This is sort of another Mass Effect post. Bear with me.
One of the things I like about Mass Effect, and other games by this same publisher, is that you are able to make lots of choices about how your character behaves. Every problem to be solved usually has at least two solutions, one "saint" way of doing things, and one "asshole" way of doing things. For example, if there are hostages, you might have your character talk down the hostage takers. Or, you could have the character just shoot everything in sight, which would result in the hostage's death, but the situation would be resolved.
Mass Effect also has "achievements," where you get a little in-game medal, and sometimes mild power or ability boosts, by accomplishing certain tasks in-game. For example, there are achievements for using certain powers a particular number of times, and once you get one of those achievements, new characters can use those powers regardless of class. One of the achievements is to gain 75% of the "renegade" (read: asshole) points available in the game. So I've been playing through the game, making my character a total jerk.
Even though it's just a game, this play style is deeply disturbing to me. It's just not fun. I've managed to alienate other characters--ones that you fight alongside throughout the game. My character is nothing more than a sad, bitter, misanthropic man. Thankfully, I've reached the 75% renegade goal, so I can ease up a bit. I'm not sure what it says about me that I'm so uncomfortable playing that type of character--is my sense of fairness and civility so ingrained that it's that difficult for me to explore the other side of it? Is there something about an interactive media that makes it more difficult to explore that aspect of human nature in a game than in literature or a movie? That has interesting implications. Maybe I just don't like playing a character that I just don't like.
From a development standpoint, I think playing in that way affects the focus of the game. When your characters attitude is, "kill 'em all," the interesting storyline (to me) is how he got to be that way, not what's going on now. I'd love to see a game that, when you chose to play "evil," or even just "naughty," part of the game became exploring your character's past. The theme becomes how your character got to be the way he is, not what's going on now, except as that reveals who your character is. When your character is more "good," or even normal with assorted foibles, that character's interactions with other members of the party and with the world at large become more interesting independent of who your character is.
Maybe this shows a certain evolution in games as an art. We'll always have mindless shooters and casual games (dogs playing poker), but games will also have a few exceptional titles that reveal something about the human condition, our Citizen Kane or Schindler's List. I don't know that we're quite there yet, but it's just a matter of time.
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