The moment that inspired this question:
A long time ago I was playing an MMO called Voyage of the Century Online. A major part of the game was sailing around on a galleon ship and having naval battles in the 1600s.
The game basically allowed you to sail around all of the oceans of the 1600s world and explore. The game was populated with a lot of NPC ships that you could raid and pick up its cargo for loot.
One time, I was sailing around the western coast of Africa and I came across some slavers. This was shocking to me at the time, and I was like “oh, I’m gonna fuck these racist slavers up!”
I proceed to engage the slave ship in battle and win. As I approach the wreckage, I’m bummed out because there wasn’t any loot. Like every ship up until this point had at least some spare cannon balls or treasure, but this one had nothing.
… then it hit me. A slave ship’s cargo would be… people. I sunk this ship and the reason there wasn’t any loot was because I killed the cargo. I felt so bad.
I just sat there for a little while and felt guilty, but I always appreciated that the developers included that detail so I could be humbled in my own self-righteousness. Not all issues can be solved with force.
Playing Outer Wilds, spoilers ahead:
::: Minor Outer Wilds spoilers I was trying to see how far into space I could get before the time loop restarted. As I flew away, I aimed my signalscope back towards the solar system and listened to all the instruments play together. Then when the supernova hit, one by one, the instruments were silenced. :::
That game is full of so many great moments of discovery and realization in that game, I wish I could play it for the first time again.
spoiler
A conscious observer has entered the eye. I wonder what happens now.
spoiler
Talking to all the travelers at the end of the universe where time may not exist, getting them to start playing their music together. I cried.
::: spoiler Same! It’s such a bittersweet ending after the slow realization through the game that there’s nothing you can do about the death of the universe. Having everyone back together one last time before the birth of a whole new world is so incredible. I was also pretty giddy when I finally got to meet a Nomai. :::