Ethics?

                                                                     
      Ethics.

Throughout week four I have been going over what I have done so far and I worked out that the ethics in my game didn't really work. The way I had my game work out meant that one option always seemed the more obvious choice and the other was almost hidden encouraging the player down a certain route within the game. The game almost played out like I was intentionally trying to trick the player into making a certain choice then later revealing that their was an alternate choice. this of course is not how an ethical game should play.

from what I understand a good ethical game should clearly give a player multiple choices and not judge him whatever he should choose. if the player chooses to do evil the game should not judge the player evil, there should be no good and evil bar, instead the game should provide some sort of feedback that enables the player to reflect on their own actions.

The player should not be punished for doing evil or rewarded for doing good but should be able to achieve the same goals in game through very different methods. neither good or evil should prove easier to play as players do not play games ethically. people don't sit down and switch on a game to think ethically instead they play strategically seeking to complete puzzles in whatever game that may be, in this way an ethical game must be similar in the good and bad choices, one or the other should never make the player succeed less, they should be the same and yet communicate back to the player the effects their different choices have made on the game clearly without the game making judgement.

I have spent a hefty amount of time sifting through game ethics by Sicart and judging other so called ethical games such as the cat and the coup and the majesty of colours seeking to create a fair ethical game that's fun but will allow a player to perceive the results of there own actions.

One of the elements I'm really thinking of introducing is choices that are both good and evil so that the player must choose the lesser of two evils. This to me is the ultimate example of ethical choice as games often portray good choices as solely good and evil as solely evil but life does not work this way and often our choices carry a bit of both

SAM.