Difference between revisions of "BioWare"

Revision as of 05:52, 25 November 2011

BioWare's official logo

BioWare is a video game developer based in Canada. It was founded in 1995 by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk--"the Doctors"--along with Augustine Yip.However it is currently owned by "EA" (Electronic Arts), an American video game company. (Back to index)

Morality in BioWare Games

Dialogue Choices

How some players feel about the options that Mass Effect's dialogue wheels provide

Starting with their Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series and continuing with Mass Effect and Dragon Age, BioWare has developed a binary morality system that alters a player's character based on the actions they perform.

In the aforementioned games, the user is presented a "dialogue wheel", where dialogue choices that are aligned as either paragon, neutral, or rogue affect both the flow of the player's conversation with a non-player character(NPC) and the ensuing gameplay. In some cases, the choices a player makes can determine the life or death of a squad mate and the chance of success on a critical mission.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

In Mass Effect, many types of neutral and hostile AI are implemented in different situations. On the Citadel, the game's central hub of intergalactic government, there are AIs that provide any information you ask concerning directions on how to get to specific locations within the Citadel and then transports you without questioning your motives. Whether you need directions to the medical ward to interview a survivor of an attack or need fast transit to the lower wards to kill a traitorous soldier, the AI performs its tasks as programmed.

The Geth are introduced in Mass Effect as a completely autonomous and non-organic race created originally as laborers and soldiers. As the storyline progresses, the Geth become sentient of their inferiority and turn on their Quarian creators. After driving the Quarians out of their home planet, the entire galaxy has turned to caution in implementing AI in their societies for fear of similar attacks of the Geth on their own peoples.

In Mass Effect 2, Bioware introduces an AI on the ship the SR-2 Normandy called EDI (Enhanced Defense Intelligence), that not only helps the pilot "Joker" maintain the functions of the ship, but provides information to the player upon activation. Although many of the passengers on the SR-2 Normandy question the use of an AI in controlling the ship, EDI maintains its moral responsibility by functioning as programmed - following the orders of Commander Shepard and doing its best to protect the lives of all of its passengers.

Timeline of Games