If designers have done their job well, he thinks, people will care about their in-game decisions and really examine what kind of person outside of the game they are to make those choices. He said it was a challenge to make the player feel like their choices truly matter. What do I do in this situation? What are the consequences? Why would I do this one thing over another?” “I wanted to give that experience to players. It ties into what I had done as a police officer facing these kinds of moral decisions every day,” Fisher-Lasky said. “When I found out they were working on the ‘Ultima’ series, I was really excited about it. He says the decisions made in “Ultima Forever” are similar to the types of decisions he had to make while on the force – just at a much slower pace. Do you give it to the authorities (Honesty), donate it to the church (Spirituality) or hand it over to a starving family (Compassion)? Keeping it, which would be the likely choice in most of today’s games, doesn’t help you win this one.īioware designer Alec Fisher-Lasky was a former Arlington County, Virginia, police officer before deciding to get into video games. You find a bag of gold, which you know was stolen. And maybe they will start to recognize these same choices in their real life and become better people,” she said.Īs players progress, choices need to be made about questions that don’t always have black-and-white answers.
“It’s not like the game is going to grab you by the throat and make you make these choices. She says the game is almost like a personality test, giving players choices in the attempt to be a good person. Rather than seeing how many creatures a player can kill or how much gold they can accumulate, Flack is more interested in getting inside the player’s head. “When (a non-player character) asks you a question … you are forced to pause and ask yourself, ‘What do I think is the right thing to do? Do I want to be kind, or do I want to be fair? What kind of person am I?’ “ “It’s about mastering yourself, not mastering the world,” she said. While the graphics, look and feel have obviously been upgraded due to advancements in technology over the years, Flack said the concept still remains true to what it was nearly three decades ago. Players can join up to three friends, as each works toward the goal of becoming the virtuous “avatar” of the land. “Ultima Forever” picks up 21 years after “Ultima IV” left off. I’m going to be as subversive as ‘Ultima IV’ was at the time.” If it’s not covered in blood, we don’t believe it. “I think the parallel nowadays is that we are almost frightened of high fantasy. At the time, it was in reaction to a backlash against the violence and things in video games. The developers of “Ultima IV” “were saying games can be about being a good person. They are affected by all the things around them,” Flack said. Lead designer Kate Flack said “Ultima Forever” hopes to bring back the appeal of being a good person in a video game. It is considered one of the most innovative games ever because of its divergence from the typical hack-and-slash approach. The new title is based off “Ultima IV,” a computer game dating all the way to 1985. Through actions in the game, players strive to become a shining example of good for the population. In it, the hero must achieve the highest levels in eight virtues: Valor, Justice, Honor, Compassion, Honestly, Humility, Sacrifice and Spirituality. But 27 years ago, it was exactly the type of game that caught the imagination and spurred excitement in gamers.ĭevelopers at Bioware are hoping to catch that same virtual lightning in a bottle with “Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar,” the next chapter in the search for the Avatar of Britannia. Making a video game espousing the virtues of compassion, sacrifice and spirituality doesn’t sound like a winner in today’s battle-happy gaming environment.
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