For this blog, I am planning on focusing on the concept of morality in regards to video games. The main question I would like to investigate is: How does an individual's personality traits and personal morality affect gameplay?
The idea of personal choice has been increasingly embedded in video games. From the games that I have played, there seems to be two different kinds of personal choice video games: binary and non-binary.
When I refer to games with a binary morality, I am describing those games that give you two options within the storyline. More specifically, you have the choice of whether to be a hero or a villain, or, in other words, good or evil. The Infamous game series is an example of binary moral choice in video games. In this series, the storyline and power-ups will change depending on whether the player decides to be a hero or a villain.
Non-binary moral choices are the decisions that players make within a game that are not "black and white" and don't have "correct" answers in regards to good and evil, or hero and villain, tropes. These choices, similar to binary choices, have an effect on storyline and character progression. TellTale's The Walking Dead video game series is an example of a video game series that includes non-binary choices. While choices in this game series do not necessarily make the player good or evil, they have long-lasting effects within the game, as well as future installments in the series.
I have read a couple of studies on the subject of individuals' morality and its effects on gameplay, however I have barely scratched the surface. Learning more about how morality, and, in turn, personality traits, affect gameplay is an important area of research. Not only will it provide an insight into how video games reflect each individual, but it may also provide an avenue to further research in areas such as game development, video game addiction diagnoses and treatment, video game marketing, and many others.
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