Do you have morals/ethics when you play videogames?
 

We all know in our culture, Video games have a very distinct place in it. From the fun and friendly E-rated worlds of Mario and LEGO, to the action packed T-rated universes of starcarft and Uncharted, to the profound but sometimes completely epic M-rated worlds of Grand Theft Auto and Halo, they all have a place in this culture.

My question for you is when you decide to play the seemingly more popular and more culturally iconic T-M Rated games; do you have morals about what kind of T-M games you play? I believe I do.

Examples of games I play or am interested in playing when I finally get the chance.

Uncharted- an heart pumping, breath taking, you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me adventure series with all the gunfights and puzzles that would make Indiana Jones impressed.

Infamous- An action packed super hero/villain that has you thinking about karma as you play.

Starcraft- A sci-fi Universe that has not only three races to play form to perform killer strategies, but also a universe that is, in my own opinion, even more intriguing.

Halo- All I can say is that it is an Honor to play a series that is a jewel in the ever growing crown of iconic Games where you go into a war for humanity’s survival and into the boots of the greatest super-solider in all of science fiction. John-117 forever!

Tom Clancy- Though it may not be as popular as the dominating CoD series, every Tom Clancy product, even his original books, show stories of true patriotism in an ever changing world and evolving battlefield.

Medal of Honor- Though it’s being crushed by the latter franchise, the series has something that Call of duty lacks; a heart. In WW2, the series has that heroic feeling that you are on the great crusade for your family and the people of the world. And even now, going into the Teir-1 operatives, it’s about the human element and the sacrifice these people make. That is what a video game should be.

Deus ex- All I can say is that it is the epitome of morality and choice any video game can provide combined with mind expanding philosophies that makes the players think about society.

And I haven’t played Mass effect yet but I believe I will start the series when I get my PS3.

Other games I’ve heard are said to be very intriguing and have the greatest multiplayer features of all time like Gears of War 3 and BioShock. But the thing is, I don’t have interest in those types of things.
I understand that Call of duty has much better game play and multiplayer than Medal of Honor but I’m just not interested because it just lacks that part of fighting that makes it feel like I’m really on the battlefield fighting for the man standing next to you and for people around the world.

Other games like BioShock and Gears of War just take the gore and atmosphere to much the dark side for my taste.

Whenever I play a shooter game, I feel that I have morals in it while I play so I try not to kill friendlies by accident like in Deus ex and even though the UNSC troopers in Halo are a nuisance I do try to keep them alive if I can. I know it might be a little too moral because I’m doing this in video games but I believe that if I’m showing this in the games I play, it will save me from being consumed in a violent frenzy and I become more aggressive afterward.

What do you think? Do you have some morals in the games you play?

Not at all.

In "The Suffering: Ties That Bind", I shot a baby. I shot it twice and then burned the mother.

I only play DXHR out of those.

You could say most of my characters are a "saves/helps everyone, but idiots are only incidentally so" type.

So does that mean you would be like a RDA mercinary and kill anything that you are told to kill... kind of like what's going on in thrid world contries right now? Who finds satisfaction in doing what you did? That would just make me sick.

I'm not accusing you of anything, before anyone jumps on me. What I'm trying to say is that I veiw video games as an oppertunity for me to show that I have a choice of how I direct myself. Games like the ones I say I'm intrested in are exelent aventure and stories that add to their genras like Uncharted has become the treasure hunting icon of this generation and Infamous is a very popular comic book story. And Halo... well it created an entire universe in the universe of Sci-fi.

That's what I like most about those games. As for medal of honor and Tom Clancys, they have all the fighting and guns but they always have the human element to back them up.

And they give you the choice to act how you would not "normally" act without any consequences.

No. They're just games.

This goes a lot deeper than just morality for me.

"Raiden" is a persona that I invented mainly for my gaming exploits.

I'm generally good, but I'm a loner. I swear fealty to no one but myself; patriotism is for fools who like to be manipulated by those higher than them.

