Poll: Am I the only Morally motivated gamer out there?

[Syzygy23]

Uh... really?

I've always heard/read that the vast majority of people choose the good options.

I know I certainly do, like 90% of the time, even if doing so puts my at an outright disadvantage.

The only time I be evil is if I'm not taking the game at all seriously (example: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic) or if the game give me a compelling narrative reason to do so (example: ... Um... can't think of one).

...

[sub]PS. In before some smartarse with the "No, you're never the only one" line. It's a bloody figure of speech, folks.[/sub]

See, that's a problem with morality as a mechanic in games these days: You only ever get the option of being a mustache twirling psychotic Chaotic Stupid butcher, or a Heroic Chaotic Good/Lawful Good Paragon of Politeness.

Doing a good thing, like doing ACTUAL things that are objectively GOOD, those HURT you. Being good in 99% games never have any lasting negative effects on the player. Little Susie needs a new liver but her dirt farming village can't afford one? If you wanna do the right thing, you either give her YOUR liver or you drop the cash to get her that operation. And no, the dirt farmers CAN'T pay you back later with epic lootz or even more cash, because they're DIRT FARMERS and you did what you did because you wanted to do GOOD.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I always played as a good guy out of games that give you a choice of being good or bad in the first playthrough (like SWTOR and Fable).
Heck I think the only bad thing I did being a good guy was lying I was gonna get some mob against this seller for getting me to pay to buy a droid but that's only because I find what happen later on in the game (losing a sale on a droid is the least of her wories).

 

[AnarchistFish]

Used to always take the good options, now, I take the "morally ambiguous" options a lot. I think my status on NV is "Evil Incarnate" at the moment, actually, and on Skyrim I'm always nicking things.

 

[Feena-cf]

I play good always. Sometimes I can mix in a few "bad decisions" if I genuinely disagree with the morals of a game or if I feel it would really contradict the personality of the character I'm playing, but those are rare occasions. The few times I've really tried to play bad(KOTOR I, Mass Effect series) I either crack and fail or I just quit because I'm legitimately not having any fun. I get no pleasure out of making NPCs lives miserable for no reason, but I do enjoy living out the fantasy of the Hero.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Uh... really?

I've always heard/read that the vast majority of people choose the good options.

I know I certainly do, like 90% of the time, even if doing so puts my at an outright disadvantage.

The only time I be evil is if I'm not taking the game at all seriously (example: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic) or if the game give me a compelling narrative reason to do so (example: ... Um... can't think of one).

...

[sub]PS. In before some smartarse with the "No, you're never the only one" line. It's a bloody figure of speech, folks.[/sub]

Well Infamous 2 gives you a reason to go the evil route narratively

Spoiler: Infamous 2 spoilers

It was genocide either way so it makes sense to try and save your people rather than a bunch of humans that have tried to kill you for being different.

 

[Catie Caraco]

I tend to stick to the good or paragon choices my first time playing through a game. Then I'll usually start a "bad guy" play through and either lose the stomach for it or interest pretty damn quick. I even played the "good" Evil Overlord in Overlord. ... But then my minions

went forth and multiplied... with the Farm Girls from Spree... and that... just doesn't seem ok to me. I guess it's better than having them poke people stuck in cages throughout my tower but... *shudder* The squick level of what is implied is very high.

There are a few things I couldn't stomach in games. Oddly enough the MW2 shooting spree didn't really bother me. I suppose it's because I had no attachment to the character I was playing or the situation I was in. I'm much more into RPGs than FPSs. But yeah, harvesting a Little Sister turned my stomach, and betraying Alistair at the Landsmeet, especially because it was in a playthrough where I had romanced him, made me feel dirty. I immediately turned of my xbox after I got the achievement for using Loghain and went to take a shower.

 

[Samantha Burt]

It really depends. In some games - Red Dead Redemption, KotOR, Mass Effect - I go with the nicer choices, regardless of game benefit. In something like, say, inFamous, I usually go the darker route. Just feels more fun in that context.

