History Main / HideYourChildren

* The HD universe of ''Grand Theft Auto'' has continued the tradition of there being no children anywhere. The only reference to children in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' was with regards to a dubious beauty pageant called Little Lacey Surprise, and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' doesn't even have incidental references. However, it is possible to find children's playgrounds throughout both game maps ... populated by adults.

* While they don't appear onscreen ''alive'', the first ''VideoGame/MakaiToshiSaGa'' game has you find a room filled with corpses, and a journal that identifies them as children killed in a nuclear war. Somewhat surprisingly, this made it through NOA's censorship when the game was localized as Final Fantasy Legend.

This is because the {{Media Watchdog}}s won't allow it. Watching children be killed is bad enough, but [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential allowing the player to do it themselves]]? Not a chance. As a result, children will often be conspicuously absent in video games. [[HandWave Maybe it's a school day.]] If they make an appearance, it's likely the game will prohibit you from causing them harm. Occasionally, a daring game will go out of its way and avert this trope, in which case you can expect an [[RatedMForMoney M-rating]], [[MoralGuardians media controversy]], and possibly poor sales on top of it all. [[EveryoneHasStandards Even Hardcore Gamers Have Standards.]]

* There are three kids that show up in ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': protagonist Joel’s daughter Sarah, {{Deuteragonist}} Ellie, and a boy named Sam who’s your companion for one of the chapters. Ellie says she’s excited to go to Joel’s brother Tommy’s town because there are probably kids there for her to hang out with. Tommy confirms this to her when they get there, but none of them actually show up.

* In the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' games, no children show up at all. ''Ever''. This is lampshaded in 2 where a ban on children and animals in public is talked about in the Ultor Cathedral, and one of three "facts about Stilwater" on the official site claimed that "city code prevents the public display of children and animals".

* The isometric strategy game, ''[[VideoGame/{{SWAT}} Police Quest: SWAT 2]]'' featured children among the civilian hostages who can be inflicted harm the same way as any suspect, civilian, or officer.

*** Played straight with non-human races. You only see human children in the game, not [[OurElvesAreBetter Elven]] or {{Beast|Man}}Race children. Arguably justified in both cases, as the game takes place in Skyrim, a human land several provinces removed from the homelands of most Elves and Beast Races. Additionally, the Elves have [[ImmortalProcreationClause a low birth rate]] and are LongLived, while the Beast Races have elements of BizarreAlienBiology going on. That said, game mods once again are available to avert the trope, allowing you to adopt non-human children such as the absolutely adorable Khajiit children.

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', an entire town is infected by a parasite, which turns them into bloodthirsty zombie-like beings. No children are ever seen, of course. A montage during the credits gives a glimpse of how the parasites were introduced to the villagers, and children are seen. Thus, one way or another, a lot of kids died before the game began. [[spoiler:There's a strong implication from that sequence that the children were murdered by the Plaga-infected parents.]]

* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', the only child is [[spoiler:shown after the credits after all the bloodshed is over]]. In ''[[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle Desperate Struggle]]'', [[spoiler:the only child in the game is immortal, since he made a [[DealWithTheDevil pact with Satan.]] Also, [[SelfMadeOrphan he's a killer himself]], the FinalBoss of the game, and [[HumanoidAbomination rarely looks like a kid]]]].

* ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' has the usual no children in the over world, although a major plot point is the death of Aiden’s niece Lena, who died in a hit meant for him, while his nephew is a secondary character. There’s also a few schools that serve as basic building props along with kids toys around residential areas. When Aiden is infiltrating the Black Viceroy’s HQ via cameras, a woman can be seen cradling an infant and a few Home Intrusion events has a few parents interacting with their kids.

* ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' averts this, with Frank's daughter Alice appearing ingame, where [[spoiler:you have to rescue her and her mother at an airport]]. A pedestrian who bears resemblance to Alice appears in the opening video, but other than that, no child besides her ever shows up in-game. You could kill her and her mother March at any point in the mission, though of course doing so will lead to mission failure with the game [[YouBastard telling you what the hell you just did]].

* ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' averts this, with Frank's daughter Alice appearing ingame, where [[spoiler:you have to rescue her and her mother at an airport]]. A pedestrian that bears resemblance to Alice appears in the opening video, but other than that, no child besides her ever shows up in-game.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'' actually toyed with this. The final level of the original release ''did'' feature multiple children in a school backdrop... but the entire level was scripted, as the Dude opens fire on them with his various weapons, hearing their screams - but [[ImprobableInfantSurvival none of them actually get hit]], which causes the Dude to enter a VillainousBSOD, at which point he's finally captured and locked up. [[spoiler:The ''Redux'', however, switches this out for a new finale where the Dude apparently becomes an out-of-body witness to his own funeral; Running With Scissors noted that in the almost 20 years between the original and ''Redux'', school shootings in reality had become far too commonplace for the original ending level to still have any of its shock value.]]

This is because the {{Media Watchdog}}s won't allow it. Watching children killed is bad enough, but [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential allowing the player to do it themselves]]? Not a chance. As a result, children will often be conspicuously absent in video games. [[HandWave Maybe it's a school day]]. If they make an appearance, it's likely the game will prohibit you from causing them harm. Occasionally, a daring game will go out of its way and avert this trope, in which case you can expect an [[RatedMForMoney M-rating]], [[MoralGuardians media controversy]] and possibly poor sales on top of it all. [[EveryoneHasStandards Even Hardcore Gamers Have Standards]].

* There are three kids that show up in ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': protagonist Joel’s daughter Sarah, {{Deuteragonist}} Ellie, and a boy named Sam who’s your companion for one of the chapters. Ellie says she’s excited to go to Joel’s brother Tommy’s town because there are probably kids there for her to hang out with. Tommy confirms this to her when they get there but none of them actually show up.

* A level in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarI'' features Athens burnt to the ground, with random civilians running around all over the place, whom you can kill if you so desire. No children are present. There is ''one child'' that appears in the game, the daughter of TheProtagonist, Kratos. She is already dead before the game begins, because she was killed along with her mother by Kratos's own hand, and only appears in flashbacks. This is a vitally important part of Kratos's backstory as he is constantly haunted by the knowledge that he was personally responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter.
* ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'': it's possible for Hulk to kill random civilians but not children.

* Justified in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. The Combine have suppressed human reproduction for many years (it varies between 10 and 20 years, depending on where you look), so City 17 is populated only by adults. The children all grew up. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the first chapter when Gordon comes across an empty playground -- cue ghostly laughter of children. Also, in ''Episode One'', Resistance members will occasionally say "I'm glad there aren't any children around to see this." Doctor Kleiner also states in ''Episode One'', after Gordon and Alyx [[spoiler:take out the Citadel]], that the Combine's Suppression Field has been deactivated and allows humans to produce children again and awkwardly advises the Resistance and all surviving citizens to "get busy".

* In one level of ''VideoGame/{{SWAT 4}}'', you are pitted against a cult and told to expect children inside. Naturally, it would be [[MoralGuardians very problematic]] to have you deal with children as hostages, so the game seems to be in a irreconcilable position. The solution? As you proceed through the level you see cribs, childlike decorations, and stuffed animals -- but no children. [[spoiler:Finally, in the basement, you find numerous tiny graves with farewell messages scrawled on the wall, the implication being that the cult members murdered their own children. [[note]]Yes, apparently, implying that children were murdered en masse off-screen [[SkewedPriorities is better]] than giving the player an opportunity to rescue them, even if it risks hurting them in the process. (By the way, the previous sentence was [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential only partially sarcastic]].)[[/note]]]]
** The earlier ''VideoGame/{{SWAT 3}}'' avoided this trope -- if you took a mission involving a home invasion, and the call up tells you the family had children, you will very well find and rescue those children. The corollary of having to deal with child hostages is avoided by having them all curled up on a couch or at the side of their bed when you find them, so there's no chance of the player accidentally shooting them and, them being children, no need to put them in handcuffs before calling in to evacuate them.

