Do you quest by your own morals?

leeux

SunnyBunny wrote: »

There is one where this lady wants you to frame an argonian so she can take over his stall. <snip>

Actually, that quest has another possible ending... it's one of the few quests in which you can try and discover an alternate way of solving it.
But I think it requires Persuasion or Intimidate in order to be able to reach that ending, though.

SunnyBunny

@leeux is there? Hmm I will have to check it out when I log in

fgoron2000

This is one of the reasons that I'm playing all 12 of my chars thru the story lines now at the same time. I can pick & choose which lines to follow, based sometimes on race, sometimes on lore, sometimes on my personal choices and morals, but most of all to see all the different variations of the different quests & stories. At this rate, I'll prolly be ready for Silver in another year or two <g>.

xKRAIZEEMANx

TrekFrost wrote: »

Overlooking the means, do you accept or reject quests based on anything?

*snip*

You?

Not at all...I will, however, choose if someone lives or dies depending how the story-line of the quest plays out. But it is a game, and I am a dirty rotten murdering thief...so...I quest unabated by morality.

TrekFrost

The Mammoth shall roam free!!

adriant1978

I wish there were more moral choices in this game but mostly it feels to me like we are forced into the role of "adventurer". Too many quests make you work with Daedra worshippers, vampires, etc to really be a full on Divines fearing hero, and too many are of the "helpful stranger" variety for you to be convincingly evil.

I guess that's the MMO vs single player thing showing.

Als3rd

Great thread. I made up my mind pretty quickly about the path I was going to travel in ESO.
I was going to live/fight for only good - never evil.
It is my decision and mine alone. If you don't feel this way - then that is your decision.
I help others in need and they help me if I need it. But this is all done by chance and afterwards, we part our ways.
I PLAY SOLO as a Magicka Sorc at CP 582 and rising. Another toon I made was played in a Guild, and it was extremely eye-opening. She has been deleted.
I have never stolen a thing. Intentionally. A few times I mistakenly auto looted a crate or barrel when trying to choose the character. I paid the bounty and didn't try to run. Hence my ESO Plus FREE auto downloaded Thieves Guild has never been played.
I also have never killed any innocents. I was filled with disgust when ESO offered this. But I know that the idea of being Evil appeals to many. So ZOS obliges the crowd (the most money). As usual. So my ESO Plus FREE auto downloaded Dark Brotherhood sits inactive and will not be played.
I also hate PVP with a passion. I will not kill another player. I feel that we should all be killing the enemy instead of each other. I have seen so many players devastating others in Cyrodil and loving it.
AND YES... I KNOW THIS IS ONLY A GAME!.
But it turns my stomach to see how much some players embrace the very idea of evil. They love being evil, and although this is a game - it is still a conscious decision that a Person Makes.
No wonder this world is filled with hatred, lies, intolerance and murder. Playing these roles is Evil 101. A light introduction into the world of how to hate.

Indigo_Shade

While no means a pacifist, my moral compass does effect the way I play ESO. So I avoid killing to steal (cough), and sometimes go out of my way to avoid killing good NPC's when doing quests. I have that passive skill that allows you to kill with one blow, and don't use it much, unless there is a nasty, evil, whatever within reach.

I don't do PVP. I know it's not right to sterotype PVP lovers, but man, so many folks really into PVP seem to have a seriously bent attitude about life in general. I avoid people like that IRL, and also when I game.

I think the quest storylines are great though. Obviously a lot of talent has gone into the questline writing, and this is one of the reasons I think ESO is so awesome. A couple of quests made me very uncomfortable, which is actually a sign that ESO is doing something right (or that the writers are all on the level of Molag Bal in some fashion, but you did not hear that from me).

Kanereno

Absolutely, I play as though it wasn't some game character, but me making the choice.
I wish they would buff Quest Xp

MrBimo

I just create characters based on if their arch type.

goatlyonesub17_ESO

It's easy to scoff at the taboos of the past, and wonder aloud at how they could all be so dumb as to behave as if something bad was really good, or as if something false was really true.

