Starfield enables players to be a space narc

Bethesda Game Studios showed off a tiny bit more of Starfield today including the reveal that players can take on the role of a space narc.

In a promotional video, senior leads on Starfield sat down to discuss various aspects of the game. As part of this conversation, game director Todd Howard broke down some of the factions that players can join. One of the more enticing factions is a group of space pirates called “The Crimson Fleet.”

For most players, The Crimson Fleet will act as an enemy or obstacle. But because Bethesda wants players to define their own story, they are making it possible to join the group. This led to design director Emil Pagliarulo to clarify that even if you play as one of these “bad guys,” you can still role-play as a “good guy” … by reporting the pirates to the cops.

“The cool thing about The Crimson Fleet — what if you don’t wanna play as bad guy. You can side with the pirates or you can report back to your superiors and basically be like a space cop type of thing. So it lets you be a good person while playing with the bad guys. i think that’s really cool.”

It actually isn’t “cool.” I can think of no greater dork in the universe than someone who tattles on space pirates in a video game. And yet, it is neat that the game accounts even for the dorkiest people among us.

Just don’t ever tell anyone you played as a cop in Starfield unless you are in need of a wedgie.