Our Collected Data
A Survey on Mass Effect
The
survey revealed what gamers thought of Mass Effect’s morality
system. There were five categories, ranging from ‘strongly disagree‘ to
‘strongly agree.’
53.6%
agreed that the morality system in Mass Effect made the game more
worthwhile, while 30% strongly agreed with statement. The data here
reveals that gamers care about morality in games such as Mass Effect,
and that the implementation of this kind of platform gives added value
to their gaming experience.
60%
agreed that their choices as the main character of the game mattered in
the grand scheme of the narrative. While some disagreed with this
statement, it is clear that most gamers feel empowered by the game’s
current morality system.
80% of respondents chose to be Paragon (good) characters.
Most
respondents claimed they see themselves as the character they play in
Mass Effect. The results for this statement were more spread out, but
the rating average here is close to the middle, which tells us that some
gamers do see themselves as the characters, while some do not.
56.7%
of respondents are aware of the limitations of the morality system in
Mass Effect. That said, and as revealed in the first statement, this
does not deter the game from its value. Despite respondents
acknowledging the limitations of the morality system in Mass Effect, the
experience is still pleasurable – a significant amount of respondents
agreed that they would still play future installments given the current
system.
A Broader Ethnography
We gathered opinions from players of the Fable, Fallout, and Mass Effect game series by interviewing users of Steam and Gamespot forums.
92% of users agree that their personal moral values strongly impact their ingame decisions. 75% of users even state that they never enjoy following the “evil” path that a game can offer. Sometimes the potential evil acts in games are “just too evil,” and the users don’t feel any desire to experience them.
A small percentage of users state that they sometimes enjoy the “evil” path, but only when in a bad mood, feel personally wronged by characters in the game and want revenge, are curious about the other outcomes within a game, or if they feel the game characters “deserve it."
92% of users agree that making “evil” in game decisions makes them feel bad, while making “good” choices feels right. These feelings can range depending on how well the game implements the morality structure into its mechanics, how well developed and portrayed the characters are, how much the player identifies with the main character, and on just how “evil” the action is. One user even admitted to a physical emotional response to taking the “evil” route, claiming a particularly heart-wrenching moment in one game brought him/her to tears.
58% of users say they replay games to see other endings, but 25% admit they’ll just seek out those endings on YouTube to watch online. Thus, they just want to satisfy their curiosity about the other endings, but do not want to expend the time and effort (and for one user, emotional energy) in re-experiencing the game in its entirety.
How did you compare?