Poll: Moral choices in gaming

[SonicWaffle]

This is not a rant about how moral choices are too simple, or how they tend to be a choice between being Santa or Satan (which really confuses the dyslexics), but about a trend I've noticed in my own play and that of my friends.

When I play a game which requires me to assess a situation and then make a moral choice about how I react, I inevitably choose the good guy option. I just got done playing Mass Effect 2, and finished with a maxed-out Paragon score and just a teensy bit of Renegade. In Dragon Age: Origins I spent about 20 hours playing a goodie-two-shoes warrior before deciding to have some fun with an evil mage, but it turns out I can't do it! After a few hours I noticed that instead of being a dick, I was just playing a good guy who was a little more mercenary when it came to asking for quest rewards.

Looking back, this carries through just about every RPG I play; in Fallout 3 I was the 'Last, Best Hope of Humanity'. In Oblivion, though it didn't have a karma system, I was still generally a nice guy and avoided killing the innocent as much as possible, even when playing an assassin! In Fable 2, I swung around the scale a lot (because townsfolk were just dicks who were begging to be shot in the face) but whenever I had to make an actual choice, I'd take the nicer option.

I'm really not sure why this is. Even when I set out to be an arsehole, I can't seem to do it. I am by no means this nice in my normal life - I'm not a particularly bad person but I'm not Mother Theresa either - so my theory is that I make my characters into the person I'd quite like to be. I'm interested to find out what other people tend to choose, and why. So, you know...vote.

 

[skeliton112]

This is a thread repost but anyways, bad.

 

[Estocavio]

I cant really pick any of those - I just choose whatevers closest to what id actually do if the situation were real - Incidentally that means 'bad' most of the time, but thats only because most 'good' decisions are TOO good.

 

[likalaruku]

Neutral: I do all the good deeds & none of the evil ones, but I also ransack houses & steal anything not bolted down.

 

[Layz92]

I must say as apposed a lot of people who seem to go "WOOHOO EVIL" at every opportunity I like being good, I don't like being "paladin good" though. If I had to draw a parallel between my good and a character it would probably be Druss the Legend from the David Gemmel books. I don't trumpet about how righteous I am, I just get the job done bluntly and speak bluntly (and usually with an axe and striding through hordes of enemies too). So what I am looking for in an answer isn't there. Something along the lines of "I do the right thing but kick everyone who gets in my way to death during my questing"

 

[Dark Knifer]

I usually pick whatever I feel like at the time, so I usually go evil on some days and nice others, so neutral?

 

[Jordi]

I'm very goody-two shoes, but if given the choice, I like to be a badass goody-two shoes. You know, like Batman. However, apparently I'm so obsessed with what people think of me that I will often substitute the game's moral compass for my own. Even if I think that one option is clearly better for everyone (and I would label it as good), I'm unlikely to pick it if the game labels it as bad/evil/renegade and when I can't tell, but I get evil-points after the choice I might even reload.

Spoiler: Examples from Mass Effect 2

It seemed completely, monumentally stupid to me to blow up the space station, but I did so because the game told me it was the Paragon thing to do.

Also, I took none of the Renegade conversation interrupts, even when it was just to snipe some guy I was going to kill later anyway.

 

[Dragon_of_red]

I usually always choose the good guy option and save as many people as possible.

Then i replay it with max evil, killing everything as inhumanley as possible.

 

[Mattdoesrock]

Normally I play as an evil / bad character and commit mass genocide on the slightest of whim's - but in the ME games I play as a paragon. Not sure why, I just prefer it.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

I chose neutral but mainly because there is no difference in whatever "class" you are apart from if you're pure good, you can't afford anything, if you're neutral or evil, you can steal everything and sell it...personally I'd love to be a travelling rogue who is motivated by money but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO no one wants to ask me to do quests, I have to run around town asking each individual person if they want me to do anything for them, hmph why won't people come find me and ask me to do something interesting, NO I DON'T WANNA GO LOOK FOR YOUR HUSBAND DO IT YOURSELF!

 

[Flames66]

Each time I pick a moral choice, I pick which option I think I would say in those situations, with out thinking about which way I'm morally swinging.

 

[Cody211282]

I play as lawful good almost every time.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Spoiler: Examples from Mass Effect 2

It seemed completely, monumentally stupid to me to blow up the space station, but I did so because the game told me it was the Paragon thing to do.

Also, I took none of the Renegade conversation interrupts, even when it was just to snipe some guy I was going to kill later anyway.

Hah, I was exactly the same about the cutscene interrupts, but

Spoiler

I saved the space station because A) it probably would come in handy and B) Garrus thought it would be a good idea, and I trust Garrus. What with him being a baaaad ************, and all.

One thing in ME2 that really confused me was endorsing the shops. Every single shop on the Citadel now has a door chime announcing that "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favourite store on the Citadel!". Every. Single. One. So I basically lied to a bunch of innocent tradesmen in order to save myself money, and exploited them for my own gain, and I still got Paragon points for it!

 

[robert022614]

well i play through multiple times usually because either choices have impact on endings or abilities, but love kicking kids in fable 8P

 

[SonicWaffle]

I chose neutral but mainly because there is no difference in whatever "class" you are apart from if you're pure good, you can't afford anything, if you're neutral or evil, you can steal everything and sell it...personally I'd love to be a travelling rogue who is motivated by money but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO no one wants to ask me to do quests, I have to run around town asking each individual person if they want me to do anything for them, hmph why won't people come find me and ask me to do something interesting, NO I DON'T WANNA GO LOOK FOR YOUR HUSBAND DO IT YOURSELF!

I think questing is another reason I tend to play the good guy. If someone comes up to you and asks for help, your standard baddie response is "Go screw yourself with a turnip", which may well cause you to lose the quest. By extension, you lose XP and loot. I made this mistake a couple of times in Dragon Age when I was still trying to be bad; I'd be sarcastic or rude when people asked for help, so they'd tell me to get lost.

Quests must be particularly galling for those who want to play an evil character, because about 80-90% of the time they involve helping someone. Sure, you can point and laugh when they announce that goblins stole their children, but it does mean you get none of the benefits that rescuing the kids would bring. The game is, in a way, forcing you to do good deeds.

 

[Flour]

My choice is usually "where my cursor happens to be at that point" combined with "best reward". So in a way it could be described as Chaotic Neutral.

 

[Zealous]

I'll take good options with regular NPCs (townsfolk, small children, non assholes, etc), but if it's an enemy that's doing the talking I'm in evil/badass mode.

 

[tzimize]

I'll always be a good guy first. Its a lot more satisfying to help people and make things work, than break them.

If the game is awesome enough to warrant a second playthrough I'll play the bad guy. I did this in ME2...but I didnt enjoy it. Treating people like crap (that dont deserve it, like my awesome crew) does not make me feel good, nor give me good entertainment. Although I have to say having shot at least two civilians before getting to the "artifact" in the first mission in ME1 was rather badass

 

[HellbirdIV]

I can't stand playing bad guys, or even slightly amoral characters. I tend to invest a lot of myself into roleplaying characters, so my morals are their morals, so to speak.

Didn't stop me setting that Krogan on fire, but I knew I was going to kill him anyway so I might as well save myself a fight. And it was funny.