Last time, we looked over some of the games from the days of yore that dealt with issues of morality. This time, we’re going to hit the more recent past and deal with some titles that have come since the turn of the century.

Let us begin in a far-off time known as 2003. War was in the air, the Hubble started deep fielding the universe, and the first-ever (non-pen&paper) Star Wars RPG was released: Knights of the Old Republic.

Now, as any Jedi worth his salt can tell you, the moment you bring the Force into the equation, one must invariably face the issue of the Light Side versus the Dark Side. That said, the previous 15 years of Star Wars titles had managed pretty solidly to avoid ever doing that. Either you didn’t play a Force user, or you played someone locked into the side of “Good” with no questions asked.

Knights of the Old Republic by Bioware, on the other hand, did not shy away from the dual nature of the Force. In KoToR, you play a man with no memory, thrust into situations beyond your control or understanding. Fortunately, in addition to some friends, you have some kick-ass force powers. How you use those powers, however, determines much about who you ultimately turn out to be. Spend your time healing your friends, gracefully deflecting blaster bolts, and subduing foes without killing them, and you make your way down the path of the Light Side. Force choke your foes before dark-energy blasting their corpses, and you’ll find yourself on the fast track to the Dark Side. Similarly, helping those who needed help put you on the path of good, whereas laughing in their faces put you down the road to evil.

Purple does not denote Light or Dark, but strongly indicates Kick-ass

Depending on how far along the good-evil spectrum you were, even your physical appearance would change. Yellow eyes, Palpatine-esque skin problems – these were all sure signs of some serious Dark Side abuse. Your alignment also impacted your interaction with various NPCs, and ultimately determined which ending you would get to the game. Those of the Light persuasion would overcome the forces of darkness, put down the bad guys, and usher in an era of peace. Those more inclined to Dark Side activities would instead take over the bad guys and usher in an era of general unpleasantness for the galaxy.

KoToR 2, which came out a few years later, used essentially the same system. One addition in the sequel was that your alignment would actually effect your comrades in arms, and start pushing them down the path of Light or Dark. This didn’t have much of an effect on anything, but it made them more fun at parties.

Now, moving a few months forward into 2004, let’s take a look at a game that aimed to give players even more freedom in making a place for themselves in a world: Fable.

A boy, a sword, a beautiful land – perfect ingredients for any fairly tale. Of course, throw in boozing, carousing, and commodity trading, and you’ve got yourself a video game. Peter Molyneux’s 2004 title was designed to let the player live the full life of the fairy tale hero, making choices that would determine whether they were loved or feared by the people of the land.

There were many ways for the player to influence their character down the path of Good or Evil. Undertaking quests to protect villagers or assist guards were pretty much guaranteed to get you some positive notoriety. On the flip side, working for bandits and thieves was an excellent way to spread your name around in a whole different way. Act like an asshole to the villagers, and they would treat you like one. Act like a noble hero, and they’ll treat you the same.

Again, we have a game wherein your alignment directly affected your appearance: beauty and radiance for the good; scars and weird skin for the bad. The NPCs would react accordingly, lavishing those they loved with praise, and cowering in the face of those they feared.

The real giveaway here is the fire, just in case it wasn’t clear

Following Fable, the next few years were pretty barren in terms of choice in games. The next big entry on the morality scene came in 2007, with a little title called Bioshock.

The spiritual successor to the classic System Shock 2, Bioshock puts you in the role of an amazingly lucky dude. After your plane crashes somewhere out in the Atlantic ocean, you, as the sole survivor, are fortunate enough to be saved by the convenient existence of an undersea Utopia.

Well, former undersea Utopia – seems things in Rapture have gotten a little out of hand. Between the insane gene-splicers roaming the halls and the ongoing rebellion against the city’s founder, Rapture has certainly seen better days. Shortly after arriving, your character decides to jump into the action by (for some reason) injecting himself with a syringe full of glowing liquid, thus giving himself the power of Plasmids. Now, as fun as it is shooting bees from your hands, it turns out that Plasmids aren’t all as nice and innocent as they seem. In order to grow your power, you need to harvest ADAM. ADAM, it turns out, that is stored in little girls. Little, slug infested girls protected by Big Daddies.

When you first encounter one of the Little Sisters, you are informed that they are rich with ADAM, and you can get it from them in one of two ways: you can “harvest” them, giving yourself a huge boost in ADAM, or you can save them by sucking less ADAM out of their system, but leaving them alive. The player is left to decide for themselves which is more valuable to them: ADAM, or the lives of children.

Lego Bioshock: Confirmed!

All in all, simply killing one of the Little Sisters is all it takes for the game to classify you solidly in the Evil category, and the two endings to the game are decided on that fact alone: Those who save, love. Those who kill, hate. Easy.

Of course, the three titles discussed above are not the only ones from the past 9 years, and some more recent ones such as Fallout 3 have been discussed elsewhere. They are a good representation of how the mechanics of moral choice have been implemented during the period, however. The concept of “alignment” has become more ingrained, and games built around the idea of reacting to whether a player is “good” or “bad” have become the normal method of dealing with the issue. Also, for some reason, making sure your character looks as good or evil as they are took a strong foothold; it sure does make it easier to judge books by their covers.

In the the final installment of the series, we’ll examine the strong points and shortcomings of introducing moral choice in a game, and what possible ways it can be improved as an experience for the player moving forward.