Gaming morals are not black and white
Despite being a visible force in the entertainment industry
for nearly 50 years, video gaming is still looked at in many
circles as a potentially dangerous pastime, warping the
minds of young and old alike and telling shallow stores
devoid of any sort of positivity.
Morality in video games has become a more and more prevalent ingredient in the overall formula of what is considered to be a great game, providing one is looking at it from a critical perspective. It’s undeniable that the majority of best-selling titles are not known for challenging the player’s sense of right and wrong, or for making them wonder what they themselves, and for as long as the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series top the sales charts year after year, that is a stigma that is likely to remain in the minds of the wider public.
However, there has been a rising trend in the gaming industry where the concept of morality is becoming a central aspect of the experience, either by including it as a gameplay mechanic, as seen in role playing game series such as Mass Effect or Fable, or by attempting to tell a deeper, more challenging story, as seen in more recent releases such as The Last of Us or Spec Ops: The Line.
These, and many other games represent a concerted effort to drive the medium forward, and shake off some of the mass media hysteria that seems to follow video games around, yet in some sections of game media, the execution is seen as rather hit or miss, Luke Arnott, Media Studies professor and PhD candidate at Western University, is one member of that camp.
Probed with the question of whether he feels there has been a game to master the idea of total right and wrong, he answered, “Probably not.”
“But it begins with morality simply being more complicated when you talk about the aspect of making choice, especially when it comes to the resulting feelings.”
Trying to anticipate the wide range of human emotions, and predict what an individual player is thinking is as impossible a task as attempting to speak to a room of thousands in the hopes of everyone receiving your message the same, “the deep consequences of these choices will mean something different to anyone explaining.”
While such a statement seems to support the idea that video games can influence violence, Arnott was quick to dispel the idea.
“When your avatar on the screen is doing terrible things, people can separate that from their everyday lives – well most people can – the hysteria surrounding video games and violence is similar to the condemnation of film or even novels when they first became widely available, and now they are both accepted as ways to tell a story.”
The potential importance of a morality system as a game mechanic can best be seen in Bioware’s Mass Effect trilogy, on the surface a sci-fi story of one soldier’s mission to save the galaxy, but within contains hundreds of hours’ worth of deeply written story that can be shaped by the choices that the player makes, potentially making no two experience alike.
The choice between the path of right or wrong, or Paragon and Renegade in Mass Effect, can have resonating in game consequences, affecting story elements such as which of your companions survive, the fate of entire species’ and the overall end result of the sage, however, even such a critically praised mechanic was not without his faults.
As Arnott discovered, “I found that Mass Effect, while giving reasonably different paths for Paragon and Renegade, the both wind up at the same final decision, with the final differences being marginal in the grand scheme of things, not to mention the fact that morals are far deeper than just two options.” A sentiment shared by many critics and fans of the game.
What the series was most successful at, however, was creating some standout instances where the player is thrown into some scenarios that truly lie within the “grey area,” leaving long lasting e ects not only on the story but in the minds of the player him/herself.
Although Fanshawe student Matthew Roslinsky has played the Mass Effect games several times through since 2007, he’s still not sure if some of the decisions that he made were the right ones.
“In the first game where I had to sacrifice Kaiden or Ashley [two of your squad members], I found it difficult to decide which one,” he said. “Another one is in the second game when I had to choose whether or not to reactivate the geth soldier. I had a moment where I thought about shutting it right down, which is kind of sick, but it made me wonder if it was possible that the two species could make peace.”
The fact that a moment in a video game served to make Roslinsky, and many other gamers around the world, actively question their beliefs toward the possibility of reconciliation between enemies (in this case) serves to show the potential that a game could have, especially as the genre continues to evolve and grow.
“A lot of the failures in the idea of a morality system stem from the technical limitations that developers have to work with,” Arnott said. “A game that could anticipate every possible combination of moral outcomes is simply too big to make, and probably still wouldn’t be able to hit absolutely everything.”
Arnott, and other minds in the industry feel that as the genre evolves, the ability to tell a compelling moral narrative with a satisfying ending will someday be developed, as the recently released new consoles and the constant growth in the industry provides developers more and more room in order to create better experiences in the years to come.
