Morality in gaming, is it needed?

Morality has become the gaming theme of this generation. Black, and White, Good vs. Evil with some choices doing nothing to impact the long term plot. Gamers have experienced morality in games such as Fallout 3, Mass Effect, GTA IV, Bioshock as well as several others. Goozernation takes a look at the bigger questions and asks is morality really needed? Why do gamers always have to make a choice with consequences?

[christheredhead]

i like morality choices in games. its gives me replay value, choice, decision and non linearity. its not like its needed in every single game but i enjoy games with a morality system in place. for me its not necessarily about being good or bad in the game but making choices with different outcomes and open ended decisions. it also gives me replay value, going through taking different routes and scenarios.

i can definitely see how someone would want a more linear, straight forward story though. i would imagine some gamers dont want to go back replaying a 30+ hour game just to make a different choice. like i said, i enjoy going back and doing 2 full playthroughs for both or multiple choices so i welcome the system.

[JimmyJames70]

Well said. I completely agree.

[awiseman]

It makes the game more fun....Fallout 3 is a textbook example.

[NukaCola]

Agree. i really like New Vegas. The morality system in that game isn't black and white. Factions have different views and the choices you make with them all differ. I don't want just a right or wrong answer, I love it when it's hard to make the right dicisions because of so many factors of the outcomes.

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

It's a nice little touch but it's never handled realistically. Making the good or bad choice is always so obvious. Wish there was a game that blurred the line a little.

[kube00]

What about games where morality is present but doesn't matter that much, say Bioshock?

[Sam Fisher]

o god yes, imo bioshock was poorly implemented with the whole moral thing

[Game0N]

i prefer the subtlety of bioshock when it comes to morality, it's controlled but you still feel like you've made the decisions yourself.

[Panthers]

Not needed, but if the dev is trying to create a world where your actions have consequences, then by all means have it.

I am very interested to see how it works in an MMO with SWTOR

[upturned2]

Stupid article is full of narrow-minded thinking.

[CanadianTurtle]

I agree with upturned2.

Of course morality isn't needed. duh!

It just needs to be a fun game.

[blackhammer]

I desire games that are fun and aesthetically pleasing, not ones that focus on morals.

Luckily, Mass Effect and Fallout 3 managed to satisfy everything.

[antauwnehart]

No developers will never grasp how to do real morality with emotional consequences that truely show impact for your actions and for games that have tried have really done piss poor jobs aswell!
examples
mass effect1,2
heavy rain
fable 1,2,3
infamous 1

[CobraKai]

The problem with morality in most games is that it's black and white. There is no gray area that really makes you think about the actions you may or may not take.

[AfricanWoolf]

Morality systems are fun but they need to be really done properly, even more so than other features.

If a game shoehorns in a couple of features that aren't fully fleshed out it never irritates me, unless its the morality system.

In this case, do it properly (Fallout 3, Bioshock, Dragon Age, Mass Effect), or don't do it at all.