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[mr_afk]

What is the hardest ethical decision you’ve had to make in a game?


In many of the games I’ve played, moral choices are relatively clear-cut, with a well-defined ‘good’ path and an ‘evil’ path. The good path involves protecting the innocent out of pure benevolence, while the evil path offers temptations of money, treasure, or power in return for exploiting the weak.
Occasionally a game might allow you to take a more neutral path, where you might help out purely for the incentive/monetary reward, but overall the morality of these game can be placed on a scale – which some of the games indeed do.

Examples include some of bioware’s older games (KOTOR, Jade Empire), Fallout, Fable, and even games like Bioshock and Dishonoured (to some extent).

I think this might stem from the traditional D&D alignment system, where moral choices can be broken down into good and evil, (and lawful and chaotic). Rather than giving confusing mixed choices, straightforward ‘right or wrong’ allows people to feel good about saving the world, or to get some amusement out of acting like a douchebag and doing the things you can’t get away with in real-life.


However, there seems to be recent trend towards morally ambiguous choices, with dragonage and mass effect highlighting the tougher choice between an idealistic and pragmatic approach, and morally grey choices that
have no real right or wrong. While the outcomes might be similar, these ethical dilemmas are often seen promoting intense debates.
I haven’t got around to playing all of The Walking Dead games yet, but from what I’ve seen, part of the reason it has the impact it has is the tough choices it forces you to make, and the consequences you then have to live with.

Funnily enough, some of the ethical dilemmas that have affected me the most – even causing me to restart play-throughs – are found in games that don’t have such a heavy emphasis on choice.


So – what's the choice that had you pausing to think, or even kept you up at night?

Modifié par mr_afk, 11 décembre 2012 - 11:00 .

[mr_afk]

To expand on my last point (and the reason for this post), I came to the realisation that some of the choices that had the largest impact on me were in games that didn't particularly focus on choices or ethics.

I wouldn’t really consider Skyrim to be at the forefront of ethical choices, but the civil war plotline ended my first play-through (minor spoilers: when I realised I had to fight Jarl Balgruuf).

And the most recent ethical dilemma I’ve encountered, which in fact prompted this spiel, was in Kingdoms of Amalur (which in all honesty seemed a little too shallow a game to have any kind of morality involved).

As a bit of a backstory to my dilemma, the fae are immortals that live their lives re-enacting their stories, resurrecting to go through it again and again. However, the ‘villain’ of their stories is tired of being the villain (and presumably a little sick of losing every time), and is trying to break free of the cycle. As the hero of the tale, you end up having the choice of killing her and maintaining tradition, or sparing her, ruling together to bring forth a new age where fae are free to write their own story.

I personally am a proponent of free-will and find the fae’s culture of a set history repeating again and again more than a little creepy. Yet, by breaking tradition, I am effectively betraying the trust of the fae – who probably view the loss of constancy akin to the end of the world.


So basically, it’s quite the conundrum.

Modifié par mr_afk, 11 décembre 2012 - 11:05 .

[Orian Tabris]

To be honest, I have no idea what the toughest ethical choice I've had to make in a game.

My best guess would be... whether or not to kick jump on one head and body slam/canonball inbetween Patty and Selma, making them bounce into the air, or to kick some other character/s, for no reason, on Simpsons Hit & Run?... Maybe?

Modifié par Orian Tabris, 11 décembre 2012 - 11:11 .

[Cyberarmy]

Making Zaalbar to kill Mission in SWTOR 1, i was young and naive back those days

There are many tough decisions in The Walking Dead but none of them had this effect on me. Also there is Heavy Rain.

[Dominus]

Whether or not to murder a certain important individual during the later parts of The Witcher 2. The possible repercussions were difficult to determine. The earlier "big" decision wasn't as hard for me.

Modifié par DominusVita, 11 décembre 2012 - 11:12 .

[Ridwan]

None, it's a game.

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Cyberarmy wrote...

Making Zaalbar to kill Mission in SWTOR 1, i was young and naive back those days

There are many tough decisions in The Walking Dead but none of them had this effect on me. Also there is Heavy Rain.

That was decades ago, we were young...

KOTOR II (yesterday).. I was so sad that I had to force that droid technician to give me his permition and leave him to die by exchange, because I didn't have enough money to pay his debt.

Yeah .. then I realized I can smuggle some things (darkside points) and gain some credits to do that.  Some Republic forces died during those missions! lulz

[DarkKnightHolmes]

Dark Ritual in DAO.

