Giving gamers too much freedom to kill pixels

[pakopako]

I don't know of a time when games were more educational or had you consider morals more. It goes way back. It is sometimes a little irritating to hear people ramble on about pretend violence depending on the situation, but it is only a game. It can't brainwash people. Unless it's Polybius...

Tetris.

[jfrost]

Bioshock, if you kill too many little sisters for the energy that is required to improve your character there are consequences, i.e. you get the bad ending.

Yet you get a ton of ADAM to do just that.

[MrPopo]

Bioshock, if you kill too many little sisters for the energy that is required to improve your character there are consequences, i.e. you get the bad ending.

Yet you get a ton of ADAM to do just that.

I'm not sure I'd call it the bad ending. The evil ending, maybe. Bad ending usually implies that you fucked up, like killing Richter instead of Shaft in SotN.

[isiolia]

Deus Ex will reprimand you for violence, at least to a point. IE, early in the game, you'll be supplied with less ammo if you killed a lot of folks. Can change some of the plot points in the long run. In a way, it's an RPG that actually requires that you play the role beyond cutscene choices.

IMO, it almost comes down to an open world versus on rails experience. If you give someone a big map with multiple ways to accomplish the objective(s), then you leave more room for non-violent solutions. If the player is giving a gun and a hallway of dudes shooting at them...well...

That said, part of the issue is going to be the time/cost limitations of allowing for alternative options. For example, say an ideal RPG would let you completely write your own story and adapt. Maybe you want to kill off the big bad who razed your village by rising to power in the mercantile guild and shutting off his supplies, rather than by recruiting a few friends and plowing through his army one encounter at time. Accounting for all those choices means years/decades/etc more man-hours invested, for content that not all players will see.
At this point in time, it's a better financial investment to assume that your answer will be to grab a sword, or gun, or whatever and build the game around that. If you wanted to negotiate, you could have bought Civilization (or whatever).

[fvgazi]

The good olde days of ed-jumacationialism and moralities.







... still pissed I was given that instead of Super Mario Kart.

[insanecow0]

Bioshock, if you kill too many little sisters for the energy that is required to improve your character there are consequences, i.e. you get the bad ending.

Yet you get a ton of ADAM to do just that.

I'm not sure I'd call it the bad ending. The evil ending, maybe. Bad ending usually implies that you fucked up, like killing Richter instead of Shaft in SotN.

I couldn't say since I haven't gotten the evil ending. Can you tell me what happens in the bad ending please?

[MrPopo]

Yet you get a ton of ADAM to do just that.

I'm not sure I'd call it the bad ending. The evil ending, maybe. Bad ending usually implies that you fucked up, like killing Richter instead of Shaft in SotN.

I couldn't say since I haven't gotten the evil ending. Can you tell me what happens in the bad ending please?

You bring the Little Sisters to the world above and take it over.