Most Mass Effect players chose to play as a good guy

[midian182]

In a nutshell: When playing games that offer a binary choice of being good or evil, what path do you choose? If you prefer to be a saintly hero, you’re not alone. According to former designers at BioWare and Telltale, most people like to play as the good guy/girl.

Responding to a viral tweet about how players often choose the 'right' path in games with morality systems, former Mass Effect cinematic designer John Ebenger revealed this was certainly the case with Mass Effect. "Yup. Something like 92% of Mass Effect players were Paragon. And we put a lot of work in to the Renegade content too," he tweeted in response.

Yup. Something like 92% of Mass Effect players were Paragon.
And we put a lot of work in to the Renegade content too :( https://t.co/lywwx7n4Hy

— John Ebenger (@EbengerJohn) February 19, 2020

Former Telltale narrative designer Matt Boland said the same thing was true with its games. “People always want to be the good guy. The trick was always pitting what they wanted to do against what they SHOULD do. [Mass Effect] had a ton of these too," he said. Ebenger replied, "Yup, We also always tried getting them to get attached to characters with opposing needs and make them choose who they loved the most. Direct conflict between beloved characters is great!"

Yup, We also always tried getting them to get attached to characters with opposing needs and make them choose who they loved the most.
Direct conflict between beloved characters is great!

— John Ebenger (@EbengerJohn) February 19, 2020

Kotaku notes that people appeared a lot happier to play the baddie in Mass Effect 3; its statistics show 35.5 percent of players were Renegade. That could count multiple playthroughs, though, not just the first. Like many people, I prefer to take the good path before replaying the game as a total asshat just to see the different content.

Do you like to play as a clean-cut hero/heroine in games, or do you let your dark side shine through? Let us know in the comments below.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/84131-most-mass-effect-players-chose-play-good-guy.html

 

[Puiu]

The good side usually has the "true ending" in such games so people want to see the whole content. After that I'll try the other routes if I have time.

 

[DDG4005]

I usually play as Paragon Shepard with a dash of Renegade.

 

[SirDigby]

It is escapist fantasy but when I play a game with a moral compass it's usually me roleplaying me in the game - but like me-UNLOCKED to superhuman insane potential that would never happen ever. I'm short fat and disabled so I wont be kicking arse anytime soon. One of my most fun memories was playing Doom (2016) a couple of months ago and literally just tearing sh*t up.

 

[Rock Dirty]

The 8% who played as the bad guy have had their information forwarded to Homeland Security.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Because the game locks some content when you play as a renegade, and as a renegade you are just an *******. As Yhatzee would say; "moral choice systems are BS". A REAL moral choice system would have gradiants of good/evil, or perhaps moral standing amongst different characters/factions, and you woul have just as much content locked behind renegade as you would paragon.

 

[BigRedPDX]

It is escapist fantasy but when I play a game with a moral compass it's usually me roleplaying me in the game - but like me-UNLOCKED to superhuman insane potential that would never happen ever. I'm short fat and disabled so I wont be kicking arse anytime soon. One of my most fun memories was playing Doom (2016) a couple of months ago and literally just tearing sh*t up.

I like your spunk, though. I think most gamers play the good side in these moral adventures, then try for chaotic evil when they can. I usually end up in the middle because I forget that I'm even trying to play the other side. There's an actual conscious effort put in trying to play an alignment that isn't your own natural one. This statistic is good to see because I like to think there are more good intention humans on this planet than there are bad intention ones.

 

[Liljonny11]

Yeah the best ending is only achieved while playing mostly paragon. The most amount of your friends and allies will (*spoilers) die if you play renegade. It's an interesting set of data but truly skewed one way, everyone knows if you want the best playthrough you have to play paragon

 

[gamerk2]

The problem is that too often Renegade Shepard simply acted like an ***, or at times downright evil. The problem is Bioware couldn't find the balance between "Boy Scout" and "Sociopath", much less options that split the two.

 

[SirDigby]

I like your spunk, though. I think most gamers play the good side in these moral adventures, then try for chaotic evil when they can. I usually end up in the middle because I forget that I'm even trying to play the other side. There's an actual conscious effort put in trying to play an alignment that isn't your own natural one. This statistic is good to see because I like to think there are more good intention humans on this planet than there are bad intention ones.

I always feel really guilty choosing evil, could never harvest little sisters in bioshock, and I tried to blow up megaton but it just kinda sucked. Much easier on strategy games though where you are more removed from your characters - Dawn of War 2 the Chaos expansion was fun to corrupt, and evil campaign in Battle for Middle Earth 2 was also great.

 

[ShagnWagn]

"how players often choose"

So, how are they getting this data? A poll? Privacy invasion by tracking players in-game? I'm saying it's the latter. I guess they feel they have the right to watch you 24/7? Was this disclosed before purchase? I bet not. Just like how Monster Hunter did not disclose they will take whatever they want off my computer. Unfortunately they do not even offer a refund. You cannot even get into the intro screen without accepting a EULA you do not agree to. Companies really are scum.

 

[poohbear]

Well I'm glad we got this information in a timely manner. I mean, Mass Effect was only 13 years ago. Maybe we'll get stats on Witcher 3 in 2028!

 

[toooooot]

We are 92%.
I am just wondering, are those 8% who are terrible people in real life? There must be a psychology behind this statistics.

 

[Capaill]

As has been said, there is a greater risk of messing your game up if you try to play Renegade. It's better to play it once or twice as Paragon to check where you can make the bad decisions before you go full on Renegade. There are some parts near the end of each game where you will need to be near max in either one in order to have a satisfactory conclusion and you had better have done your homework leading up to it (eg. surviving Morinth in ME2).
But playing as Renegade is fun in parts. Like pushing the security guy out the window. Or punching the reporter.

 

[DDG4005]

As has been said, there is a greater risk of messing your game up if you try to play Renegade. It's better to play it once or twice as Paragon to check where you can make the bad decisions before you go full on Renegade. There are some parts near the end of each game where you will need to be near max in either one in order to have a satisfactory conclusion and you had better have done your homework leading up to it (eg. surviving Morinth in ME2).
But playing as Renegade is fun in parts. Like pushing the security guy out the window. Or punching the reporter.

I always punch the reporter and push the mercenary out of the window. Too much fun not to.