Are the “choice situations” in the game obvious or subtle? Do
you know the outcomes of your choice prior to making a
decision? - Deus Ex (1999)
Choice situations in video games are getting much more common in the modern realm of video games. Larger maps, wider range of characters and bigger worlds to explore, all giving gamer's a bigger sense of freedom and with that a bigger option of choice is involved. Some games are littered with the more classical option of dialogue choice, like in the Fallout series or most Telltale Games. All giving the player choice to interact with NPCs (Non Playable Characters) in a more Black and white scenario where you can behave as good cop or bad cop. In other games you have another system like Infamous which has a karma system, as the more bad things you do the more evil your character becomes as well as the NPCs will view you as the villain. While doing the opposite will give your character a more hero impersonation to the people around him and himself. I believe Deus Ex (1999) is no exception to this, its choices allow the player to make a finite amount of ideas to how they chose to play.
The game is a roleplaying and first person shooter, giving players a huge amount of ideas to their own idea of how they play. As many options are given to every level which is something not very common for modern games these days to compare to, with such ideas to entering a level like run and gun, commando, sniper, negotiator, hacking and lock picking to being just all out stealth. With also weapon choice as you're given a option of non lethal to lethal weapons like laser guided rocket launcher or a nightstick. Deus Ex's character is allowed to have complete customization to the players choosing and empathizes players choices of violence or morality. As NPCs actually criticize you for how much force or violence you use and as well the same for interacting with them. Being rude will actually make it more harder for you to gain assistance compared to a more helpful and kinder attitude. In the beginning your also given a option to kill or not kill the two final bosses in the beginning of the game and will completely effect the outcomes from NPCs and the game itself.
Choice situations in this game seem so simple and subtle yet hold a more heavier and are more consequential to your own actions. From playing stealthy and peaceful, not killing anyone and trying to act as moral as possible. To being a gun welding maniac and forcing violence as your only path to victory. Every choice you choose to make is counted and made sure later on you know it, morals choice counts in this game.
In the reading "Perdue, 2011 - Ethical dilemmas and dominant moral strategies in games File", these points can be explained in further depth like in Dealing in Absolutes, Moral High Scores, The Virmire Problem and Only Consequences sections of the reading. All these sections follow whats previously said in much greater detail, an example being in Only Consequences. Which goes more into depth of the options a player has in the game Heavy Rain, where the main character has to make a critical decision of either killing a dealer or just walking away. If chosen the latter. your still have the opportunity to show mercy, but this shows the moral problem, are you willing to take one persons life to save another? This relates to Deus Ex as you have the choice to either kill or not with non or lethal force, a players choice had multiple factors and will have consequences to those choices and this is a thing that is very common. As nobody knows the full implications of their actions till the end or a major event occurring as we the player doesn't know till we're too far into and enveloped into our in game run to know the real effects our choices will have and thus Deus Ex may feel subtle in its mass array of choices but thats what makes this games choices so special and unique compared to other games
Choice situations in video games are getting much more common in the modern realm of video games. Larger maps, wider range of characters and bigger worlds to explore, all giving gamer's a bigger sense of freedom and with that a bigger option of choice is involved. Some games are littered with the more classical option of dialogue choice, like in the Fallout series or most Telltale Games. All giving the player choice to interact with NPCs (Non Playable Characters) in a more Black and white scenario where you can behave as good cop or bad cop. In other games you have another system like Infamous which has a karma system, as the more bad things you do the more evil your character becomes as well as the NPCs will view you as the villain. While doing the opposite will give your character a more hero impersonation to the people around him and himself. I believe Deus Ex (1999) is no exception to this, its choices allow the player to make a finite amount of ideas to how they chose to play.
The game is a roleplaying and first person shooter, giving players a huge amount of ideas to their own idea of how they play. As many options are given to every level which is something not very common for modern games these days to compare to, with such ideas to entering a level like run and gun, commando, sniper, negotiator, hacking and lock picking to being just all out stealth. With also weapon choice as you're given a option of non lethal to lethal weapons like laser guided rocket launcher or a nightstick. Deus Ex's character is allowed to have complete customization to the players choosing and empathizes players choices of violence or morality. As NPCs actually criticize you for how much force or violence you use and as well the same for interacting with them. Being rude will actually make it more harder for you to gain assistance compared to a more helpful and kinder attitude. In the beginning your also given a option to kill or not kill the two final bosses in the beginning of the game and will completely effect the outcomes from NPCs and the game itself.
Choice situations in this game seem so simple and subtle yet hold a more heavier and are more consequential to your own actions. From playing stealthy and peaceful, not killing anyone and trying to act as moral as possible. To being a gun welding maniac and forcing violence as your only path to victory. Every choice you choose to make is counted and made sure later on you know it, morals choice counts in this game.
In the reading "Perdue, 2011 - Ethical dilemmas and dominant moral strategies in games File", these points can be explained in further depth like in Dealing in Absolutes, Moral High Scores, The Virmire Problem and Only Consequences sections of the reading. All these sections follow whats previously said in much greater detail, an example being in Only Consequences. Which goes more into depth of the options a player has in the game Heavy Rain, where the main character has to make a critical decision of either killing a dealer or just walking away. If chosen the latter. your still have the opportunity to show mercy, but this shows the moral problem, are you willing to take one persons life to save another? This relates to Deus Ex as you have the choice to either kill or not with non or lethal force, a players choice had multiple factors and will have consequences to those choices and this is a thing that is very common. As nobody knows the full implications of their actions till the end or a major event occurring as we the player doesn't know till we're too far into and enveloped into our in game run to know the real effects our choices will have and thus Deus Ex may feel subtle in its mass array of choices but thats what makes this games choices so special and unique compared to other games
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