Bethesda Softworks
You can be a good person and give people items they need, use your words instead of fists, abstain from drugs, and never steal. You know: general good behavior that's common sense for most of us.
If being horrid is your thing, though, you can brutally kill innocent people and eat their corpses while high on stolen drugs.
Just...keep it in the game, will ya?
The game progresses no matter which path you choose.
But the companions that accompany you throughout the game have unique perks that give you useful advantages in certain situations. The thing is, you need to gain their respect with specific behaviors and actions if you want access to those perks.
You can check which behaviors each companion prefers, but overall, they prefer that you are not a "bad" person.
Don't murder innocent people, don't use drugs, don't pick locks to places or things that don't belong to you, don't pickpocket, and don't steal. While you can do all those things in the game, you won't win over most of your companions and you'll make it harder to access their perks.
The companions turn out to be "Fallout 4's" moral arbiters!
However, companions aren't so picky when it comes to being nice. The most common positive trait you can exhibit is generosity: give characters in the game items they need.
Instead of, say, punching them in the face:
It's OK to defend yourself against Raiders because they're trying to kill you. Otherwise, get along with everyone!
Surprisingly, most companions don't mind so much if you become a cannibal, or run around in your underwear. You gotta do what you gotta do in the nuclear apocalypse, right?
It also turns out that your companions often prefer that you show strength and brawn, instead of wits and intellect, if you ever find yourself in a stand-off. And given that the world of "Fallout 4" is full of murderous scavengers, that's bound to happen.
Funnily enough, no companions will mind that you consume alcohol in the game, nor will any mind if you hack computers. It's almost like the developers behind the game are promoting those activities! At least...when civilization crumbles in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse.
Hey, that's cool, too! No one's going to judge for being a bald dude wearing a red dress.
So, as long as you're generous, you're clear to hack, enjoy a drink, run around naked once in a while, and even munch on a corpse here and there: your companions will generally appreciate you. They may not be the best moral arbiters, but they're the closest thing the game has to one.