 

[Zhukov]

Uh... really?

I've always heard/read that the vast majority of people choose the good options.

I know I certainly do, like 90% of the time, even if doing so puts my at an outright disadvantage.

The only time I be evil is if I'm not taking the game at all seriously (example: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic) or if the game give me a compelling narrative reason to do so (example: ... Um... can't think of one).

...

[sub]PS. In before some smartarse with the "No, you're never the only one" line. It's a bloody figure of speech, folks.[/sub]

Well Infamous 2 gives you a reason to go the evil route narratively

Spoiler: Infamous 2 spoilers

It was genocide either way so it makes sense to try and save your people rather than a bunch of humans that have tried to kill you for being different.

Yeah, Infamous 2 did it at least a bit better than most.

Although, if my awesome memory serves, the evil option involved killing 299/300 of the world's population, while the good option involved killing 1/300.

I ended up going the evil route for my "canon" playthrough, but mostly just for shits and giggles.

 

[DestinyCall]

But when I take a look the previously mentioned articles, it tells me that almost all gamers are bad. So I was wondering if anyone else out there is somewhat similar to me if I'm just a weirdo.

This is the internet. You are never alone

In my circle of close friends, I have one person who always goes evil when given the option, two people who will always fully explore both paths, and one person (me) who pretty much always goes the "good and honorable" path. With that in mind, I'm quite sure you aren't alone in going the good route.

I don't think there is a real right or wrong way to go in games that give you a moral choice system. Some people enjoy the freedom of indulging evil impulses in a fantasy setting, while others want to experience all the content, good or bad. Personally, I find that I don't enjoy being "bad" so I almost always play as good - It's just more fun that way.

 

[lord.jeff]

I choose the good side maybe it's some white knight complex or maybe it's just because I find the writing for the darkside to be lacking most of the time.

 

[Vrach]

Welcome to the Escapist.

Spoiler: Fair warning, the words Am I the only one are not looked kindly upon around here

So no, you're not, not by a long shot. Most gamers actually play this way, hell, there's a huge population of white knights who just choose the good option. I personally used to do this, but have developed a more dynamic gaming persona for my characters and while I sometimes play several times with different characters (by which I mean actually different characters, not just different class or something), my most common and favourite route has become one that mirrors myself, albeit a slightly more punchy one. Basically, I'll play as the good guy, but I also don't take bullshit just because there's an angel icon on it, I'm happy to punch an annoying character in the face rather than take their crap.

 

[Murlin]

For me too it depends on the game. If the good/evil choice system really makes a difference it could be fun to do multiple playthroughs, and I admit to blowing up Megaton in Fallout 3 just for shits 'n giggles (though I reloaded a previous save afterwards).
I played Dark Messiah and the two Kotor games in evil and good just to see the multiple endings. Only Kotor really made me feel like it had some major impact though.
Mass effect was pretty much paragon all the way because, to be honest, only renegade interrupts were sometimes useful the actual renegade dialogue was just you being unnecessarily mean-spirited and did not yield better results in the long run.

Also welcome to the forums


[small]run...before it's too late[/small]

 

[Mordekaien]

This is my first post on Escapist so I'll try not to screw around.

When I browse through forums, articles, interviews and the like, I find that, nine times out of ten, when it comes to morality that I'm usually alone. I've always chosen to be the good guy and not ask for a reward at the end of it when possible. When it comes to Skyrim I think I've given at least 150 gold coins to beggars (you can only give one at a time) on completely separate occasions. I can't even stomach doing a second play through being a baddie.

But when I take a look the previously mentioned articles, it tells me that almost all gamers are bad. So I was wondering if anyone else out there is somewhat similar to me if I'm just a weirdo.



Edit: Amazed I got feedback so quickly

THANKS FOR THE WARM WELCOMES!

