So do I have you right, are you a social constructionist? If so what gives you the confidence that you have an objective view of what morality is like in our world?
I'm confused why you're addressing this question to Kadajko. I've been arguing this point much more strongly. lol.
It's social contract theory (cooperative self-interest). Basically, no one likes being murdered (ie killed without their consent), so we're all better off existing in a society that doesn't approve of murder. You can extrapolate an entire moral system from basic consequentialist social contract theory.
Of course, you can argue that if someone is in a position of power, like a king, then it would appear there is no social contract -- no consequences for him to be a tyrant. But if you change perspective and look at the perspective of the people who live in his kingdom, then they are compelled to overthrow a tyrant. As a consequence, a king ought to consider whether being a tyrant is in his best interest after all.
That said, just because there is an "objectively correct choice" based on social contract theory, that doesn't mean that you always have the information necessary to know which choice is the "objectively correct choice" and this is where we need to do our best within the limitations of our own subjectivity and risk-assessment.
What I object to is with a moral system in a game, it's almost always broken. For example:
- You get good karma for doing an (stupid good) action like saving a murderer (who you know will murder again) and evil karma (normal good) for letting him die.
- You get good karma for saving a town for money (normal evil), and evil karma (stupid evil) for burning it down for no reason.
- You get good karma for eating your vegetables and bad karma for eating junk food. (Like WTF this isn't even really moral.)
Like, I think it's interesting to have "holiness" and "unholiness" points. This still allows for you to have things like "holy/righteous swords". But one of the things I enjoy is when holiness is explicitly shown not to be the same as morally good, and you're forced to make your own decisions instead of just having a code of ethics handed to you.
