Morality In Video Games
Gaming is often referred to as a means of escapism from real life. We’re given the ability to not only control another character, but to become fully immersed in their world and live their life. It’s an opportunity to do something you’ll have little to no chance of doing in real life, whether that’s being recruited as a stealthy agent for the NSA, or to race around London at dangerously high speeds in a Ferrari. OK, make that no chance of doing in real life.
Sometimes video games expand on the idea of controlling your character’s actions, to the extent that basic decisions made throughout gameplay affect how the story unfolds. Often your choice is as follows; do the right thing, otherwise known as what’s socially acceptable, or opt to be a complete and utter bastard. Seeing as we all follow conventions and rules in every day life, you’d think it would be more appealing to play the bitch in a video game, right? I mean, it’s the only time you’re going to get away with it, so why not? I wonder why it is then that I can never bring myself to be the villian.
Take Bioshock. It didn’t utilise this concept as much as other games have, but it did involve choosing to harvest or save Little Sisters, whichever one you decided upon having an impact on how the game ended. But even if the ending had been the same both ways, there was still only one option for me; saving the Little Sisters. Thinking about it, I was holding a pixelated and not very real little girl with brown hair and big eyes in my computer generated arms, and I was moved emotionally enough to let her live, even though she doesn’t really exist.
The first time I came across a Little Sister, and therefore was faced with the option to take her life, will always be firmly planted in my mind. Edging closer towards the Little Sister saw her hesitantly back into a corner, her facial expression and body language perfectly conveying the fear she felt. If that doesn’t invoke real emotion in gaming, what would?!
The clever thing is, however, that there’s actually more of an incentive to harvest these children than to save them, so you’re presented with what’s meant to be an exceptionally tough decision. Rapture is a tricky world to survive, and you’re going to need as much Adam as possible - the more Adam you have, the quicker you’ll become more powerful, and harvesting these Little Sisters provides you with a ton of Adam. The fact I chose to sacrifice my power for the sake of a Little Sister every time shows the extent of the emotion I felt.
A game that I played, but not many others did, opened up the concept of being faced with a moral decision even further, though the emotional attachment that was there in Bioshock was very much missing. In Overlord you were cast as an evil, well, Overlord. Despite being labelled as a cruel dictator, you were still able to show a caring and forgiving disposition at many points throughout the game, but whether you did was entirely up to you. This could be letting the innocent civilians live, or returning gold and food to those who had mislaid it (because people mislay gold all the time).
Having said that, I don’t recall there being drastic consequences as a result of acting particularly evil (or good) in Overlord. You could return to a particular village you had helped and have them cheer and praise you. Or, if my memory serves me correctly, return to a village you burned to the ground and have them shout abuse at you and cower in fear. As is the case with real life, I would much rather visit a town and feel welcomed, therefore my actions were very much influenced by getting on the good side of the civilians.
Fable 2 looks to really advance on this notion, which is why I’m really looking forward to its release this October. Unfortunately I’ve never played the original Fable (it was released when the only gaming I did involved a GameCube, Mario, and several karts that you could throw turtle shells from), but I understand choosing to be good or evil was the recurring theme throughout. In Fable 2, as well as the original, not only do your actions have an impact on the story, but it directly affects your appearance as well. I’m not necessarily a shallow or particularly vain person (I can go out in the rain without an umbrella!), but knowing that the choices I make will have an impact on how I look, and that if I choose to be wicked I’ll carry those permanent scars for everyone else to see, will definitely spur me to play the more angelic character.
Thinking about this concept gets really interesting when you factor in online play, however. When I’m making decisions in a game, only I know what I’m choosing to do as only I am witnessing the outcome. But with Fable 2’s ability to invite other gamers into your world, and to be invited into theirs, they will be able to see what kind of person I am simply by appearance, and therefore judge how I may act. The fact I then have the freedom to do what I wish in their world makes the experience much more intimidating for the other player, if I’ve chosen to go down the dark route. It adds a whole new dimension to decision making, and puts even more emphasis on the choices you’ll undertake throughout the game.
I don’t think I’ve yet to act as the bad guy in any game that has so far presented me with the option to do so, which is a shame as I really should be taking advantage of the fact I can play the bad guy. Even in Condemned, without giving away any spoilers, the ending presents you with two options; the choice I made saw redemption, even though I would have been perfectly justified had I opted for the alternative! I guess this says one of two things; either I find playing the ‘heroic’ character much more enjoyable than the ‘villian’, or gaming is less a means of escapism than I would have originally thought, and many of my real life emotions and ethics carry over to the game world.
I’m going to hazard a guess and say that the majority of gamers are in the same boat, and if that’s so, then I guess it’s not so easy to leave morals at the door when playing games. What I really want to know, however, is what do you play? And do you think the choices you make reflect your real life character? Or am I the only one who, quite sadly, lets real life emotion affect the gameplay? I’d love to hear of other examples and stories.
I don’t have anything derogatory to say about Alan Wake. My advice to you? Spend a night in Bright Falls and soak up the eerie atmosphere. Alan Wake excels at thrilling you psychologically. Which is why it’s called a psychological thriller, I guess…
PecanCtMichael