In Star Trek: The Next Generation – “Thine Own Self”, ship’s counselor Deanna Troi decides to try out to become a high-ranking officer on the starship Enterprise. She must solve a simulated disaster that would destroy the entire ship and its hundreds of civilian inhabitants.

The problem is a leak in the warp plasma shaft, which causes a devastating explosion if not repaired. However, the well is awash in radiation; anyone who directly repairs the leak will have no chance of surviving afterwards.

So Deanna assumes there must be some logistical way to circumvent the breakout. She tries everything she can think of: switching to auxiliary control, modifying the EM power inverter, ejecting the antimatter storage canisters, each solution leading to the complete destruction of the Enterprise without fail.

Convinced something is missing, Deanna studies the ship’s manuals for hours and takes the test three more times. She traps herself in her problem-solving mindset, too scared to realize the one possibility haunting her subconscious: sending a crewmate down the shaft.

In Deus Ex: Human Revolution – The Missing Link, the player-controlled Adam Jensen finds himself in a facility flooded with toxic gas. There are two main sections: one contains cells filled with downtrodden prisoners, while the other contains a small population of scientists, scientists who could provide evidence that would crush an evil corporation.

Jensen goes down a ladder that leads to a control room, but he can only use it to redirect the gas to one part of the facility: he can save the scientists or the prisoners. The player is then faced with a clear moral choice: he will have to consider which option is better for society, which one respects individual life more, which one serves justice more.

But if the player stops this train of thought and goes back up the ladder, they will notice a network of pipes running through the facility. And if you follow the pipes, behind the walls and through the vents, you’ll find a dark entrance. Behind it is a valve that regulates the flow of toxic gas; destroying it stops the flow entirely, saving both the prisoners and the scientists.

This is what Deanna fears in “Thine Own Self”. Behind the veil of logistics and technical solutions lies a philosophical and moral dilemma: can she kill one person to save hundreds? But what if she starts worrying too soon about that problem? What if during the few minutes she spends deliberating on morality, she misses the one factor unnoticed, hidden behind a corner, the one piece that could solve the problem and save everyone?

The terrifying reality of making moral decisions is that you could start too soon and miss the solution in front of you. That maybe you should keep solving problems to the end, even if a moral choice leads to a better outcome.

And it would be nice if more games took advantage of this fear. By presenting a moral choice to the player, many games leave no flexibility, no way to check for loose ends. In most cases, the player is taken out of the world entirely: the action stops, and the two options are assigned to their respective shoulder buttons.

Even when players are in control, they rarely have a chance to believe that they missed something, that they need to work with the game mechanics for a little longer before making their decision. Take the infamous Mass Effect 3, where three empty branch paths represent the game’s final decision. The only possible “non-moral” stone left unturned is spinning Commander Shepard in circles, or having him shoot into the sky.

Mass Effect 3’s ending and other options like it lack the vital clues that make the morality scare real: the freedom to explore uncharted areas on a map, the ability to search for those few missing audio logs, curious clues in the background, small problems of the story that were never fully resolved.

“Your Own Self” shows us why unresolved loose ends and looming, untested possibilities are so important in making realistic moral choices. Because making a moral decision is not just about realizing a moral dilemma or being presented with one; it’s about having the will to leave the technical world and accept the decision: give up trying to save everyone. As Troi’s superior tells her after she passes the test, “You considered all your options, tried all the alternatives, and then made the tough decision.”