You might have come across the thought experiment known as 'The Trolley Problem' before; so how about a game based on the same premise to test your morals? This is exactly what solo dev team ReadGraves' Trolley Problem, Inc proposes and you will get to finally play a game that tells you if you're a bad person or not when it launches later this month.

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With scenarios that challenge opinions on vaccinations, war, immigration, corporate espionage, religion… even the nature of decision making itself, Trolley Problem, Inc. will take players on a journey that could ultimately change how they view the world, themselves and ultimately the concept of free will.

Players are initially assessed as new recruits to Trolley Problem, Inc. – their suitability for employment determined through some initial introductory problem solving which only affects the lives of a few people and a dog. Two choices are offered – then a countdown begins. Pick the option you feel is right – but justifying your decisions to any family or friends watching you? Well, that’s your problem.

Trolley Problem, Inc. features:

• 55 intensely thought-provoking multiple-choice questions across a 90-minute playtime
• Streamer mode allows content creators to engage with a live viewing audience
• Multiple profiles allow local players to compare and discuss their choice – whilst global statistics reflect the choices players across the world have made
• References to the original philosophical papers
• A host of unlockables to discover throughout the game
• The strangest ‘Achievements’ ever featured in a video game
• Voice acting by Dead Ringers, Spitting Image and Skins actor, Jan Ravens
• Support in 10 different languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Arabic

Trolley Problem, Inc. will be available on PC on 21 April 2022 priced at £8.99 / $10.99 / €10.99.

SOURCE: GBAtemp Inbox

 

[Dax_Fame]

If this were 99 cents it would be okay....... But I'd still not pick it up

 

[Taleweaver]

speedrunners looking for easy viewers (for the laughs ) i think

Yeah, that gives a great mental image, especially with a comparison.

Normal person:
Narrator : there's a train about to hit 5 persons. You have the power to make it change lanes but thereby making it hit one person instead. Do you do it?
Person : omg, that's horrible! Should i pretend I'm not there? Should i sacrifice that person? What if it's a child? Would i still do it if it were two persons on that other track? Would i still be able to live with myself?
Person : *clicks... Then feels horrible for days afterward*

Speedrunner:
Narrator : there's a...
Person : *clicks change lanes in 0.18 seconds and feels because they shaved 0.11 seconds off their previous attempt *

 

[Axido]

Unrealistic? Life is full of no-win scenarios. The stakes riding on your choices aren't usually as high as somebody's life, but still.

I'm used to thinking outside the box. I can accept that sometimes my choices have no definitively "good" impact and that they might just be compromises, but if it's dumbed down to just pulling a lever or not, I don't see how this is supposed to teach me anything other than "We desperately want to see you fail, but you can choose how much you fail".

 

[Xzi]

I'm used to thinking outside the box. I can accept that sometimes my choices have no definitively "good" impact and that they might just be compromises, but if it's dumbed down to just pulling a lever or not, I don't see how this is supposed to teach me anything other than "We desperately want to see you fail, but you can choose how much you fail".

Well philosophy has never been about "success" or "failure," it's about introspection and examining the thought processes behind why we make the decisions that we do. If there are no right answers, there are also no wrong answers.

 

[Veho]

I always hated the Trolley Problem for being unrealistically restricted. I could only imagine myself in this exact situation if some sick bastard set all of this up on purpose.

"Hello Axido. I want to play a game."

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[Axido]

"Hello Axido. I want to play a game."

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That's exactly what I said before. Only a sicko would come up with this.

 

[megahog2012]

Honestly, this feels more of chilled out version of those Trolley tom episodes from Cyanide and Happiness.

 

[RedoLane]

Trouble Problem with the Trolley, eh?

 

[Taleweaver]

I'm used to thinking outside the box. I can accept that sometimes my choices have no definitively "good" impact and that they might just be compromises, but if it's dumbed down to just pulling a lever or not, I don't see how this is supposed to teach me anything other than "We desperately want to see you fail, but you can choose how much you fail".

As @Xzi said : it's about introspection.

The idea is : if you don't pull the lever, you can't be taken to account (quite literally : you didn't do anything). But if you do pull the lever, it makes you an active participant. Meaning : either you actively kill one person or you neglect saving five.

The humor in @MadMakuFuuma 's post is that gamers are so used to minmaxing a situation that the context goes out the window.

 

[tabzer]

As @Xzi said : it's about introspection.

The idea is : if you don't pull the lever, you can't be taken to account (quite literally : you didn't do anything). But if you do pull the lever, it makes you an active participant. Meaning : either you actively kill one person or you neglect saving five.

The humor in @MadMakuFuuma 's post is that gamers are so used to minmaxing a situation that the context goes out the window.

Introspection? Why are you a bad train engineer and why do you need to put people's lives at risk? If you think the premise of the scenario doesn't imply that you are guilty by taking out the trolly, I'd like to hear about it.

