Morals, schmorals.

So I'm playing Mass Effect 3. There were two main points that I got from the game. One amazing and one annoying.

The first point is the annoying one. That damn galactic readiness really got my goat. I played a little on-line and bumped up my readiness. All was good. That was until I noticed my readiness had dropped down. One quick Google search and I found out that it dropped down every time I turned on the game.
I understand that this was to get the on-line community playing regularly but unfortunately it had the opposite effect with me. I didn't want to play unless I could really bump up my readiness on-line in a long session, not the thirty minutes to an hour I can usually fit in. The way it was all tied in was good and the on-line game is excellent but I didn't want to destroy my chances of getting a good ending without playing a game on-line. To be honest it is only a small sticking point in an otherwise excellent game.

The second point is the amazing one. I've dutifully played as a paragon all through the series. I've always tried to do the right thing. I saved Wrex on the first game, stopped the young man joining the mercenaries in the second game and generally been a great guy. Now I've hit a part of the game where the Geth and the Quarians are at each others throats and you have the choice to side with one or the other and are chosen to wipe out a whole species. A WHOLE SPECIES!
I honestly didn't know what to to and sat staring at the screen trying to figure out a way to keep both alive. Realising I couldn't, I was tried to justify one over the other and came up with nothing. I didn't have the option to solve the situation and let them work together because I hadn't done a certain mission so I had no choice but to make a choice. I went for one in the end and it stayed with me through the rest of the day. I questioned myself over and over and felt truly guilty about the choice I made.
No other medium has made me this emotional. I've watched films and read books that have made me question the character's motives and ideals but Mass Effect 3 made me question mine. It blew my mind and made other games such as Bioshock or Grand theft Auto 4 that attempt to force moral choices pale in comparison. Maybe it was the fact I wasn't as emotionally invested in the nameless guy in Bioshock or Niko Bellic as I was in a Shepard that I had spent 90 hours making choices and shaping the character.
When choices in games are done right it is profound. The fact that video games can make me feel like this is a testament to the power that the creative video games have and how more powerful than other platforms they can potentially be.