25/03/16 - Interactive Narrative - The Wolf Among Us

How does morality influence the choices you make in the
game?

Morality in the Wolf Among Us is very black and white and can be easily distinguished between empathetic or apathetic responses. The game is about Bigby Wolf (the big bad wolf) trying to solve a murder while also trying to prove to his fellow fables that he is not the villain he once was and that he has changed and become a sincere individual. The game wants you do take the high road and make Bigby the good guy and so pushes you do take the "good" moral choices and be empathetic towards the other fables plights. A example of this early on is when you first meet Mr Toad (I loved that The wind in the willows cartoon man) He can't afford to pay for his and his sons glamor. It gives you two main options for this, sympathize with Mr Toad and let him off the hook for now or reprimand him and threaten to send him to The "farm" a place where all the non human Fables are forced to live. It's a kind of "free range prison".
The game can be very naggy and pushy when it comes to making these choices and it will scold you if you do take the bad choices with the classic Telltale games 'X will remember that' icon that pops up in the right of the screen.
I found a quote that I think fits with what I'm talking about
"The model that rewards certain choices over others, or different choices in different ways, tends to functionally make the choices for the players; the player will be more successful at the game if he picks the optimal choice for his strategy."
'Ethical Dilemmas and Dominant Moral Strategies In Games'
Brandon Perdue
The morally white choices in The Wolf Among Us are always the better ones to take. By choosing to walk away from Grendel instead of ripping his arm off like Beowulf did will help you out more in the long run as Grendel will hate you less and others will be more helpful to you and will think better of you.

In the end I do think The Wolf Among Us wants us to take the empathetic choices and change Bigby Wolf into a better person but it does so by encouraging you to take the morally good choices rather then force you to do them. After all just like in real life not all of the "good guys" in fairtales alignments where Lawful good some are True neutral.