Late!

I must apologize on the late update, I know how important this is to all of you. Fear not, for I am mere hours late and not days.

Anyway...
Another week, another clusterfuck of work and school. Who would have thought one class could produce as much work as 3? Well I did get in some more Mass Effect play time and I near the end. I plan to jump right into Mass Effect 2 right as I finish to keep the story going.

This week I'd like to talk about moral choices. Morality has become a more common theme in gaming recently. Though the first game I can think of that sported some sort of risk/reward system would be Ultima IV. While it may not have been THE first, it was the first for the Ultima series. Activities that had been encouraged in the past(stealing from homes, etc.) were frowned upon or punished. Sure it was simple, but it added such depth to gameplay, and yet it was an idea most developers ignored until recently.

Bioware started a good/evil trend in Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR); the mechanic has made an appearance of some form in all their games since. I'm going to talk about Mass Effect since it's the game I've been playing lately.

In ME most of the choices available in the game fall in one of three categories: Paragon, Renegade and neutral. (I'm not quite sure why a neutral option is even available, there's no reward for following that choice style and most of the neutral conversation options put you in the worst position.)

Being a paragon or renegade gives you specialized dialog options based on that status's bonus skill(charm for paragon and intimidate for renegade.) Paragons tend to be the goody two shoes of the universe, they believe any wrong can be righted. While renegades do what they have to to get the job done. It's a slight twist on the typical good/evil, the paragon options are almost universally good, but not all the renegade options are evil. A good amount are rude and insensitive or close minded, but some remind me of hard decisions that have to be made for the greater good.

What do moral choices bring to gaming?
They provide more immersion in a good story. I realize 'immersion' is one of those gaming buzzword, but when I can change how a story develops (even when it's a small change or simply cosmetic) I grow more attached to my characters. Also choices can lead to more exciting stories. Most heroes I grew up with had to make hard choices; who to save, whether to kill the bad guy, etc. And these choices are a great deal of what make heroes heroic. Being able to make those same choices, whether they are right or wrong, gives me some sense of being that hero or villain. It's a feeling that can't be recreated in prose or video.

Maybe that's why I can't help but be the sickly sweet good guy in all these games...