21 réponses à ce sujet

[Taxian]

Hello all!

I am a long time player of Bioware games, going all the way back to Baldur's Gate, (i know, I'm old), and I really love what they have done about making choices matter in games. I expect many of you feel the same way, which is why I am asking this community for help.

I am currently writing my doctoral dissertation on the relationship between games that present moral choices (good/evil, light side/dark side, that sort of thing) and real-world behavior, and I was hoping that the gamers on these forums might help.

So if you have played games that present clear moral choices and think you might qualify, I've posted the link to my study below. It only takes about 10-20 minutes to complete, and if you'd like to give me your e-mail at the end you will be enrolled in a drawing for a gift card to Amazon. If not, then you can take the survey entirely anonymously.

So help a fellow gamer out and click the link below! I could really use your help:

https://alliant.qual...a47T0iJteWILOeh

Thanks again for your help!

[Clover Rider]

It means the end for us all.

[Cyonan]

Well I filled it out and I'm 90% certain I haven't summoned the Reapers on us or anything like that.

 

On a side note, when asking about light/paragon vs dark/renegade I often didn't go 100% into one or the other but it's not a choice on the survey.

 

Or in the case of ToR, I stayed completely neutral(I ended up picking what my second character was).

[Dominus]

All done. I came to realize a few things:

 

• Often a goodie two-shoes in the first playthrough, followed by a despicably evil playthrough.
• Generally Pacifistic, but a bit paranoid of others' intentions.
• Fable is not one of my favorite games.

[Fast Jimmy]

<p>

All done. I came to realize a few things:

• Often a goodie two-shoes in the first playthrough, followed by a despicably evil playthrough.
• Generally Pacifistic, but a bit paranoid of others' intentions.
• Fable is not one of my favorite games.

What Dom said.

[Taxian]

Trust me, there are no nuclear launch codes involved in the above survey. If there were, I would be threatening my professors with them, rather than doing all this hard work for a degree.

Can you tell I play dark side from time to time?

In any case, thanks to those of you who took the survey, but having more folks never hurts. BUMP, and whatnot.

[Decepticon Leader Sully]

Dude just call us all Rapeist murders and get it over and done whith. 

[Cyonan]

Dude just call us all Rapeist murders and get it over and done whith. 

 

I'm more about stealing everything that isn't bolted down and on fire than murder.

[Seagloom]

I didn't enter my email at the end. Go go paranoia! But I did participate. Good luck with your project!

 

 

 

All done. I came to realize a few things:

 

• Often a goodie two-shoes in the first playthrough, followed by a despicably evil playthrough.
• Generally Pacifistic, but a bit paranoid of others' intentions.
• Fable is not one of my favorite games.

 

 

The first only applies to me today. Based on these survey options, my past was a 180 from you. I first went through KotOR1&2 and ME1 full on chaotic evil total monster YOLO. I regret nothing.

[Neoleviathan]

I think my first playthrough in KotOR 2... I was initially going light side, but ended up following Kriea down the middle. So I felt N/A was the best option there, as it was neither overtly a good or evil playthrough.

Spoiler

I often play a male boyscout the first time around, second time as a girl prone to hitting things, then if the games still interesting I play other characters how I want. Depends on the game though. KotOR 2 offered something more interesting to chase after than the norm. Dragon Age offered all those Origins & races to roleplay so being too good or evil felt weird. Jade Empire I played good, but that seemed like a natural start off point. In a second play through I think I switched from Open Palm to Closed Fist or whatever they were called because I thought the character might react that way to all that was happening. I think the opposite would characterize my ideas about Fallout, where starting off as a violent or unsympathetic character might fit the universe of a wasteland better. Fable... Couldn't last an hour through the first, the third bored me, but the second was great. Never found myself as invested in those games, don't think I started a second playthrough in the one I did finish.

As for real world consequences. I think it's effected my shopping habits a bit, picking up games that promise similar gameplay, which books I pick up. Bioware & Obsidian reinforced my interest in sci-fi, Jade Empire & Dragon Age rekindled a lost interest in fantasy. And often times the reverse is true. I'll recreate characters in games based off one from a novel, like a playthrough in New Vegas as a lesbian cowgirl-type named Jellybean. And perhaps games like these reinforced my literacy, & I think I find it easier to track actual conversations. Can't say that playing as a character a certain way made me more likely to act out in a similar fashion in real life conversation, but I might pick up a few words or tones of speech from a character from time to time... But you do that with people or t.v. all the time too.

[Decepticon Leader Sully]

Im useualy a goody two shoes.. even in real life i just cant play bad in a game. even in saints row i dont kill pedestrians if i can avoid it.

that being said im a total tealeaf.  

[Jorji Costava]

There's a pretty good chance that the OP is familiar with this already, but it's relevant so I thought I'd post it: Amanda Lange has written a piece on this subject for the Journal of Games Criticism. Apparently, the overwhelming trend is for players to choose generally 'good' options; for example, fewer than 10% of Fable players chose the 'evil' path.

[Taxian]

There's a pretty good chance that the OP is familiar with this already, but it's relevant so I thought I'd post it: Amanda Lange has written a piece on this subject for the Journal of Games Criticism. Apparently, the overwhelming trend is for players to choose generally 'good' options; for example, fewer than 10% of Fable players chose the 'evil' path.

 

I have actually read that study. I'm looking at something a bit more complex, though, which is whether there is a breakdown along certain types of aggression/antisocial behavior (hostile attribution vs. social hostility, for instance), or maybe there is no correlation at all, which would be an interesting find as well.

[SlottsMachine]

I generally choose the "good" options but there factors that sometimes lead me to be more ruthless; mainly how invested or not I am in the game world. I remember in Fallout 3 I nuked Megaton and made sure I had good karma for the final conversation with "Dad" just so I could lie about it and have him believe me. 

[Neoleviathan]

What might be fun to look at would be the results of Catherine's player surveys. It's a game by the makers of Persona, with multiple endings & multiple player decision points. It also surveyed players about moral choices & such... I think dividing it by male vs. female or good vs evil. Something like that. After you make your choice you get to see how your opinion fares among the player base.

[Taxian]

Comparing yourself to the decisions of others in a game is really interesting. It satisfies a curiosity a lot of us have, an anxiety about how close (or distant) we picture ourselves in comparison to the mainstream.

 

It's one of the reasons I study games for a dissertation: It's a unique form of entertainment, something where you have active agency in deciding how things go.