Haven't read the whole thread, but I just have to laugh at the idea of people getting offended at certain games and not at others. Realistic war FPS games where you murder countless soldiers just because your country's rich people are angry at their country's rich people? Totally fine. Civilization - a series which starts out with exterminating "barbarians" and continues with crushing opponents who have a smaller military than you - totally fine. Even better, Colonization, where you can only really be successful by exterminating all the native peoples of North America - no problems. GTA - prostitution, stealing, violence, running down innocent pedestrians - super as long as you're "mature" enough to know the difference between fantasy and reality.
In all those games, you are
given the option to commit horrible crimes, and are rewarded for doing them, but you
don't have to. In those games, you have the freedom of action: the ability to do great evil, but always the unspoken alternative to do good.
*Realistic War FPS: If your goal in a FPS is to get to the end of the level, that is what you should do at all costs. Avoid all enemies, use nonlethal takedowns when available, and overall, play pacifically. If you do have to kill to progress (say, the boss), kill the absolute minimum, and always strive to make their deaths quick and painless.
*Civilization: Build diplomats to bribe off barbarian hordes (if you're playing Civilization 2), change civics on a daily basis to appease the AI (if you're playing Civilization 4), never declare war on your opponents and stay neutral in any conflicts that does occur, garrison troops to protect against any attacks that does occur (barbarian or civilized), build city walls so that you lose no POP units if you lose a garrisoned battle, expand peacefully by building cities in strategic locations before other civilizations get them, aim for either a Diplomatic Victory or the Spaceship Victory.
*Colonization: Same thing, though with more emphasis with dealing with tribes on a more even-handed basis. If you're playing the modern version, ALWAYS pick the pro-native option when writing your constitutions.
*GTA: After doing the initial courier mission, ignore
all story missions and do the minigames such as taxidriving, firefighting and vigilante missions. Isn't the whole point of crime is to make money? If there is an easier (and semi-legal [you do have to steal the vehicle first]) way to generate income, why not do that?
But mention black slavery and suddenly people are offended?
There is no way to game a trading sim geared towards slavery that would avoid...unfortunate implications. Granted, if there was a trading sim, then people will likely game it, but until then, it would seem that we are "forced" to be evil rather than "choose" to be evil.