Of Morals

A new game has graced the shelves of Best Buys and Gamestops by the name of Mass Effect, a showstopping sci-fi space opera from the people who brought you the immensely popular Knights of the Old Republic (Star Wars) and Jade Empire. The most interesting part of this new game is not the story, which I've heard is good, or the visuals, which I've heard is also quite good, but rather a mechanic that deals with morals. You either choose to be a paragon or renegade (good or bad) and while it doesn't quite influence the large overarching story, it does directly affect how you get there. Massively. Large story arcs depend on how you treat those in the game around you and, while I haven't played the game but instead read a fair amount of interviews about it, it seems as though the decisions you make aren't easy; they're downright cruel.

This isn't the first game to do this. Old Republic (one and two) had similar ideas where you'd play Jedi or Sith and you'd get powers depending on which side you decide. Be merciless and power or follow the light! Bioshock had something similar where you'd choose to harvest evil little girls for power or save them and affect the ending. Even games like World of Warcraft are jumping on the bandwagon, forcing you to choose whether you'll take down diseased individuals for "the greater good."

I find the morality aspect of gaming (which is just now really getting its legs) to be a positive turn. Most games out right now are roller coasters, forcing you to ride the same trail. While the rides fun and memorable - you do it once and you're done. With games like this, it just makes you curious to know what the other choices would bring you. What happens if you save instead of harvest? Makes you want to play the game twice, no?

Parents complain so much about how violent the games have become. Stuff like Grand Theft Auto are just overkill (literally). But when was the last time you played a game like that and felt bad about what you're doing? With the recent games like the aforementioned, consequences on your character are reflected by your choices. There was a game called Fable where every time you lost a battle, you would earn a scar. Kinda like, oh I don't know, real life? What better way to hammer home that concept of choice than a video game?

Well, a book, but you know what I mean. Tim Schafer called games "wish fulfillments" and they are to a certain extent. But what I like the most about this morality stuff is that, yes, I am playing a sci-fi space RPG in a world that obviously doesn't exist, yet I'm still making choices that influence my character. That's something you really shouldn't ever forget, but I get the feeling that we do. Sometimes you need something like a game to remember how people perceive you - whether its a renegade or a paragon.

I know some of you who read this don't care for gaming and may even look down upon it, especially the violence factor. But these kind of games are no different than a Choose Your Own Adventure "novel." The one CYOA book I used to read was "Escape from Wacky Island" or some such nonsense. No matter what decisions I made, I always died a pretty gruesome death. I think I was nine or ten when I read these. There really is no difference than a creepy/violent book like that to the video games I've described above. In the end, to me at least, it's about the story and any way to make it more enticing or deep wins points in my book.