Get Rid of Morality Systems

[Kahunaburger]

Fallout New Vegas was the best in moral choice I've played so far. The actual karma meter does almost nothing in this game, the reputation meter is far more important.

^^This. You know Fallout New Vegas is doin it rite when you see arguments online about whether, for instance, the Legion's brand of dictatorship is justified as an alternative to anarchy or whether the NCR's democracy will have traction. That's heavy-duty discussion for a video game, or really for any similar conflict portrayed in a visual medium. Of course, it makes the Karma system completely superfluous and actively counterproductive to the black and grey morality they're trying to set up.

I just finished the Witcher, and I really like how that handles moral choice by not giving you choices that conveniently break down into good/evil. For instance

Spoiler

you have to choose between an authoritarian or permissive parenting style (Geralt's basically a terrible father figure no matter what) which in turn affects who one of the villains grows up to be.

It basically just gives you choices, results, and lets you decide whether you did the right thing.

In general, I tend to prefer morality systems that are ambiguous haha, but Planescape Torment also gets a shout-out for giving you the ability to play an evil character that doesn't veer into Stupid Evil.

 

[Kahunaburger]

The way I originally felt Paragon/Renegade to be was that the Paragon upheld every individuals rights, for better or worse, while the Renegade upheld a 'greater good', possibly at the expense of an individual. A Paragon might occaisionally suffer a greater loss than the Renegade because the bigger picture was greater than an individual's. Likewise a Renegade might sometimes sacrifice the life/freedom of innocents in order to maintain the prosperity of the system as a whole. It was not a simple dichotomy of Good/Bad. Unfortunately Renegade became synonymous with asshat bully who goes around and intimidates people, often for no practical purpose other than to show how big a jerk he can be to the whole galaxy. Gone is the Utilitarian Shepherd ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarian ) and now there's just Angry Shepherd.

Haha I've noticed Bioware tends to do this. See also: Closed Fist, and Morrigan Disapproves -10.

 

[Jumplion]

Yes, please, I am so tired of these stupid dichotomous morality systems. Mass Effect would have been an infinitely better game if it had no morality system and just let you choose the options you wanted. Literally just remove the system of "Paragon/Renegade", keep everything else in, and it would have been so much better.

 

[Grospoliner]

The problem is that real moral choices require multiple paths to be written. As in a real world scenario a single choice results in a long sequence of following events. Game makers avoid having to write a huge number of diverging paths by using the cheap moral bar cop-out. Most games, in their current incarnations, would never support diverging story paths due to linear level design. To some extent multiple scenarios can be performed using the same set pieces and even retaining the same linear plot (such as Fallout does) but alerting the story's internal dialogue.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I like what they did in the first dragon age where you weren't told what the good/bad action was and had to decide for yourself what to say

I was basically good. Except for the whole Dalish camp slaughter.

Who could pass up an army of werewolves?
OP: Games like ME would be a lot better without that stupid "good/douche" system. And the dialog wheel. But that is a rant for another day.

 

[SoulSalmon]

No.
Do NOT get rid of morality systems, just work on one that doesn't suck.
I hate seeing an idea with potential get executed so badly every single time that people call for it to be obliterated

We really just need an extensive morality system with proper support for grey areas. Won't be easy to make, but if done properly you might be looking at game of the year.