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Interesting observation about morality in games
Was helping interview a candidate for a game design position today, and in the course of the conversation, he made a really interesting observation:
Videogames that have a morality system typically reward the player for picking one morality and sticking with it through the whole game. If you're always good, you get access to the best "good powers"; if you're always evil, you get access to the best "evil powers". This means that the player is (from a game-mechanics sense) discouraged from having any sort of character arc. If the player acts in a way that implies a character arc, current games can't even recognize that behavior, much less reward it.
Questions for future pondering:
Can videogame main characters have an arc?
If they could, would it be a Good Thing?
Videogames that have a morality system typically reward the player for picking one morality and sticking with it through the whole game. If you're always good, you get access to the best "good powers"; if you're always evil, you get access to the best "evil powers". This means that the player is (from a game-mechanics sense) discouraged from having any sort of character arc. If the player acts in a way that implies a character arc, current games can't even recognize that behavior, much less reward it.
Questions for future pondering:
Can videogame main characters have an arc?
If they could, would it be a Good Thing?