Are there any games that have made you feel guilty?

[J T]

I've always been interested in how games get people to feel different emotions. Currently I'm interested in games that get you to feel a sense of guilt for your virtual actions.

There has been a push in recent years, largely coming from games by BioWare and Bethesda, to get players to make moral choices in the game, and then deal with the moral consequences of those choices. I think this is hard to do in a serious way in a game because games have trained us for years to not feel guilt or regret for our virtual moral transgessions. Actually, we are often encouraged to take part in antisocial behavior in videogames and we get bonus points for it. We know that it's just a game. It's fictional. Therefore any actions we take can't really hurt anybody, so there's no reason to try to behave morally in the game world unless you are motivated to shape your character as a moral individual.

Nevertheless, some games reach out beyond their fantasy realm and still twist a knot in your real world conscience. Recently I have been playing Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer and I feel bad for even playing it. The main character is a horrible person, and since I (the player) am guiding his actions, perhaps I am horrible too. If you've never heard of this game (you probably haven't) you play the role of a man named Verge who lures people into his home and tortures them to the verge of death while videotaping it. This shocking content isn't quite what hits my guilt button though. I kill and mame people in video games all the time and don't think twice about it. What really gets under my skin about this game is how it puts you into the mind of this killer. It's like a psychological space that I feel uncomfortable even trying on for pretend. What's particularly creepy is to work through dialogue choices that are designed to deceive, create a false sense of security, and lure victims into my house. Every time my character says "come home with me" I get this chill down my neck and I'm not sure if I want to go on playing.

This is just one example of guilt created by gaming, and a rather extreme one. I'm mostly interested in this topic because I think a game needs to be able to create guilt in the player if it is going to really handle moral issues in a serious manner. So, what are some examples of gaming situations that made you feel guilty about your virtual actions and why do you think you felt guilty for carrying out something fictional?

[Curlypaul]

While playing Saints Row 2 I feel guilty about shooting the female NPC's. I think its a combination of my belief that voilence towards women is wrong, and there are only a few examples of games where the targets of the players voilence are females.

Beautiful Escape does sound like a really creepy game though

[CFFJR]

Well, I can't say I've played anything so extreme as your example, (though I'm curious about that game now) but I will say that I do feel emotion when I play games. My emotions get really mixed up in the story, particularly in any game that allows choices, and when I play the rpgs you used as examples I definitely feel guilty as hell if I do bad things.

I frequently hear people who play Bioware games, for example, and they make a it point to play the game twice, once being completely good, and once being completely evil.

I have an extremely hard time doing this, and most times if I try, I go back on it almost immediately. Unless I know what's coming in the game and do something cruel intentionally (usually a gameplay reason, or just not liking the character involved, which is a different kind of disturbing if I think about it) I find I simply can't force myself to do nasty things in a game. If I do, I often feel guilty enough about it that I'll reload the game and do something differently.

The funny part is this can even be for something as simple as character interaction. Going back to Bioware, if the result of a conversation leads to a character getting hurt, I might reload just to avoid having that conversation at all.

I don't want to give the impression that this is something that sticks with me. It doesn't. But while I'm playing that game, its a factor.

I can't give a concrete reason for this, but if I had to guess I'd say its because I get really involved in the fiction.

I'm sure people will call me stupid for behaving this way, and that's fine, but I'm answering the question honestly.

[Anapan]

I do the campaigns right the first time unless the game makes a switch mid-game to double-switch my role (always welcomed and enjoyed). After the game is over I do it again bass ackwards to get the rewards the game makes for doing it the wrong way. If the game allows it to be done multiple ways I enjoy the dark-side doubly by having first found the limitations of the game doing it "right". Usually it's pretty obvious, but I have to say the games that make the roles ambiguous make for the best experience and make me want to play them through multiple times. I enjoy playing GTA and Driv3r in citizen mode for the added challenge of not breaking the rules unless necessary to continue the plot. I have stopped playing games that force a shoehorn into bad-guy mode simply to perpetuate the carnage. It is not worth my time to play a "bad person" when there is no concessions to play it different. That's not my thing and I will stop playing if there is no other way. I really enjoy the pacifist challenge mode if it's available and will take it even it it's tongue-in-cheek.

[equalsign]

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. I forced a healer (the last unit on the course) onto a healing bush and leveled all of my weak characters and weapon levels on him. He had no weapon, so he could only do slight damage to my weakest characters with a counter (which I then Sacrificed then healed for additional EXP) and got healed by his rod and the bush every turn. I spent hundreds of turns grinding. I felt so bad for him in the end. I just wanted to let him go, but I had to kill him to win the level so I did .

[BRIK]

In Heavy Rain at one point you are given the choice whether to shoot a drug dealer dead who is un-armed. The thing is just before this scene he was chasing you around his house shooting a shotgun at you. You disarm him (can't remember how exactly) and then you're given the choice to execute him or not, at this point he is pleading for his life and claiming he has kids etc.
Non the less I shot him and then instantly felt really bad, this feeling got even worse when the camera panned over to a picture of the drug dealer and his kids. Even though he was a drug dealer and was just shooting at me I still felt dreadful.
Damn game developers making me feel bad.

[d123456]

Playing Blazblue made me feel guilty of not buying Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus.
Sold Blaz and now I have ggxxacplus.

[yomomma1]

Can't say a video game made me feel guilty. I am 95% good on games like mass effect, with the other 5% being neutral. I skip bad routes in visual novels, and If I need to beat all the routes for true end, I just download the save.

[noiseredux]

Shadow Of The Colossus. That huge flying worm creature. I felt awful.

[J T]

Shadow Of The Colossus. That huge flying worm creature. I felt awful.

Oh, definitely. Every Colossus that fell came with a twinge of regret. I've never exactly figured out why that is though. Is it their majestic size and aged bodies? Is it the fact that you are killing some of the only life along this lonely landscape? Is it because you are killing them only out of your own self interest? Shadow of the Colossus is really brilliant in this way. I'm not sure what Ueda did that mae me feel such empathy and respect for the colussus creatures, but I did, and I was always a little bit disappointed in my character for slaying them, while simultaneously being impressed that such a small man could topple such ancient giants.