It has become a running gag in our Star Wars RPG sessions for some droid to be cowed into submission or threatened with "foot burning" (as in Jabba's Palace in ROTJ). While this twisted appeal to humor is undoubtedly the reason for its inclusion in the films, one does have to wonder why many droids in Star Wars are programmed to feel pain and have fear. It is possible that emotions like fear are simply an inherent part of true sapience, but the pain sensors, at least, require some kind of explanation.
It strikes me that the fear/pain emulation may be intended as a check against Droid rebellions, both small and large. Arguing against this is that I am unaware of any war droids that give indications of feeling pain (though Battle Droids in the prequels certainly seem to express fear or at least apprehension). Another downside is that constantly inflicting fear and pain on a droid may provoke it to rebellion.
Perhaps a better reason is that an understanding of fear and pain in something beyond the abstract is necessary for droids to fully relate to and advise humans. This has the benefit of explaining why Protocol droids like Threepio, for instance, seem more likely to express fear and scream in pain than utility droids R2. On the other hand R2 may have been screaming in pain when he was jolted on Cloud City or glanced by the TIE Fighter lasers, and the utilitarian Gonk droid having his feet burned in Jabba's Palace was certainly feeling it.
What do you think?
I got these cool 1920s/30s era cars at the flea market today. They are too big at 143rd scale, but they look pretty good next to heroic 28 mm, which are probably around 1:50 scale.
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Splendor of Fire is the online journal of the In Hoc Signo Society, a union of Christian wargamers and adventure gamers.
Splendor of Fire is a throwback to the Golden Age of the Internet, when everyone had their own websites and centralized platforms with their pay-for-play and algorithmic censorship were only a glimmer in the bright, dead, alien eyes of the technocrats. We are dedicated to the hobbies of miniature wargaming and tabletop RPGs, not shilling for big companies. We use miniatures from ‘unapproved’ manufacturers, make our own army lists, and play out of print games and ‘obsolete’ editions.
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