Saturday 1 September, 2018

After progressing further in the game, I have had several officers who were killed. Every time it happens, it is always very sudden and with no explanation or aftermath. The game makes the death of an officer seem trivial. And not just for officers, but for civilians as well. The game often forces me to make ethical decisions of who to kill or save without showing the actual situation or who the suspect is. The game presents situations too ambiguously to properly make life or death decisions. The majority of the time, I went for the more violent choice. Death seemed meaningless because of the lack of emotional connection to each crime. It seems the developers did this intentionally, as a real-life police chief would probably also have to make decisions like this. It really made me question how I would act as a real-life police chief.

Good job Clay! You bring up some interesting points, especially in regards to how past events in the game had an effect on your future decisions. How heavily should past events be weighted while considering ethical issues? Is doing the "wrong" thing right if doing the "right" thing hasn't worked in the past, or is the right thing always right and the wrong thing always wrong?