If I think that the actions of another are unjust or have harmed the rest of the players/NPCs/people, their days are numbered.

And if you decide to play dirty or harass me, run. Run, as fast as you can, because I will stand, triumphant, on your bloodied corpse before long.

Man I remember that game. It was one of the few that pushed the boundaries and really dragged me into the game with all it's twisted characters and enemies.

I've heard about Medal of Honor, and I wish that we could hear about it more..

Anyway..Morals and ethics..

It really depends on the game I play, I normally play character driven action/adventure games and I tend to evolve into the character as I play so how I act in games depend on the character and the game.
For example in the Thief games, Garrett is really against spilling blood so I tend to just knock people out with my trusty blackjack or just sneak past them while I steal a few candlesticks from their table.

Whereas in Assassin's Creed, I have no problem assassinating targets, provided they are legitimate ones.

However I have a rule: No killing civilians, I just won't go there..I also don't want to be the bad guy or the good guy, I just stay neutral.

I made it through Halo without driving over a single marine. That must count for something, right?

Thanks for the Avatar reference.

Dear Rainbowhawk,

It's a game, it's not real. Chill.


iron_johns

Yes I do, although some games force you to be a 'good' for example if you take a gravity hammer to a civilian in halo you instantly die :/ and you can only kill so many marines before they actually become able soldiers and kill you. Why couldn't they be so competent when it's the covenant we're fighting?

In an RTS, if I have old units I don't want taking up room and are stopping me from getting a better unit, I still won't send them to their deaths to free up the population. It just wouldn't feel right :P

The only time I don't have morals in games is when I'm playing as a non-human (like the werewolves in skyrim) Then I'll just go around pulling apart anybody XD

I have played none of those games mentioned, but I have played AD&D on and off since my senior year of high school (2nd edition, 3rd, 3.5, a little 4). I've also played video games directly based on AD&D, particularly Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2.

In all that time, I've never been able to play an evil character and have had a great deal of trouble playing even neutral characters. It's at the point where if I try to play a druid in one of the NWN games, they'll rapidly wind up as rangers because of alignment shifts caused as a result of decision-making.

I tend to just be myself when I play games and tend to not slip too far into a new "persona". For the same reason, I'd probably be a pretty lousy actor ;)

I play games "realistically." What I mean is that I play them as if I am there in the action and do what I would do in real lift. For example, in Left 4 Dead II, people just run and gun and get downed by zombies...but I don't. I stick to a wall and make sure no zombies can flank me. In games like COD or Battlefield, I don't go gunning for the most kills. I try to stay alive the longest, help my teammates, and kill only what I know I can hit.

In avatar the game, for example, I accomplish 100% of the map before moving on, as I would if I were really there because I'd want to explore the entire area.

WTF?

It's a game. I play games to NOT have to take things out on people AFK. If I didn't play GTA while I was going to school, I'd have got in so many more fights.

Sounds to me like you are. It's all well and good to say "I'm not doing foo" but it needs to be backed up by actually seeming that way. Sorry, but as far as I can see, you're the one who jumped to comparisons. As it is, no, it's not 'told to kill' in any case IIRC. I find it ironic coming from someone with a sig of a Spess Mehren standing in some clearly destroyed landscape which invites certain guesses about what happened. Do I make a judgement about you from that? No. Just for the record, even though I usually play as I mentioned before, I've still played worse characters too when the feeling takes me.

I play much the same way :)

A number of gamers a watched tossed grenades at a group of marines because they just felt like it. That bothers me some times.

In the Starcraft 2 Wings of liberty campaign I felt I was in charge of leading actual human beings on dangerous missions and wanted to get the misson done with minimum casualities. However I feel that when Heart of the Swarm will come out, I'll cast those aside because the Zerg are basicly canon folder and easily can be replaced. I may need to cast aside my ethics when I play but I will always have them when I play other games and in real life.

Thats why I say: "Suck it CoD. MoH has a value much more valuable than replay value."