Eric Frey

Jesse Kinne

Video Game Music

December 9, 2016

Morality and Ethics in Undertale

Role-playing video games that use a quantitative, point based system of morality

disregard the fundamental nature of moral choices. Rather than using a non diegetic morality

meter that rewards the player with perks and upgrades based upon their level of good or evilness,

Undertale weaves the results of the players choices within the games narrative and musical

score, fostering immersion and presenting a moral framework in a format much closer to real

life.

Peter E. Rauch defines morality as a discourse concerning what is right and what is

wrong (Rauch 22). While morality has a certain universality, ethics are a discourse concerning

what is correct and what is incorrect, dependent on a specific activity, determined entirely by an

explicit, constructed system of rules. Although the two terms may sometimes be considered as

interchangeable, in this context the right moral decision need not align with the right ethical

decision in a given situation. In order for an interactive work such as a video game to incorporate

a moral framework, the ethical framework must be connected in some way to real life (Rauch

26).

Early games like Pong focused on purely ethical framework, where the objectives existed

outside of any morality. As game narratives took bigger role within gameplay in the 1980s and
early 1990s, the semblance between video game ethics and real world morality increased

(Buckley). In Final Fantasy, the player must defeat evil characters to save the world. Because the

the ethics of the game were inextricably tied to the illusory morality of the game, the correct

thing to do was the right thing. Although Final Fantasy was accurately praised for its

storytelling, it still did not give players the agency to be ethical and immoral. In other words, if a

game does not give the player agency to perform either an unethical and moral action or an

ethical and immoral action, its morality framework could be considered a false one.

A common solution to incorporating morality into gameplay today is the morality meter.

In Fallout 3, you are rewarded or deducted points based upon the morality of your choices.

Acting morally by saving a Wasteland captive rewards you with Karma points, and enough

accumulation of these points will give you Good Karma (Fallout Wiki). Acting immorally by

blowing up Megaton will rewards you with negative Karma, eventually giving you Bad Karma.

The effects of the Karma titles each have various advantages and disadvantages. However this

morality meter poses several problems. In some games, one can simply erase the Bad Karma of

previous actions by doing good deeds, resulting in a lack of consistency and ramification. And in

other games a player is required to either be completely good or evil in order to become more

powerful.

While the morality meter does allow the player agency to perform moral and immoral

actions outside of ethics, it misses a key feature of morality. In Johnathan Turners thesis about

natural selection and the evolution of morality in human societies, he says Without the ability to

tag moral codes with emotions, morality could not exist; cultural codes would be like dry

instruction manuals because they would have no emotional teeth Culture and emotions are,
therefore, inextricably interwoven in the neurology of the human brain Morality, then, is not

possible without emotions (Turner 127). To further distinguish our working definitions of

morality and ethics, moralitys discourse between right and wrong must be derived from

emotions, whereas the ethical discourse remains completely independent of any emotional

requirement. Doing something bad in the world is considered immoral not because an outside

source quantifies our action with a morality meter, but because we feel the guilt and shame that

arises from that action. In order to present an engaging moral framework within a game, the

actions performed by the player must come with an emotional effect.

Toby Foxs Undertale establishes a strong moral framework in several ways. But The

agency to make moral or immoral decisions is constantly presented in monster encounters;

players can either choose to kill or spare a monster. Rather than focus on the each good or bad

choice that the player makes with a morality meter, it highlights the effects of the choices in an

emotional way. Papyrus is a major character within the game, an innocent and funny skeleton

who you are required to encounter to progress in the world. He will not kill you; if your health

goes down to 1 HP, he will end the fight (Undertale Wiki). If you choose to kill him, your avatar

is not affected by it. The other NPCs however, are greatly affected by it. Monsters throughout

Snowdin will comment on his absence, saying how they dont feel safe or that they are sad. At

the end, Sans, Papyruss brother, will give you a call, and mention how he can never tell Toriel

(your mother figure) what you did. By making the player feel guilt for their actions, Undertale

establishes a strong moral framework.

Undertales moral framework is also unique in the sense that it lacks a significant ethical

one. The very first NPC you encounter is Flowey, who in a tutorial-like manner, tries to trick you
into thinking that collecting friendliness pellets, actually his attacks, are good for your SOUL.

After lowering your health down to 1 HP, he proclaims In this world, its kill or BE killed. You

are then rescued by Toriel who teaches you that all the player has to do is strike up a

conversation and eventually she will come to the players aid..These two ethical suggestions

within the game, presented by a deceitful flower and a wishfully thinking mother, have both

truths and lies. Within Undertale you certainly have the agency to use the kill or BE killed

motto, and you will face no ethical repercussions. The only repercussions you will face are moral

ones- the emotional reactions of NPCs within the game. You will actually gain EXP, thereby

eventually increasing your LV. While these are initially perceived as ethically good, as a higher

LV increases your strength, they are later revealed to stand for execution points and level of

violence. In order to progress in the game, you must disobey Toriels wish to remain where you

are. While she does provide you with some useful information, you are forced to figure out how

to spare monsters when in battle, as she does not come to your aid. There is no real ethical

framework when it comes to killing or sparing monsters. While the main ethical objective is to

progress in the Underground and eventually make it back to the human world, it takes a backseat

compared to the vast amount of narrative and moral themes presented in the game.

But perhaps the greatest reason why morality in Undertale is presented in an accurate

fashion is because the game narrative develops around the player. The major dynamic characters

are exceptionally well developed, and as you continue to show compassion toward the

characters, you learn more about them. The strength of the characters allows you to form an

emotional attachment with them, thus fulfilling Turners requirement for morality. As the player,

I wanted to behave in a moral fashion, not because it would give me points or it was necessary
for completing the game, but because I cared about the characters within the game and didnt

want to harm them. I knew that my actions would be permanent and would have an emotional

impact on the characters, as well as myself.

The music also emotionally rewards the players based upon their actions, especially at the

end of the game. If you take the True Pacifist Route (achieved by not killing anyone), you will

hear every major characters leitmotif played. Completing the Neutral Route (any combination of

killing and sparing monsters) rewards you with only a couple of the soundtracks leitmotifs. And

the Genocide Routes (killing everyone) ending will not play any leitmotifs at all. After building

an emotional relationship with the characters, and associating the characters with each leitmotif,

the player is reminded of each character one last time.

Below is a compiled chart comparing the leitmotifs played at the ends of each route.
Leitmotifs Played at the True Pacifist Route Neutral Route Genocide Route
ending

Main Theme Y Y(much slower)

Toriel Y

Ruins Y

Your Best Friend (Flowey) Y

Evil Flowey(You Idiot) Y Y

Asriel Y Y

Snowdin Y

Enemy Approaching Y

Papyrus Y

Sans Y

Undyne Y

Mettaton Y

Waterfall Y

Asgore Y Y
 Works Cited

Buckley, Mike. A History of the Video Game Narrative. The Amherst Student, 31 Dec. 2012.

Karma (Fallout 3). Fallout Wiki, fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Karma_(Fallout_3)#karma_note.

NPCs/Snowdin. Undertale Wiki, undertale.wikia.com/wiki/NPCs/Snowdin.

Rauch, Peter E. Playing with Good and Evil: Videogames and Moral Philosophy. Playing with

Good and Evil: Videogames and Moral Philosophy, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE

OF TECHNOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 8 May

2007.

Turner, Johnathan H. Natural Selection and the Evolution of Morality in Human Societies.

Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, Edited by Steven Hitlin and Stephen Vaisey,

Springer, New York, 2010.