Can real values improve a game?

For me, the answer is yes, yes, and yes! One of the reasons I still see interest in RPGs is that they enable us to return to the values we are losing in the real world as cornerstones of game play and character action. In this way, it is possible to appreciate what we fail to appreciate in real life (and, ideally, to realize that being too "liquid," as Zygmunt Bauman would say, is wrong!).

Maybe I started with the conclusion, better to give the background now: it starts with this post, which recalls this post by Robin Laws:

The underlying concept is the valueless approach in the game. You can do that, but it leads to situations like the ones described in the quoted posts. I wrote about this some time ago in this post and its follow-up... to wrap it up: in VI·VIII·X I set up rules (not recommendations!) to reduce such risks, or rather to discourage such behaviors. The incentive is to be consistent with the character: this means that a player can choose to play a mentally disturbed serial killer (who kills at will), but this choice must be consistent and constant throughout the game, not just when it suits the situation... looking in the other way round, any player can enjoy both the game and the pleasure to act according to one or more values and perceive something which could be very difficult to perform in real life… just think at a person who loves to tell the truth, everywhere and to everyone… in our world that person would be considered a kind-of mental disturb, not a character with a virtue. That should not be the case and this is the real underlying concept in VI·VIII·X!

…and btw, this reminds me, I am still behind and have to make the KUP model manifesto!