Men are expendible and society seems to be ok with that, even though it contradicts most logic. For some reason we see children and women as weak, inocent, and defensless (even though we know this is not true, the kids in fallout have guns) so it is wrong to hurt them. Men on the otherhand are fodder, they deserve what is coming to them, or if they aren't deserving, they are men, they'll grit their teeth and bear it as they get shot in the head.
Take something like Bully. If you hit another boy your age, you'll get in trouble, but you have a chance to stomp on some prefects feet to get away. But God forbid you punch a girl or a 1st grader. If a prefect catches you then you go straght to the principle, no fighting back.
Or take any other game into consideration. Female enemies are a lot less common sure, but when they are in the game they aren't usually goons, they serve a story purpose and at least have a few lines of dialogue or something. When it's time for payback they are usually given a chance to turn face and join up with the good guys. They aren't all evil, just misguided. I remember hearing about a mission in LA Noire where a group of men and 1 woman were robbing a bank, you kill all of the men and the woman just kind of gives up because shooting a woman thats robbing a bank would be sexist.
No, killing children won't make a game better necisarily, but it will make it more believable. You play Left 4 Dead or GTA and you don't see any children even though your in places that would probably have a few children wandering around. It's just that in something like a Bethesda game, where player choice and consequences are what make it so impressive, it's weird that kids are resistant to death because some idea that children are either too innocent to be killed or thats it's just unatural to die. It defies logic. In a post apocalyptic setting, the weak children are going to be the first to die. The stong adults would be able to persevere. But now I'm talking about realism in a game with firebreathing ants.
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