Really just 1/100000'th an ant, but they feel real.

[Whirligig Girl]

I was streaming on my own channel, launching a 32 Kerbal train to Duna. The launch failed, and I panicked to get all the Kerbals out of the ship before impact. They all got out, but eight of them died on impact. Seeing all the Kerbals standing there, horrified, and it was the first time when I really felt like Kerbals were real "human" beings.

In a meta kind of way, they kind of are. People cry for fictional human characters in books or movies, so why not feel sad for the Kerbals? Even though their real intelligence is practically non-existent, this was the first time I felt sad for Kerbals. It's now hard to watch Danny2462. Maybe it was because these Kerbals were in vast numbers, and were merely passengers.

[sporkafife]

Dude... do you need a hug?

[Scotius]

Congratulations - you posess enough empathy and imagination to feel bad after "killing" pieces of the computer code. It's a rare and admirable trait worth cultivating - or else we, computer users would be soulless, mob-killing gaming machines.

[Kinglet]

I hope you never see my kerbal blender...

[Duxwing]

I was streaming on my own channel, launching a 32 Kerbal train to Duna. The launch failed, and I panicked to get all the Kerbals out of the ship before impact. They all got out, but eight of them died on impact. Seeing all the Kerbals standing there, horrified, and it was the first time when I really felt like Kerbals were real "human" beings.

In a meta kind of way, they kind of are. People cry for fictional human characters in books or movies, so why not feel sad for the Kerbals? Even though their real intelligence is practically non-existent, this was the first time I felt sad for Kerbals. It's now hard to watch Danny2462. Maybe it was because these Kerbals were in vast numbers, and were merely passengers.

:_( *hugs*

-Duxwing

[Thomas988]

I used to feel the same way, Greg, but somehow, sadly and disturbingly, that emotion has faded ever so slightly. Sure, I try to save my crew at all times, but I don't have the same emotions I did when I first began KSP. Seriously, first time I lost crew on a big mission (my first Mun mission) I nearly cried because I felt so bad and because they died so horribly: not enough parachutes for the entire spacecraft to handle. But we don't think of those days...

I don't even know what I'm talking about. Here, just have a free cookie.

[TheDarkStar]

I play this game and Dwarf Fortress. Blood for the blood god, I say.

But yeah, I try to avoid killing for no good reason. Defense is fine, accidents are fine, and science is also an acceptable reason for sacrifice, but random killing is just wasteful.

Edited December 21, 2014 by TheDarkStar

[RSwordsman]

You're not crazy OP, I feel bad for letting my little guys get killed too. Although as much grief as it gives me, at least as much is from "f***, there goes weeks' worth of planning and execution." >.>

[Mr Tiddles]

I was streaming on my own channel, launching a 32 Kerbal train to Duna. The launch failed, and I panicked to get all the Kerbals out of the ship before impact. They all got out, but eight of them died on impact. Seeing all the Kerbals standing there, horrified, and it was the first time when I really felt like Kerbals were real "human" beings.

In a meta kind of way, they kind of are. People cry for fictional human characters in books or movies, so why not feel sad for the Kerbals? Even though their real intelligence is practically non-existent, this was the first time I felt sad for Kerbals. It's now hard to watch Danny2462. Maybe it was because these Kerbals were in vast numbers, and were merely passengers.

makes me think of a kerbal titanic

[Streetlamp]

I try really hard to not kill kerbals in my career savegame. Like, really really hard. I haven't killed anyone since version 0.22 with a failed mission to Bop. Landing stage ran out of fuel on the capture burn. With the crew already in high orbit and knowing of the low gravity, I had Willis Kerman get out and try to gather science from the surface as a last ditch effort to make the trip worth while. He landed and he began his accent. However I quicksaved too late into the accent and he didn't have enough EVA fuel to make it back to orbit or to slow himself down when he descended. The transit ship was unable to catch him as it had barely enough Dv to return to Kerbin. I kill a lot of Kerbals in my sandbox savegame, but that never means anything to me. Willis was the only Kerbal I've never been able to save (even with extensive quickloading) and that does mean something.

TLDR : I killed a Kerbal on Bop and RP too much.

[Captain Sierra]

You're not crazy OP, I feel bad for letting my little guys get killed too. Although as much grief as it gives me, at least as much is from "f***, there goes weeks' worth of planning and execution." >.>

This is more me. I'm generally more peeved about the mission failure that occurred rather than kerbal death. Since I usually keep a second pilot and engineer trained up at the space center, its rarely detrimental to my space program. the lost funds from mission failure hurt deeper than casualties.

