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"Ever thought about any character from a book or from a movie outside of the book/movie? I'm pretty sure you have. How often did that happen for a character from a videogame? Thought so.

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To make the player really think, you'd probably have to develop that character that has been killed. You have to think of a backstory for him. Where does he come from? What are his goals in life? Where does he live? How does he live? Is he happy? etc, etc.

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That's exactly what I meant, yes. But I believe that you don't need to tell the player whether or not the character's married. Instead, make him scream, make him beg for mercy, and all of that will take care of itself. You'll know he doesn't ant to die.

I recall a scene from "Schindler's List". They drag a guy outside because he has not finished as many hinges as he could have. they pull the gun, try to shoot him: and it doesn't work. the get a new gun, doesn't work either. then they just let him live.
I don't think they showed you anything about the guy beforehand. they didn't tell you if he had a son or a daughter, they don't tell you if he had a happy childhood. But when he is pushed to the ground, he cries, he begs for mercy. You don't need to know any more than that.
I certainly would feel bad killing that guy. Even if he's not alive as soon as I exit the game. Having this scene in a game would make the people really start having to show responsibility. they would have to start caring about their actions.

In Oblivion (yeah, I like taking that one as an example ), the "Shivering Isles", there was a scene in which I had to proove my loyalty. There were 3 guys, and they were caught. I was watching them. i had two buttons that I could press. one of them would make a guy insane, the other would kill him. I had to choose 3 times. I heard the 3 guys talking while they were walking into the trap. They were just after some treasure, and they were like any other treasure hunters in the game. They only talked for about 60 secs or so, and I already "knew" them.
I did it. I killed one, and drove two insane (I don't think I meant to kill him, but I was curious, and I pressed the wrong button). The insanity wasn't much better than death though.
Later on I met them again. They were in a cage. the people gave me their things, one of them was a sword which had a diray with it. I got to know more about their story after I was "done" with them. It was a very well done part, even if their emotions could have been shown better. I think this is exactly what you were talking about.
I still have a bad conscience now. It makes you imagine what you'd do in real life. I think computer games should do that. I hate the developers of "Shivering Isles" for making me act like this though.
I was the bad guy. Even if all I wanted was to save the world, i was bad.

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But isn't that an absolutely intruiging concept? Sure it's annoying and - yes, it's not fun. So what? Some of my favorite movies are "not fun". I have recommended books that are far from "being fun". Why is that not okay with games? There are some notable exceptions, but generally...

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The other thing is, that most people considder themselve to be "good".
So the main character is mostly a "good" guy.

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The other thing is, that most people considder themselve to be "good".
So the main character is mostly a "good" guy.

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Go play black&white and tell me in wich side you are...

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Well, to be honest, Black & White and even Black & White 2 are flawed games when it comes to good an evil. Choosing for good is way harder than choosing for evil and also the 'good' strategy takes a lot more time. Besides, when I'm 100% good my creature is doing 100% evil stuff mostly. Why doesn't the creature's alignment influence my own? I mean, it's me who says it's okey to feed on enemy villagers after all.

I think it's very possible to let the bad guy win, however you hardly ever see it in movies and if you do, there's always sómething that went good or had a good end somehow. When the bad guy wins, it's usually either a part 1 of a trilogy or everybody dies but the initial mission was accomplished anyways, giving it a happy end still. Did the bad guy win? Yes and no.

For an example of the latter I'd suggest everybody to go and watch this new 'Sunshine' movie,

Cheers