* Creator/NaughtyDog:
** ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' has very few children across all four games. There’s some kids Nate can play with in the Tibet section of ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves Among Thieves]]''. You play a section as Nate himself as a teen in ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception Drake’s Deception]]''. In ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd A Thief’s End]]'' there is a bit as Nate a couple of years younger than he is in the aforementioned game and his teenage brother Sam, and you play the epilogue as his fourteen year old daughter Cassie.
** There are three kids that show up in ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': protagonist Joel’s daughter Sarah, {{Deuteragonist}} Ellie, and a boy named Sam who’s your companion for one of the chapters. Ellie says she’s excited to go to Joel’s brother Tommy’s town because there are probably kids there for her to hang out with. Tommy confirms this to her when they get there but none of them actually show up.

* ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheSamurai 2'' is ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' in Late Edo Japan... you can draw your [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] on a busy market-street, and start cutting down innocent civilians left and right. Unlike ''GTA'', however, there ''are'' children. They're just MadeOfIron -- your strongest attack will do little more than slow them down as they run towards the nearest exit. Even on "Extreme mode", where everyone in the game, including yourself and the final boss, dies from [[OneHitPointWonder a single hit]], the kids remain immortal.

** ''VideoGame/UltimateSpiderman'': Ultimate Venom is allowed to eat these balloon-carrying children. Note that the games were made by the same development studio.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'':
*** Subverted in general, as children are present, but only as two-dimensional sprites who cannot be interacted with beyond conversation. Thus, you cannot harm or kill them.
*** Averted in the quest to cure yourself of being a [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent Wereboar]]. It involves letting an orphaned child drink your blood, and then slaying him once he transforms into a Wereboar himself.

*** [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] member Gogron gro-Bolmog, an Orc who performs assassinations with a huge axe, tells a story during the quest "A Watery Grave". It was about him assassinating a little Nord girl at her own birthday party:
--->'''Grogon''': She asked me if I was the jester! So I said to her, "No, I am a messenger of death." You should have seen the look on her face! Ha ha ha ha! Anyway, she won't be seeing age six!
*** One can find a non-wearable item called "Child Overalls" on a small corpse. [[FridgeHorror What the hell happened to the children in Cyrodiil?]]
*** M'aiq the Liar [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans on the fourth wall]]:
--->'''M'aiq the Liar''': M'aiq believes the children are our future. But he doesn't want them ruining all of our fun.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** ''Skyrim'' includes children as full [=NPCs=] for the first time, but they cannot be harmed or killed. [[BrattyHalfPint No matter how much they deserve it.]] There are {{Game Mod}}s that remove the invulnerability from children, and oddly enough, utilize existing dialogue recordings hidden in the files of the children's death screams. (At least one modder took advantage of this and twinked his character to summon an army of invulnerable, knife-wielding little girls.)
*** The ''Hearthfire'' DLC allows you to [[AHomeOwnerIsYou build a home]] and [[HappilyAdopted adopt up to two of the game world's many orphaned children]]. You can easily take advantage of your immortal kiddies as companions.
*** Played straight with non-human races, however. You only see human children in the game, not [[OurElvesAreBetter Elven]] or {{Beast|Man}}Race children. Arguably justified in both cases, as the game takes place in Skyrim, a human land several provinces removed from the homelands of most Elves and Beast Races. Additionally, the Elves have [[ImmortalProcreationClause a low birth rate]] and are LongLived, while the Beast Races have elements of BizarreAlienBiology going on. That said, game mods once again are available to avert the trope, allowing you to adopt non-human children such as the absolutely adorable Khajiit children.
*** [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] member Babette is a vampire who turned at [[UndeadChild around age ten]] and is now the oldest member of the group in Skyrim. When the Sanctuary is [[spoiler:sacked by the Penitus Oculatus]], she's one of the few who survives. If instead you choose to destroy the Brotherhood rather than join, she'll be the only member not present during your attack.