But there are current taboos, and we mostly know what will happen to us if we break them. We don't burn people at the stake anymore, but people can lose their jobs (and then their homes) for saying what they think the truth is, when it is contrary to the prevailing dogmas of political correctness. As the result, we act about the same way, conforming to the political correctness of our time, just as the "stupid" people of the past conformed to the political correctness of their times.

This is an oblique way of bringing up the fact that a certain dollop of current political correctness has been shoved into the ESO storyline. According to the PC of our day...

1. Racial mixing is good. So we have Nord women married to Khajiit males. I've never seen any patchy-furred, bob-tailed offspring with one ear turned up and tuffed and the other ear low and round, though. Have you?
2. Homosexuality is just wonderful. So we get a lot of female NPCs who have wives, and a lot of male NPCs who have husbands/male significant others/etc. And, of course, there are no problems with AIDS or hepatitis B.
3. Women are better leaders, or braver fighters, than men. So in ESO we see a lot of "Towering females, cowering males."

This is simply current social propaganda embedded within the Elder Scrolls fantasy story. There's the barest touch of it in the CRPG games, but here in ESO it has been shoveled in much more intensely. So intensely, in fact, that it's like having a pie shoved in your face every time you turn around.

I see it for what it is - real world propaganda inserted into a fantasy game where it can influence the masses, or at least the clueless portion thereof.

komodozermike

I never steal anything or kill innocents in my Alliance area.

mystfit

One of the games I played was Ultima 4. That game amazed me. As a pretty moral person myself up to that point I had adventured through games killing guards, looting chests, slaughtering whatever mobs came my way, without really considering morality. That game made me consider the morals of my actions and gave me a list of 'rules' to follow. Neverwinter's Night (I think) gave us no-aggro monsters. Yellow outlined creatures who were happy to leave me alone if I left them alone. I found I adored this play style. And it has followed me through the rest of my gaming carreer. I am new to ESO being a long time eq2 player. I also like questing. I went back to find all the quests I'd missed and found out about 75% of them dropped from non aggro, peaceful mobs that I didn't kill. I have a quest open in my journal from 2005 that I never did because it would require killing a mob I absolutely refused to kill.
I can and have made characters to fill the baddie role, because it is after all a game and if I hurt pixels I am hurting no one but I never enjoy it as much.

Tairgire

I play by my character's morals which are not entirely my own (She's a thief after all.) but not inclined to killing of innocents (no Dark Brotherhood) or anything that seems to be about bullying someone else. She'd rather root for the little guy, but she can be mercenary about some stuff. And I've refused to do quests because they don't seem to fit in with that, or made my quest decisions based on that rather than what I would do.

SirAndy

TrekFrost wrote: »

I suppose I should have expected that. I guess there was some disappointment in my reply... SirAndy was the the only person I recognized on the entire forum as they're the founder of the guild I USED TO belong to, and they're the only person being a troll.

You asked for opinions. You didn't specify that you only wanted opinions you agree with.

Dao_Jones

In most any RPG I tend to play my "main" with a personality similar to my own ("Goodish").

One exception: every character I make in an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game will steal anything not nailed to the floor.

"Yes, Mr. Random NPC, I will risk my life to enter the Endless Cavern of Frisky Spiders to find your lost cat. However, it's going to cost you whatever you keep in your kitchen cabinets, nightstands, and the 15215234 barrels you have scattered around your house. Also: I just pickpocketed your gold, your necklace, and your pants."

KimberlyannKitsuragi

For my main, I'm not going to leave anything incomplete so everything will be done one way or the other

GuinevereHelios

I'd like if all quests came with three options:
to be 'good' and do the right thing, to be neutral and try to help both sides or to be 'evil' and work against the person and try to sabotage things or team up with the daedra/bandits.

