Gaming Conscience

[TheOneFreeMan]

This mostly concerns to RPGs, but could easily apply to any gaming situation.

How many people experience the so-called "gaming conscience" when playing a game which allows you to commit evil acts? I've noticed quite a few people playing through games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect who, even when there's no adverse effect on gameplay, will feel bad treating innocent people badly, or hurting those who are close to your character in the game. I have to admit that I also experience this; being the evil badass character is fun sometimes, but I feel a twinge of guilt for doing evil acts when the game shows me the consequences of them.

I'm curious ... is this something many people have experienced?

 

[stemot]

This mostly concerns to RPGs, but could easily apply to any gaming situation.

How many people experience the so-called "gaming conscience" when playing a game which allows you to commit evil acts? I've noticed quite a few people playing through games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect who, even when there's no adverse effect on gameplay, will feel bad treating innocent people badly, or hurting those who are close to your character in the game. I have to admit that I also experience this; being the evil badass character is fun sometimes, but I feel a twinge of guilt for doing evil acts when the game shows me the consequences of them.

I'm curious ... is this something many people have experienced?

Ye[, I get that. I always play the good path through games. Even when I have finished them and have the full intention of playing through again being an evil bastard, I end up being good. I just can never go through with it.

 

[Ren.182]

I recently played through Fallout 3 again as an evil character. Didn't feel as bad as I normally do because I had played it before and found some new stuff by being evil. I didn't kill everyone I met, but anyone who annoyed me or anything just got shot in the face and looted

But on the first play through of games like that I always play a good character

 

[Remus]

I never get that, I'm perfectly fine with mass murdering hundreds of people in a game like GTA. I actually find it annoying in some games where they force you to be a good guy, every alli or story character being invulnerable to your attacks... :hmph:

 

[PorkPi]

I've felt this most with the KOTOR series. A testament to how good they are. I actually felt guilty about some of the stuff I did in my dark side playthrough like killing innocents or when one of my good-guy companions scorned me for my evil acts. It's great when a game is able to do that/

 

[Ren.182]

I never get that, I'm perfectly fine with mass murdering hundreds of people in a game like GTA. I actually find it annoying in some games where they force you to be a good guy, every alli or story character being invulnerable to your attacks... :hmph:

I'm fine with in in GTA too. Simply becuase the game was built to be that way.

Where as in RPG I think the main reason why I prefer to be good is because the characters you kill could always end up being part of some quest. Killing them would remove the quest from that character so I tend to kill as little as possible so I can do as many quests.

 

[Shakermaker]

This thread made me install Mass Effect again. Couldn't get into it the first time, although that was partly due to my inclination towards multiplayer games.

I like the rogue-ish kind of character by the way: good with a tad of evil. Would that be chaotic good?

 

[Eejit]

Sometimes. Like in Baldurs Gate 2 I just can't use the 'mean' replies to Jaheira or Aerie even when they're bitching and moaning, just because they're so broken and pathetic - even when I'm playing an "evil" character.

 

[Ravioli]

Im subjected to this phenomena too. I dont play good or evil, i simply play as i would do in real life, as my own personality. I guess my personality leans towards good for the most part, i find it really hard to do evil acts in games.

 

[Adabiviak]

I felt it when playing Alien in AVP2... couldn't bring myself to eat the scientists for health, specifically because they weren't playing the part of the antagonist (ironically similiar to the Predator's apparent moral code).

I'd feel it in Crysis/Warhead because so much of the time I'd be playing stealth mode. Active patrols were no problem, but the guy taking a stroll, stopping to take a leak? Yeah, unless I make a sound and he draws his weapon.

Bioshock was supposed to present this, but without any visual/audio penalty for 'harvesting' the little sisters, it wasn't as tough of a challenge as was hyped. If they showed you brutalizing the girls as part of this option, it would have made a difference. Specifically, the kind of audio and visual images that would get the game blacklisted by many retailers is the kind that's needed to make this a tough choice; the more intense, the harder the decision, but the more backlash against an aggressive game. They had to draw the line somewhere, but I think they wound up totally nerfing it.

 

[Dog--]

Morrowind.

/thread.

I'm always evil/passive evil in it because I hate wood elfs.. The annoying little bastards.

 

[kupocake]

I remember being really disturbed by the idea that you could turn 'bad' in Half-Life 1 and crowbar the (unarmed, entirely dependent) Scientists, but moral choices in games just generally blow chunks. Not only does the cumulative effect cast you as either Jesus or Hitler, taking the middle way is less Buddah, more Jesus-Hitler-Jesus-Jesus-Hitler-Hitler.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

I remember being really disturbed by the idea that you could turn 'bad' in Half-Life 1 and crowbar the (unarmed, entirely dependent) Scientists, but moral choices in games just generally blow chunks. Not only does the cumulative effect cast you as either Jesus or Hitler, taking the middle way is less Buddah, more Jesus-Hitler-Jesus-Jesus-Hitler-Hitler.

I agree, games have historically loved their "moral extremes" method of offering us choice. BioShock really, um, shocked me by being so narrow in its depiction of a good and an evil. But then, I can't really think of an FPS that has given us a satisfying moral dilemma.

Bioware are certainly on the forefront of narrative development in this sector, though. Mass Effect especially ... I won't spoil anything, but there are a couple of choices you make in that game which are truely morally challenging, and where neither answer is "right". That and they obviously designed some areas of the game specifically so that your moral choices would take effect in the sequel. I've never seen forward planning like that before.

 

[Saturos]

This thread made me install Mass Effect again. Couldn't get into it the first time, although that was partly due to my inclination towards multiplayer games.