--->'''M'aiq the Liar''': M'aiq does not remember his childhood. Perhaps he never had one.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'':
** ''Fable'' was originally going to include children that could be killed (a widely-circulated pre-release picture showed the protagonist impaling a child on his blade), but this was scrapped at the last minute. Instead, children only appear in places in the game where you're not supposed to be able to kill ''anyone'', at least not without glitches.
** There are children all over the place in ''VideoGame/FableII''. You still can't kill them, but they quite distinctly notice you if you try. Specifically, you get some evil points, everyone gets ''very'' upset, and the guards will chase you down... to make you pay a fine.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'':
** In ''Neverwinter Nights'', players can destroy every guard and adult in the place, but there is a little child in one of the districts who cannot be killed. If you kill his parents, he even seeks vengeance. Protected by sheer invincibility, he will follow you anywhere in the game, [[CherryTapping pounding on you with his tiny fists]]. [[{{Determinator}} He will follow you into every room of the game.]]
** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' has a fair number of children, but peaceful {{NPC}}s are now invulnerable and cannot even be targeted.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' is a straight example, but its sequel ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' and ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' play with the trope: There are no children to be found in the world unless the plot calls for it, but it does several times, and one of them even meets an untimely demise near the beginning of ''II''.
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' has children as beggars, but they cannot be harmed.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', the only child to be seen anywhere is Emily, and she's the only person in the game whom the player cannot kill (if you kill any of your allies while they are still critical to advancing the story, you get a NonStandardGameOver) -- [[spoiler:though she can still die in the High Chaos ending if the player fails to stop Havelock before he [[TakingYouWithMe takes her with him]]]].
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' features African ChildSoldiers and Ely. Killing any child soldier without neutralizing them in a mission nets you a game over, along with a scathing WhatTheHellHero from Ocelot or Miller.

** Protagonist Michael is the first actual father featured in the games, however his "kids" are both in their early 20s.

* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', we see two children in the entire game; a kid selling newspapers in the opening cutscene, and John's son Jack who's 16. In Mexico, it's mentioned that kids have been taking up arms in the revolution, but we never see any, for obvious reasons.
* There are more children in its {{Prequel}} ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' but they're mostly hidden in cutscenes. Four-year-old Jack can always be found at camp but the only other kids you can find outside missions are the [[StreetUrchin street kids]] in Saint Denis who you can't hurt.

** ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'' features one child, the PlayerCharacter's daughter Katey. She can be killed through the player not fulfilling certain tasks, but not directly and her death is never shown on screen. Note also there's one survivor who has an age of less than 18. [[spoiler:Snowflake the tiger, who is three years old.]] Even this plays the trope straight as that is considered the age of maturity/adulthood for the average [[spoiler:tigers]].
* The ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'' series, especially ''Postal 2'', lacks anyone under adult age, as Vince Desi and the rest of the RWS staff felt it would be crossing a line. Considering that the player can kill, maim, burn and/or urinate on anyone or anything, from civilians, store clerks, priests, police officers, Gary Coleman, Taliban members, Osama Bin Laden and even digital expies of the game company staff, as well as dogs, cattle and cats (the latter of which can be used as makeshift shotgun or rifle silencers, even), the ability to kill children is considered one hell of a big line to cross. Some [=NPCs=] will mention that they have children if they're huddled down, begging not to be killed in the many random acts of violence that seem to infest Paradise. On the other hand, this trope is averted in the Creator/UweBoll movie adaptation, which features dozens of kids getting hit during a particular firefight, in an attempt to [[CrossesTheLineTwice cross the line as far as possible]].

--> '''Message''': "You can only [=HARVEST=] or [=RESCUE=] Little Sisters."

* ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' averts this somewhat, with Frank's daughter Alice appearing ingame, where [[spoiler:you have to rescue her and her mother at an airport]]. A pedestrian that bears resemblance to Alice appears in the opening video, but other than that, no child besides her ever shows up in-game.

*** Played straight with non-human races, however. You only see human children in the game, not [[OurElvesAreBetter Elven]] or {{Beast |Man}}Race children. Arguably justified in both cases, as the game takes place in Skyrim, a human land several provinces removed from the homelands of most Elves and Beast Races. Additionally, the Elves have [[ImmortalProcreationClause a low birth rate]] and are LongLived, while the Beast Races have elements of BizarreAlienBiology going on. That said, game mods once again are available to avert the trope, allowing you to adopt non-human children such as the absolutely adorable Khajiit children.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', the only child to be seen anywhere is Emily, and she's the only person in the game whom the player cannot kill (if you kill any of your allies while they are still critical to advancing the story, you get a NonStandardGameOver) -- [[spoiler:at least until the High Chaos ending]].

