Quick Takes on Ethics and Games Voices from Industry and Academia

Abstract

In this chapter, seven experts from the games industry and from academia discuss late-breaking and big picture trends in ethics and games. Rather than deep analyses of the issues, these brief perspectives introduce main ideas related to current problems in ethics and games. These quick takes open up discourse on timely topics and ask questions that will lead to new research streams. A microcosm of the entire book, these quick reflections telegraph the themes that will emerge in the rest of the book. First, Mia Consalvo will discusses decision making in Dragon Age; next Greg Costikyan talks about Diplomacy and how game mechanics support ethical behavior. Drew Davidson then provides a meditation on the value of games, Nick Fortugno talks about ethics and Farmville, and educator David Shaenfield looks at new ways to support citizenship skills through gaming. Finally, designer Pete Vigeant gives his personal take on Red Dead Redemption and Bethesda Softworks founder and MIT professor Christopher Weaver unpacks controversies surrounding games.

Learning Information Ethical Decision Making With a Simulation Game

“…However, a critical drawback of these resource-intensive practices, which often involved guidance from mentors or experts, is the limitation of the scalability ( Fleischmann et al, 2011 ; Saltz et al, 2019 ) and generalizability ( Ocholla, 2009 ) to meet the timely yet scattered, and professional yet interdisciplinary, needs of ethics education in different information practices. As a result, instructional environments and materials that can accommodate structural curriculum and self-directed learning at the same time are greatly needed ( Consalvo et al, 2011 ; Rush, 2014 ; Mora et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Game-based learning meets the learning needs of contextual practices in information ethics education ( Fallis, 2007 ; Consalvo et al, 2011 ; McMenemy et al, 2014 ). The highly self-directed nature of playing games also provides both novice and expert learners with opportunities to learn and explore at their own paces ( Prensky, 2003 ; Rush, 2014 ).…”

Dark Patterns: Social Media, Gaming, and E-Commerce

“…A lot of the behaviors portrayed or expected within games, such as lying, manipulating, scheming etc. (Consalvo et al , 2011) can affect players' behavior even outside of the games. This is especially concerning, considering the increase in applying psychological studies and behavioral economics into the design process of games.…”

“…These features were the most common and were found in 75% of the studied ecommerce websites. (Consalvo et al , 2011). However, their second study found that shoppers would rather be encouraged to make deliberate decisions rather than impulsive purchases, and wish for e-commerce sites to implement friction to their design in order to prevent them from spending an excessive amount of money (Moser et al , 2019)…”