The Ethics of Game Design

Patrick J. CoppockDepartment of Communication and Economy, University of Modena

and Reggio Emiliapatrick.coppock@unimore.it

http://game.unimore.it http://gamephilosophy.org

• Norbert Wiener: “The Human Use of Human Beings” (1950)

• The founder of cybernetics, a field that formalizes the notion of feedback, with implications for engineering, systems control, computer science, biology, philosophy, and the organization of society.

• Machines must be “used for the benefit of man, for increasing his leisure and enriching his spiritual life, rather than merely for profits and the worship of the machine as a new brazen calf”

(Wikipedia)

Ethics of Computing

Computers and Games

• OXO (1952)• Tennis for Two (1958)• Spacewar! (1962)

Playing a Good Game

• Three ethical positions/paradigms:– Virtue ethics: in a balanced view of things, would

action/choice X be moral or immoral?– Consequentionalist ethics: might X have positive

or negative effects on individuals or society?– Deontological ethics: might X contravene basic

human rights or responsibilities? (Ren Reynolds, 2002)

Game Rating

• ESRB : Entertainment Software Ratings Board– Aims to “empower consumers, especially parents, with the

ability to make informed decisions about the computer and video games they choose for their families through the assignment of age and content ratings, and to hold the computer and video game industry accountable for responsible marketing practices”

• PEGI : Pan European Game Information Online Safety Code

– Aims to “give young people in Europe improved protection against unsuitable online gaming content and to educate parents on how to ensure safe online play”

Game Designers and Ethics

• Richard Bartle (MUD/MOO), Sid Meier (Civilization), Chris Crawford (Balance of Power), Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman (Rules of Play)

mud.co.uk/richard www.civilization.com www.erasmatazz.com www.gamersmob.com www.ericzimmerman.com

Miguel Sicart

Miguel Sicart

• “Game design is a moral activity, since the object created is ethically relevant”

• “How can we create ethically compelling gameplay?”

• We need “descriptive procedures that can contribute to identifying the moral stakeholders in a game experience and their degree of moral responsibility”

• http://miguelsicart.net/

Mia Consalvo

Mia Consalvo

• Game designers must “take popular culture seriously as a mode of moral imagination”

• “Paratextual industries associated with games […] have helped define how players should play games in addition to how they might evaluate and think of them”

• “Neither side (the player or the industries) has total control, but power differentials do exist”

• http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~consalvo/

Mary Flanagan

Mary Flanagan

• “Critical play is characterised by critical examination of social, cultural, political or even personal themes that function as alternatives to popular play spaces”

• “Criticality in play can be fostered in order to question an aspect of a game’s content, or an aspect of a play scenario’s function that otherwise may be considered a given or necessary”

• http://www.maryflanagan.com/giant-joystick/

Mary Flanagan