What form of justice do you uphold in RPG settings?

[DoctorKaizeld]

So when you play a game what form of justice do you take when you see a crime?

 

justice types:

 

Moral Justice - When a crime is committed you listen to both parties and go with the morally right solution whether that means punishment is inflicted or not.

 

Absolute Justice - no crime big or small shall not go unpunished. you steal the punishment is a severed hand, you kill the punishment is death. the circumstances do not matter.

 

Excessive Justice - anyone even remotely suspected of a crime of any magnitude is to be punished. any guaranteed criminal is to be sentenced to death no matter the size of the crime, same for any who attempt/attempted to assist them whether they knew they were helping a criminal or not.

 

Lazy Justice - similar to Moral Justice but focused around whenever you could be bothered to do anything at all. it's not that you are self interested or anything you just dont see any reason to get involved yourself most of the time.

 

Self Justice - similar to Absolute Justice but centered only on you. you only care about any crime committed upon yourself when deciding.

 

No Justice - you have no wish to inflict punishment upon another as it has nothing to do with you. if they stole something then it belongs to them as they worked hard to get it and the one who lost it didnt work hard enough to keep it.

 

Premature Justice - you condemn those who could potentially commit a crime before they actually commit it. why wait for someone to be hurt if you could potentially stop it before it occurs.

 

 

feel free to ask about any of them if i didnt explain them well enough.

Edited October 19, 2016 by qwertyzeldar

[Rabbit1251]

Well gee, I don't really like any of those choices. I feel that if anyone commits an act against me, whether it be considered a real 'crime' or not, or whether it be by a criminal or the authorities themselves acting unlawfully, they must ultimately answer to me. Take Fallout. If someone tries to shoot me then I am rightfully obliged to shoot back. If someone else has been wronged and I agree to act on their behalf then I have become their Champion. It sounds a bit like revenge, doesn't it? Laws seem to be made for those who make them. And those that enforce them are always exempt so that just leaves me on my own.

 

And here I am trying to be straight and I've probably just gone and muddled everything. Well, that's just my two carrots worth, anyway. So sorry, please.

 

 

The Rabbit

[DoctorKaizeld]

Well gee, I don't really like any of those choices. I feel that if anyone commits an act against me, whether it be considered a real 'crime' or not, or whether it be by a criminal or the authorities themselves acting unlawfully, they must ultimately answer to me. Take Fallout. If someone tries to shoot me then I am rightfully obliged to shoot back. If someone else has been wronged and I agree to act on their behalf then I have become their Champion. It sounds a bit like revenge, doesn't it? Laws seem to be made for those who make them. And those that enforce them are always exempt so that just leaves me on my own.

 

And here I am trying to be straight and I've probably just gone and muddled everything. Well, that's just my two carrots worth, anyway. So sorry, please.

 

 

The Rabbit

that's either absolute justice or moral justice. are you more of the type to punish according to the circumstances (moral) or do you lean towards punishment equal to the crime committed (absolute)

[csbx]

My answer sounds very much like a cop out, but I think the answer is situational. Some of those forms of justice (ie. the ones most would say are the proper ones) offer a version of an ideal state of affairs--one in which we have the luxury to be so charitable (listen to all sides, having patience to seek out truth e.g.). Sometimes our environment does not (I suppose I'm also saying should not) offer us this luxury.

 

This is a really good question that someone could easily write a 30-page paper on. I'll think about this next time I'm playing.

[Vagrant0]

Generally go with Moral justice... But may be more or less lazy depending on situation and what character or world the game is set in. And as it's a game, sometimes Excessive justice just for the sake of luls or irony.

[DoctorKaizeld]

i understand when people say this is a hard choice as it really is. that's why i started this thread. making a choice is hard as there are ramifications to all of them.

[RatB0Y68]

Probably an amalgamation of moral and absolute; but tempered by pragmatism. Ultimately I think that justice has to be flexible and situational, no code of behaviour is perfect or infallible and no matter how nuanced it is there will be a situation that your code doesn't cover, or where following it rigidly and blindly would lead to absurdity or greater injustice.

 

To summarise: every crime must be punished, however, the nature of that punishment must be fair, balanced and proportional. Is this system perfect? Of course not, but name one that is.

 

To use the situations you described in the original post as an example:

 

-If someone stole from me or anyone else, I would not sever their hand, as that would be disproportional. Also, stolen items can be returned, replaced or paid for, but you can't grow back the hand.

 

-Murder is a different scenario. No matter how penitent the offender is, they can't un-murder their victim, the balance can never be redressed. Even if they lived the rest of their life in shame, penitence, remorse and attonement, their victim is still permanently and irrevocably deprived of their remaining years. So, off to jail or the chopping block you go.

[DoctorKaizeld]

Probably an amalgamation of moral and absolute; but tempered by pragmatism. Ultimately I think that justice has to be flexible and situational, no code of behaviour is perfect or infallible and no matter how nuanced it is there will be a situation that your code doesn't cover, or where following it rigidly and blindly would lead to absurdity or greater injustice.

 

To summarise: every crime must be punished, however, the nature of that punishment must be fair, balanced and proportional. Is this system perfect? Of course not, but name one that is.

 

To use the situations you described in the original post as an example:

 

-If someone stole from me or anyone else, I would not sever their hand, as that would be disproportional. Also, stolen items can be returned, replaced or paid for, but you can't grow back the hand.

 

-Murder is a different scenario. No matter how penitent the offender is, they can't un-murder their victim, the balance can never be redressed. Even if they lived the rest of their life in shame, penitence, remorse and attonement, their victim is still permanently and irrevocably deprived of their remaining years. So, off to jail or the chopping block you go.

Based on what is said you appear to be closest to Moral justice then the rest. But your points are quite sound.

[HeyYou]

Kinda difficult to differentiate in some games, where ANY perceived attack is met with maximum force. Steal something in any TES game, and everyone and their cousin comes to beat the crap out of you. Don't surrender quick enough, you die....... and when even the chickens and horses, and probably the cows as well..... can report crimes.... well.... makes life interesting. :D

[DoctorKaizeld]

Kinda difficult to differentiate in some games, where ANY perceived attack is met with maximum force. Steal something in any TES game, and everyone and their cousin comes to beat the crap out of you. Don't surrender quick enough, you die....... and when even the chickens and horses, and probably the cows as well..... can report crimes.... well.... makes life interesting. :D

Those stupid chickens always reporting them crimes! All of them are snitches!