Morality in Games...

[Phias]

Are you occasionally struck with pangs of guilt when you annihilate kids in Fallout? Do you always seem to choose the light side over the dark unwittingly?

Sometimes I notice that I fall into this place. I always seem to save the world, do all the nice things and follow the good path first, and then deviate from my original plans. This is how I played the Fallout games.

Or in Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, I would feel sorry for the r2d2 clones I'd kill for no reason...

(Off Topic: How can you "kill" zombies, that are, in essence, already dead?)

[Raymondo]

I don’t really play either good or evil, unless I’m forced too, I only do stuff which benefits me the most if I have to kill 30,000 people to do it then so be it. The only problem with this is if I’m told to get the GECK I’ll probably not get it unless I get really bored since I don’t really get much out of it just a end game screen. I also like to hang around on my own, damn NPC always shooting me in the back. RPG's like BG always piss me off when your forced into a group.

[Kashluk]

It depends on the game, really. Some games make it nearly impossible to play good/evil, when the 'default' setting would be the opposite. See KOTOR or Morrowind for example - you get all the crappy stuff if you play as a dark sider, because 'bad guys' don't fit in the theme of the setting the developers wanted but they STILL implemented the possibility to play as such.

In Fallout it's pretty neutral, only becoming a slaver really restricts you from anything, being evil otherwise doesn't really. But yes, I too tend to lean towards the good side often as well. Haven't completed an evil game of Fallout yet...

Yet in some games, like GTA, I have no remorse of my 'actions'. You just gotta do, what you gotta do for the money and that's it. Same deal with the Hitman-series.

[atoga]

I'm not too worried about that type of thing. Like, who cares? Forgive me Lord for I have sinned; I blew a bunch of pixels into bloody chunks over the floor.

(Off Topic: How can you "kill" zombies, that are, in essence, already dead?)

You blow their bodies apart? Duh.

[Kashluk]

They've come *back* from the dead, right? They're the living dead, the undead or something. So it means they're not really *dead*, see? They're alive. So you can kill 'em alright. And make them the dead living dead. Uhh, yeah.

[atoga]

Yeah, but they're magically bound together, so they have no vital organs, which means bullets and the like aren't going to do squat unless they blow a large chunk of the zombie away. Sheesh, how can you people not know the basics about home zombie defense?

[Kashluk]

Who needs "magic"? Lay off the D&D, pal. The zombies of The Night Of The Living Dead fed on radiation and human brains the last time I checked!

But seriously, zombies' existance is so ridicilous already that how can we expect to find any sense from the ways of killing them?

[Neon Dingo]

When I play Fallout I play specifically to my advantage. If it involves shooting a kid, then so be it.

I never let icky morality seep into my gaming experience. I mean, why act like you do in the real world when you can do whatever you want in a fake one?

Lie, cheat, steal.

The only thing that really bugs me in Fallout is if one of my fellow compatriots gets killed in a firefight. For instance, Dogmeat. I always get pissed off and start over when he dies.

I don't believe in morals anyway, so I shoot kids like, everyday.

[Mandalorian FaLLouT GoD]

morality? i killed everyone in vault city because of the mouthy female leader chick. i dont know how thats supposed to make me feel. they asked for it so they earned it.
as for every game ive played, i seem to always follow the dark savior path. i kill people who get in my way and kill people who piss me off or inadvertantly ask for it. mouthy people die. i always end up saving the world though so i guess im of clear concience?

[Role-Player]

I don't let morals get in the way of my gaming, though i do get a kick out of mistreating virtual beings.

[Wolfman Walt]

(Off Topic: How can you "kill" zombies, that are, in essence, already dead?)

According to Ramaro Zombiology, Zombies work as a sort of primitive spark left over in the brain that basically controls the primal urges, one of the biggest ofcourse is to eat. By seperating the connection from the brain from the rest of the body (IE, Gunshot to the brain, severing the head, etc) the zombie is then killed permenantly. Another alternative is to shoot, hack, etc to a point where the body is not functional anymore and thus cannot do anything.

