Adventuring and Ethics

                      by Bev Truter

After spending a whole afternoon reading avidly through SynTax,
from cover to cover (metaphorically speaking), I felt a genuine
wave of sympathy for James Johnston and his annoyance with the
"unethicalness" of some adventure games (SynTax #30 - article
entitled "Lateral Thinking" in the Features section).  I have also
been variously irritated, horrified or appalled by some of the
actions I've had to do if I want to get through to the end of the
game; and unlike a film or book where the nasty bits of behaviour
are acted out on a screen/page "out there" by someone else, in an
adventure game you are entirely responsible for everything that
happens - you ARE the hero/heroine; the doer of deeds, the
perpetrator of crimes.  This very personal involvement in all the
action in an adventure game results in a nagging feeling of guilt
if you are required to do something distasteful, unethical or
repulsive; and can utterly ruin the enjoyment of what would
otherwise be an exciting and interesting game.....there's nothing
like dragging around a load of guilt to take the zing and zest out
of a game!

I'll now wander off at a tangent to reminisce about some of the
text adventures (are there any other kinds of real adventure
games???) I've played that have suffered from this Unethical
Factor.  I remember "New York Adventure" (at least I THINK that
was the title) where in one charming little scene you have to
cold-bloodedly shoot the leader of a group of 3 or 4 sub-teenage
streetkids to progress further - the 3 remaining kids start
snuffling, and quietly carry their leader's body away; leaving you
feeling utterly miserable, but able to go on with the adventure.
Another awful bit was the choice between shooting 3 bank robbers,
and progressing on foot, or shooting a wealthy customer and then
attempting to steal his money and his car (fortunately this option
didn't seem to help much in completing the game).  The whole irony
of this game was that the initial introduction describes it as
having two types of solution....."either you can choose the `good'
path or the `evil' path to finish the game"......well, I guess
shooting 3 bank robbers is "good" compared to shooting a wealthy
customer......Hmmmmmm.....depends on your point of view.  Shooting
the leader of the streetkids is evidently considered neither
"good" nor "evil" as there's no choice at all there.....a man's
gotta do what a man's gotta do to get past the obstacle...
(substitute "woman" in my case).

Another shocker I played many aeons ago, when the dinosaurs were
alive, on my old C64, was "Mask of the Sun-God".  A really nifty
adventure, I thought, complete with dreadful cartoonish pictures
that took forever to dribble slowly across the screen; but I
digress - I was an Indiana Jones-type bloke (no choice of gender
there in the good old days) who was on a mission for treasure,
glory, etc.  in the Jungles of South America. Meeting me at the
airport was Raoul, soon to become my loyal and faithful guide,
carrying my possessions when I acquired too many, following me
everywhere through thick and thin, and even rescuing me when I
fell down a dark pit.  Just when I was beginning to feel quite
attached to Raoul - a meaningful relationship had sprung up over
the course of all these exploits - we stumbled across an Altar,
with traces of human blood on it.  Still blissfully unaware of any
nastiness in the future, we hunted all over for a
rodent/alligator/snake to sacrifice; until slowly the unbelievable
truth dawned...the penny slowly dropped......yes, that's right;
dear old Raoul has to be killed (stab Raoul with knife) and
sacrificed (put Raoul on Altar); and as his blood drips over it, a
secret passageway is revealed.  I never did finish that
game....things never seemed the same without Raoul, and I hated
having to bump him off so callously.  Interestingly enough, Raoul
himself remained quite stoical throughout about the dreadful deed,
but that didn't make murder any easier to commit.

Another minor gripe I have, although admittedly it's only occurred
once so far in all the games I've played, is the Totally Horrible
Ending.  "Golden Wombat of Destiny" was the game; where instead of
getting a pat on the back for your achievements, and that warm
glow of satisfaction as the Congratulatory screen rolls up, you
realize your only reward is to be slowly turned into a bloated,
rotting corpse.....  ..Yeeeeccchhhh!!  Perhaps the author was not
a particularly well person when he wrote that ending, but it
diminished the whole game; or perhaps I'm being overly sensitive,
and it was just a jokey reversal of the stereotypical Happy
Ending....the Unhappy Ending instead.

To end on a lighter note, there was a game (can't remember the
title) where you develop that familiar squeamish feeling, that
sinking of the stomach, when you realize the only way to get rid
of a hungry lion in a pit is to chuck in a sweet, fluffy rabbit.
Well, after waiting in anguish, and listening to dreadful sounds
of fighting emanating from the pit, you finally descend when all
is quiet, expecting the worst.......to be confronted by a
triumphant rabbit, smugly dusting off its paws, and looking very
replete.







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