Controversial politics is not a good field for moral choices,
Suffice to say: I disagree. Politics is morality in action, so to speak. It's the art of the possible, and where the true test of your morality lies. When it comes down to "So, given these restrictions, how do you *actually* act?" rather than a theoretical construct.
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I can't make a Praetorian who's not aligned with either the Resistance or the Loyalists, because I'm not given that choice.
Because, in the context of Praetoria, these are what your options are. You're either with the regime or you're opposing it. It's not black and white (because it's not really that kind of question) but it's definitely a stark choice: Which is typical of totalitarian systems. You can try to improve things from within, you can try to exploit the system, or you can try to overthrow it: There's no real other option because totalitarian systems have no middle ground: That's what makes them totalitarian.
Of course, nothing in the game forces you to create a praetorian character. I'm just saying that, given the setting, having the choices be rather stark is perfectly acceptable: Indeed, doing anything else would compromise the setting.
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My characters are MINE, and this is one aspect of City of Heroes unique to it.
Err... no? It is not unique. In any shape, way or form. Really. Honestly. It's actually fairly common.
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It asks us to name them, build them, paint them, give them a backstory and by the end of it all, they feel like OUR creations. Not a developer construct that we can pick from a short list, not a nameless protagonist just like every other nameless protagonist. Easily City of Heroes' greatest strength is its ability to make my characters feel truly mine and nobody else's, which is why it infuriates me when it then plops those same characters in the world and starts writing their story for them.
But no matter what you decide, certain assumptions are made: That you are in Paragon City (or the Rogue Isles), that you go through a certain finite possible story arcs or missions, that you live in a particular world, etc. etc.
Of course, there's AE if you feel like using that (a wonderful tool I think) but likewise the COV and Praetorian origins makes certain other assumptions.
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When I'm given a choice, I don't want to pick between storylines written for me. I want to pick between between generic responses the combination of which together will define my character's personality. One generic choice is uninteresting, but when you go through 10 different ones, your character's personality begins to shape up.
I kind of see what you're getting at, I really do, It's just that generic choices don't neccessarily fit a character any better than specific ones (they may fit a greater number of characters, that's why they're "generic", of course) I personally don't mind them trying out various approaches of storytelling in the various different game areas.
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Choices between good and evil should come down to choices of preference, and be driven by the character's personality as written by the character's creator. "Who you are in the dark," as it were - people's true colours only show when they are forced to make a moral choice without consequences either way. Because that is the only time a person will choose what he WANTS, as opposed to what he feels he HAS to choose.
I absolutely, fundamentally disagree: If there is no pressure to choose either way, morality becomes meaningless: The truly moral choice is to elect to do "the good" *despite* any consequences. People's true colors only show when they decided to do good despite the advantage lying with doing the bad. Morality cannot and does not exist in a vaccuum: Your every action has consequences and judging them precisely is exactly what morality is about.
EDIT: basically, my PNP experience has pretty much left me disillusioned with the possibilities of computer gaming and choice: They just can't offer the kinds of freedom of choice that would make it particularly interesting to have, so they might as well just focus on telling a decent story and introducing what elements of choice they feel are approporiate for it.
"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."
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I DO NOT LIKE Praetorian politics. If I had a choice, I'd choose nether. Being in a position to want a choice where I can opt out of the storyline is a bad, bad sign, and not having that choice turns this into a tangible problem.
Of course, nothing in the game forces you to create a praetorian character. I'm just saying that, given the setting, having the choices be rather stark is perfectly acceptable: Indeed, doing anything else would compromise the setting.
Of course, there's AE if you feel like using that (a wonderful tool I think) but likewise the COV and Praetorian origins makes certain other assumptions.
EDIT: basically, my PNP experience has pretty much left me disillusioned with the possibilities of computer gaming and choice: They just can't offer the kinds of freedom of choice that would make it particularly interesting to have, so they might as well just focus on telling a decent story and introducing what elements of choice they feel are approporiate for it.
"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."