Fahey already discussed the mainstream media's take on 'killing little girls', but the weekly Aberrant Gamer column over at GameSetWatch has yet another take (far less prone to the hysteria of the mainstream, to be sure). Creepy kids, creepy little girls in particular, are nothing new to the horror-survival genre - books, movies, games, you name it, there's plenty of unsettling children to choose from. BioShock may head into less travelled waters by giving players the choice between killing or freeing them, but it's hardly a first in using creepy kids to frequently powerful effects.

It's not unusual to see small, saucer-eyed children as conventions in the horror genre; in fact, it's common. Young girls in particular make very good devices in survival-horror video games, either as archetypes of feminine vulnerability (for who needs you more than a damsel-in-distress except a little damsel?) or as strange aggressors, all the more fearsome for their innocuous appearance. The genre of BioShock is already the subject of much debate, but for the topics discussed here, it cleaves rather closely alongside survival-horror story elements.

Little girls in horror stories: creepy yet vulnerable, fearsome yet innocuous. It's an interesting look at the genre as a whole and the role of the Little Sisters in particular - and rather refreshing when compared to the 'mainstream' focus on the creepy kids.

The Aberrant Gamer: 'Suffer the Little Children' [GameSetWatch]

Contact information for this author is not available.