Moral choices in games

The-Doctor · Aug 18, 2009

There have been a few games lately that allow you to choose the sort of person you want to be either a paragon of virtue or and evil one.

Fable 2 for example you can choose to kill off innocent even join a bad cult

Fallout 3 allows you to be bad too depending on the choices you make...even to the point of blowing up and entire town nuclear style.

Some are more subtle

Bioshock gets you to choose whether to save or harvest little girls.

Mass Effect allows you to make decisions about people in your command ...do you shout someone down. let them take the heat more..commit crime etc or do the right thing?

My question is have you ever been really bad in a game even if it was totally against your nature and how did you feel about being a bad character...even though it is only a game?

Dark_Lite · Aug 19, 2009

In those games, I tend to take the good route. Usually when you go evil it becomes harder to interact with people as they all somehow magically know about the murder you just committed 5 seconds ago all the way across the world. However, the evil side can be a fun change of pace if you're bored. In those types of games, the players need to be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Most people can; and it's a diversion that's no worse than a violent movie really.

The-Doctor · Aug 19, 2009

Well said Dark Lite.

NiobiumTragedy · Aug 19, 2009

I enjoy being evil. It's a game, the decisions you make don't effect real people or real decisions we make. As long as you understand that, then it's fine.

Isambard · Aug 19, 2009

Im generally good just because being evil in games generally feels like a plot-break (with the exception of mass effect). It always feel arbitrary, not to mention you almost always get stuff closed off to you.

ChristAlive69 · Aug 20, 2009

Look at the Knights of the old republic games though, being evil gave you the Sith classes and powers, which were undoubtedly better than the Jedi ones!

Isambard · Aug 20, 2009

ChristAlive69 said:
Look at the Knights of the old republic games though, being evil gave you the Sith classes and powers, which were undoubtedly better than the Jedi ones!

It also killed off potntial allies and side missons.

Eponine · Aug 21, 2009

ChristAlive69 said:
Look at the Knights of the old republic games though, being evil gave you the Sith classes and powers, which were undoubtedly better than the Jedi ones!

I only played evil in Knights of the Old Republic to see the cut alternate ending involving female Revan and Carth. And I only played renegade in Mass Effect to get the achievment. Granted that some of the renegade lines are hilarious... and quite a few of the best ones also aren't appropriate to share on this forum, unfortunately One of my favorites, though, is the renegade response to Saren when he says, "But what can you expect from a human?" Jennifer Hale's voice acting of the reply to that was truly masterful. And I also love female Shepard's renegade responses to the sleazy C-Sec officer, Harkin. But I'm getting off topic. I personally can't bring myself to act differently in video games than I do in real life. It makes me too uncomfortable.

The-Doctor · Aug 22, 2009

Thanks for your responses, very interesting.

Steezie · Sep 6, 2009

Being good generally is preferrable to evil simply because it makes the game less frustrating. If your evil, people tend to run from or attack you. If they dont, then the moral choice system is probably fairly arbitrary and doesnt have any real impact on the game.

Thunder Peel · Sep 6, 2009

My moral code, as silly as this may sound, usually extends into games. If I'm given a choice between taking or sparing a life I'll usually spare the person if I'm able to. I understand they're just games and there's nothing wrong with playing either route; I just find being good to be more satisfying and generally more challenging.

However, there are times when it's fun to let loose and just destroy everything in sight.

Alunyel · Sep 6, 2009

Being evil is usually more fun, even if it does make the game harder.

The first game that I played that really made a thing of it was Black and White. Throwing villagers miles into the ocean or lobbing rocks at buildings whilst training your creature to eat people was so much more fun than just filling up the food and wood supplies over and over again.

Last time I played D&D, I played as a Lawful Evil Drow fighter, I wanted to eventually prestige as a Blackguard, but I never got that far with that character.

Whenever I play through Neverwinter Nights 2, I usually start out as either a true neutral character or a neutral good character, but nearly always end up as evil aligned.

PLayed through Fallout 3 mostly as a good character, simply because you can't get 3/4 of the equipment and quests if you play as evil.

When I played Dawn of War: Winter Assault, I played through the Disorder campaign first, because... well... as much as I love the Imperium, Orks are more fun than Eldar.

I wanna play Overlord and Overlord 2.

Behemoko · Sep 11, 2009

I always play good characters in games, I get a natural body high from being a good guy. I don't know why I have no desire to be a bad guy, I assume it has something to do with seeking good attention? lol, only thing I could think of.

The-Doctor · Sep 13, 2009

People find it harder to act against type even in games.

Spaffy · Sep 19, 2009

Call me juvenile, but I always set out to be as evil as possible, most likely from my lifelong fantasy of being a super villain in my very own comic book.

I mean for goodness sake, in one game I killed a grandma to get the key to her storage building and stole everything in it even though I was practically filthy rich.

Meep · Sep 19, 2009

I tend towards evil characters in static games generally because they are the most attractive or intelligent (freakshow concepts don't apply because they're just so "out there"). "Ballsy", close-minded hero types just annoy me to no end. Totally unappealing. (These are usually the protagonists in those ridiculous "one man" concepts the media just eats up.)

I find it frustrating that in many games the villains are basically villains just because they tend towards intelligence & reasoning instead of usually mindless & unrealistic "gut instinct". I'd love to see more intelligent, attractive heroes again.
Picard from ST:TNG for example. Only a mediocre physical appearance though, but a really solid character all around. Intelligent, perceptive & insightful. A good leader lets the people under him do their jobs without him sweeping in & sucking up all the glory for himself or on behalf of his personal ideals/dreams.

But if I'm playing a game or watching a movie with a militaristic feel to it, I usually feel "fluff him. He wasn't supposed to be there. He got in the way. Next!" & don't feel anything more about it. Sometimes this bleeds over into real life with "Darwin Award" examples of human stupidity as well. If it was just bad luck I feel really bad for people but if they deliberately did something stupid & oinly hurt him/herself, I get annoyed. But if they do something that devastates people around them, then I feel callous towards them in general.

GnarlyKing · Sep 25, 2009

The first time through, I always act the way I would if it were really me in that situation, which is usually an ultra good guy. If the game is good enough to replay, I usually go for alternate paths that I may have missed or whatever is necessary to get the achievements/trophies that I missed the first time.

Breakaway_republic · Sep 27, 2009

In tabletop RPGS We usually are told "YOU MAY NOT PLAY EITHER A VILLAIN OR ANTI-HERO." [as in no evil characters, not even NEUTRAL evil.] But some people become smegheads and become evil in their choices. Thankfully, the games are usually engineered so that we can't be evil... stress on the USUALLY.

BUUUT... to play an evil character would be quite fun. *Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Boss theme plays as evil Elf goes against a team of bumbling adventurers*

holyorders · Oct 2, 2009

I play NWN2 a lot. I tend to play neutral characters because I believe that everybody makes mistakes in the real world and the game world. I make good and evil actions.

Mankin · Oct 3, 2009

In some ways being evil in video games like KOTOR is an easier path because you don't have to deal with meaningless side quests and diplomacy.

I do the same thing in an Elder Scrolls game. If someone wants me to do something to get a special item, I'll just kill them and take the item for myself. It's much easier that way.

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