I was just reading up on Ubisoft's latest Rainbow 6 game and I latched onto an idea they say they are going to try and present in the game, facing morally ambiguous choices. That's a bold statement in the way they are presenting it, actually attempting to have the player make morality based decisions. This has the potential to be truly great or go completely sideways in a hurry. But it got me to thinking: How should they go about it?

Is it really a morality choice if the developer forces you into it? If the choice of option A or option B is presented and option B always results in GAME OVER, was there ever really a choice? If you reacting to the commands of others,is following their orders really a moral choice if you have to do it in order to proceed? If I'm supposed to make the tough call of sacrificing the needs of the few to meet the needs of the many then I really need to be given the freedom to make that choice with all the consequences that go along with it. If you just provide the illusion of morality but force me down the path of the righteous hero or even the anti-hero then there was no real choosing to be had.

From what I've read and seen the game looks promising. There is definitely room for much groundbreaking in this area of gaming. Presenting a player with realistic choices of right and wrong and even the moral gray area with true consequences attached could push gaming to new heights of acceptance and respectability. If they can honestly give us that feeling of caring about our actions and their outcome then they will truly have innovated gaming. That said, I'll just say I'm not hopping down off the fence just yet as to whether or not they'll actually pull it off. A lot of developers have made these kinds of claims in the past that were never truly realized.