Individual Entry: Morality in media (TV, games, etc.)
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April 05, 2005

Thoughts : Morality in media (TV, games, etc.)

I watched a program on Peter Molyneux (designer of games like 'Populous,' 'Black & White,' and 'Fable') which got me thinking about the grand debate in the U.S. on morality in the media. The case has been made by many that media content is moral if it only depicts moral behavior and that if it depicts any kind of immoral behavior, then the TV show, game, etc is immoral. I believe this is a flawed analysis (after all, by that standard, the Bible is an incredibly immoral book!)

My personal belief is that what makes a particular piece of media moral or immoral is not the behavior characters; but whether the consequences of those behaviors are reasonably depicted. I'm not talking about immediate artificial consequences created to show a point; but rather realistic consequences which play out over time. That’s one reason I have enjoyed shows like "Babylon 5" by Straczynski and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by Weadon – both show the character’s actions having consequences episodes or even seasons later (as they would in real life).

In my opinion, this is even more important in video games, where it is the player’s own actions which should have consequences. As an interesting case in point – I am currently playing "Knights of the Old Republic II". Actually I am playing it twice in parallel – once with a good Jedi character following the light side of the force, and again with an evil Sith character that is racing toward the dark side of the force (I play each side leapfrogging the other, so I get to do parts of the first from each perspective). The game is in fact designed to allow for consequences of taking the light or dark path; and it is interesting to see what the developers have implemented.

My biggest surprise so far has been when I found myself in the living quarters of some guards who protect a nascent Jedi academy (I'm trying to not drop spoilers here; my point is that these were people who were supposed to be on the side of good). I did this section first as my bad-boy, and I was quite happy to pillage all of the guards’ rooms for their possessions. The surprise was when I played though this with my good character. As an experiment, I opened the containers and took the contents – and nothing happened. This made me think back to so many Role Playing Games I played where going into people's homes and taking things had no consequences whatsoever. Those games weren’t immoral because they depicted magic, violence, etc. (pick your favorite soapbox). They were immoral because they taught that it was OK to steal!

Which bring me back to Peter Molyneux. He is the one game developer I have seen for whom consequences of actions is an integral theme to his games (in fact it may be the only theme of Fable). While I may disagree at times with details of his moral vision, I applaud that he at least types to establish a moral tone in his games by having all actions have consequences for the players.

Posted by Steven at April 5, 2005 10:59 AM