“.. if you really want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

I find myself invoking my own beliefs and values into games when given the choice. I tend to lean towards good side of things. I was overwhelmingly Paragon when playing through Mass Effect and even when the decisions aren’t as clear cut; I still play by the rules. I know GTAIV is a game and I know that the citizens of Liberty City aren’t real, but I consciously try not to kill anyone – it’s just the way I am.

It’s not the definitive morality mirror, but I bet you can catch glimpses of a person’s character by watching them play a game such as GTAIV. It’s not possible to go through the game and not kill a single soul, but you can control the amount of chaos is waged on the world. You can hire a prostitute for a good time, however you are not obligated to bludgeon them with a baseball bat afterwards. That’s the player’s choice — they’re holding that controller for a reason you know.

Of course, there are spurts when I do decide to run amok and antagonize the LCPD, but when I do so, I’m doing it as a test against the game’s artificial intelligence, not because I hate the cops. That’s a distinction where many do not understand — gamers interact with the game and not necessarily what the game represents. We know what fiction is.

Justification, reasoning and motives are what I like to see in games — I cannot kill for the fun of it. (At least not for extended periods of time.) The previous GTA games offered minimal framework for the player’s actions. I never felt a connection with the player or the people he interacted with – it was more of a game of tomfoolery. When GTAIV promised to deliver a more “compelling experience”, I began to wonder. As more details are given to a game’s world, its characters and their performances improved, would gamers continue to play the game in the same way? When convincing bits of reality begins seeping into the games I played, I respond accordingly. With GTAIV, I don’t want to piss off Roman. He’s my cousin! If I can’t make our lunch meeting, I’ll call him and cancel our plans.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Editorials & Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.