Bumping off Little Sisters i♔n BioShock? No problem. Being a sociopathic ass꧂hole in Liberty City? Love it. Carrying on like a cheap philandering slut in Fable 2? I didn't even use a condom!
As a relatively sane person, I've never had a problem keeping what is 'Real' and what is 'Not Real' separate in my head. Just because I enjoyed playing Manhunt doesn't mean that my moral code includes a by-line advocating the real-worl🐭d use of plastic bags to violently asphyxiate shaven-headed men.
But for the first time ever, playing a game that flies in the face🌌 of my own personal ethics has made me feel... uncomfortable. The game? Monster Hunter Tri. Yes, the🧸 one with dinosaurs and dragons in it.
Admittedly it's not the sort of game that's going to cause red-faced spasms of rage from loathsome, self-appointed, self-importantꦅ moral guardians and upstanding defenders of the children (I doubt even PETA would be that bothered), but something about it🔯 jabbed incessantly at my conscience and consequently impaired my enjoyment of the beast slaughtering.
My first 'hunt' involved going at a group of docile, lumbering herbivores with my moderately proportioned sword. There were two big ones and two little ones. A happy family. Just munching grass and minding their own business. The fight was pretty one-sided. I hacked at ꧑one of ඣthe 'grown-ups' until it fell over dead. The others ran off, now a single parent family. I actually felt guilty. I kept playing, but my heart wasn't really in it.
Despite Monster Hunter Tri being about killing pretend animals in a fantasy land, it conflicts with my vegetarian, be-nice-to-animals sensibilities so much that I'm not sure I want to keep playing it. Although I probably will because I like the idea of taking down a dragon the size of a Boeing. I'm sure I'll be fine just as long as there aren't lots of little doting💟 baby dragons to witness the crime.
So that's my irrational but true moment in a game that made me feel all out-of-sorts and morally uncomfortable with myself. What about you guys? Have you ever encountered something in a game that has double-crossed your conscience - your moral fibre - and made you take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror? A game that has made you think "Am I really happy to be doing this?" I'd like to know.
April 30, 2010