Nah, I do it too... moreso than being a bad guy, I usually help, the people that I'm mean to are the ones that started first

Also,

Welcome to you and a word of advice:
Don't go into the basement.

We don't go to basement.

 

[Alex Baas]

We are not alone...

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

It's very easy to be a good guy in a video game because most games do not know how to present morally grey choices. It is always very easy to tell what is supposed to be good and what is supposed to be bad (I'm looking at you, morality point sliders). I like to play a good guy and because it's easy to know what to do, I do it. There aren't many games I can think of that really pull off the more realistic grey morality. I would be very interested to see some that managed that.

As a result, in video games I'm always good, in real life I can be a dick when you'd often think it's the other way around.

 

[itsthesheppy]

I almost always choose "good" options. Choosing bad ones actually lowers my enjoyment of the game; mostly because they are SO BAD.

'Do you want to save these kittens [good] or eat them [bad]?'

 

[MrCollins]

I guess my playstyle comes down to lawful evil, I like sneaky characters in games with open choices, and I tend to feel that a real justification is necessary in order to kill someone.
This isn't always strictly true but applies to most cases.

The real moral compulsion I have in games is Loyalty, even with faceless grunts, i an't stand to lose them. that's why the only strategy games I can get into don't require any loss of your troops, like Final Fantasy Tactics or the Fire Emblem series.

Never do I betray or allow my NPC allies to die. In fact, in Deux Ex Human Revolution, I considered re-startin,g the games well into the campaign to change playstyles tto something that would allow me to do so.

 

[WanderingFool]

This is my first post on Escapist so I'll try not to screw around.

When I browse through forums, articles, interviews and the like, I find that, nine times out of ten, when it comes to morality that I'm usually alone. I've always chosen to be the good guy and not ask for a reward at the end of it when possible. When it comes to Skyrim I think I've given at least 150 gold coins to beggars (you can only give one at a time) on completely separate occasions. I can't even stomach doing a second play through being a baddie.

But when I take a look the previously mentioned articles, it tells me that almost all gamers are bad. So I was wondering if anyone else out there is somewhat similar to me if I'm just a weirdo.



Edit: Amazed I got feedback so quickly

THANKS FOR THE WARM WELCOMES!

Really, Ive played games as both a good and bad guy, and found that it pays to be good, actually quite literally. In Fact, there was a article or maybe just a thread that someone pointed this very thing out.

Alot of games dont have morality down straight yet, the developers always leaning towards either making the choices not wiegh much or make one side the better choice. And in most games this seems to translate into being good. So, I play the good guy.

 

[Rariow]

No, you're not alone, as the poll reveals. I also usually play the good guy. I'll do a couple of bad playthroughs if the game is good enough, but my first playthrough is instinctively leaning towards goody two-shoes. I will go out of my way to be evil for some characters/quests I particularly feel deserve it even on my good playthroughs, though. My first time through Dragon Age Origins was with a Dwarven Noble, and in the Orzammar section, I did all I could to take Bhelen down, even though I thought he'd be the better ruler.

Also, welcome to the Escapist. I'm not a very active member, but I'm on this site enough to know this is a very smart and active community, even if a bit fond of complaining. I hope you enjoy these forums!

 

[Aprilgold]

In decision games I always just make the decisions that I would make as a person. As such in stealth I endeavor to never kill people, in games that boast stealth as one of a few options i always stealth. I always make the right decisions, usually go pally in D&D games, etc.

Sorry for all those guys out there who only played Skyrim and Oblivion to see how effectively they could decimate villages of response'less NPCs.

EDIT

Why do people even do that anyways? Half the people per village can't be killed on the lowest villages, at higher ranked ones only a few citizens can die.

------------------------------------------------------

Game without a morality system: The choice I would make would be my characters choice. Such as in sneaking games I would avoid conflict whenever possible and go around tranqing dudes.

Game with a morality system: Pretty much the above but then I'd go back and do it the evil way.