Ethics in Jade Empire

The first thing I want to mention here is the interesting direction Bioware is taking with the ethical system in Jade Empire. The game's ethical system is one-dimensional, between two alignments called the Way of the Open Hand and the Way of the Closed Fist. They are broadly like the Light and Dark Sides of the Force as back in KOTOR, right down to blue and red color schemes and similar-looking icons; but they represent something a little more complete than that, a little more like philosophies.

The Way of the Open Hand is distinctly Chaotic Good. It does not seem to have an answer to the question of whether the needs of the many genuinely outweigh the needs of the few; and having any answer to that question, regardless of which way one answers it, is a very Lawful kind of thing. It also seems to prefer polite lies over the unpleasant truth, at least if my getting unexpected Closed Fist points for revealing an awkward truth is any indication. Put it this way, the Open Hand values people's happiness, but I don't think it cares much about their self-improvement.

The Way of the Closed Fist is an evil alignment that is trying to be Objectivism. On the one hand, you get a lot of Bioware-traditional "I smash your village to pieces" activities if you're trying to collect Closed Fist points; on the other hand, there are attempts in the game to present the Closed Fist as not an inferior path to the Open Hand, but a good-faith alternative. There are at least two characters who self-identify as Closed Fist Masters and don't seem to trouble or be troubled by the authorities; and there are a number of situations where the Closed Fist path involves a little more instruction than it does just brutality.

Is the Closed Fist philosophy just evil and brutal, or is it extremely gormful -- "hypergormites," to use my hideously distorted Greek coinage for this type of behavior? I think Bioware tried and failed to make it the latter; and that creates some interesting overlaps with my own fiction. The Soltallines are nothing if not hypergormites, and the Honseli are close (though that, like everything else, came across very imperfectly in ASLOW); teaching the hapless how to protect themselves, and heading off dangers at the pass, seems to be what the Closed Fist is -- or was meant to be -- all about.

Speaking as someone with experience on Wikipedia, I kind of like it.