I'm such a Boy Scout...

[Inkidu]

Moral choices in video games are becoming increasingly prevalent. However, I've never been able to really go evil. Sure I can play an evil campaign (after beating the good one) or something but when the options like this pop up:

"Save old grandmother"
"Kill old grandmother take her purse"

I chose save every time.

Now as game writers (Bioware really) become more savvy. With choices that pertain to being a hard-ass but genuinely good guy. I find more room to explore, but I typically cannot do evil.

So when people say they don't take there moral backgrounds into games. It's not always true.

(Example: Never played dark sided Jedi once in KotoR II)

Edit: So my question is. How does morality effect your in-game decisions?

[Ryven]

My in game decisions are often directed by what I cannot do in real life...or rather what I cannot do without self-preservation coming into effect.  I have no problems "Killing old grandmother and taking her purse" because there are no 'real' consequences.  I love dark or evil characters.  I've had a preference for them as long as I can remember.  I played Undead in WoW, and I play Destruction in WAR.  When the new Star Wars MMO comes out, I'm totally planning to be a Sith.

Maybe it's because I prefer an escape from my usual 'lawful and good' self in real life, but I love those characters, nonetheless.

[Serephino]

My boyfriend enjoys being evil, but that's his personality.  Me, I can't be evil either.  The worst I've done was killed an old woman in Fable because she put her grandson in danger for money.  I know it's role playing, but I still can't go against my own morals. 

[Ryven]

Come to think of it.  My boyfriend calls me evil all the time...maybe I am.

[Amberghylles]

I'm in the "I do bad things in video games because I wouldn't do them in real life" camp.  I once laid into the non-hostile townsfolk in an RPG with the cry of "I claim your souls in the name of Eeps!" because my party was that close to leveling up...

And yeah, I do talk to my video games.

[Beguile's Mistress]

I play online games infrequently but usualy take the high road.  Once in a while though, I go completely the other way and do all the bad things.  Then I hurry up and sign out before I get punished. 

[Braioch]

I call it more along the lines of doing what I'd do if I had that kind of power xD which is generally the low road.

Though it depends on the game, KOTOR 1&2, I was Sith, even though I disagreed with a lot.

The one game who's "morality" I really got into was Jade Empire for the X-box. I LOVED the Closed Fist option, just because it held a lot of my own personal beliefs to it. So in that sense it was being able to act out my own philosophies on a grander scale.

Plus being evil in games is just plain fun lol

[Avi]

I play games like I go through real life.  By and large, I try to do the right thing, try to calm people down and help defend those who can't fight for themselves.  In Mass Effect, for example, in the whole situation with the Thorian and the colonists, I mostly took the high road, trying to protect them.  The one time I went bad ass was when the company rep was threatening to liquidate everybody.  I gave him one chance to stand down, then shot him.   He pissed me off. 

I like to play the "angry crusader", for lack of a better term.  I'll fight for the "good guys", but don't get me angry, otherwise I might go right around you and your damn "rules".

[consortium11]

The problem with many games is that they don't have the complexity to actually deal with morality in a decent way. Far too often the choices were between boyscout and evil psychopath... or between say the nice thing and say the harsh thing. Most games deal with it in an entirely objective way... there's rarely a way for a character to "act" like a good guy while being an absolute bastard behind their backs.

When I decide to actually "roleplay" a game most of my characters end up (attempting to) be(ing) manipulative "evil" characters. Everything they do is for their own benefit and they rarely want to really get their hands dirty. That corresponds to being nice in the heavyhanded dialogue while most actions are fairly "evil"... generally leading to neutral morality as the actions balance out as opposed to "scumbag" which would be a more appropriate answer.

I'd not say that games are getting better at dealing with morality. Fallout 2 had a great system, Baldur's Gate wasn't bad, Planescape Torment worked fairly well and I'm sure there's others I'm missing but even good Roleplaying Games today suffer. I rag on about Fallout 3 a bunch, but the morality system in it was truly screwed and nonsensical. Mass Effect was a good/great game, but the morality system often seemed like an afterthought and essentially boiled down to which of the three dialogue choices you wanted and the odd plot development point. I'm sure there's better ones out there (and I haven't played Origins), but it seems to me most of the big seller rpgs rarely go in depth with morality.

[Nevermore of blood ravens]

I generaly play pretty neutral doint what ever suits my whimsy. Or in fable I would pay to be really good so I could kill people and still have people like me.

[PaleEnchantress]

I'm a very nice person IRL but I just can't enjoy playing a good guy.

''Did a dragon eat your family?   Well the poor thing must have been famished if it was willing to chow down on your leathery old wife. Think about your place in the food chain before you decide to be born peasants."

There are so many fun way to do evil. The cold and sophisticated tyrant. The psycho that thinks he is helping people. I could go on forever. 

[Remiel]

It depends on the game, I suppose.  Usually, I'll play the game twice--taking the good path the first time through, the evil path the second.

In KOTOR the evil path was definitely much more fun.  It gave me a quiet thrill to kill off my allies, who had been helping me throughout the entire game, and enemies alike, and then turn Bastila (?) to the dark side.

In Bioshock, however, I definitely felt like scum when playing an evil character, especially when I got to Tenenbaum's sanctuary, and overheard the little girls talking about me.  "Who's that?" "That's the man who hurts us. Stay away from him!"          Choosing to rescue the Little Sisters instead of harvesting them definitely screwed you out of ADAM, but the ending was so much more satisfying:

Bioshock Good Ending [HQ]

[Samael]

Trying to decide if I play good characters in games with a choice because I am a goody two shoes, or because otherwise I would miss out on a ton of rewards and interesting quests. Unfortunately many of the games screw you out of extra XP, money, items, rewards if you play it through as evil, which certainly influences me when I play a game the first time. Since I am not sure I'll play it soon again, I want to see -everything- of it in the first play through. With KotoR I was ok with doing a second, evil play through, but even then I couldn't get myself to do the "thuggish" stuff. Just did run too contrary to me. Still chuckle about making slavers jump off the station on Nar shaddaa, then taking over their operations though.

On the other hand I enjoy playing bastards in chat/IRC/Forums rpgs. Go figure.

[Zylvyn]

When I'm given a moral choice in the game, I try to do what I feel the character would have done.  The only exception to this is when things become muddled.

Breath of Fire 4.  The main character is the ever-present Ryu... but sometimes in the game, you take control of Fou-Lu.  Fou-Lu is an ancient emperor that was brought back to the world by people seeking to eliminate him.  The empire that he built has been turned against him for the simple fact that people don't want to give it back if he DID finally awaken naturally.  They hunt him incessantly, and in his flight, he finds love in the form of a commoner girl.  She is later captured after nursing him back to health ... while providing a distraction for his escape.  She is taken and loaded into a machine that literally extracts anguish and suffering from her to the point of death ... and then firing a giant blast of miasma right at Fou-Lu.  The small bell that she wore is the only part of her that remained... and while he was almost near death himself, he found it...

Fou-Lu is the last boss of the game.  He is trying to destroy the empire, citing it's evil actions as reason for it to perish in flames.  You fight him, and then you are given one of two options.  The 'good' ending is that Ryu kills him.  The 'bad' ending is that Ryu joins with him.  Despite it being the dark side choice... I can't help but feel that it is the RIGHT choice.

[Inkidu]

I personally think as far moral choices go the Mass Effect series had got it nailed.

Especially with two. It offers no penalty other than the fact you'll never get enough persuasion unless you focus on moral choices, that is your scores remain constant.

Offer him medi-gel one second and the second he goes to call his merc buddies blow him away casually. Woot.