Videogames that let you enact the apparently stark and discernible difference between good and evil are nothing new. inFamous is one of those games, as was Peter Molyneux's Fable series. However, when Molyneux claimed that most people wanted to be heroes and didn't go straight for the dark side, the inFamous team didn't believe him.
"I thought he was lying," confesses Sucker Punch President Brian Fleming. This is before he saw a survey which suggests that only 20% of gamers actually want to bat for the evil team, if given a choice.
Despite this, inFamous' moral pendulum wants players to swing a little in both directions. Fleming wants to encourage a less stark choice among gamers, claiming that most of them "Blindly steer hard in one direction." According to Sucker Punch, the game will reward players more if they dabble in morally muddled areas, with a reward system based around dishing out more experience points to good characters that sometimes steer into evil territory rather than characters that remain wholesome throughout.
I'm not sure how they'll pull that off and still make sense, but I'm interested to see. While we wait to find out, tell me what your preference is. Good or evil?
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
8:20 AM on 04.03.2009
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The sad things aobut these "Moral Choices" in games, is that there's rarely any consequences for staying in the middle. One gang may hate you for doing right, one may hate you for doing wrong, but often they're both completely happy for you to do a bit of both.
I'm looking forward to inFAMOUS, and how it handles this. Factions are a better idea, but that again is rarely done to any depth: Take Mercs 2; any faction you upset you can easily bribe.
i should see a shrink.
In Fallout 3, on the other hand, I hated going evil to grab the 3 karma achievements related to that. I know it's just a bunch of code with graphics and such attached, but I truly felt bad gunning down innocent people.
Long story short, it depends on the game. I mostly try to stay good. Mostly.
On the other hand, take Fallout 3... world is a shithole, a lot of the people are assholes, and im running around with a massive, effective, and amusing arsenal... i thought i was pretty neutral, but turns out all my good choices are outstripped the fact that if someone annoys me, they will be exploded (often by a headshot, which amuses me no end and really doesnt help). E.g the people in the Republic of Dave annoyed me enough with all their bs that i killed all of them. Even the children (yes, theres a mod for that).
While I may laugh maniacally and desire godlike power, when it comes down to it I prefer to be a benevolent hero/godhead. I prefer to go the more difficult route rather than forcing my way, and I normally tolerate my surroundings.
...Unless you're a child in Black & White under the banner of my enemy staying at the local Creche. Then you are one crispy, crispy critter. Yet if the game doesn't consider the mass-murder of children based entirely upon religious belief evil, then who am I to argue?
My point is that sometimes "evil" people think they are in the right, that they're the good guys and that the "good" people are actually evil. It's a conviction in beliefs. As opposed to say, comic books, where most villains seem to recognize that they're evil and have no problem with it. Hence, Magneto forming the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants way back when I started reading comic books (okay, probably before then). But even that's changed in recent times.
So, can a game be made in which you're "evil" and could recognize it from a metagaming perspective (fool nerd mode ACTIVATE!), but in the game, you character considers himself to be good? I think that would be more interesting that a simple "play an evil character" situation, even with "dabbling in good" aspects.
It starts innocently enough. I splice insults into the protagonist's speech, and harassing the NPCs. Sometimes, I even kill the main character out of spite a few times. Then I start doing evil things especially if they are counter to utility.
I'm the only person that I know that has ever gotten all 12 jurors in Chrono Cross to give a guilty verdict. I go darkside at the drop of a hat. I lasted all of 10 seconds before going full-on evil in Postal 2.
There was one game. One game that I was the good guy through the whole thing (as far as I played before my computer died): Deus Ex. I was a good guy then, and only then.
Its all well and good to be an utter paladin or a cackly evil stereotype, but I find them both boring.
But to answer your question, I usually play "good" with the intent of going back and playing it "evil" the second time trough. Mind you, I rarely get around to playing through that second run. ^^;
Most games with good/evil conversation trees are faking it (are you SURE you want to let my baby die; or, I'll save your baby! But I'm doing it for MYSELF!). Either that or the evil opportunities are underdeveloped.
I admit I always take the good path (at least, partially), not just because my instincts are good but because I always assume I'm only going to play the game once and I want to see the *real* game, not the seamy, disreputable underbelly of it.