If you won't bite, then consider this:

Consider the social contracts too. 5 politicians are playing on active tracks ignoring the signs that trains cross every 15 minutes, and then you got Johnny picking flowers for children of the cancer hospital on the decommissioned side. You are going to put it back in commission? The right choice is not playing this game. After that, you are just choosing the lesser of evils (which is a fallacy btw) and you will never find redemption.

 

[HarveyHouston]

What, this isn't about how to fix a trolley? I'm disappointed.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

Steam, or standalone purchase & download?

 

[tabzer]

@Taleweaver here's another "introspective' mental exercise. You are participating in a multi-rail drifting competition where the goal is to pull off the most graceful dual-track drifting technique with a trolly--also the brakes aren't installed because nobody in the world considered them to be useful in this particular task. It's your turn and you have already departed, but for some reason there is a gay pride parade celebrating on one branch of the tracks and a bar mitzvah occurring on the other. You have the option of throwing the tournament by staying on one rail, in order to save one group of people. Do you choose to be a bigot, or do you choose to be a bigot? Or do you go for equality?

The scenario is predicated on reckless behavior and your only option is to choose what kind of horrible ending you prefer. That is "the trolly problem". Someone who would rationalize the possibility of being in the situation or that is somehow rational has already adopted malfeasance for the sake of being the one who can pull the lever.

 

[sith]

the moment i saw the choice to force vaccinate a group was the "correct" one i knew this game was a garbage and unethical, just saving the most lives is not always the right choice. I would never choose to take the freedom and liberty of the individual and with totalitarian rule "Save" lives.

 

[VeniaSilente]

It's interesting that people work themselves over so much about this when the answer is simple. The game is about how we have created a society where a few advantaged people imparts necessities over people with less power and then penalize or even criminalize them for failing to live to the expectations of Obedience and Consumption.

Those badly designed railroads and trains that can't stop properly were put there by governments, corporations and engineers looking for a quick buck and +5 approval rating and cutting corners and ignoring regulations wherever possible to achieve it, why would a single person who happens upon the event have to be forced to do anythingn about it? That's what my taxes pay the police for, so if they can't do their job then why should I be paying from m pocket for the inefficiency of the State? Furthermore, if I was supposed to be forced to do something: there's a sicko out there kidnapping people (five at a time, even!) and tying them to railroads. Wouldn't the most ethical choice be to pick up a shotgun and some ammo and go take him down before he does the same to who knows how many more hundreds of people?

(Some (not most) of this all was in jest; I'll enjoy the game, what a better excuse to push the imagination and pull levers since there's still no The Incredible Machine remake around?)

 

[MadMakuFuuma]

Yeah, that gives a great mental image, especially with a comparison.

Normal person:
Narrator : there's a train about to hit 5 persons. You have the power to make it change lanes but thereby making it hit one person instead. Do you do it?
Person : omg, that's horrible! Should i pretend I'm not there? Should i sacrifice that person? What if it's a child? Would i still do it if it were two persons on that other track? Would i still be able to live with myself?
Person : *clicks... Then feels horrible for days afterward*

Speedrunner:
Narrator : there's a...
Person : *clicks change lanes in 0.18 seconds and feels because they shaved 0.11 seconds off their previous attempt *

kill the animals, save the frames lol

 

[BitMasterPlus]

Just give me the option of a "nuke planet" button and I will press it rapidly until I win or the game is over lol I ain't got no time to think for no introspective bullshit! I'm a simple guy who wants to play simple games to rot the brain!

 

[Veho]

I would love to see some of the people here play "rock-paper-scissors"...

"I kick the other player in the head and win by default. The whole situation where I'm limited to only three hand gestures is too unrealistic and too simplistic and contrived, there is no situation in real life that can be reduced to one choice between three possible outcomes that has to be made in split seconds, AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON CHESS"

 

[tabzer]

I would love to see some of the people here play "rock-paper-scissors"...

"I kick the other player in the head and win by default. The whole situation where I'm limited to only three hand gestures is too unrealistic and too simplistic and contrived, there is no situation in real life that can be reduced to one choice between three possible outcomes that has to be made in split seconds, AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON CHESS"

Lol. I get that it's just a game. One in which you can help Tyrone confront his fear of trains by pushing him into the path of one. But when is the last time you played paper-rock-scissors with someone's life on the line, or even as a basis for moral evaluation? The trolly problem is a philosophical exercise with the premise betraying the supposed intention.

 

[FAST6191]

But when is the last time you played paper-rock-scissors with someone's life on the line

Life might be a stretch* but it has been used to resolve disagreements on courses of action before, ones in which the livelihoods of many people, companies and more are on the line. Granted in those scenarios I do switch off the rock paper scissors logic ( https://wrpsa.com/rock-paper-scissors-game-theory/ ) other than maybe looking for a source of randomness (second hand on a clock is a good one)

*I could see it happening but in cases where it is time sensitive (thankfully few mass triage and "shit gone down let's get out of here" in recent years) and I respect someone enough to follow them/consider them in a debate it is generally easier to have a leader and go with that.

Might as well be in the EOF at this point so song