Morality and Karma Systems | Moving Pixels | PopMatters

Morality and Karma Systems – Not only does he cite me, which is nice, he also provides a good argument for a GTA 4 style choice mechanic. There’s some really good stuff here that provides good fodder for thought about the nature of games and their purpose as art.

After you read it, here’s a response I tried to post as a comment but didn’t go through:

You’re right. I haven’t played GTA, but it really does sound like they have the right idea.

Though I still wonder if there’s really a need for the game to express “guiding morals.” Not to say it’s a completely invalid idea, but I always found the most interesting ethical dilemmas in art to be the ones that go unanswered within the work itself. In other words, the player themselves would be left to struggle with the question of right or wrong, rather than be reassured or condemned by the game.

To me, this is just a principle of good art. It seems to me that the best literature, film, etc. is less of the preachy sort and more ambiguous ethically. It refuses to do the dirty work for the audience.

I realize games are a completely different medium, but I also thing they’re uniquely situated to pull off some incredibly haunting moments that will cement their status as true, classic art… not to beat that dead horse, but there it is.