Poll: Compassionate Gaming

[Thyunda]

I seriously have trouble playing evil in games where there's an alternative. Also, I tend to pick the non-violent option whenever possible and generally act nicer in games than I do in real life. I also spare the lives of enemies when given a chance in-game. Except for Benny in New Vegas. That guy had it coming.

Well, my stance was always "never fire the first shot." I distinctly remember Benny shooting me in the face. So I took a pool cue and I beat the shit out of him. I like to remind everyone that Benny is a prick with terrible dress sense. Anybody wearing that suit deserves a pool cue to the face.

When games literally give you no choice (Prototype) I don't get too worked up about. It's not me, it's the game.

Other games (Oblivion, Fallout, etc), though, I tend to avoid killing as much as possible.

Heh, I even get worked up about killing the random guards sometimes in games like Assassin's Creed or Splinter Cell.

I can honestly say I avoid killing anyone in Prototype unless they're military or diseased. Or if I'm hungry. Or if I feel like carrying someone to a rooftop and eating them.

 

[Sebenko]

Depends how important individuals are in the game.

In GTA, to use your example, the NPCs are simply objects, and you can be sure that they won't be story important, so I end up gunning them down without a care.

In Fallout 3, because almost every non-hostile NPC seems involved with a quest, or likely to make a quest-giver refuse to help you means I tend no to kill them.

hmm, isn't that sociopathy?

 

[Thaluikhain]

So, that's my little story. Do you have any examples of games where you couldn't bring yourself to be bad? Or do you still mindlessly butcher civilians for fun?

SWAT 4.

Ok, if you kill a civilian, you fail the mission.

Then again, you can't fire on a criminal unless they pose an immediate threat in game (as opposed to in story, where they are murdering randoms, or are stopping you from defusing the bombs), without losing points. On the easiest settings, points don't matter much, but I still try to take everyone unharmed, cause that's the challenge.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I am kind, gentle and try to never harm a soul*


*Unless it is stategically expedient to do so

 

[iLikeHippos]

I enjoy pretending I am a highly professional, yet charming assassin at times.
(This has so far been excellently used in Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Oblivion for me. I am open for suggestions of other titles. But no Hitman!)

It's also fun to delude yourself that you are someone else; What better way to do it than the ENTIRE opposite of you?

Otherwise, I have for the last years just played 'nice' and it's getting repetitive and limited. How about some atrociously evil acts for once?

 

[Trolldor]

I'll kill random scavengers and traders for their equipment, I'll happily steal from a safe, nick ammo from a shelf, weapons from boxes...
But I just can't bring myself to shoot anyone unarmed.

 

[Chewster]

Generally, when I play games, I always feel compelled to be the good character. Maybe it is because I am intrinsically good, but I cannot explain the compulsion, really. Usually, if it is one of those moral choice type games, I'll go back and play the evil side after, if only to see the difference. Even then, I feel a bit bad. The one exception was Mass Effect, but in that, you are less "evil" and more "desperate to get this shit done, no matter the cost".

Still, the morality is New Vegas is fucked. I was considered "Very Evil" for most of the game, just because I stole a whole lot of stuff, but somehow became "Very Good" after I topped a few of the chem-addicted Fiends and some Powder Gangers. Additionally, I'll get good karma for killing Powder Gangers and bad karma for nicking gear from their hideout. How the hell does all that that work?

 

[Trolldor]

Generally, when I play games, I always feel compelled to be the good character. Maybe it is because I am intrinsically good, but I cannot explain the compulsion, really. Usually, if it is one of those moral choice type games, I'll go back and play the evil side after, if only to see the difference. Even then, I feel a bit bad. The one exception was Mass Effect, but in that, you are less "evil" and more "desperate to get this shit done, no matter the cost".

Still, the morality is New Vegas is fucked. I was considered "Very Evil" for most of the game, just because I stole a whole lot of stuff, but somehow became "Very Good" after I topped a few of the chem-addicted Fiends and some Powder Gangers. Additionally, I'll get good karma for killing Powder Gangers and bad karma for nicking gear from their hideout. How the hell does all that that work?

..stealing is stealing?

I downloaded a mod for Fallout 3 allowing you to lay claim to the property of anyone you'd killed.

 

[Irriduccibilli]

After the dealer "cheated" me in a game of Blackjack in Red Dead Redemption, I hogtied him and threw him on the nearest railroad and saw him get splattered... along with my horse. Talk about karma

 

[AlternatePFG]

I usually play the good guy, but obviously if people deserve it, I won't let them down easy.

Of course, when a game has a good/evil system, it kinda sucks playing this way. That's one thing I liked about Dragon Age.

 

[Zakarath]

I generally play nice in most games... but in certain cases like Just Cause 2, they just aren't characterized enough for me to care about killing them... though I won't generally go out of my way to kill them unless I have a few extra triggered explosives laying around. Although I will occasionally buy a tank and drive it like a timid old lady just 'cause the irony amuses me.

 

[white_salad]

I will steal and pick pocket from people, ask for money for what I do for them, but I avoid killing at all costs generally. I get caught stealing oblivion, run from the guards, never kill. In fallout new vegas, I got really good at pickpocket and stealth, to avoid killing unnecessarily. And when given the option, like in dragon age and mass effect, I do not kill wrongdoers generally .

However, I also can be completely driven by vengeance, and just blood rage due to committing atrocities. When Caesar's army killed and crucified that city, they told me to tell everyone. I chose to kill them all. I used all my ammo and all my stimpacks and all my food, but they died. That's all that matters.

In conclusion, naturally I avoid senseless killing, stealing I engage in, and sometimes ask for money for the good deeds I do. However, push me, and I will kill everything you love.

 

[Irridium]

I really don't have the heart to go on one of those murderous rampages in Fallout or Oblivion, even though I quite want to.

When games literally give you no choice (Prototype) I don't get too worked up about. It's not me, it's the game.

This too.

Same with me. Although I did want to go on a murderous rampage in Little Lamplight. And thanks to the help of a mod, I did.

Fuck those kids.

 

[jenerz]

I think it depends completely on the game your playing, Prototype is really the only game I've played where I would go on a huge killing spree. I suppose I did on fable but I would always reload my previous save after I was finished.

I'm completely different when playing games like oblivion, I kill people when doing quests (Dark Brotherhood etc) but I can't recall a time where I've slaughtered the innocent just for the sake of rubbing their offspring's still warm blood on my face.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Sometimes I just want to go on an unprovoked killing spree but generally I'm quite well behaved.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I hover between can't kill innocents and 'these are just constructs.'

If I play a game like Saints Row 2 for too long, eventually I become very aware that I'm playing a game, rather than a story with characters to involve myself with.

Most of the time I am completely good in games though. I just can't use them to slaughter wantonly.

 

[GeorgW]

If there is no point to it, I don't go out of my way to do anything, regardless of morality. But if I'm irritated with something in a game, I'm gonna do something about it.

 

[moretimethansense]

Depends on the game and if the NPCs are given even the tiniest bit of personality.
Generally I am but in games like GTA I am subject to the odd merciless slaughter.