Aug 10, 4:03 pm
Video games and morals rarely make comfortable bedfellows, especially in the eye of mainstream media. And why should they? Video games are a form of escapism that let us explore all those little wants and desires we cannot explore in every day life, filled with its rules, regulations and social expectations.
There is also the endless debate about whether video games are good for us. It’s an extremely new form of entertainment, and I’m happy to see people put forward their findings. Personally I’m all for a bit of moderation and common sense – Frag Dolls probably have forty years worth of gaming experience between us, and (despite Sarin’s endless dribblings) we’re all still pretty sane. Touch wood.
But let’s face it - the world, both real and virtual, is teeming with possibilities, and it is the user who determines which choices they should take. That is not to say the environment in which they are surrounded is free from responsibility, but I think it is all too easy to forget the responsibility of the user themselves. Granted, there is no ‘Skip away and play with the cute bunnies’ option in Far Cry Instincts, nor will I expect to see a ‘Hug’ option the next time I play F.E.A.R., but it is the little touches that always fascinate me. And oddly enough, it is the Xbox 360’s gamer score that makes this all the more apparent.
He’ll be dead soon - but will his pockets be lighter?
Now, for those of you who take to snooping around their friend’s achievements, you may have noticed that I haven’t got all the available points on Oblivion - despite having completed the game. Why is this? Well, two main threads for achievements in the game involve doing ‘bad things’ – stealing and killing people. I realise that a large part of Oblivion is about killing people anyway, but I like to think that it was always for the greater good. Killing an innocent just because a guy in a black robe told you to do so just doesn’t do it for me. I tried, but I felt so incredibly guilty and unhappy, I had to stop – much to my friends list’s amusement.
Now where’s that bloody butler?
When I played Tomb Raider Legends in Lara Croft’s house upon finding the pistols, I was cringing while imagining how some people would happily attempt to shoot the butler (I have no idea if you can, by the way.) And every time I walked past a hapless, shivering man in Prey, I just kept right on walking. And it’s not just the 360 either – whenever I agree to whatever quest some king in Dragon Quest wants me to do, I always wonder if anyone really does select the other option – “No.”
Yangus didn’t like the idea of the ‘Impregnate King Trode’ quest
The truth is, I always make every attempt to play by my own moral rules in video games. I just don’t enjoy it otherwise. Perhaps I play to aspire to the person I want to be, I don’t know, but it’s something that makes me feel good. And that, after all, is the reason why I keep on picking up that joypad.
