Several games implement some kind of morality into their gameplay. The purpose of this morality system is to affect the gameplay. You may ask: "How does it affect gameplay?" The answer is not as clear cut as you might think. Below is a list of games that have a morality system some are more clear cut then others. However, i am going to detail the Fallout 3 morality system.
Games with some type of morality system:
- Fallout 3
- Fallout New vegas
- Starwars Knights of the Old Republic
- Starwars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Sith Lords
- Infamous
- Infamous 2
Fallout 3 is a role playing game that is set in Washington DC after a nuclear attack(hence the name Fallout). During the attacks several people hid in various places throughout the area. You take of the role of a wander who has been living in and underground vault for years now. (Warning next part will contain a plot spoiler for those who haven't played the game). The reason you leaave the vault is to find your father who has a mysterious past that you have to unravel while playing.
Morality System
As the gamer plays through Fallout 3 You make choices along the way. These choices made within the game affect the player in a number of ways. (listed below) If a player happens to have extreme karma one way or the other, it can lead to multiple endings of a game. To quote a section of text from tvtropes.org "To undermine the concept even further, games with a Karma Meter often include a Golden Snitch decision that will heavily push you towards (or even lock you permanently in) one extreme of the morality gauge regardless of your actions up to that point. This means that in a game with Multiple Endings, your ending is decided more by that one single choice rather than an accumulation of all of your deeds and misdeeds." As tvtropes.org explains this Golden Snitch "A competition involving a series of events or activities, in which the final round counts for a disproportionately large percent of the team's total score — and in fiction, will tend to be worth more than all previous events combined. Thus, whoever wins the final round earns enough points to win the entire match, regardless of just about everything else that happened before it."
Ways choices affect the game:
- Choices affect how plot npcs treat the player
- Choices often lead to one extreme side of the karma meter.
- Choices sometimes lead to a grey area where there is no real karma affect
- Karma Meter - Television Tropes & Idioms . (n.d.). Home Page - Television Tropes & Idioms . Retrieved October 28, 2011, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KarmaMeter
- san, a. (. (n.d.). Golden Snitch - Television Tropes & Idioms . Home Page - Television Tropes & Idioms . Retrieved October 28, 2011, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoldenSnitch
It is interesting that the concept of karma is being utilized in these role playing video games. It seems that the designers of these games are going beyond a mere simulation of an exciting adventure to follow one fixed plot. I can see several benefits by adding this element of karma into the game play.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it is making game more realistic. Karma is a universal principle that normal people experienced in real life. By adding this element into a video game, it is enhancing the degree of realism in the game. Different decisions made by the player will have different consequences that will lead to different ending. This makes the game to be unpredictably realistic and thus more exciting to play.
Second, it is subconsciously giving a moral education to the players. The players are encouraged to weigh their decision carefully. Good deeds will be rewarded with good karma and bad deeds will reap bad karma. This concept helps educate people to consider their day-to-day decision in real life more carefully.
I played Fallout 3 a little and watched my husband play it a lot. The Karma system was interesting, but I never hit a point where I really saw any huge changes in the game from it. I did not see him finish the game so I most likely missed the "Golden snitch" event you referred to.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading articles on Skyrim and how actions will change the way characters treat you and so forth, but it doesn't sound like there will be much storyline changing as a result. Hopefully one day there will be a really comprehensive game that ties in lots of subtle changes with every single decision you make.
The game you're hoping for is Mass Effect. >.>
DeleteAfter pouring at least 100 hours, if not much more, into Fallout 3 I became really comfortable with the karma system. Saving Megaton from a giant nuclear bomb in the center of town, or pushing the button to watch the entire city be destroyed. Megaton is probably the best example of how karma can affect everything.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't really like about karma systems is when one is implemented into a game, I find it hard to just play the game and instead focus on playing the game in a good or evil kind of way. I love that it drastically increases playtime, but I don't like that I'm forced to funnel the way I play.
Good blog, keep it up.