Moral choices you make in games

[compl3x]

I have no issue behaving badly in games simply due to the fact it is not how I would behave in real life.

 

 

This is an interesting point. A potential counter could be that because you find immoral behaviour so repellent in real life engaging in it in a virtual environment would provoke a guilty response.

 

At least, I think that is why I think I dislike and avoid particularly nasty or unnecessarily violent options in games unless I am doing a second play through and I just want to see how the other side plays out.

 

 

In Fallout if you do behave immorally karma is going to bite your arse!

 

 

Heh. The cynical approach: doing bad is going to make my life difficult, so I will feign decency. A valid option.

[Guest]

I am myself. As in, I only do things that would benefit me and my character. And I don't like games that provide you with good / evil choice. If there is a neutral one, I'd take that.

 

Oh, and NEVER ###### me off. NEVER. I wiped the whole ghoul city in Fallout 3 because I couldn't stand being talked to like I am a lowlife scum. Now in Skyrim, I am wiping off the face of the world every damn Thalmor just because they didn't want to be friends and tried attacking me for my beliefs.

[neo1911]

I purposely behave opposite of what I would in real life. Makes my life more complete.

[T3X4S]

to buy or to copy used to be the question - but now its always buy - how else do you let the game makers know when you appreciate their work ?

[compl3x]

to buy or to copy used to be the question - but now its always buy - how else do you let the game makers know when you appreciate their work ?

 

OK. But this is about morality inside the game itself, not the morality of piracy.

[neoadorable]

I am myself. As in, I only do things that would benefit me and my character. And I don't like games that provide you with good / evil choice. If there is a neutral one, I'd take that.

 

Oh, and NEVER ###### me off. NEVER. I wiped the whole ghoul city in Fallout 3 because I couldn't stand being talked to like I am a lowlife scum. Now in Skyrim, I am wiping off the face of the world every damn Thalmor just because they didn't want to be friends and tried attacking me for my beliefs.

 

Please don't post this in public, you make gamers looks bad :unsure:

to buy or to copy used to be the question - but now its always buy - how else do you let the game makers know when you appreciate their work ?

 

 

OK. But this is about morality inside the game itself, not the morality of piracy.

 

Best misunderstanding and prompt correction of the year so far :D

Even though i think Texas meant it for real and didn't misunderstand, and i wholly agree - support for developers, publishers, and our hobby in general is a huge motive for my obssessive game buying. Though indeed that is not the moral dilemma we are discussing here!

[Hum]

Games are fantasy, so they have no bearing on real life ...

Gaming is leading me down the path to psycho serial killer :shifty:

[neoadorable]

Gaming is leading me down the path to psycho serial killer :shifty:

 

Can you please not post stuff like this, they are watching as you of all people would know! :ninja:

[Hum]

Can you please not post stuff like this, they are watching as you of all people would know! :ninja:

Those watchers must be quite bored !

[neoadorable]

Those watchers must be quite bored !

 

They are....

[Boxster17]

When given the choice I tend to take the good guy route though I don't have a problem causing mayhem as well.  Best example for a recent game is inFamous:SS, I went good first though I do enjoy the evil playthrough for the pure mayhem aspect of things.  Though depending on how the story goes, there are some things that I do feel a little bad about.

[Praetor]

Heh. The cynical approach: doing bad is going to make my life difficult, so I will feign decency. A valid option.

 

 

In Fallout if one does a bad thing then the karma starts dropping like a waterfall and in no time everyone hates you, you get mercenaries hunting you, etc while voiding the chance of finishing the game.

 

I, for example, always tend to complete a game first with a good character but then with a evil one just to find new stuff/areas/missions; again in Fallout being a good character would open new areas, new side missions and allows it to complete the game while playing with a evil character the storyline becomes very limited and increasingly difficult.

