diagoras wrote:Then stop hiding behind "just shipping boxes" and start checking eye colors of scared women in the boxes, because that lord from feudal hellhole offered you nice bonus for satisfying his particular tastes in the future. That's what good moral dilemma should look like, in my humble opinion.
Part of the beauty of the current system is the complete impassivity (if that's a word!) of the list. Slaves are just listed on the market screen. (Food, tick. Textiles, tick. Radioactives, tick. Slaves, er...). The game doesn't attach any morality or ethics to the situation - all that is left up to the player.
From a technical point of view we know that it's just a piece of text, with some numbers in some registry values. You could just as well change the text to "Michael Bolton Albums" (which might have a more galvanizing effect!). We know it's just a piece of text, and the numbers are just numbers. But in the context of the game, the meaning of that text and numbers gives the game world some real depth.
Giving the player a chance to make real moral/ethical decisions in the context of the game would be great. The difficulty will be keeping that passivity in the presentation of those decisions. Oolite needs to do things in a minimalist way - you don't want to beat the player over the head for making one choice over another. There might (and should) be repercussions for their choices, but those choices should be presented impassively, with no moral or ethical baggage attached.
To give an example: The player has the opportunity to blow up a slaver ship loaded with slaves. Going too far would be: pop up a screen pops after they destroy the ship that reads "You're ears are filled with the screams of the dying." A better way would be to have that event recorded and change the opportunities presented to the player.
