Five Features That Changed Gaming
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I'll admit I don't actually know the first game where good or bad choices had to be made by the player but I do remember the first game where it was a major feature and made other developers take notice.Thanks, Blue's News.
Star Wars: Knights Of the Old Republic is to this day still not only one of the best Star Wars games ever made, but also one of the best role playing games, period. The combat, graphics, settlings, and story - all of this had such incredible polish that it practically made BioWare a household name.
One of the standout features of the title was being able to either follow the "light side" or the "dark side". This was done by having the player make moral decisions. While Knights Of the Old Republic was fairly straightforward with good and evil choices, future games to use this concept would elaborate further. Knights Of the Old Republic 2 had additional grey area in its choices, so the decisions were tougher to make. Mass Effect didn't even give you the choices between good or evil, as you were always going to be the guy saving the galaxy. Your choices were more confined to playing things by the books, or punching panicking scientists in the face.
Fable II also took its morals system further than the first one by giving you choices with real consequences beyond merely the reactions of others. In order to be a good guy, you actually had to make sacrifices.
Adding a set of moral choices into a game does a similar thing to adding a cover system. It adds a sense of realism. It also provides a way of making you care about the game. If you have to make decisions that will impact your character and the world around them, that's something you will want to put some thought into.
Traditionally, moralistic choices have been featured in role-playing games, however other genres are now trying to incorporate this concept with varying success. Even the brutally violent Grand Theft Auto IV gave you moments where you could choose to be compassionate. It seems certain that as we go forward developers will find more interesting ways of implementing choices that really make you think, and aren't always entirely black and white.
