TTLG: How do you induce players to reflect upon the morality of their own actions in an environment where survival overrides other goals? Is the existence of a Higher Authority passing judgment necessary for a system of morality?

Ken Levine: No, you just have to put the moral choice right in the player's nose. There have been lots of games where you make moral choices as follows:

Lord Doofus: So, Paladin, tell me this: Will you join the forces of light, or will you side with King Demonik's infernal army?

You: 1) Hook me up with that shiny plate mail! I'm your man, Doofus! Now can I have that scroll of Seraphic Summoning?

2) Screw you Doofus! I want me some of that hellfire? Now can you point me to the helpless widows and orphans?

What always bugs me about this is that it ignores the key component of what compels people to do nasty things: need. In BioShock, we put you in a terrible world that has exploited the weakest members of that world in horrible ways. Then we put you in a situation in which, in order to survive, it's pretty damn tempting to exploit the weak yourself. And there's no moral authority telling you what to do, what's right and wrong.

The people who exploited the Little Sisters in Rapture were motivated by ideology and their survival instincts. Any player who plays BioShock is going to be very tempted to exploit the Little Sisters, too, because now it's their life on the line. That's going to lead, I hope, to an understanding of how terrible things happen. It brings the player into the process of evil, and maybe makes them understand how terrible things happen, even when basically good people are involved.

This is going to sound quaint in the world of Grand Theft Auto, but I remember back when we were working on Thief…the original version of the mission where you're supposed to kill a local crime boss had you being hired by a bunch of merchants to assassinate the guy. They didn't like him because he was shaking them down and they wanted him dead. So your mission was to go into the guy's home and murder him, taking what you will along the way.

There were a lot of people at Looking Glass who were uncomfortable with this. So they insisted that the mission be rewritten that Ramirez tried to kill you first. I thought it was a cop out. Garrett wouldn't need to be motivated in self defense. He was motivated by money. That's what defined him.