 

i do find that people that play both sides of a game are more open minded; also i do separate very well what is a game / fiction (so it's OK to kill zombies / destroy cities full of bad characters, driving a car and not minding to blow the engine) and what is real, because in a game / fiction one is having fun without moral ambiguities and without real consequences for the bad choices.

[Phouchg]

The big word these days is morally gray. I want less of the dreamworld idealism and more "some crap will happen, you just choose what and where and how much". Such options, proper, are still rather rare. And hidden choices that aren't exactly assigned a sign right away.

 

So I'm usually taking the goody-two shoes path, with occasional bad points, to maintain some character. Where there's a choice, I can't bring myself to be outright evil. Unfortunately, as much as moral choices in games are a big deal these days, there's usually little else possible. One's either a saint or a moron, and just because one gets to save the world or something, people forgive the moron part anyway.

 

Whenever I try the other absolute, just to see what I've missed, I often feel the many games are designed so that the good way is the right way. There's no escaping that which has been a cornerstone of storytelling through the history. So, the evil way seems to be less rewarding - quest lines being unavailable, loot locked away, story cut shorter. I suppose it's actually more true to life - choice and consequences - but that's why it's a game. If I can't get this stuff, I want other stuff. And there isn't. Or it might be that I want all stuff, achieved with manipulation and pulling strings. That's even less possible - trying to balance two usually ends up with being but a piece of snot on a wire. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong, I don't know.

 

There's still much work ahead for moral choices in games.

[neoadorable]

The big word these days is morally gray. I want less of the dreamworld idealism and more "some crap will happen, you just choose what and where and how much". Such options, proper, are still rather rare. And hidden choices that aren't exactly assigned a sign right away.

 

So I'm usually taking the goody-two shoes path, with occasional bad points, to maintain some character. Where there's a choice, I can't bring myself to be outright evil. Unfortunately, as much as moral choices in games are a big deal these days, there's usually little else possible. One's either a saint or a moron, and just because one gets to save the world or something, people forgive the moron part anyway.

 

Whenever I try the other absolute, just to see what I've missed, I often feel the many games are designed so that the good way is the right way. There's no escaping that which has been a cornerstone of storytelling through the history. So, the evil way seems to be less rewarding - quest lines being unavailable, loot locked away, story cut shorter. I suppose it's actually more true to life - choice and consequences - but that's why it's a game. If I can't get this stuff, I want other stuff. And there isn't. Or it might be that I want all stuff, achieved with manipulation and pulling strings. That's even less possible - trying to balance two usually ends up with being but a piece of snot on a wire. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong, I don't know.

 

There's still much work ahead for moral choices in games.

 

Well said. There's still a lot of progress to be made in games period, we have to remember they are a young medium and even the word "games" is misleading, as they're not on the same level as a spinning top or even backgammon or something. At any rate, we have come a long way in a short time, and as consumers and stakeholders that support the industry we should feel proud and happy.

[Noir Angel]

Depends on the game. In Bioshock Infinite once I played the game through once I had no problem gunning down civilians to steal their money as I felt the way the storyline ends up panning out (the whole columbia timeline being effectively erased) makes the action morally neutral but in the Mass Effect games I play as a paragon character because the storyline is so immersive that you really feel the pinch of making immoral choices due to the way you grow to love the characters. For me it all depends on how the storyline of a game is framed, however generally I will only pick morally reprehensible choices as a last resort.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Every time I play through a game the first time, I put myself in to the situation. This can be problematic with games such as Spec Ops: The Line or The Last of Us where you have a choice: put a man out of his misery of leave him to die a slow death. Generally in those situations I tend to go for the humane option.

If I play through a game again, I will try and make other choices, just to see what the outcome is like. Depending on how engrossed I get with the game though, that can be difficult for me. I guess I was brought up quite rigidly on the idea that my actions have consequences, and it's hard to break away from that - even in a game.

[Gotenks98]

I like this poll especially since I play tons of MMOs with these kinds of choices.

[T3X4S]

I decided to start wearing clothes when playing...

It just felt weird being naked and running around killing