)中的"死亡竞赛"时,她感到既吃惊,又欣慰。布拉克在视频中介绍了自己采用的方法,即攀爬离开对手,躲在房子的大梁上。



'Given what a 16-year-old boy could be putting on YouTube, this is fine with me,' says Mrs. Soicher.


迪安娜说,"想想那些16岁的男孩都会在YouTube上发布些什么样的视频,这段视频我可以接受。"



Brock was inspired by Mr. Mullins's YouTube videos (the two have never met, online or otherwise). He doesn't have a problem with violent games, as videos of his other adventures can attest. Still, he wanted to make the point that games should have more nonviolent options.


布拉克的无暴力通关方式是受到了马林斯YouTube视频的启发(两人彼此不认识,无论是在网络还是现实生活中)。布拉克对暴力游戏并不反感,这可以从他玩的其他一些冒险游戏看出来。不过,他想指出的一点是,游戏可以拥有更多无暴力的娱乐方式。



'I guess not killing in videogames is rebellious,' Brock says.


"我想,在游戏中不杀人是一种颠覆性的玩法。"



He recently created a new video of him playing 'Battlefield 3,' the sort of realistic war game his mother usually forbids. Instead of killing, however, Brock's on-screen character goes around reviving enemies with a defibrillator. The song he picked out: A cover of the Edwin Starr classic, 'War,' which includes the famous line: 'What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.'


最近,他又拍摄了一段《战地3》(Battlefield 3)的游戏视频,这种现实类战争游戏迪安娜一般是不让他玩的,但布拉克控制的角色不杀人,而是手持一把除颤仪,跑来跑去给敌人疗伤。他选择的背景音乐是艾德温·斯达(Edwin Starr)的经典反战歌曲《战争》(War),其中有一句著名的歌词:"战争有什么好处?原来一无是处。"(What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.)



Conor Dougherty


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