[ajuc]

There's value in giving people choice and making them uncomfortable with the consequences of easy options. The Witcher series is famous for that, and I'd like to see more games took that approach (show what can be done, even give in-game bonuses for evil behaviour, don't judge but show consequences).

DF skips over this problem because it's more abstract, and it's just not this kinds of game. Another example - Crusader Kingdoms 2 - this game is all about incests, backstabbing and assasination, but somehow it's funny not deep.

I agree it's probably not good idea for games targeted at children.

[spdustin]

Bioshock was the first to make me uncomfortable with a choice. Do I harvest the Little Sister, and get more powerful? Or do I "rescue her", which itself looks a bit like torture at first, and send her off in a place that is filled with psychopaths who'd want to kill her anyway.

Later in the series, when I experienced what it's like to BE a Little Sister, it almost made me regret "rescuing them" before, because the way they see the world as a Little Sister is quite beautiful, and they did serve a profound purpose.

The final choice seems to be a moral absolute, but it was a deeply unsettling choice, for me, to make, and to revisit again later.

[tsotha]

It's not really a choice, because in the end you get more powerful by not harvesting the Little Sisters. The only reason to do it is to see the evil ending cut scene.

[Dylan16807]

And you get that world-conquering evil cut scene for even a single slip. Immediately you are irredeemable.

[tsotha]

Heh. I didn't realize that. When I'm evil I don't do it by half measures.

[spdustin]

Would you kindly not spoil the game too much.

(See what I did there?)

[Dylan16807]

I'm amused by the joke, but I don't consider it a spoiler to explain how one bad act ever leads to the uber-evil ending that has no connection to the rest of the game. It's just pointing out that the claimed 'moral choices with consequences' feature is a farce.

[spdustin]

I didn't know that until, you know, the end.

[arprocter]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri offered 'nerve stapling' [0] as a method of quelling riots

[0] http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Atrocities_%28SMAC%29

[shanusmagnus]

Great comment. The critical part is "show consequences."