This is where I, Ashley Baxter, blog about gaming. At the moment my primary console is the Xbox 360, so expect the topic of conversation to revolve around that.
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 often default to the “good” character choices as well. However, that’s why these games have great replay value: you can always go back and try being “evil” the second time around.
Games like Fable and Knights of the Old Republic take things a bit further. You choices are reflected in your appearance. If you were evil enough in Fable, you would eventually grown horns and attract flies.
Mass Effect was a good game to be evil in. You shoot a lot of people in the head in the name of justice (”You’re too dangerous to let live!”). It helps the story along and makes things more interesting.
Michael
I think that when it comes down to making a decision in a game, where the outcome is either good or evil, largely depends on what mood I’m in at the time. I remember having two save files for both of the Black and White games and both of the Knights of the Old Republic games, one save for playing through as good and one for evil. If, for instance, I was in a bad mood and felt like playing Black and White, I’d load up my evil save and throw giant boulders and small villages and feed citizens to my creature.
I do seem to find it easier to act evil in games though, Black and White being a prime example. I was always disappointed when playing the KOTOR games that you couldn’t hack down random citizens with your lightsaber if you were attempting to sway your character towards the dark side.
Michael: This sounds silly, but last night I had a dream about Mass Effect. In it I decided to kill the person I was interrogating, simply out of pure evilness. It’s made me not only want to play Mass Effect, but to go down the route of being an arsehole! I think your blog post also convinced me of that. If I ever do get round to picking up Mass Effect I might at least try going down the evil route.
Andy, the last part of your comment had me laughing: “I was always disappointed when playing the KOTOR games that you couldn’t hack down random citizens with your lightsaber”. Actually, this is one of the things I enjoyed about the earlier Grand Theft Autos I played, which shows I can be ‘bad’ if I find myself in that kind of mood. Then again, GTA feels so much less realistic than, say, Bioshock. It feels more ‘for fun’.
It looks like I missed out on a lot when busy with Mario Kart; KOTOR, Fable, Black and White
I find that it depends on the quality of the game. I have a much harder time being evil in a game that brings me into the story. I have no issues with mowing down civilians in GTA because I feel no connection to the world at all. But in a game that really makes you feel like you are the main character it because a moral decision rather then just something to do. Indigo Prophecy was a good example of this.
I usually start out going down the ‘good’ route, but on subsequent playthroughs I’ll go down the ‘bad’ route to see the game from a different perspective and to get the full experience. However if a game annoys me, even in good mode I’ll start going on a killing spree to vent my anger!
With regards to BioShock, I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking it up when it comes out on the PS3. Still thinking whether I’ll save or kill the Little Sisters. Hmmm….
dkoi: Actually, come to think of it, I agree with you. I have been a heartless bitch in previous GTA games, but only because the story didn’t draw me in enough to care about the civilians or consequences. In fact, it was fun being chased by mountains of police!
Lost Havros: But with limited time and so many games, it’s not always possible to play through a game several times
You should definitely play through Bioshock twice, however. It’s a great game and very difficult to grow bored of Rapture.
When I get back to playing Bioshock (once we get our new TV probably) I will be evil and harvest the little sisters because I was nice the first time.
In this GTA I was a little bit more restrained than normal because you actually felt for Niko. This time there were decisions you had to make and it would affect how the game panned out.