Why is allowing a player to kill children, or depicting violence towards children in general, nonexistent, not only in games but in media in general?
Clearly it is very unsettling to see kids getting hurt. I'm not advocating for it. In fact, I'm growing to dislike unjustified violence as a general mechanic in many games - mindlessly kill to earn points, blah blah blah. Yet it seems like including violence towards children has become taboo rather than something that is avoided out of good taste. Terrible things happen in the real world to children - games could broach that subject.
It strikes me as non sequitur that it's okay to kill random adult bystanders on the street in something like GTA, but children are held to a different level. How do you just weigh the value of lives like that?
And I understand these are just simulations, not the real world. I like to drive around GTA at full speed and occasionally kill random people. I would like to slaughter half the children in Bethesda games (but would never actually do it... or would load directly after it. Such a softie). But I'm just pondering at the real-world reasons that disallow it.