The moment that inspired this question:
A long time ago I was playing an MMO called Voyage of the Century Online. A major part of the game was sailing around on a galleon ship and having naval battles in the 1600s.
The game basically allowed you to sail around all of the oceans of the 1600s world and explore. The game was populated with a lot of NPC ships that you could raid and pick up its cargo for loot.
One time, I was sailing around the western coast of Africa and I came across some slavers. This was shocking to me at the time, and I was like “oh, I’m gonna fuck these racist slavers up!”
I proceed to engage the slave ship in battle and win. As I approach the wreckage, I’m bummed out because there wasn’t any loot. Like every ship up until this point had at least some spare cannon balls or treasure, but this one had nothing.
… then it hit me. A slave ship’s cargo would be… people. I sunk this ship and the reason there wasn’t any loot was because I killed the cargo. I felt so bad.
I just sat there for a little while and felt guilty, but I always appreciated that the developers included that detail so I could be humbled in my own self-righteousness. Not all issues can be solved with force.
This is a great question, lots of interesting replies.
There’s so many points for me that were also turning points for gaming. Watching the pixels move on the TV because they were being told to by the console, from the original Pong, to Atari 2600 Space Invaders, were all events that left an impression. Playing a Williams licenced Defender on an Atari 400, and Donkey Kong.
I grew up with all this, it was part of my childhood.
Then, one day, some friends got a Playstation, the original. I went round and they were playing Die Hard. They had the gun controller that came with it. I watched for a bit and I couldn’t keep up, things happening so quickly it looked so intense and sort of real. It was fascinating but also terrifying.
Then it was my turn, I said no it’s not for me I can’t do that. Go on they said and pushed the gun at me. Alright, but I’ll be shit.
Some time passed and I found myself moving through an airport, my friends barking as each baddie appeared and going silent as I popped them and moved on. Slick, efficient, deadly.
I stopped and held the gun loosely, they turned protesting in dismay. I was shaking and sweating, I couldn’t go on. Something changed that day, I knew games were different now. There was no going back, from now on I would always be a First Person Shooter.