I love the way the new Prey game handles morality

[feotakahari]

 This isn’t gonna be a full Fiction for Utilitarians, because I try to do those for overlooked or forgotten fiction, and Prey is a major new release. I just feel like gushing a little.

The writers of Prey were clearly aware of Utilitarian thought. There are a lot of references to the trolley problem, and the story’s central conflict is very Utilitarian in nature. There are several points where you’re given a moral dilemma and asked to sort it out, and one of your answers is often Utilitarian in nature.

The game doesn’t actually care how you solve these problems. Many different solutions lead to a “good” ending, because they’re choices a good person might make. Instead, you’re judged on how much of a dick you are, and whether or not your actions show any empathy towards the people around you.

In that sense, this isn’t Fiction for Utilitarians, because Utilitarianism is just one possible framework you can act within. Fiction for Humanists, maybe? At the very least, I find it refreshing that following my instincts doesn’t immediately drop me down the karma meter.