I had never heard about those games, seem to be really tasteless. Still, they don't seem to be suicide simulators like dtgreene has proposed.
I mean, seriously, are you guys for real? A simulation for blowing your head off? Of course such a game would draw players who are already suicidal, and could well reinforce their suicidal thoughts and give them the last rest of determination to go through with their plans. And no stupid "trigger warning" (which is something for self-absorbed, attention-seeking crybabies anyway, not for people who seriously consider ending it) could prevent that.

True, but then your average FPS could reinforce any sociopaths, and Carmageddon could reinforce anyone with road rage, and NFS could reinforce anyone who drives too fast, and Thief could reinforce actual actual thieves, and don't get me stared on GTA and Saints Row.

You wanna get rid of any and all games that might possibly send someone over the edge? When you are finished you wanna move on to doing that with music, with movies, with art?

Get rid of all of your Hemingway and Thompson and Plath. They might drive suicidal readers over the edge.
No movies about suicide, or drug addiction.
No more Saw films, no Se7en, no crime dramas. There are some very unbalanced people out there who might be pushed too far by these things.
No more Nirvana not more Soundgarden. Die hard fans might be driven to follow the same path.
Look at what the Beatles did to Charles Manson. Wanna ban The White Album?

David Berkowitz was driven over the edge by his neighbors' dog barking too much.
Wanna get rid of pets?

Where does it stop?

Also, just a reminder: A game does not need to entertain the player. A game does not have to be fun.

For example, computerized versions of standardized tests (like the GRE) could be considered computer games, but they are clearly not intended for entertainment or fun. (The elements of a game are there; the player is presented with a challenge (the test questions), there are rules (like whether there's a guessing penalty) and is scored on how well they do (in particular, how many and which questions are answered correctly).)

Also, there are plenty of low budget free games that are not intended for long term entertainment, like the ones I mentioned in an earlier post (which, of course, has links to a couple satire sites in it).

I don't think those comparisons work. I'm not convinced that violent games can't have a negative effect on some people, but games like Carmaggedon, Saint's row etc. at least are obviously unrealistic...there's a layer of fantasy in them that makes taking them as inspiration for real-life action rather hard (unless you're seriously mentally ill anyway).
A game solely about shooting yourself would be different imo. Not that it would affect anybody negatively who doesn't already have suicide on his mind. But it could easily reinforce suicidal thoughts. And simulating the act might make it easier to eventually go through with it. It's not easy to kill yourself, because the instinct for self-preservation is so strong...such a game might help in overcoming that instinct. It could definitely be harmful.
Anyway, I'll end here...thankfully, such a game will probably never get made.

True, it will probably never get made.

And our resident Free Speech Activist will rest easy knowing that free speech should only actually apply to him. :P

We'd need a professional ludologist, but I really doubt your definition of "game". Academic tests aren't games.
Of course there's nothing to be said against games that try to make a player think about disturbing subject matter. But if one wants to make a game about suicide, there should be better ways than a simulator about blowing your head off (unless you want to encourage suicide and present it as a valid course of action and expression of personal freedom, which is of course a point of view one can take).
I didn't write that such a game should be prohibited.

Wasn't that Cookie Monster?
Now I know I've played that one. Manny!
Ah, but you can "game" the test, if one knows how.

Also, I wanna be a professional ludologist. (Or should that be agonologist? Do we care if we cross the classical etymological streams?)



edit: hyperlink snafu; not sure how to fix it, so I won't. :"
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_Monster_(computer_program]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_Monster_(computer_program[/url])

Indeed, it's kind of strange that "ludologist" is part Latin, part Greek.
But I didn't make up the word...ludology really exists:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_studies
https://www.quora.com/Video-Games-Why-is-ludology-important

Everyone is aware that my 'suicides becoming servants in the afterlife' comment is a Beetlejuice reference, right? :P

Am I the only one who saw that movie? The receptionist shows off her slit wrists 'If only I knew then what I know now.'

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Occupational hazard for a philologist. :)
It's not strictly wrong to use Latin and Greek stems in the one word (e.g.: sociology), it just looks a bit weird, especially if one spends most of the time differentiating such stems. But, because it is unusual, it can be used as a metasymbol indicating slightly unusual semantics, like my favourite example: sciolism (lots of that about).
PS Thanks for the linkie.
Michael Keaton (not his real name, but just a little research into his name and will reveal the ludicrous problem of branding in Hollywood, where actual names are already taken by other actors; Michael Douglas and a couple of other actors all have similar names) jumped the shark soon after that movie, so it hasn't enjoyed much popular re-viewing in recent times. That said, it was on free-to-air tv recently, and I recall that scene (since I watched it only when it first released, back when CDs were new technology). Much better than that awful movie where Robin Williams travels the afterlife to rescue his two children and wife from their early deaths. (Who thought that was a good plot for a movie?)

Oh, and: Save Ferris!

I keep reading the title as "Total War: Suicide". That would be epic.

I originally misread this topic as "A disturbing game idea (while playing)", meaning to introduce a discussion about games that players had encountered which made them uneasy, (including fridge logic tropes).

I have an example: when I played through System Shock 2, I managed to reach almost the shuttlecraft (lost my savegame when my harddisc died earlier this year).

There is a scene, if you are a psychic warrior, when the player visits the medical bay (IIRC) when a psychic trauma is replayed. When I went to play the game again, upon reaching this scene it really bothered me. So much that I haven't been keen to replay the game since. (Even though, as far as I am aware, no other scenes of similar violence occur thenceforth.) There's an unease that repels me from the story and narrative. (I'm sure I'll replay the game again, and probably also as a psychic, too, but I'm not particularly in a hurry.)

Are you sure that you get special scenes when playing as a psychic warrior? I thought they were the same for all characters.
Medical bay...is that the scene with the nurses being transformed into those cyborg monsters? Yes, that was pretty creepy.
But tbh System shock 2's basic gameplay was more disturbing for me than those scenes...it's just incredibly stressful. I can't think of any other game where I did things like making sure my back's against a wall when opening my inventory, so I can't be attacked from behind. Also the general sense of isolation (you never meet a friendly soul after all, only the dead and monsters), and the oppressiveness of this huge space ship where you could easily get lost. It's an amazing game and I'm glad I've played it, but it might well be something I'll never go back to again.

Yes, Mary's (forced) conversion. It gave me (recurring) fridge-logic* terrors, even now I can hear her plaintive scream. (I guess I'm too empathic. ;)

(I thought the memory replays were only psychic residue? Never played the other professions, but I might after this current — stalled — playthrough.)
Being killed is not the worst fate. I quite enjoyed the cybernetic monkeys (!), even though the little chimps were sneaky. Probably my favourite part of the game.
The biggest impediment to playing this (and other twitch games) is my playstyle: lying down. It's not easy to finesse the lap-mounted keyboard! ;-p

* Warning: tvTropes can eat your day.

iirc I played as a character with the navy background, didn't use psi forces at all (because that seems to be the hardest way to play the game), and I got those flashbacks as well, they seem to be independent from your background.
And yes, Tvtropes can consume a lot of time, I know from experience :-)