On TV, babies seem to be able to [[InfantImmortality miraculously survive any threat]], even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. In violent video games, children show up so rarely the player suspects that they don't even exist. (If they ''are'' all missing or dead, you have a ChildlessDystopia.)

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'' actually toyed with this. The final level of the original release ''did'' feature multiple children in a school backdrop... but the entire level was scripted, as the Dude opens fire on them with his various weapons, hearing their screams - but [[InfantImmortality none of them actually get hit]], which causes the Dude to enter a VillainousBSOD, at which point he's finally captured and locked up. [[spoiler:The ''Redux'', however, switches this out for a new finale where the Dude apparently becomes an out-of-body witness to his own funeral; Running With Scissors noted that in the almost 20 years between the original and ''Redux'', school shootings in reality had become far too commonplace for the original ending level to still have any of its shock value.]]

->''"During the first Rikti invasion The Circle of Jerks secretly made sure that all but a handful of the city's children and domesticated pets were kept safe in a bunker deep underground."''
-->--''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''' Virtue-server Wiki entry

%% One quote is sufficient. More can go on the quotes tab.

->''"...Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband, cause they're rapin' everybody out here."''
-->-- '''[[MemeticMutation Antoine Dodson]]''', July 28, 2010, Channel 48 News

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[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]

[[folder:Stealth Based Game]]
* One of the levels in ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}: Blood Money'' has our hero carry out a hit on a mobster in witness relocation during a child's birthday party. The clown is there, the caterer is there, but neither the kid nor his teenaged sister is anywhere to be found.

[[folder:Third Person Shooter]]

[[folder:Turn Based Strategy]]

[[folder: Film]]
* James Bond has spoken to exactly one child in more than a half-century's worth of movies. (The conversation happened in 1975.) Although children are occasionally visible in crowd scenes, they're always mysteriously absent when something violent happens.

* In the direct-to-DVD ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' movie "The Beast With A Billion Backs", the titular Beast [[spoiler:has neck-sex with every single being in the universe]]. In the commentary track, the creators note that they very deliberately did not have any children appear in the episode.

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]

[[folder:Hack And Slash]]

[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]

[[folder:Role Playing Game]]
* You can murder children in the first two ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games, though the resulting penalty to your reputation makes the rest of the game nearly unplayable. Versions outside the US remove the children by turning them invisible[[note]]in fact, excluding their graphics resources but leaving the data for their critter ID's[[/note]], which makes a town full of pickpocketing urchins in ''Fallout 2'' [[DidntThinkThisThrough even more annoying than normally.]]

[[folder:Stealth Based Game]]

[[folder:Turn Based Strategy]]
* Averted in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'', where there are two chapters where civilians, including children, are on the field. While you cannot harm civilians, enemy units often attack them, and generally kill them in one hit. While you can defend them, doing so is not strictly necessary, and you can still beat the level if one of them dies, although even one civilian death will prevent you from getting the rare items that civilians give you at the end of the chapter.

** Inverted most heavily in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'' where the villains have a custom of actively hunting children. The one instance the player encounters this it is possible to save all the children but the game makes it clear this practise has been happening for many years and is a key part of the backstory for several characters. The final boss is also approximately fifteen and possessed by Satan.

[[folder:Turn Based Tactics]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheGetaway2002'', Alex Hammond appears to be the only child in the whole Greater London area.

* In ''VideoGame/TheGetaway'', Alex Hammond appears to be the only child in the whole Greater London area.

** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Radiant Dawn]]'', Nico, a little boy who tries to help Micaiah escape from pursuing soldiers, is ''killed'' by said overzealous soldiers, in broad daylight and in a market full of witnesses. [[spoiler:Micaiah runs back to use her HealingHands to revive him, mercifully... [[InvertedTrope no such luck for the adult civilians who are then killed for trying to protect them.]]]]

* Actually becomes a plot point in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga''.