Other than that, everything is so easy to choose.

Modifié par DarkKnightHolmes, 11 décembre 2012 - 01:14 .

[Fidget6]

Whether or not to kill that (mostly) innocent guy to save your son in Heavy Rain. I personally always let him live for dramatic effect. I like the idea that after everything Ethan goes through to save his son, mutilating/willing to sacrifice himself, the one line he can't bring himself to cross is murdering another human being,

[Fast Jimmy]

Hardest decision ever.

At 6:25.

Go to work when you are already late, or get some hanky panky from your girlfriend...


...wait, that's not a hard choice at all!

[RedArmyShogun]

Admitting to eating the old mans lunch in chrono trigger which lead to me getting the Death sentance >>

[MichaelStuart]

As someone who sees the world in black and white, I have never really had to deal with what I would consider a morally ambiguous choice.
If I had to pick, I would go with the civil war in Skyrim, as I feel both sides were valid. I usually side with the Empire since they pay better.

[Chromie]

Cyberarmy wrote...

Making Zaalbar to kill Mission in SWTOR 1, i was young and naive back those days

There are many tough decisions in The Walking Dead but none of them had this effect on me. Also there is Heavy Rain.

Pfft I'm surprised you didn't say choosing to face Sion or save your friends at the Malachor V academy. I faced Sion but still after having trained everyone to use the force it's kind of shame they won't be around to become the new Jedi Order.

Modifié par Skelter192, 11 décembre 2012 - 03:30 .

[zeypher]

This thread reminds me, Obsidian also do hard choices very well.

[Milan92]

Some choices I was forced to make during the Imperial Agent storyline in TOR. I really had to think on some of them for a couple of minutes.

Also at the end of Far Cry 3! Choosing to save your friends and live happily ever after with them or slice their throat and have a 20 second sex scene afterwhich you die lmao.

[Cyberarmy]

Skelter192 wrote...

Cyberarmy wrote...

Making Zaalbar to kill Mission in SWTOR 1, i was young and naive back those days

There are many tough decisions in The Walking Dead but none of them had this effect on me. Also there is Heavy Rain.

Pfft I'm surprised you didn't say choosing to face Sion or save your friends at the Malachor V academy. I faced Sion but still after having trained everyone to use the force it's kind of shame they won't be around to become the new Jedi Order.

My first 2 KOTOR 2 playthroughs were following the Sith path  Who cares for friends when you have the true power. They were valueable slaves nothing more 

[Chromie]

Cyberarmy wrote...

Skelter192 wrote...

Cyberarmy wrote...

Making Zaalbar to kill Mission in SWTOR 1, i was young and naive back those days

There are many tough decisions in The Walking Dead but none of them had this effect on me. Also there is Heavy Rain.

Pfft I'm surprised you didn't say choosing to face Sion or save your friends at the Malachor V academy. I faced Sion but still after having trained everyone to use the force it's kind of shame they won't be around to become the new Jedi Order.

My first 2 KOTOR 2 playthroughs were following the Sith path  Who cares for friends when you have the true power. They were valueable slaves nothing more 

Ah but keeping them alive would help by having more potential force sensitive follow the Exile into the Unknown Regions. *Sheds manly tear* So much wasted potential.

[Roflbox]

wiggles89 wrote...

Whether to take the supplies from the station wagon in TWD. I've no doubts that I did the right thing by taking the supplies, but damn I felt like **** after doing it.

But that choice doesn't really matter you could also choose to not take the supplies and in Episode 3 you see that Lee and Clementine took them reguardless. 

[Naughty Bear]

Milan92 wrote...

Some choices I was forced to make during the Imperial Agent storyline in TOR. I really had to think on some of them for a couple of minutes.

Also at the end of Far Cry 3! Choosing to save your friends and live happily ever after with them or slice their throat and have a 20 second sex scene afterwhich you die lmao.

But your legacy carries on!

[TobiTobsen]

Heavy Rain.

Killing or sparing the man in the shark trial.

[Homebound]

[slimgrin]

*spoilers*





-Whether or not to let Letho go free in TW2. I still have no clear answer for this one.
-Ashley or Kaiden, for the time, was a stark decision to make in an RPG.
-Letting Roche gut Henselt or not. (TW2)

Modifié par slimgrin, 12 décembre 2012 - 07:49 .

[Cyberarmy]

Homebound wrote...

Mass Effect 3 ending you say?


Sorry couldn't resist.