Are Marketers Egoists? A Typological Explication

Ramanathan, Jayasankar; Swain, Biswanath

doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3515-5

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 47 publications

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“…We show that various levels of virtuousness exist within monetization, and suggest ways for designers to be more virtuous, providing a long-term business advantage (Woiceshyn 2011). We add to the ongoing discussions on the ethics of software sales and online business ethics (e.g., Koehn 2003;Kracher and Corritore 2004;Laczniak and Murphy 2006), business egoism (e.g., Ramanathan and Swain 2017), and the ways in which digitalization affects consumer identity (Belk 2013). We accomplish this by identifying new viewpoints based on rational egoism, and thereby provide new knowledge on rational business behavior and the advantages it brings to game developers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ethics Applied to Video Game Business

2019

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This article analyzes the business ethics of digital games, using Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. It identifies different types of monetization options as virtuous or nonvirtuous, based on Rand's views on rational self-interest. It divides the options into ethical Mover and unethical Looter designs, presents those logics in relation to an illustrative case example, Zynga, and then discusses a view on the role of players in relation to game monetization designs. Through our analysis of monetization options in the context of Objectivist ethics, the article contributes to discussions on game revenue ethics. It also expands the still understudied area of applying Rand's ethics to business, in the context of a new sector, game development, and business. This research enables ethicists to apply a wider-than-before perspective on virtue ethics to online business, and helps game developers act in a virtuous manner, which provides them with a long-term business advantage.

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