I like the rogue-ish kind of character by the way: good with a tad of evil. Would that be chaotic good?

Yup.

Chaotic evil would be characters like the Joker, texas chainsaw murderer, etc, that are evil for the sake of being evil, but have no real agenda. (The worst kind and my favorite. Kefka anyone?)

Lawful evil would be be tyrannical dictators like Hitler and neutral characters are people who just don't give a damn about anything, but aren't good or evil. (apathy)

That said, it's easy to be evil in games like GTA, but RPGs have a habit of making the player more emotionally or mutually attached to characters, thus making it harder to be evil. (like some said, quests) Plus, I think good storytelling has something to do with how my characters are influenced as well.

Evil characters always look cooler though. I'd rather my character to be a grizzly monstrosity dressed in black and wearing human ear necklaces while toting an equally imposing battle ax or greatsword, not some dorky looking elf guy dressed in light colours with a wimpy looking bow.

However, for the reasons above, my characters mostly turn out to be only quasi-evil/neutral, which is rouge-ish.

 

[knut]

I don't set out to be 'Good' or 'Evil' as a set description for my character because I usually find them be bullshit, so I go throughout the game doing what I feel is right. A recent example is I tried to go through Fallout 3 as a bad character by blowing up Megaton but then a few days later there I am out in the Wastes helping innocent slaves and letting Ghouls into Tenpenny Tower. Is that bad? Is that good? Who the hell knows. Just felt right.

 

[Saturos]

I don't set out to be 'Good' or 'Evil' as a set description for my character because I usually find them be bullshit, so I go throughout the game doing what I feel is right. A recent example is I tried to go through Fallout 3 as a bad character by blowing up Megaton but then a few days later there I am out in the Wastes helping innocent slaves and letting Ghouls into Tenpenny Tower. Is that bad? Is that good? Who the hell knows. Just felt right.

^This too.

The good/bad thing in rpgs are terribly cliched and exaggerated, so I just do whatever the hell I feel like for the sake of keeping the story and excitement simple.

I deal with situations all day, I hate having to do it games too.

 

[dfc05]

The only really specific scene I can remember in a game that shocked me was in Fear when you shoot the cannibal dude, Fettel or whatever his name was. Not so much that I felt conscientiously bad about it, it's just that he kept showing up in visions and crap and I'd always randomly shoot at him knowing it wouldn't do anything... so when you actually get to kill him I thought it was fake again and immediately shot him in the forehead. When I realized it wasn't just a vision, I was a little horrified at the brutality of it.

In Bioshock, I didn't really mind too much about the choice to kill/save the little girls because I didn't care much about the "moral" aspects of the game. I was more bothered by the way they handled killing the dude in the office (Andrew Ryan?) because you're forced to kill him to proceed and I didn't have any hard feelings against the guy. I guess that fits in with the storyline (as in being forced to do things against your will), but it was still frustrating that there was no other option.

I don't like having friendly characters die. The first (and only) time I played Fallout, I had that dude you meet in Junktown following me around, and I ended up in a situation where I could've escaped a certain area alive if I left him behind to draw gunfire. But that felt wrong so I didn't do it. And then I was stuck in an unwinnable situation so I had to quit the game .

 

[ktimekiller]

I can never force myself to be evil in games, always end up with the halo on my characters head

 

[Krynn72]

Same as most people here. I often times go an extra step though, and will do everything I can to keep a teammate or squadmate alive if there is a chance they might die. I will just keep reloading a save until I make it through will all of them alive. Like in Brothers in Arms or something, nobody can die on my watch.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I got that with Fallout 3. For some reason, I had no problem with nuking Megaton, but I always helped the ghouls and helped the free slaves.

Also, in Fable 2

Spoiler

when my dog died and I chose wealth at the end. Felt so guilty, and lonely.

Mass Effect was the best IMO, because it wasn't divided by arbitrary "good" and "evil".

 

[dfc05]

Same as most people here. I often times go an extra step though, and will do everything I can to keep a teammate or squadmate alive if there is a chance they might die. I will just keep reloading a save until I make it through will all of them alive. Like in Brothers in Arms or something, nobody can die on my watch.

I did that with my HL2 squad. It was ridiculous. I would send them off to a corner, go kill everyone by myself, and then let them follow me around. If anyone died, I reloaded (except in the parts where it's pretty much impossible to save everyone). I would also direct them to pick up all the healthpacks. But I don't do that as much anymore.

 

[knut]

I try to keep team AI alive in all games I play. I'm very fond keeping the marines alive in the Halo games. Good troops, them!

 

[Rizzo]

No names NPC in half life gets sent of to die all the time.
Also if I think it's fun in the Fallout games, or like their deaths have meaning. If for say a companion whould die becouse getting stuck or just die in a completly usless or random way, then i can reload.
I like to play asshole characters though. Kratos is ****ing awesome.

 

[kupocake]

I did that with my HL2 squad. It was ridiculous. I would send them off to a corner, go kill everyone by myself, and then let them follow me around. If anyone died, I reloaded (except in the parts where it's pretty much impossible to save everyone). I would also direct them to pick up all the healthpacks. But I don't do that as much anymore.

Same for me first time I played through, but later I just gave up. They're too stupid to be worth saving.

In Half-Life I would sometimes push boxes around / leave healthpacks and guns to build little forts for Scientists I would have to leave alone, or congregate all the NPCs in an area. It's not like I believed scenarios would take place while I was gone in which Marines would attack and they'd desperately defend themselves but... what can I say. Sometimes you make your own immersion.