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.

  • msage
    2·
    1 year ago

    I have the opposite experience.

    I remember one character in Perfect World MMO… I played an archer, one of the weakest classes. I happened to play a girl. Then one male chatted me up, we did some quests, just had fun.

    After a while, he asked me if I wanted to chill a bit, and I agreed. In the game, males can take females into their arms, also everyone can fly. So he took me in his arms and started flying seemingly randomly around the sky.

    After a bit we approached some clouds, and lo and behold, we entered an area inside.

    It was a hidden well-lit cave with trees, flowers, a waterfall, beautiful colors and a quiet atmosphere. It was small and very cozy, the sun was shining on the lake in the small meadow surrounded by places to lay down. Just the nicest place you can imagine. We just rolled around there and talked about everything.

    It still tugs on my heart strings when I recall that moment. Truly one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had in gaming.