Bomb, obviously.
Far too often the moral dilemmas in video games are black and white. One choice being solely good and the other solely evil.
This often makes choices only problems. A real choice would be if you we offered a blue healing potion and a red healing potion, both the same price, both healing the same amount of health but both have a hidden factor you are not aware of. A problem would be if you were offered a red healing potion for five dollars and a blue healing potion for ten dollars. You will obviously buy the red potion because it cost less and is equal in power to the more expensive blue potion.
Important stuff right here.
Another “choice” that is often used in games is telling the player that their reward for an action, before they have completed that action. This simply makes the choice into a simple problem, “What will benefit me the most?”.
A bit like math really.
Video games need to change from simple problem solving to complex moral dilemmas. Choices where we don't know if we did the right thing. Where we have outcomes that are debatable. We have to plunge into the unknown.
3 comments:
If we were to really have complex moral dilemmas in games then what examples would you recommend? Do you think strategy games such as RTS or puzzle games have more vague choices?
You are referring to Kohlberg's stages of moral development. The theory holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor. Kohlberg was interested in how individuals would justify their actions if placed in complex moral dilemmas. An example would be that at the first level, good or bad is just a matter of whether you get "caught" (or in games, killed or not pass a level) or not. Like, I was caught stealing cookie, that makes it a bad choice. if I dont get caught, it's OK to do. The highest level of reasoning would be internalized principle of "right or wrong" like, I have to decided to steal medicine to keep my child alive...what is my inner eithic? It's beyond good/bad, punishment, or social laws.
An RTS game would make for some really interesting choices. For example; you, the player, are a military leader. (that is why you command units). Do you sacrifice some of your men to save a famous politician, who is being held hostage. Or do you think that all lives are equal, and let the politician die, seeing that the combined lives of the men are worth more than one man alone?
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