Are morality systems making us less moral?
🕑 Added 2018-06-04 22:16:54 +0000 UTC Morality systems are a huge trend in videogames, and with good reason- games are maybe the best medium for analysing and exploring ethics. So why are most games with morality systems rubbish at exactly that?The Architect is going to have to journey to the middle of the ocean, the arctic circle and to the darkest of dungeons to work out what the problem with morality systems is.
I hope I managed to say all of your names correctly, and apologies for some slight audio issues you might notice. My recording situation is quite loud what with it being summer, which means chirpy birds, lawnmowers and neighbours doing loud building work from 8 till 6 FOR SOME UNGODLY REASON.
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You saw:
Quarantine Circular- 2018
Mass Effect 3- 2012
Undertale- 2015
Saints row 4- 2013
Darkest Dungeon- 2016
Half Life 2- 2004
KOTOR 2- 2004
Dishonored- 2012
Frostpunk- 2018
Papers Please- 2013
Fallout New Vegas- 2010
Subsurface Circular- 2017
Dauntless- 2018
Interesting links:
Buy Dan Le Sac's music for the circular games, it's great- https://danlesac.bandcamp.com/
Designing moral systems- https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5324/ethics_101_designing_morality_in_.php?print=1
How the book of laws came to be- https://www.pcgamer.com/frostpunk-developers-on-hope-misery-and-the-ultimately-terrifying-book-of-laws/
Comments
Maria
Really great video! Reminded me of an old extra credits video where they talk about an awesome moral dilemma in Mass Effect being ruined by the games morality system. I would love to see more games without one in the future. In D&D I love playing Paladins because I love exploring moral questions. Another game that I think handles morality really well is the Dark Souls series. There is no real bad guy. You feel bad for most of the people you kill. There is nothing tell you which actions are "good" and which ones are "bad" especially with the two endings. I could probably argue for hours if the lord of darkness ending is better than the lord of cinder ending or not. PS: Xcom also has a great way of testing your morals because you don't want to kill the chosen but they give you cool stuff (I am mostly kidding) Pps: I hope any of this makes any sense I am writing this at 1 am
