FTL's Writer on Slavery & Interactive Mechanics

[Tom Jubert]

Hi all,

I did a little talk recently here in London discussing some of the design that went into FTL's text events, and the responsibilities this gives us.

If you're interested you can check it out here:

http://tom-jubert.blogspot.co.uk/2014/0 ... avery.html

Hope you find it interesting!

Tom

[Elhazzared]

The topic is interesting though I do not necessarely share your vision of what a game should deliver from a moral standpoint. It is in fact the best option that the game detaches itself as much as possible from having a sense of morality or to impart with a message that you are doing something right or wrong because when it is done that just makes it feel like the game doesn't intend to give you choices but rather is there to show you the moral standpoint of who made it and that is wrong.

If a game is to have moral choices they should be absolutly neutral from the creation standpoint. The game should always pass the message that it neither condemns nor condones any moral choices that you take. the issue of morality should always be left up to the player and that is why I feel you mostly tackled the subject well with FTL.

Now there are some parts that are left in blank as you said. Getting an extra crew member which was formerly a slave. How willing would he be to just join you on a suicidal quest?.. I suppose it would depend. If you bought him off the slaves then he is a slave and it's unlikelly that he'd be willing to help out. Of course it could be said that you give him the freedom and because he's grateful he wants to stay and help, however that is not very likely. Still this is one situation. On all other situations where you get a slave you actively rescue them and it is a lot safer to assume that the person in question would be so grateful he'd be willing to risk his life to help you carry your mission.

Now, despite everything it is possible that you could have implemented things in a way they would make more sense when it comes as to how a slave would react to a specific situation but then again they were well implemented as fa as game mechanics matters and at the end of the day a game shouldn't try to be more than a game and logic sometimes has to take a back step in order to create the necessary balance for the game.

At the end of the day I find most thins to be very sensible about the game and indeed the game not trying to bother you overly with moral choices is a good thing... For players who care only about playing the game, getting better scores and having some fun, they'll just ignore it because at the end of the day, it's just a game, the consequences happen only inside that small controled world and no one is affected by it.

On the other hand, having no moral standpoint is also great for people like me who like to write every now and then. The fact that the game doesn't tries to shove a moral issue in a particular view from the creators of the game just gives me the freedom to tailor what I write however I like.

[agigabyte]

I agree with Elhazarad, we should be able to do whatever we want. I myself choose the "Good guy" path, as I am a very moral person, and perceive the emotions of others very clearly. (This does not, however apply outside of events, as clear from my love of anti crew weapons.)

[Brethern]

To me personally I see it as a question of long term planning. There's a good chance the slave has intel into the slaver's operation, there's no reason to think that after the rebels are defeated you won't go back and end the operation.

[LastDay]

To be completely honest FTL never captured me emotionally.
I don't care for the little dudes aside from their tactical uses.
...Except save for sometimes naming one something to see if it gets on the scoreboard!

I tend to focus mostly on gameplay unless a game does a REALLY good job with story.
(Mass Effect 2 comes to mind! Great story.)

I do listen/read a ton of dialog (many of my friends always skip all dialog) in games, but I rarely feel connected enough to fictional characters to really care more than a little bit.
I'm more driven by curiosity and amusement.
"Ooh, what happens if I help this guy?"
"What if I kill this person here?"
"Whoa this character is a badass, he's funny so I want to keep him around!"
"This person is a jerk. I'll kill him/her!"

Think of a guy in pink armor killing a little girl and cooking her into a steak...
...and then selling said steak to a random shopkeeper!
Such are my "morals" in most videogames.
Kill, maim, burn! ... And prance with unicorns!

On the flipside I tend to be very honest and polite towards real people!
The two clash, I know. I lean more towards honest.

[Levgre]

We could assume that all the slaves were federation fighters (or at least on the side of the federation), since..

Civvies wouldn't typically know how to operate all the systems on a ship
They are not all humans, like rebels
The federation would not sell PoWs to slavers, while the morally scrupulous rebels would

[RedDraconis]

I think that this whole problem with getting a slave could be fixed just by changing the dialouge when you get the crew member from "you accept the slave tribute." to something more like this; "the alien/person happily joins your crew rather than continuing a being a slave."