If that is the case, then every single world leader in the history of the world, almost without exception...is evil.
People in positions of power have to make tough choices like this all the time...it's not enviable, but I wouldn't call it evil. The point is that SOMEONE has to make that choice. And if they make the choice that preserves their own conscience (not killing) then they are a poor leader.
But here's the thing. This is a complicated moral decision without a clear implication of good or evil. Star Wars is generally not like that. It is pretty cut and dry, black and white. Jedi good, Empire/Sith bad. My prediction would be that there will be fairly clear cut choices between good and evil in the game.
ADDENDUM:
Another thing we really have to ask is what is the uncertainty and immediacy involved in this situation? Are you in a crashing ship with two escape pods, one with 100 children and one with 10 children, and you only have time to launch one? In this situation, the easy choice is to save 100 children...even though you pretty much killed the 10.
Or did you just see a prophecy that 10 children would slaughter 100 children if left alive?
One of these situations is absolutely certain, the other is sketchy. I think killing the 10 children in the prophecy scenario would be darkside...but the other scenario, no way.
No, that's more like utilitarianism. Also, certain actions being evil or not really is something difficult to assess. If you had to make a choice where you had to sacrifice your entire family or 10 innocent children to save the world, which would be evil/good? Which would be morally correct/incorrect? These are questions that are difficult to narrow down to a specific answer and that have stimulated debate between philosophers for centuries. Morality, no matter where, is never going to be right/wrong, black/white, not even in Star Wars. In fact, it is never explicitly said that the Sith are evil and that the Jedi are good. Many decisions made by Jedis in the movie can be debated as to being either evil/good. For instance, Yoda told Luke not to save his friends, as he would not be ready to confront Vader. Is Yoda evil or is he aiming for a greater good?
The Dark Side choices for a Jedi will be things that make the character deviate from the Jedi's philosophy. The retention of emotions, fear, love, anger, hate, the lack of utilitarianism, etc. will be the governing traits of Dark Side choices.
Well I just found it, It's in his full beta preview, and I realized I put out more than he did, I'm going to edit my post because well I'm not taking any chances with that.
All he said was this:
"I had to return an AWOL doctor to the Republic and he wouldn’t budge unless we evacuated the many orphans he’d taken under his care as well. I made the call to not expend unnecessary Republic resources securing the whole group"
In this case, it would be a Dark Side choice because he is not following the Jedi's utilitarianism. He had the capability of saving more people, but chose to preserve the good of a few and not take the orphans. It isn't a Dark Side choice because he's effectively letting orphans die. For instance, if he had the choice of saving 10 orphans or 100 old men, the Light Side choice would involve letting the orphans die.
Well I just found it, It's in his full beta preview, and I realized I put out more than he did, I'm going to edit my post because well I'm not taking any chances with that.
All he said was this:
"I had to return an AWOL doctor to the Republic and he wouldn’t budge unless we evacuated the many orphans he’d taken under his care as well. I made the call to not expend unnecessary Republic resources securing the whole group"
In this case, it would be a Dark Side choice because he is not following the Jedi's utilitarianism. He had the capability of saving more people, but the preserve the good of a few, who chose not to take the orphans. It isn't a Dark Side choice because he's effectively letting orphans die. For instance, if he had the choice of saving 10 orphans or 100 old men, the Light Side choice would involve letting the orphans die.
It was actually on the Smuggler/Trooper world as far as I remember. He was playing a trooper I was playing a Smuggler. IMO the Dark Side choice is one based on simply following orders, where as the light side choice was based on having compassion for all who were in danger. Being the Han Solo arch-type I showed my sensitive side, being the hardline trooper mike B showed his loyalty to the orders he was given.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Originally posted by Distopia Well I just found it, It's in his full beta preview, and I realized I put out more than he did, I'm going to edit my post because well I'm not taking any chances with that. All he said was this: "I had to return an AWOL doctor to the Republic and he wouldnt budge unless we evacuated the many orphans hed taken under his care as well. I made the call to not expend unnecessary Republic resources securing the whole group"
In this case, it would be a Dark Side choice because he is not following the Jedi's utilitarianism. He had the capability of saving more people, but the preserve the good of a few, who chose not to take the orphans. It isn't a Dark Side choice because he's effectively letting orphans die. For instance, if he had the choice of saving 10 orphans or 100 old men, the Light Side choice would involve letting the orphans die.
It was actually on the Smuggler/Trooper world as far as I remember. He was playing a trooper I was playing a Smuggler. IMO the Dark Side choice is one based on simply following orders, where as the light side choice was based on having compassion for all who were in danger. Being the Han Solo arch-type I showed my sensitive side, being the hardline trooper mike B showed his loyalty to the orders he was given.
I don't think it is a question of following orders or not as that would be rather shallow. There is more of a "marines" mentality for the Light Side choice of not leaving anyone behind while the Dark Side choice consists on preserving the good a few even when granted the possibility of saving the rest as well. Following orders does not equate to performing Dark Side acts but some of the implications within these orders may, and those implications are what matter.
