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Moral Vacuum
Jan. 8th, 2013 09:33 pmIn today’s adventures with The Old Republic’s increasingly arbitrary morality system:
My bounty hunter was hired by an old couple to salvage some parts from a Hutt-run factory they could sell for supplies on the black market. Not my usual work, but hey, a job’s a job. But, as I grab the parts, I’m approached by the factory’s foreman, who wants me to plant a tracking device in them so he can hunt down the trader the old couple are dealing with and shut him down – the Hutts are threatening his family if he doesn’t do something about the black market salvagers.
It’s a tough decision, but in the end, I turn down the foreman’s generous offer of bonus payment. After all, the old couple are dependent on the black market for clean food and water. They put their trust in me, and I’m not going to be complicit in shutting down their lifeline. Besides, what kind of reputation would I have if I sold them out for a few extra credits?
After making that decision, it did seem a little unfair for the game to saddle me with Dark Side points after that. I mean, I’m a bounty hunter, I’m not exactly morally clean – but things like this shouldn’t be damning me!
Granted, it was a good no-win moral conundrum – but those sort of situations really shouldn’t give Dark or Light side points…
Meanwhile, my Jedi knight has been asked to keep an eye on a pair of Padawans who, their masters suspect, are having an illicit relationship. I honestly wasn’t surprised that ratting them out was the Light Side option – Lucasfilm probably wouldn’t have approved a game where going against the Jedi code was the Light Side option. I was amused, however, to see as far as the game was concerned, just not reporting on the Padawans and actively blackmailing them for your silence were considered morally identically when it came to handing out Dark Side points…
My bounty hunter was hired by an old couple to salvage some parts from a Hutt-run factory they could sell for supplies on the black market. Not my usual work, but hey, a job’s a job. But, as I grab the parts, I’m approached by the factory’s foreman, who wants me to plant a tracking device in them so he can hunt down the trader the old couple are dealing with and shut him down – the Hutts are threatening his family if he doesn’t do something about the black market salvagers.
It’s a tough decision, but in the end, I turn down the foreman’s generous offer of bonus payment. After all, the old couple are dependent on the black market for clean food and water. They put their trust in me, and I’m not going to be complicit in shutting down their lifeline. Besides, what kind of reputation would I have if I sold them out for a few extra credits?
After making that decision, it did seem a little unfair for the game to saddle me with Dark Side points after that. I mean, I’m a bounty hunter, I’m not exactly morally clean – but things like this shouldn’t be damning me!
Granted, it was a good no-win moral conundrum – but those sort of situations really shouldn’t give Dark or Light side points…
Meanwhile, my Jedi knight has been asked to keep an eye on a pair of Padawans who, their masters suspect, are having an illicit relationship. I honestly wasn’t surprised that ratting them out was the Light Side option – Lucasfilm probably wouldn’t have approved a game where going against the Jedi code was the Light Side option. I was amused, however, to see as far as the game was concerned, just not reporting on the Padawans and actively blackmailing them for your silence were considered morally identically when it came to handing out Dark Side points…