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Wednesday 25 February, 2015
After starting the game on a PC and experiencing slow down, I play through Episode 1 on my iPhone 6 Plus. The game is full of moral and ethical dilemmas, six of which have meaningful consequences to the ongoing story. The game tells me I made the six choices most people make, the last one by only a 2% margin.
One of the toughest decisions is who do I side with? For the most part, I try not to take sides in order to avoid offending anyone. When necessary, I help people end arguments, and rarely say anything inflammatory, with the exception of blackmailing the pregnant black woman in the cottage into being nice to me. At the end of the chapter, I have to choose between saving the older man and the son. I choose the older man since I think the younger one can take care of himself, since the older one has been bitten. When asked who to call on for help when six people are arguing over whether to kill me, I choose Luke, who knows me best and seems kind. My first thought was to ask the pregnant woman for help, thinking she might have a maternal instinct, but I’m glad I didn’t, as she turns out not to like me much.
While sneaking around the house, I have to steal bandages, a needle, and rubbing alcohol to survive. After I find the last item, I check one more shelf and find a watch. Do I take the watch even though I already have everything I need? I decide not to, and am curious what happens if I do? Do they believe me when I say I’m sorry I stole from them? My choice ends up between stealing what I need to survive and what I want, and I choose need.
The most poignant moment is probably when I have to decide to feed or not feed a dog, sharing my limited food. I feed it, and it bites me! In fighting it off, Sam the dog ends up impaled on sharp objects, and I get to choose to end its life quickly or let it suffer. I kill the dog, worrying that it might bite me again in the process.
There is a similar situation at the end of the chapter. A person on the verge of becoming a zombie asks for water from my backback. Will it bite me if I get close enough to let it (or is it still a him?) drink? Thankfully, it doesn’t.
Finally, there is an innocent girl in the house who asks me to pinky swear that I will be her friend for life. I agree, even though we’ve just met. I feel a bit like I am lying to her to get her to help me get the supplies I need to survive, and then I wonder if I am lying to her father when I apologize for talking to her and say I won’t do it again. Am I just pleasing people to survive and stay in their good graces? Is that ethical? Would I do such a thing in real life?
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