I have two characters, one evil and one good but I still do every quest I come across because I don't want to miss any of the game and I feel not doing certain quests would slow down levelling a lot since I rarely do dungeons or group with others

Runschei

On my main character I've done ALL quests

HjorrMundGandr

goatlyonesub17_ESO wrote: »

It's easy to scoff at the taboos of the past, and wonder aloud at how they could all be so dumb as to behave as if something bad was really good, or as if something false was really true.

But there are current taboos, and we mostly know what will happen to us if we break them. We don't burn people at the stake anymore, but people can lose their jobs (and then their homes) for saying what they think the truth is, when it is contrary to the prevailing dogmas of political correctness. As the result, we act about the same way, conforming to the political correctness of our time, just as the "stupid" people of the past conformed to the political correctness of their times.

This is an oblique way of bringing up the fact that a certain dollop of current political correctness has been shoved into the ESO storyline. According to the PC of our day...

1. Racial mixing is good. So we have Nord women married to Khajiit males. I've never seen any patchy-furred, bob-tailed offspring with one ear turned up and tuffed and the other ear low and round, though. Have you?
2. Homosexuality is just wonderful. So we get a lot of female NPCs who have wives, and a lot of male NPCs who have husbands/male significant others/etc. And, of course, there are no problems with AIDS or hepatitis B.
3. Women are better leaders, or braver fighters, than men. So in ESO we see a lot of "Towering females, cowering males."

This is simply current social propaganda embedded within the Elder Scrolls fantasy story. There's the barest touch of it in the CRPG games, but here in ESO it has been shoveled in much more intensely. So intensely, in fact, that it's like having a pie shoved in your face every time you turn around.

I see it for what it is - real world propaganda inserted into a fantasy game where it can influence the masses, or at least the clueless portion thereof.

I have been seeing this topic of "Political correctness" being thrown around on the forums a lot as of late. I really wonder why some individuals are having such a problem with any of ZOS's decisions to implement an accepting world view into its lore/npc's. And actually its not the first time. It's been a part of the game as far as I know since Oblivion...

I have never felt that these "social propaganda's" are being thrown into my face. I think there are a total of 4-5 quests that make up these "pies being shoved". Why would you even focus on them if they bothered you so?

I have never associated the current state of extremist feminism with the way in which ESO has depicted certain female characters. Or ...ever thought that weak character portrayal had any underlying meaning.
I guess i'm not paranoid that my favorite game is trying to brainwash me around every turn.

I would love to see half breeds of races emerge I think they would look interesting and create a more tangible living world of ESO. If these topics are running on parallel with the real world it's because those topics are becoming normal and integrated.
What is sounds like to me is that some people don't like change and want a bland stereotypical, archetype for its characters and story.

Propaganda..... no..... not even close.

Quick go turn on the wireless, gather around and we will all listen to Tokyo Rose...
Anything can be turned into propaganda, to those who don't want to listen.

basketcaseNZ

Yes, I'm not big on slaughtering goblins for example. In Auridon there's a quest involving goblins. You meet one who talks to you and tells you that the tribe were once slaves and came here when they escaped. I turned around and walked right back out again.

Majeure

No, but I make quest choices based on my own morals, instead of coming up with an in depth character biography and thinking about each quest choice in-character. I used to, but then I made alts, many of them.

I'm a completionist, I can't just abandon a quest when it suits me...

bloodthirstyvampire

If its DC or AD soldiers they die like that one dc soldier, who told me to pull a lever to free him, i pulled the other one and burnt him alive it was glorious

Hobbes84

Ok so... why did you even bother buying the game if you're not willing to do "bad" quests? I understand deciding to be good and allowing people to live when given the choice in a quest or being evil and letting people die in the quest but flat out avoiding a quest because you personally object to, say, killing in real life doesn't make sense in a video game. Is this how you base all of your video game experiences? Do you avoid all games with killing because you don't kill in real life? Do you avoid games with drugs because you don't do drugs in real life? Do you avoid games in which you have multiple lives because you only die once in real life? Do you see what I'm saying? It's ridiculous to expect a video game to fit your PERSONAL ethical and moral standards. You might not want to burn down that village... but thousands of others have and will. The vast majority of video gamers do not skip quests and give up XP and items and gold because they are RP in their own head. Skip those quests if you want but it's moronic that you think an entire game should be altered to fit your unrealistic needs.

