After coming to grips withFallout 3’sdreary world, I decided that I wanted to straddle the Karma line; to make no choice according to a plan. But my journey with moral ambiguity ended quickly after I watched Megaton turn to ash. At that moment I knew I was a bad guy and there was no sense in doing anyone a favor.
And now that I think about it, I’ve never been able to hover in a grey area. In Lionhead’sFable III was a nice guy through and through. In Bioware’sKnights of the Old RepublicI practiced a Sith’s emotional intensity and recklessness.
During a recent chat (viaPlayStation.Blog), game director Nate Fox said that during development, Sucker Punch decided to kick their morally neutral option ininFamous. As it turns out, players didn’t bother with it.
“We had [neutral karma] initially, but we found that people wanted to be really good or really evil,” Fox said. “No one cared about the middle.”
Interesting. The thing that I can’t manage to do is something they found their target audience didn’t enjoy. So, I ask you: do you care about neutral karma? Have you ever tried? Is there a point to having neutral karma in a videogame?
