18/03/16-week3Blog

Game:The Banner Saga
Blog: 3
Q3: How does morality influence the choices you make in the game?

Morality is an interesting part of games. As a person who games on a daily basis I have come across choices that bring my morality into play. Why I find morality interesting in games is because I know where I stand on the spectrum of moral choices and what I would choose in reality, so when I play games I often find myself actively doing the opposite of what I would actually do. In The Bana Saga I feel that the 2d environments and simple gameplay are not immersive enough for me, so I constantly feel detached from the game and thus am certain to do unrealistic decisions. An example from the game is during a journey from one city to another and a drunkard jeopardized the caravan and so as the leader I was given a few choices; beat the man, Ban him from alcohol, separate him from everyone else or banish him. I know morally banning him from alcohol is the right thing to do because he stays safe and so does the caravan but I banish him knowing that he will surely die in the frozen tundras. Perhaps if the game was 3d or on an oculus I may feel enough for he characters that I make decisions I would make in real life but that's not The Bane Saga. A passage (from 'Ethical dilemmas and dominant moral strategies in games' by Brandon Perdue) I really felt fit with the example above was "The idea of a moral choice often runs directly counter to the tendency of many players to make the optimal moves in the game." Basically the situation with the drunkard was I could take the strategic path and toss him meaning he could no longer cause future problems for the camp which may or may not have been very bad, or only slightly punishing him keeping my conscience clean but having that decision later on being bad for everyone else. Basically strategic decisions conflict with moral decisions and it's up to the player if they want the game to be easier or harder depending on what choice they make.
So I think morality can influence the players decisions but if the game is not immersive enough the player will often be detached enough to influence his own decision making even if it goes against his/her own moral standards.