(This entry was written for SNHU's GAM-205 class in the Fall 2017 semester.)
Believe it or not, this will be the final blog post for this class and the final blog post before I graduate! This means that I'll be ready for the job market for anyone seeking a writer! I've actually got some ideas already for some games that would probably fit the indie market, so I'm personally leaning towards that category of game design. I'll probably be taking a bit of a break from the blog for a bit, but I'll continue with some reviews soon. Anyway, this week I'm continuing to talk about Bioshock and morality/karma systems in video games.
From what I've seen/heard, karma systems might be somewhat passe now. I mostly remember my first involvement with those systems through Fable 2, one of the games famously made by Peter Molyneux, a creator known now mostly for overhyping his games and the disaster that was Godus. The karma system back then didn't really feel that interesting to me. I played as a pure good character throughout the whole game, with my only temptations being to murder the hell out of the smug, self-absorbed @$$#0!# extraordinaire known as Reaver and to revive my dog, who could walk off EVERYTHING IN THE GAME except for a goddamn bullet in a goddamn cutscene (if I had known that the dog was required for some post-game content, I would have revived it so fast.) Everyone loved me because of my heroics, but I kind of felt empty because being good didn't really feel good, and the fact that everyone loved me basically made the social interaction system moot. Maybe it was because the writing in that game was, in retrospect, pretty bad. Ah well.
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| Artist's rendition of Godus, circa 2016. |
Focusing on Bioshock, it turns out I mentioned quite a bit about the morality stuff in my last post, meaning this post is a tad redundant, but I gotta write it anyway, so here it is. As I mentioned, in order to upgrade your plasmids, you have to kill the Big Daddies wandering around guarding the Little Sisters. After that, you can harvest them, killing them for a bunch of ADAM, or rescue the girl to get less ADAM. As mentioned, there are unique rewards for rescuing the Sisters that you can't get by harvesting, and harvesting more than one Sister locks you into the bad ending. Kind of funny how the game sees you as totally good even if you murder one little girl, but one more and you are pure, irredeemable evil! No neutrality here!
I think a good amount of games have moved away from karma systems because of how hard it is to pull off right. I remember a criticism against Mass Effect 3 was that no matter how much of a paragon or renegade you were, you could choose to do a complete 180 on your alignment. I really can't believe in a karma system where you can butcher laundry baskets full of corgi puppies daily and be deemed a saint by the world for choosing a choice in the ending. Karma systems can also create some real moral dissonance. I recall that in Fable, divorcing your spouse got you tons of evil points, but slaughtering someone got you way less. By that logic, everyone that goes on those horrible daytime TV divorce court shows should leave with horns jutting from their heads and reeking of brimstone (although that should certainly apply to them, but more for setting up a "courtroom" so vapid people can publicize their less-than-successful relationships. Ugh.)
I have seen karma systems work in some of the smaller video games, albeit in more nuanced ways that makes it function as a minor game mechanic. In Death Road to Canada, each character has a loyalty stat that functions as a sort of gauge of that character's alignment. For example, people with low loyalty can get the option to rob traders you find in trading camps, and they can get morale for being an overall jerk. In The Binding of Isaac, making a deal with the devil by trading heart containers for items prevents you from normally accessing angel rooms for the rest of the run.
I actually do have a good example of karma systems that work as a major part of the game. In Ancient Domains of Mystery, you have an alignment system that goes from Lawful to Neutral to Chaotic, first determined by your class/race combination. It mostly affects minor things, such as what monsters spawn peaceful, what god you worship, and your ability to get certain quests. However, if you want to get any ending than the basic 'Close the Chaos Gate' ending, your character has to be a strict adherent to the extremes of any of the alignments.
So yeah. Karma systems haven't been used as much as they were in the last decade, but they're still around. I'll definitely be taking a break for Christmas, but I'll be using that time to prepare for next year doing things like playing some new games, doing some stuff on Linkedin, and trying to figure out how Windows 10 made it so I can't play Enter the Gungeon (stupid overzealous updates.) Until next year, I'll leave you with some Christmas music from Bemani, the proper response to anyone who claims Konami only makes pachinko machines now.
I think a good amount of games have moved away from karma systems because of how hard it is to pull off right. I remember a criticism against Mass Effect 3 was that no matter how much of a paragon or renegade you were, you could choose to do a complete 180 on your alignment. I really can't believe in a karma system where you can butcher laundry baskets full of corgi puppies daily and be deemed a saint by the world for choosing a choice in the ending. Karma systems can also create some real moral dissonance. I recall that in Fable, divorcing your spouse got you tons of evil points, but slaughtering someone got you way less. By that logic, everyone that goes on those horrible daytime TV divorce court shows should leave with horns jutting from their heads and reeking of brimstone (although that should certainly apply to them, but more for setting up a "courtroom" so vapid people can publicize their less-than-successful relationships. Ugh.)
I have seen karma systems work in some of the smaller video games, albeit in more nuanced ways that makes it function as a minor game mechanic. In Death Road to Canada, each character has a loyalty stat that functions as a sort of gauge of that character's alignment. For example, people with low loyalty can get the option to rob traders you find in trading camps, and they can get morale for being an overall jerk. In The Binding of Isaac, making a deal with the devil by trading heart containers for items prevents you from normally accessing angel rooms for the rest of the run.
I actually do have a good example of karma systems that work as a major part of the game. In Ancient Domains of Mystery, you have an alignment system that goes from Lawful to Neutral to Chaotic, first determined by your class/race combination. It mostly affects minor things, such as what monsters spawn peaceful, what god you worship, and your ability to get certain quests. However, if you want to get any ending than the basic 'Close the Chaos Gate' ending, your character has to be a strict adherent to the extremes of any of the alignments.
So yeah. Karma systems haven't been used as much as they were in the last decade, but they're still around. I'll definitely be taking a break for Christmas, but I'll be using that time to prepare for next year doing things like playing some new games, doing some stuff on Linkedin, and trying to figure out how Windows 10 made it so I can't play Enter the Gungeon (stupid overzealous updates.) Until next year, I'll leave you with some Christmas music from Bemani, the proper response to anyone who claims Konami only makes pachinko machines now.
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