Morality in Video Games Part 2

I just found this neat little flash game in the latest PC Gamer that you should all play right now. Here's a link.

I'm going to put some long-winded thoughts on this after the jump. I really recommend you play it first, though. Don't even look at the screenshots or the plot description- just go in blind.




I think this is the first time I've ever actually felt sympathy for the guards in a video game.

Part of it is the fact that they yell in pain and confusion when you kill them, part of it is the fact that you're given no information about the motivations of either your character or your enemies- are you the hero infiltrating a totalitarian strong hold? Or are you a cold-blooded murderer manipulating and killing innocent people?- but mainly it's the ingenious ability to read the mind of your victims. When I saw that the person I was about to kill had attempted suicide or was married with three kids and afraid of dying, I literally sat there with my finger on the down key trying to decide what to do. And even though this game is damn hard and sparing the guards makes it harder, I found myself trying not to kill them.

Screw karma meters and contrived dilemmas- this is how you do moral choices in games. Weave it seamlessly into the gameplay mechanics so the players has to think on their feet intuitively, without any of the "WARNING: A DIFFICULT MORAL DECISION IS ABOUT TO APPEAR WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO" nonsense the likes of inFamous and Fable go for.

Seriously, why can big developers not see this? Is it really that hard to think of a way of presenting players with choices that aren't spelled out in flashing neon letters?