Poll Question 001 - Have you Crowbarred Barney for his ammo?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3

The very first poll question was suggested by PasserbywhoplaysHL. His question: “Have you Crowbarred Barney for his ammo?” Once the poll closes (probably Friday) I will post the final results here.

I have to admit to regreting creating the answers I did for this poll because I should have kept it to just YES and NO. I added the stupid answer of “Who’s Barney” because I thought I was being funny.

The question may reveal a number of things about you but I’m no psychologist. Here’s my interpreation:

Firstly, I answered NO because I could never do that in real life, or at least I truely believe I could never do that, who knows for sure until we are put in that situation. I never killed any scientists eother because I didn’t get my pleasure from killing things, I got my pleasure from reaching the objective. If the enemy were in the way then they had to be removed.

Sure I enjoy the balance of shooting skill and tactics but killing either Barney or the scientists didn’t involve either. I’m half embarrassed and half please to admit that it didn’t occur to me to kill Barney to get his ammo. I wonder how many people killed him for the fun of it and then found out about the ammo?

There could be deeper moral questions here. For example, would you kill an innocent person to save yourslef? Would you kill an innocent person to save two people? I believe there is a recognised list of these types of questions that each delve deeper into the point. I can’t seem to find the link at the moment but I remember reading one questions which was related to how easy it was to kill this one person used to save the others. If it was pressing abutton more people would do it than having to kill them manually (Shooting them, for example).

I accept that we are just talking about a video game but feel there is a lot to learn about ourselves THROUGH these games.

Your thoughts?

The Results Are In!

Well, here they are.
Yes, but reluctantly: 24 Votes - 28%
Yes, and I enjoyed it!: 24 Votes - 28%
No: 29 Votes - 34%
Who is Barney?:9 Votes -10%

Poor old Barney, 10% of the voters didn’t even know who he was! As if we believe that. When you add the two yes votes togther it’s pretty clear how playes feel about it.

About this entry

Published:: 20th October 2006 at 4:43 pm

Category:: Poll Questions

Responses:: 15 Comments (add)

el_espaniol 24th October 2006 at 16:49 1

Yes…!!! I need more ammo for the Beretta…!…;-)
planetphillip 24th October 2006 at 16:51 2

I just tried to edit the title of the question and it seems to have reset the results!!

I sincerely apologise for this. I think I have recovered the results but can’t find a way to add them.

Once the poll finishes I will add them. Please don’t vote again.
andyb 24th October 2006 at 17:18 3

I did it purely to see what would happen.I generally dont run out of ammo as I have developed a feeling for the crowbar so that I can kill most things with it without barely a scratch.If I need to kill something thats not easy to kill I wouldn’t use Barneys pea shooter anyway.I like the shotgun.
Ezequielhl 25th October 2006 at 00:16 4

It was my fisrt time playing Half Life.

It was so tactic for this Quake-sick boy (ie me, but now the hl is in my name ^^) the first time: ammo only can be found in realistic places and not stocked in a special part on a room.

I hope God can forgive me.
HLFREAK 25th October 2006 at 03:01 5

Hey i just voted “whoes barney because i think its pretty damn funny to figure out whoes teh wise guy.
shungokusatsu 25th October 2006 at 14:34 6

in opposing force, I like to wrench otis for his ammo, cause he has .357 bullets!
PasserbywhoplaysHL 25th October 2006 at 19:51 7

It was better to have Otis follow you as far as possible, as (like all other HL NPCs) he had a nifty stock of infinate ammo for his desert eagle…

When you reached an NPC-proof obstacle however (like a duct or a ladder) it very soon was “Look Otis, there’s a donut over there!”, “Where!?” , , …

As concerns the-ethics-of-Barney-bashing debate, one of the funnest aspects of exploring a virtual world is its interactability. NPCs add greatly to this, and it is surprising how you are sometimes tricked into really caring for them - to the extent that you view them as persons.

(And this despite the most moronic AI in places: “That’s it. I’m not taking another step!” when it should be “Yes sirree I will press that button for you that you inexplicably cannot operate yourself - rightaway!” - Crowbar and F6 for you it is Mr smartypants Einsteinlookalike- whocannotevenclimeaflightoffrickingstairs.. … loading… )

I see Barney-bashing as part of exploring the interactivity of the virtual world. I agree with PP in the sense that I do not want my FPS to be homicide simulators (as he put it somewhere on this site), but then again, Barney is not a person - he is a computer game character with rather poor AI who carries around free ammo and sometimes cannot get past the simplest obstacles.

If I had to feel guilty about Barney and Otis I’d have to feel guilty about quite a lot of pixels

http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-05-18
PasserbywhoplaysHL 25th October 2006 at 20:09 8

P.S.

http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-05-20
groza 27th October 2006 at 10:45 9

Yes, I did crowbar him a few times.

He says “Aim for the head” but fires at the torso… so his ammo is better value in my gun.
Aniline 24th November 2006 at 20:34 10

I found it much more useful to have him take out a few enemies first and save my ammo. At least he died an honorable death.

Aniline
zeroth404 26th January 2007 at 22:27 11

Its fun to do things you’re not supposed to!

and its a better idea is to shove the barney into the enemy’s sight so he can use his infinite pistol ammo until he dies, and THEN you can pick up his ammo. This obviously doesn’t work when he can’t follow you through vents. AI that dumb deserves to die for the sake of your survival
zeroth404 26th January 2007 at 22:33 12

And there’s nothing wrong with homicide-simulators. thats what games are for: going where you otherwise can’t (or just plain shouldn’t)

interactivity above all else. if a game can be all that it was intended, PLUS an *optional* homicide-simulator, then it’s a better game.

Players should *choose* their moral paths in games, not be limited by what developers and mothers thing is “appropriate”
Old Scratch 8th March 2007 at 23:30 13

Funny, I must be moral because I’ve never even thought of whacking Barney for ammo.

Usually, when I’ve got him (or a squad, like in HL2), I put them to use helping me clear a map, but I try to keep them alive as long as possible, at least ’til I *can’t* do so any longer.

I wonder if the AIs are set up to take that fact into account, and branch to another game outcome; if not, that would be an interesting way to liven things up a bit.
Anonymous 29th May 2007 at 06:23 14

I crowbared every breakable object, every barney. Scientists were kept in reserver for their healing powers and use as diversions.
When moving to an unreturnable level I back tracked and killed them all !!!! :-)))
piledriver 22nd June 2007 at 21:54 15

Oh Yes! Seems such a waste when you have to leave him behind with that lovely ammo. First time was in the original HL near the beginning. Barney helps you kill off the first zombies, then you have to enter a computer room through a vent. Well, He can’t come too, so there’s only one thing for it… the first of many.
Seems so long ago now.