Clary

I like the idea of more plot-related dialogues - when something big happens in the game, like, for example, Bodhi vampirizing your love interest or you turning into the Slayer, it would be nifty to have more opportunities to talk to your party members about it, or perhaps complain how unfair your life is.

You can. I don't think you really want to, though. ;/

Well, now I'm curious - so in this hypothetical sequence of events, how would you, hypothetically, respond?

(I just realized this is now rather off-topic. Which was sort of my fault in the first place, I guess. )

I forget; is Euthyphro's Dilemma considered a low blow now? ;/

I don't know - am I then allowed to quote Aquinas back at you? XD

Oh, I forgot about the thoughtcrime . How could I forget. Thanks Goddess I'm I have my own morality.

Sorry? Did a fictional totalitarian government somehow insinuate itself into the discussion when I wasn't looking?

While I don't think that games cause crime, I would argue that (since it's inevitable that most players will identify to some degree with the character they play) performing actions in a game which simulate morally wrong actions in real life (GTA, anyone?) can have a detrimental moral effect on a person, much like fantasizing about doing the same things.

Did you read the link? :/

I did. As I said, I didn't form this opinion by reading dubious studies but by working from what I know of moral theology - that is to say, generally in Christian thought it's bad to intend doing something wrong, even if you don't actually do it. Depending on what sort of person you are, I imagine that putting yourself in video-game situations where you, yourself, feel like you're doing something wrong would not be good for you. A little (though not entirely) like the way viewing pornography is considered sinful - it hasn't got that much to do necessarily with whether there are any visible effects on the person. And of course, since it's impossible to know what goes on in someone else's head, you can't really say whether a specific game would be bad for a specific person. Thus the reason why censorship is not on - it should really be up to you what you think is too much sex or violence or whatever, rather than the government deciding it for you. What do they know about you anyway?

That probably puts me in the camp of the conservative conspiracy the link complains about, but there you go.

But, frankly, I never played a Paladin. They are almost like gnomes . I hate gnomes .

Now I'm having weird visions of gnome paladins.

I think you're right about the necessity of choosing a course and having to think about and evaluating consequences making it more meaningful--not to mention a useful (and harmless) vehicle for thought experiments and various forms of procedural learning. I'm not sure how the content of games and the actions available within them constitutes a "moral question", unless one is either contending that animated pixels/polygons and AI scripts actually suffer or has made the mistake of Drinking the Kool-Aid in evaluating the common but evidentially unsupported beliefs about the effects of media depictions on people in general and children in particular.

Save the Sprites!

Ahem. Well, as far as one's use of media concerns morals, the content of video games does. While I don't think that games cause crime, I would argue that (since it's inevitable that most players will identify to some degree with the character they play) performing actions in a game which simulate morally wrong actions in real life (GTA, anyone?) can have a detrimental moral effect on a person, much like fantasizing about doing the same things. Of course this really depends on the person themselves, and how they see their actions in playing the game.

...And, to be fair, being just out of Theology 102 at Catholic school I don't labor under the delusion that the average Internet forumgoer will agree with me on all things moral.