I’m tired of games creating moral ambiguity by forcing the player to choose from a list of morally objectionable options. that is an ethically complex choice but in a way that makes me want to wash my hands of the entire situation. I play roleplaying games so that I can feel like I’m making a difference in people’s lives, not arguably making the situation worse

I want to choose between multiple options that are all presented as if they’re the morally right thing to do, with very persuasive arguments for why you should choose them, but that are mutually exclusive

instead of “do you want to support the racists or the imperialists?” how about “do you try to dismantle systemic racism from within this country, or do you prioritize helping victims of racism escape the country?”

in games like Skyrim and New Vegas I think a lot of this just comes down to making the leaders of factions seem like they genuinely care about everyday citizens. like I want to hear each of them explain why they’re willing to go to war, in terms of the benefit for the average citizen, while emphasizing that that’s what they care about and that they have weighed the value of human life against this goal

instead it seems like all of their motivations for going to war are rooted in childish ideological differences like “I have the right to start an entire civil war in my name because… I killed the Emperor I guess” or “I’m an entitled rich boy who’s read too much Atlas Shrugged and it’s in my rational self-interest to conquer everything”

@kasdeya maybe "3D" should refer to the character portrayals in a game instead of its graphical fidelity. a lot of "modern" games would be decidedly 2D by that standard