KingofAnnwn

I'll do any quest that I find, prior to doing cadwell's silver and gold I tried to complete all the side quests from an area before moving on to the next one. I have no concerns with the outcomes of my actions, it's just a game at the end of the day

Ostaradoe

Hobbes84 wrote: »

Ok so... why did you even bother buying the game if you're not willing to do "bad" quests? I understand deciding to be good and allowing people to live when given the choice in a quest or being evil and letting people die in the quest but flat out avoiding a quest because you personally object to, say, killing in real life doesn't make sense in a video game. Is this how you base all of your video game experiences? Do you avoid all games with killing because you don't kill in real life? Do you avoid games with drugs because you don't do drugs in real life? Do you avoid games in which you have multiple lives because you only die once in real life? Do you see what I'm saying? It's ridiculous to expect a video game to fit your PERSONAL ethical and moral standards. You might not want to burn down that village... but thousands of others have and will. The vast majority of video gamers do not skip quests and give up XP and items and gold because they are RP in their own head. Skip those quests if you want but it's moronic that you think an entire game should be altered to fit your unrealistic needs.

Why do you care so much, why so much indignation? How someone else chooses to play THEIR character is not moronic, it is personal choice. I don't think anyone wants to alter the game, just alter THEIR experience of the game. Each of us as players gets whatever we want out of this game and it is not for anyone else to insult them because of it.

Back to topic, I tend to allow my characters to grow and develop a personality as they go. Sometimes that becomes a morally superior goody two shoes, sometimes a serious bad arse no nonsense get the job done type, but mostly somewhere in the middle - as a long time chaotic neutral it feels more natural!

Druachan

I think its quite difficult to play as someone you don't share some morals with. Afterall you are making the decisions for that character so it would be difficult to say yourr own moral compass isn't guiding you somewhere along the lines. I play my main character the way i would see it. Each to their own and its always interesting to hear how other people play. People get different things from playing the game to others. Personally I just love being in the world.

Nord_Templar

TrekFrost wrote: »

This is a game, and it contains a linear system of accumulating points (points). You have to execute all the quests. In the game, you have to get yourself dirty, not once.
  Yes, many quests and locations are not pleasant. But this is a test.
  I understand that I have to develop my character, I have to earn game money to spend it - to buy weapons and armor. This is necessary to win the game.

I do not kill civilians, but I steal everything I can)). It's a tax on war. I'm a hero - let the population be grateful to me, I saved them all from death)).
Let the city guard work better, and I will not steal ))

Merlin13KAGL

Well, much like IRL, the game does not allow you to permanently affect the world in most cases.

There is no longstanding reputation, whether fame or infamy, as in the standalone games.

There are only the outcome options ZoS gives you. There is no option D, as the game would be very different, my characters would be viewed differently, and that's okay.

There is no Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic, Good/Neutral/Evil.

You can murder someone and have an NPC 10 feet away stroll across the body and go about their day.

You can rescue an entire village from destruction only to be killed moments later for accidentally targeting a (now stolen) apple instead of the NPC you wished to speak to.

As there is no real long term effect on anything in this game, other than some passerby's commentary or visual differences, there is no benefit or downside to choice, even the big scary Red dialogue ones.

I do not play as I would, for the most part. I do generally play as my character would. In both instances, there are situational exceptions.

mbn89

I quest by my character's morals actually. I have a DK Nord that has a sense of righteousness to him so all of his choices are based on the lesser evil. Regardless of the reward or outcome the lesser evil is always taken.

But, I also have a Dark Elf NB who is a little more on the bandit side. So his choices are more oriented towards Bigger Reward or most beneficial situation to him such as less enemies? Will it make the quest easier? What can this choice do to help make his life easier....regardless of who it effects other than himself.