In Star Trek: The Next Generation – “Thine Own Self”, ship counselor Deanna Troi decides to try out to become a high-ranking officer of the starship Enterprise. She must solve a simulated disaster that would destroy the entire ship and its hundreds of civilian inhabitants.
The problem is a leak in the plasma warp shaft, which causes a devastating explosion if not repaired. However, the pit is flooded with radiation; anyone who directly fixes the leak will have no chance of surviving afterwards.
So Deanna assumes there must be some logistical way to circumvent the breakout. She tries everything she can think of: switching to auxiliary control, modifying the EM power inverter, ejecting the antimatter storage containers, each solution leading to the complete destruction of the Enterprise without fail.
Convinced that something is missing, Deanna studies the ship’s manuals for hours and takes the test three more times. She traps herself in her problem-solving mindset, too scared to realize the only possibility plaguing her subconscious: sending a crewmate down the well.
In Deus Ex: Human Revolution – The Missing Link, player-controlled Adam Jensen finds himself in a facility flooded with toxic gas. There are two main sections: one contains cells filled with oppressed prisoners, while the other contains a small population of scientists, scientists who could provide evidence that would crush an evil corporation.
Jensen goes down a ladder that leads to a control room, but he can only use it to redirect the gas to part of the facility: he can save the scientists or the prisoners. Then, the player is faced with a clear moral choice: he will have to consider which option is better for society, which one respects individual life more, which one serves justice more.
But if the player stops this train of thought and goes back up the ladder, they will notice a network of pipes running through the facility. And if you follow the pipes, behind the walls and through the vents, you will find a dark entrance. Behind it is a valve that regulates the flow of toxic gas; destroying it stops the flow completely, saving both the prisoners and the scientists.
This is what Deanna fears in “Thine Own Self.” Behind the veil of logistics and technical solutions lies a philosophical and moral dilemma: can she kill one person to save hundreds? But what if she starts worrying about that problem too soon? What if during the few minutes she spends deliberating on morality, she misses the one unnoticed factor, hidden behind a corner, the one piece that could solve the problem and save everyone?
The terrifying reality of making moral decisions is that you could start too soon and miss the solution that lies in front of you. That maybe you should keep solving problems until the end, even if a moral choice leads to a better outcome.
And it would be nice if more games took advantage of this fear. By presenting the player with a moral choice, many games leave no flexibility, no way to check for unraveled loose ends. In most cases, the player is taken out of the world entirely: the action stops and the two options are assigned to their respective side buttons.
Even when players are in control, they rarely have a chance to believe they missed something, that they need to work with the game mechanics for a bit longer before making their decision. Take the infamous Mass Effect 3, where three empty branching paths represent the game’s final decision. The only possible “non-moral” stone left unturned is to spin Commander Shepard in circles, or have him shoot into the sky.
Mass Effect 3’s ending and other options like it lack the vital clues that make the fear of morality real: the freedom to explore unexplored areas on a map, the ability to search for those few missing audio logs, curious clues in the setting, small story issues that were never fully resolved.
“Your Own Self” shows us why unresolved loose ends and looming, untested possibilities are so important in making moral choices realistic. Because making a moral decision isn’t just about realizing a moral dilemma or being presented with one; it’s about having the will to leave the technical world and accept the decision: to give up trying to save everyone. As Troi’s superior tells him after he passes the test: “You considered all your options, tried all the alternatives, and then made the hard choice.”