I think the point needs to be made, that if you think its evil to kill someone then don't do it. But if threading a woman with a small child, into telling you the truth is evil but ok in your book then do it. there are different degrees of evil based on your personal views. Lets say you have the choice to save a group of 10 kids from a bad guy, can you run in and rescue the kids without killing the bad guy because he surrenders as the last moment, or do you just charge in and blast the bad guy, when he surrenders you still kill him cause he kidnapped 10 kids. whos to say the bad guy couldn't be redeemed? its now evil that you killed this unarmed guy. You were payed to save the kids, how you get to the end is your choice of good/evil.
I highly doubt they built there game where the only evil act is to kill someone too. I'm sure lieing about something nets you evil points too. IE, your sent out to investigate some missing supplies, you then find out that someone stole the supplies so they could save there family. You choose, to instead go back to your superiors and tell them you couldn't find any supply's or the person who stole them. It's now an act of evil that you lied to your superiors. The point is, not all acts of evil evolve around killing, theirs different degrees of evil and its your choice on how you want to handle it. If you want to maintain your neutrality with killing a few innocent people, sure your prob bad in their friends eyes and prob your superiors eyes, but the guy down the road who doesn't know you, and ask for you to save his kid, when you bring his kid back thinks your a good guy.
The point is, not every quest will be about killing innocent people in order to get evil points, so if you don't want to kill innocent people in order to maintain your neutral alignment then don't.
Comments
No, that's more like utilitarianism. Also, certain actions being evil or not really is something difficult to assess. If you had to make a choice where you had to sacrifice your entire family or 10 innocent children to save the world, which would be evil/good? Which would be morally correct/incorrect? These are questions that are difficult to narrow down to a specific answer and that have stimulated debate between philosophers for centuries. Morality, no matter where, is never going to be right/wrong, black/white, not even in Star Wars. In fact, it is never explicitly said that the Sith are evil and that the Jedi are good. Many decisions made by Jedis in the movie can be debated as to being either evil/good. For instance, Yoda told Luke not to save his friends, as he would not be ready to confront Vader. Is Yoda evil or is he aiming for a greater good?
The Dark Side choices for a Jedi will be things that make the character deviate from the Jedi's philosophy. The retention of emotions, fear, love, anger, hate, the lack of utilitarianism, etc. will be the governing traits of Dark Side choices.
In this case, it would be a Dark Side choice because he is not following the Jedi's utilitarianism. He had the capability of saving more people, but chose to preserve the good of a few and not take the orphans. It isn't a Dark Side choice because he's effectively letting orphans die. For instance, if he had the choice of saving 10 orphans or 100 old men, the Light Side choice would involve letting the orphans die.
It was actually on the Smuggler/Trooper world as far as I remember. He was playing a trooper I was playing a Smuggler. IMO the Dark Side choice is one based on simply following orders, where as the light side choice was based on having compassion for all who were in danger. Being the Han Solo arch-type I showed my sensitive side, being the hardline trooper mike B showed his loyalty to the orders he was given.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
In this case, it would be a Dark Side choice because he is not following the Jedi's utilitarianism. He had the capability of saving more people, but the preserve the good of a few, who chose not to take the orphans. It isn't a Dark Side choice because he's effectively letting orphans die. For instance, if he had the choice of saving 10 orphans or 100 old men, the Light Side choice would involve letting the orphans die.
It was actually on the Smuggler/Trooper world as far as I remember. He was playing a trooper I was playing a Smuggler. IMO the Dark Side choice is one based on simply following orders, where as the light side choice was based on having compassion for all who were in danger. Being the Han Solo arch-type I showed my sensitive side, being the hardline trooper mike B showed his loyalty to the orders he was given.
I don't think it is a question of following orders or not as that would be rather shallow. There is more of a "marines" mentality for the Light Side choice of not leaving anyone behind while the Dark Side choice consists on preserving the good a few even when granted the possibility of saving the rest as well. Following orders does not equate to performing Dark Side acts but some of the implications within these orders may, and those implications are what matter.I think the point needs to be made, that if you think its evil to kill someone then don't do it. But if threading a woman with a small child, into telling you the truth is evil but ok in your book then do it. there are different degrees of evil based on your personal views. Lets say you have the choice to save a group of 10 kids from a bad guy, can you run in and rescue the kids without killing the bad guy because he surrenders as the last moment, or do you just charge in and blast the bad guy, when he surrenders you still kill him cause he kidnapped 10 kids. whos to say the bad guy couldn't be redeemed? its now evil that you killed this unarmed guy. You were payed to save the kids, how you get to the end is your choice of good/evil.
I highly doubt they built there game where the only evil act is to kill someone too. I'm sure lieing about something nets you evil points too. IE, your sent out to investigate some missing supplies, you then find out that someone stole the supplies so they could save there family. You choose, to instead go back to your superiors and tell them you couldn't find any supply's or the person who stole them. It's now an act of evil that you lied to your superiors. The point is, not all acts of evil evolve around killing, theirs different degrees of evil and its your choice on how you want to handle it. If you want to maintain your neutrality with killing a few innocent people, sure your prob bad in their friends eyes and prob your superiors eyes, but the guy down the road who doesn't know you, and ask for you to save his kid, when you bring his kid back thinks your a good guy.
The point is, not every quest will be about killing innocent people in order to get evil points, so if you don't want to kill innocent people in order to maintain your neutral alignment then don't.