I don't think I could ever stop being a game designer, that's just where my brain is going to be at until I'm in the coffin.
Time is not your enemy, forever is.
The moment you start dictating content/themes/story vs. allowing the player to be a participant in the story and carve their own path, you're doing the player a disservice.
I've got to be honest, I absolutely don't like designing romances. I think that you get a lot more drama and impact from failed romances, or unrequited relationships that occur in games. I think that creates more player tension.
Women were the reason I became a monk - and, ah, the reason I switched back.
When the injustice is great enough, justice will lend me the strength needed to correct it. None may stand against it. It will shatter every barrier, sunder any shield, tear through any enchantment, and lend its servant the power to pass sentence. Know this: There is nothing on all the Planes that can stay the hand of justice when it is brought against them. It may unmake armies. It may sunder the thrones of gods. Know that for all who betray justice, I am their fate. And fate carries an executioner's axe.
I am never going to do an Empire Strikes Back ending again in a game, even if they put branding irons to my feet.
I think actually any morality system that rewards only the extremes is a flawed system. Players don't approach life that way, they don't approach games that way, and they shouldn't be trained to approach games that way. They shouldn't be in the mode where, "I've got to choose every good option." They should just play the game. And they should get equal consequences or rewards for that, that are different from the extremes.
