The Steely-Eyed Sniper - Morality in gaming
I’ve just seen a preview ad for the new game Far Cry 2, coming out in October, which has me simultaneously excited and slightly apprehensive. For a while, we’ve been approaching a tipping point where the idea of games with genuine, tough-to-make moral choices becomes an accepted reality rather than a ‘games are art’ pipe dream. Bioshock is the most obvious example, and the original Fallout games gave you incredible moral freedom a decade ago. While Bioshock is slightly black and white in its kill/save the ickle girls choice, it has something in common with the Fallout games - there’s little real emotional consequence of going down either route. In both cases, being ‘evil’ gets you advantages (more guns and so on) and disadvantages (characters treat you differently). But Far Cry 2 might be something a little different - a genuine moral grey area. Check out this quote from Clint Hocking, producer of the game:
“What happens is dependent on how each player approaches it, but somewhere in the second act you become so notorious and feared that the underground [of medics and priests] says that you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, and stops giving you medicine,” says Hocking. The result is a twist on, or reversal of, Far Cry Instincts’ feral abilities. “As medicine is cut off you become sickly and grotesque, but still more notorious,” Hocking continues. “You transform from being this healthy guy that might occasionally shoot someone in the knee to somebody that’s literally dependent on being cruel and vicious, twisted and deformed and vomiting all the time. You invert your relationship with your own power – from being powerful because you’re healthy to powerful because you’re crueler than the enemy.”
Powerful and compelling stuff, especially in the completely open, non-linear world promised by Ubisoft. It really comes sharply into focus though, when you see a gameplay video that showcases an actual (and brutal) tactic of war as a gameplay mechanic - namely, shooting to wound, in order to draw out your enemy’s fellow soldiers. Grim stuff:
There’s a whole run of open-world FPS/RPG hybrids coming down the pipeline, from this to Fallout 3 and STALKER: Clear Sky. It seems the one thing they have in common right now is the chance to be a complete bastard, or try and survive in brutal fictional worlds through wit and charm and last-resort self defence. How do you play open-world games?
