Morality when designing?
by Kelvin MacKenzie · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 09/10/2005 (6:12 am) · 31 replies
I know its comes up before with issues such as sex. This exact issue may have come up also, and I just missed it. If so.. sorry ;)
Just how far for morality be involved when designing. Say you wanted to make a FP game of "Friday the 13th" but the player takes the role of Jason. Even step a little more across the line. A game inwhich your trying to commit the perfect murder; eluding being caught by forensics and such.
No I have no secret desires to grab a machette and go on a killing spree. Just curious what others think on the subject (though I do think the 2nd example might have merit in a twist on a puzzle type game.)
Just how far for morality be involved when designing. Say you wanted to make a FP game of "Friday the 13th" but the player takes the role of Jason. Even step a little more across the line. A game inwhich your trying to commit the perfect murder; eluding being caught by forensics and such.
No I have no secret desires to grab a machette and go on a killing spree. Just curious what others think on the subject (though I do think the 2nd example might have merit in a twist on a puzzle type game.)
About the author
#22
10/04/2005 (11:54 am)
Sadly there are not THAT much games where being evil is good (like instead of having to kill demons, zombies, orcs, Nazis and other "bad" creatures you actually ARE one of them and get to kill humans (or say a game where creatures that are generally evil in most games, hire are not- "the zombie is reaching toward you and moaning not to eat you- it just wants to give you a big hug" :))
#23
Hmm... I could develop that idea...
Glez
10/04/2005 (1:25 pm)
That's kind of a cool idea - a mix of the good/evil genre... You're a guy (along the lines of Ace Ventura for animals) who tries to protect the undead/monsters/etc from unfair persecution. Maybe you're the only one who can communicate with them and everyone else thinks they're evil, when in fact they're not. But perhaps their typical way of life includes a few things that humans would consider aggressive, insulting, or otherwise really bad behaviour (Zombies who don't kill people, but love to take up a feast on corpses in a morgue or cemetary, for instance), which helps the whole misunderstanding to escalate between the two factions.Hmm... I could develop that idea...
Glez
#24
10/04/2005 (4:56 pm)
One could make an interactive adventure where you are a haruspex who reads the entrails of children you have to sacrifice in order to stop a murder plot against your emperor god.
#25
Throw in random heightened-four-senses encounters with prostitutes, and avoid the raging homosexuals all at the same time.
And allow for arena battles to gain valuable but thematically unnecessary items that can aid you in your quest. May also cause various citizens of the empire to treat you differently and give/sell you items to help you out. Respect for the battle worn entertainers of Rome, you know.
How's that?
Glez
10/04/2005 (8:32 pm)
Well, ok... But make it a blind haruspex with the other senses heightened who, during an earlier kidnapping was branded on the forehead with a tattoo of the central villain's seal, such that while you are trying to protect your emperor god, all of his allies are trying to stop you, believing you to be the villain of the murder plot. Make it so you are fighting villains to the death, fleeing your confused allies, and protecting an empire that believes you to be its mortal enemy. Throw in random heightened-four-senses encounters with prostitutes, and avoid the raging homosexuals all at the same time.
And allow for arena battles to gain valuable but thematically unnecessary items that can aid you in your quest. May also cause various citizens of the empire to treat you differently and give/sell you items to help you out. Respect for the battle worn entertainers of Rome, you know.
How's that?
Glez
#26
10/06/2005 (1:03 pm)
You can do what ever you want, just slap an AO on the game and no one will care ^_^
#27
The blue block does it for me.
10/06/2005 (2:02 pm)
I want to make Tetris, put the AO rating on it and see if people buy it.The blue block does it for me.
#28
Glez
10/06/2005 (2:49 pm)
Yeah, don't get me started on that blue block... Now I remember where all those hours went as a child, hiding in the bathroom with a gameboy, seeing the blue block in black and white... Mmmmmmmm....Glez
#29
If your game's main protagonist is an old woman and the goal of the game is to gather carrots in order to cook the ultimate carrot cake, I'd be kind of disturbed if I could suddenly just grab a machete and kill campers. Even though I love horror and gore, it has to be relevant...as long as the design allows it, and the player is informed about it, I don't see a problem.
Of course, don't expect mothers to buy your games...unless they're the cool pseudo-goth mother who stays at home and loves horror flicks.
10/06/2005 (3:45 pm)
I really think if it fits the design, there shouldn't be a problem. If you put the player in the role of Jason Vorhees, he's kind of expected to go around camps killing topless teenagers and smashing occupied sleeping bags on trees. If your game's main protagonist is an old woman and the goal of the game is to gather carrots in order to cook the ultimate carrot cake, I'd be kind of disturbed if I could suddenly just grab a machete and kill campers. Even though I love horror and gore, it has to be relevant...as long as the design allows it, and the player is informed about it, I don't see a problem.
Of course, don't expect mothers to buy your games...unless they're the cool pseudo-goth mother who stays at home and loves horror flicks.
#31
I agree with what you're saying, but in a slightly different way. I don't really think it's a morality issue as much as a marketing issue. Morally speaking, I think a person should make whatever game he wants to make. If someone loves/hates it....so be it.
From the point of marketing, though, one does need to be sensitive to the people he is marketing to. However, I think that is a case where the game is adjusted in order to market to other people's moral views according to a business model and not according to one's own morals. Unless, of course, the developer's morals match his market's morals.
So it really comes down to making a game for a targeted market, or just making a game we want to make. If our morals match the market, that's great. If not, we need to weigh the pros and cons and decide which is more important....sticking to our own morals, or $$$.
If a person is making a game to make $$$, then it would be a good idea to make it fit the market it is intended for.
10/06/2005 (7:13 pm)
@Jason - "I think people have to be quite careful when designing games for the mass market. It's OK to be radical with design and push boundaries, but I believe there's still a moral line to be drawn."I agree with what you're saying, but in a slightly different way. I don't really think it's a morality issue as much as a marketing issue. Morally speaking, I think a person should make whatever game he wants to make. If someone loves/hates it....so be it.
From the point of marketing, though, one does need to be sensitive to the people he is marketing to. However, I think that is a case where the game is adjusted in order to market to other people's moral views according to a business model and not according to one's own morals. Unless, of course, the developer's morals match his market's morals.
So it really comes down to making a game for a targeted market, or just making a game we want to make. If our morals match the market, that's great. If not, we need to weigh the pros and cons and decide which is more important....sticking to our own morals, or $$$.
If a person is making a game to make $$$, then it would be a good idea to make it fit the market it is intended for.
Torque Owner Jason Swearingen
If you are an indie, with no additional product revenue streams you have to worry about then you can take a chance and upset the establishment with a "disturbing" game. If you are a big publisher like EA then probably you wont be funding a game that could result in a boycot of your next Madden 2006 title, along with every other game you publish.
anyway, ranting.. it's fun :)