[Lohan2008]

Blood for a Blood God: I thought Kerbals are a silicon life form/s, that are seed pods for a planet sided puff ball ??

[Liowen]

I remember when I lost 32 when I failed to land the "Lunar Tour Bus" safely back on Kerbin. I did a video and had their names scroll before the start of it, it originally had taps playing but it got flagged but I do still have the original one with the music.

I may have to try and redesign the Lunar Tour Bus now that I have gotten a bit better at designing things since building that, but I will never forget the 32.......well I may not recall ALL their names but I remember how many.

[MGCJerry]

I try not to kill mine in sandbox, but sometimes crap happens such as not enough dV, not enough speed, not enough chutes, not enough electricity, and not enough altitude. Oops.

I did recently crash my airliner into the drink several times. 68 kerbals total each time. What can I say, they love flying and they do hope to get a ticket to Do Somethingâ„¢ but that doesn't happen most of the time. I would probably feel bad for them if they weren't so gung-ho. Kerbals are cheap, supply exceeds demand.

[Levelord]

I never feel bad about my Kerbals dying, mostly because they always come back in the astronaut recruitment center. To me they are like Wile. E. Coyote whenever they fail. He disappears for a while, but always comes back with a new idea. Kerbals are like cartoon characters to me.

[RainDreamer]

I always quick load/revert before any of my kerbal die. I can't play hard mode due to this. Feels bad when it is totally my fault that result in the death of another being.

[worir4]

Burn them! Burn them all!!!!!!

[Whirligig Girl]

Congratulations - you posess enough empathy and imagination to feel bad after "killing" pieces of the computer code. It's a rare and admirable trait worth cultivating - or else we, computer users would be soulless, mob-killing gaming machines.

The irony is that I still love playing TF2.

I hope you never see my kerbal blender...

OH GOD IS THAT WHAT YOUR BAKED GOODS ARE MADE OUT OF???

I always quick load/revert before any of my kerbal die. I can't play hard mode due to this. Feels bad when it is totally my fault that result in the death of another being.

Whenever something horrifically bad happens in either sandbox or career mode, I feel like I can't just revert. That would be a major CheatyMcCheaterson. If I suspect something very bad is about to happen, I'll quicksave before it happens and try my best to fix the problem. If it doesn't work, I'll quickload and try it again/something different.

[moogoob]

I never kill Kerbals, but that's cause I play with a time machine/revert to launch. Though one time the game crashed and while it was doing to the Kraken apparently ate Jeb... I mourned that and hired new recruits so the same wouldn't happen to Bill or Bob. (Patger or Phildo on the other hand...)

[Frozen_Heart]

I'm always quite careful with my kerbals. Double checking that everything is set up right and using Launch abort systems.

[Rolanvorxariat]

I always had emotions to kerbals... I have only killed one kerbal in my whole 6 months of ksp, but iweeped over his death... Dontop, you will be remembered, as the first kerbal to sacrifice his life for the space program...

I need vanguard kerbal chutes.

[X-SR71]

I would revert/quickload if Jeb Bob or Bill died. They are like the main characters!

The others are expandable, and if its their time, then so be it! They will have a green star in the KSC memorial wall!

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I have more compassion for virtual objects then I do real people. I delete old unused accounts (e.g. Email accounts) to prevent them from feeling 'rejected'. (Seriously) thus I have high levels of compassion towards kerbals, especially older kerbals and famous ones, I.e. Jeb

[[email protected]]

It depends on if I am playing career or sandbox. My sandbox saves, going as far back as .18 or .17 (I can't really remember anymore) are pretty awful...I think my first game ever had something just shy of 200 dead kerbals. Mostly through me experimenting and learning the game-and in later games, experimenting to find the 'safe limits' for things like deadly reentry, FAR, and testing to ensure that mods like life support were working properly. The nature of these tests were lifting craft up into high orbits, then accelerating towards the atmosphere and bring the periapses down to various altitudes to see where they died and at what speeds. I also ran tests to determine what sort of flight paths could be taken without killing Kerbals by G-force...

In contrast my career games rarely see a death. I do everything I can to ensure that no Kerbals die, or 'accidently' fly into the sun...things can...get a little strange just before an update. In preperation for the universe being ripped apart many Kerbals simply decide they can't live anymore and deorbit stations, land on jool or the sun, jump into Moho's, EVA back home from their bases on Minmus, and now...they tend to blow up the KSC with targeted orbital strikes...ya know, by landing space stations on it....

Edited December 24, 2014 by [email protected]

[Mipe]

Everyone who kills their kerbals should be tried and charged with murder. BLOODY MURDER.

Need to find someone who doesn't play KSP to judge, though...