What kinds of choices do you make when playing video games

I tend to be good, but only because the evil choices are lame. Evil Is Petty is apparently all types of evil, as you aren't allowed to become a Complete Monster or anything more sinister than Jerkass.

"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val

If there is extra game for picking one choice (I.e. a bonus boss for being perfectly good) then I will choose that option. Otherwise I am nice if I like the characters or I do what I feel my character would do.

More often than not, I go for the good option. To compensate for not being the prick I'd like to be, I'm usually ruthless on those the game sees as evil.

edited 18th Jul '11 12:04:35 AM by KitsuneInferno

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

I always Save Scum until I get the choice that has the highest positive karma with as few penalties as possible (meaning I reload when I get a major sacrifice). I never make a negative karma choice without reloading outside of exploration purposes.

edited 18th Jul '11 2:21:02 AM by Recon5

The good ones. Playing "evil" is fun for a short while, but gets boring quickly.

People aren't as awful as the internet makes them out to be.

Generally I'll make good choices, but I refrain from making goody-good choices. I'll never break an oath and I'll spare someone unless they're some horrible serial killer or something, but I also won't think twice about casing a house or two or jacking a street thug for his money if the opportunity presents itself.

When they tend towards freedom and such (especially in the ending of Deus Ex), I prefer to have it be up to freedom of information and freewill instead of some great controlling power and secrecy, so I suppose in general in video games, I'm chaotic good?

Je Suis "Aware"

I actually tend to pick whatever choice I think the character(s) in question would pick if it were up to them.

If that doesn't lead me in any direction, then I pick however I think I would most likely react in that situation.

Extra 1: Poochy Ain't Stupid

I generally strive to play the good guy. There's usually enough evil in the worlds in which those characters exist.

Switch FC code: SW-4420-1809-1805

I go middle of the road. Some good, some bad usually an example of [[Good is not Nice]] or a [[Heroic Sociopath]]. Sadly since most of these systems are set up to only reward playing as either Mother Terressa or Hitler it leaves the middle road boring and uniteresting. Then I play the biggest asshole run I can in retribution and make the NPC's suffer for their creator's myopic morality system.

edited 18th Jul '11 6:57:12 AM by Tyyrlym

"Tyyr's a necessary evil. " Spirit

Oh yeah, I also usually go with routes with most chars alive, since char interaction is my fav part in games.

I will say that the most interesting games are the ones where the choices available are either:

1. Not clear good or evil ( Deus Ex, Alpha Protocol )

2. Possessed of legitimate moral debate ( Mass Effect )

Basically, if a game has you stop in the middle of a conversation to have a moral discussion with yourself and any onlookers about exactly what choice to make, the designers did something right.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

For the most part, I try for Neutral Good.

Against all tyrants.

Playing inFAMOUS, I did a good runthrough the first time, and an evil one the second time. Same with Bio Shock and the first two Fallout games.

Generally, if it's something open-ended, I'll aim for Neutral Good or Lawful Good*

. If it's a binary karma system, I usually play as good first, then evil, to see what the differences are. In that respect, inFAMOUS was rather well done.

Then there's games like Thief3, where you don't have Karma so much as Reputation, and it's possible to be friendly with two bitterly-opposed factions at the same time, which is pretty ridiculous. Nothing like walking around a firefight (or even more fun, run from the guards through the middle of a Hammer/Pagan fight, then hide as it turns into a three-way brawl).

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

Even in games here there isn't a true moralIty system, I sometimes pretend there is. Like in Prototype, where I'll save people from monsters and let them live. Until I get bored and start running through crowds with my shield to send people flying...

edited 18th Jul '11 8:50:53 AM by foodbattle

You guys like Let's Plays? You guys like shameless plugs? Well, come on down!

Good first, then evil.

"badass" doesn't anything in after used end fail be fine.

Generally I try to be a good guy. Of course, if I get a chance to mouth off to people that annoy me, I'll take it. Hey, nobody said that good guys have to be nice!

I think the only time, I finished a game as "evil" character (by choice), was Knights Of The Old Republic (although I finished it before with a good character). And even then I made some "good" choices, before I finalized my alignment. While it was kinda fun, it wasn't too interesting. However, forcing Zaalbar to kill Mission was very (and strangely) pleasing, even though I like her. Maybe it's because many (but not all) such choices in many games (KOTOR included) tend to be rather petty than outright evil, but making a wookie kill his best friend (who is just a teenager), both of which are party members was something, where I really thought that it was really evil. Maybe it was also because I cared more about these characters than any random NPC.

People aren't as awful as the internet makes them out to be.

I always go for good. I can't do evil. Even in computer games, I can't seem to make myself choose the evil option.

Violent and messy? Yes. Properly evil? No.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'

Good. Being evil (or merely self-centered) is too easy.

Sometimes I have to hem and haw if it's ambiguous. Fallout has some particularly open-ended decisions that I have to think long and hard about, and I find it refreshing that a "mere videogame" can make me stop and think about moral issues.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

@Fluid: Haven't played that, but from what I've heard the 8 virtues are less separate alignments and more parts of a single moral code.

Umbran Climax◊

Good, then evil. I prefer being good.

Seeing all these piss ant tropers trying to talk tough makes me laugh. If Matrix were here, he'd laugh too.

Almost always evil, with only a handful of exceptions (I cant kill Little Sisters in Bioshock.) Normally I choose options that result in more power, and intimidating/killing anyone who gets in my way. I find it extremely hard to play good. Mainly because evil is more fun and way easier. And gets you the best powers. And doesnt make me feel like a tool, etc, I like evil :p

Can't think of anything witty, so have this instead...

Jotun:

That's true. It's fun how going for one virtue sometimes results in decreasing another virtue's meter, though.

Maybe we're looking at this in too binary of a manner—who here has played Shin Megami Tensei, Geneforge, or something else where the moral conflict is other than good or evil? (Granted, I quit playing the latter series because I was sick of having to kill characters I liked regardless of which side I chose . . .)

edited 19th Jul '11 11:35:57 PM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

I haven't played any games with only a Law vs. Chaos spectrum but I'd have to say I'd go for Law every single time, even over Taking a Third Option.