For now though, the industry is relying on a few shining lights to support the argument that it belongs its place among print and film as one of the sources for our best stories.
Morality in video games has become a more and more prevalent ingredient in the overall formula of what is considered to be a great game, providing one is looking at it from a critical perspective. It’s undeniable that the majority of best-selling titles are not known for challenging the player’s sense of right and wrong, or for making them wonder what they themselves, and for as long as the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series top the sales charts year after year, that is a stigma that is likely to remain in the minds of the wider public.
However, there has been a rising trend in the gaming industry where the concept of morality is becoming a central aspect of the experience, either by including it as a gameplay mechanic, as seen in role playing game series such as Mass Effect or Fable, or by attempting to tell a deeper, more challenging story, as seen in more recent releases such as The Last of Us or Spec Ops: The Line.
These, and many other games represent a concerted effort to drive the medium forward, and shake off some of the mass media hysteria that seems to follow video games around, yet in some sections of game media, the execution is seen as rather hit or miss, Luke Arnott, Media Studies professor and PhD candidate at Western University, is one member of that camp.
Probed with the question of whether he feels there has been a game to master the idea of total right and wrong, he answered, “Probably not.”
“But it begins with morality simply being more complicated when you talk about the aspect of making choice, especially when it comes to the resulting feelings.”
Trying to anticipate the wide range of human emotions, and predict what an individual player is thinking is as impossible a task as attempting to speak to a room of thousands in the hopes of everyone receiving your message the same, “the deep consequences of these choices will mean something different to anyone explaining.”
While such a statement seems to support the idea that video games can influence violence, Arnott was quick to dispel the idea.
“When your avatar on the screen is doing terrible things, people can separate that from their everyday lives – well most people can – the hysteria surrounding video games and violence is similar to the condemnation of film or even novels when they first became widely available, and now they are both accepted as ways to tell a story.”
The potential importance of a morality system as a game mechanic can best be seen in Bioware’s Mass Effect trilogy, on the surface a sci-fi story of one soldier’s mission to save the galaxy, but within contains hundreds of hours’ worth of deeply written story that can be shaped by the choices that the player makes, potentially making no two experience alike.
The choice between the path of right or wrong, or Paragon and Renegade in Mass Effect, can have resonating in game consequences, affecting story elements such as which of your companions survive, the fate of entire species’ and the overall end result of the sage, however, even such a critically praised mechanic was not without his faults.
As Arnott discovered, “I found that Mass Effect, while giving reasonably different paths for Paragon and Renegade, the both wind up at the same final decision, with the final differences being marginal in the grand scheme of things, not to mention the fact that morals are far deeper than just two options.” A sentiment shared by many critics and fans of the game.
What the series was most successful at, however, was creating some standout instances where the player is thrown into some scenarios that truly lie within the “grey area,” leaving long lasting e ects not only on the story but in the minds of the player him/herself.
Although Fanshawe student Matthew Roslinsky has played the Mass Effect games several times through since 2007, he’s still not sure if some of the decisions that he made were the right ones.
“In the first game where I had to sacrifice Kaiden or Ashley [two of your squad members], I found it difficult to decide which one,” he said. “Another one is in the second game when I had to choose whether or not to reactivate the geth soldier. I had a moment where I thought about shutting it right down, which is kind of sick, but it made me wonder if it was possible that the two species could make peace.”
The fact that a moment in a video game served to make Roslinsky, and many other gamers around the world, actively question their beliefs toward the possibility of reconciliation between enemies (in this case) serves to show the potential that a game could have, especially as the genre continues to evolve and grow.
“A lot of the failures in the idea of a morality system stem from the technical limitations that developers have to work with,” Arnott said. “A game that could anticipate every possible combination of moral outcomes is simply too big to make, and probably still wouldn’t be able to hit absolutely everything.”
Arnott, and other minds in the industry feel that as the genre evolves, the ability to tell a compelling moral narrative with a satisfying ending will someday be developed, as the recently released new consoles and the constant growth in the industry provides developers more and more room in order to create better experiences in the years to come.
For now though, the industry is relying on a few shining lights to support the argument that it belongs its place among print and film as one of the sources for our best stories.