Note, this is classic zombie knowledge, crap like "Night of the living dead 2" where Zombies can only be killed with Flamethrowers is just pure crap. Ofcourse, the idea of zombies is made up so really anything could apply. Its like with vampires. Some are killed by crosses, others can only be killed by sunlight.

[Sebastian]

In a game that let's me choose my path, be it good or evil, I tend to choose good.

Though sometimes I stray, I tend to feel bad when I fall off the path and will reload a game where I don't like the outcome of my choice because it's too evil for that character.

Or sometimes I get so pissed, like in fallout, I'll start mowing people down. But I usually reload afterwards.

Now, if I BEAT the game as a good guy, my inate morality usually fades away into nothing and I'll try anything out just to see what happens.

But I play like the man I am in real life. I'm genuinely a good person, but I have my moments where I fall off the path.

[CloudNineGT]

According to the Zombie Survival Guide, zombies are created by a virus called Solustan (sp?). It infects the brain and changes the bodies working, making almost all bodily functions nonfunctional and unnecessary, such as breathing. They can only be killed by destroying the brain.

[jetbaby]

According to the Zombie Survival Guide, zombies are created by a virus called Solustan (sp?). It infects the brain and changes the bodies working, making almost all bodily functions nonfunctional and unnecessary, such as breathing. They can only be killed by destroying the brain.

Or by simply decaying... to death, ha. Eventually their body will decay beyond the ability to sustain it's demi-life.

But on-topic: I don't let morality get in the way of my gaming, because I know that the children I am killing, the towns I burn, and the innocents I slaughter are not real. If I were to stand in the street and hold a gun in my hands, I don't think that I could bring myself to kill children without incredible reason. Why should morality effect your gameplay unless you purposely make a character who is either moral or immoral (as I often do to see how it goes).

[Wolfman Walt]

Or by simply decaying... to death, ha. Eventually their body will decay beyond the ability to sustain it's demi-life.

Maybe thats not an option if you have zombies surrounding you?

[S4ur0n27]

the children I am killing, the towns I burn, and the innocents I slaughter

There are no innocents.

They deserve it anyway.

[Kashluk]

Or maybe not. If you think we're all sinners from birth and deserve punishment, then maybe you're thinking like an extreme-wing Catholic, which I know you aren't?

Weird.

Maybe it's just healthy to feel bad (and I don't mean crying a river for all those dead pixels) for killing innocents in computer games. Who knows. Maybe those kids who busted a couple of caps in their school mates' asses with daddies' rifles in the cafeteria didn't feel bad for killing children in Fallout?

Just throwing a few suggestions in the air. Things are never so black and white.

[Guest]

I do have a nagging sense of right and wrong, especially in relation to Fallout. I always end up being the righteous underdog, but I usually have an attitude about it. I've tried just being pure evil for the hell of it, but I always end up with a bad taste in my mouth. Eventually I just stop liking the evil person I'm playing as, especially if he/she is an asshole. I don't see the point in playing someone you don't like.

On the other hand, some of the most likable SOBs in games are the evil ones, especially if they're evil and cool.

[S4ur0n27]

Eh. I always play like I feel, in FO or KOTOR, or any other games, and I ended ultra-evil in KOTOR.

Anyway, there are no innocents, but not innocents in a religious speaking way. We're all gonna die so it's not like I care what happens to random people on the earth?

[Mandalorian FaLLouT GoD]

I do have a nagging sense of right and wrong, especially in relation to Fallout. I always end up being the righteous underdog, but I usually have an attitude about it. I've tried just being pure evil for the hell of it, but I always end up with a bad taste in my mouth. Eventually I just stop liking the evil person I'm playing as, especially if he/she is an asshole. I don't see the point in playing someone you don't like.

On the other hand, some of the most likable SOBs in games are the evil ones, especially if they're evil and cool.

you are a homo. your morality is shot because god hates you.

anyways in fallout 2 i managed to get a -3000 karma rating until i started killing enclave.