User blog comment:AustinDR/When Do Dark Fics Go Too Far?/@comment-31563773-20170818211451

To answer your question, I play games like Killing Floor 2 for the blood and gore, so yes I'm sadistic. Usually when the kids get punished, it's just a generic grounding (limited TV, internet, curfew, etc.) But it didn't quite hit them where it hurt. To make a child understand what they did was wrong, you need to hit them in the core (their interests), especially if the act they did was horrifying.

As for good dark fics, not only does it need to have a point, the build up and execution need to be good. Some of these other NSL fics had the potential to be decent, but the characters were made so OOC it's almost unbelievable,  and the action had little build to it; It just jumped right to the part where Lincoln chews the family out. Then, they make the characters suffer for their own enjoyment and not for the sake of the story, turning it into a revenge fic than a dark fic.

One thing to note, as far as violence and death goes, it can either be dark or really funny depending on the situation.