Rambling Brand: Video Game Ethics: Part 3 – Lying December 4, 2007
Posted by nutheadgreg in Gaming ethics.Tags: delicious, ethics, values, video games
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From this post it seems that lying within games doesn’t really exist to the extent that you might expect, it is infact a rarity. Lying can only feature in games that ask the player questions, as a result a number of genres can be eliminated from the debate. Effectively ruling out racing, sports, action, and god games.
Acording to Brand, there are a number questions base arround four themes that make lying – to some extent – possible. Firstly are those which relate to gameflow altering questions. These are questions depending on a binary (one of two choices) answer, either of which opens up a different route. To me however I don’t understand how it allows for not telling the truth. I face the same probelm with the third question which relates to inventory questions, in that a NPC (non-player character) will ask you to gather something, or go on a mission. If you go back to the character claiming that you have done that task / aquired the item, when you haven’t. However, the NPC will then say that it isn’t in your inventory. Thus as a result, means that you cannot lie and get away with it.
On the other hand the other two question options do to some extent allow for lying. The first one is concerned with storytelling, Brand explains that this usually comes in the form of multiple choice questions. This is often a feature within RPGs (Role-Playing Games) such as Dragonfable, Final Fantasy, Adventure quest etc. However, the lying or more appriopriate non-truth telling, often comes in the form of a riddle from a NPC. In that you ask a question, and the NPC doesn’t give you a straight answer, but this is neither a truth or a lie. The final set of questions relate around moral issues, in that if you lie then this has an effect upon your characters development. Brand gives the examples of Fable, in which if you lie, your morality bar moves towards the evil side; and Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic, where lying results your character drifting into the dark side. This is also the case in a game know as Huygen’s Disclosure, in that if you are considered to be telling a lie by the Alien leader, you are killed instantly on the spot.
This demostrates that lying does exist in games, but it is on a quite basic and crude level. Some developers have chosen a useful way of integrating it into games, where lying can affect the gamers experience, and sometimes become their demise. Brand concludes on the issue stating that “Why are there so few games that allow lying? Because it’s not good gameplay” and to some extent this is true as the majority of gamers do not want to be ethical, as video games aim to escape the grasps of reality including morals.
Here is the link to the original blog post:
http://brandg.blogspot.com/2004/11/video-game-ethics-part-three-lying.html
Rambling Brand: Video Game Ethics: Part Two – Theft November 20, 2007
Posted by nutheadgreg in Gaming ethics.Tags: delicious, ethics, values, video games
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In this post the author is discusing the concept of theft within computer games. The ethical aspects of this concept only apply to a few games, but somTe of the ideas can be transferred into other games. He explains that the idea of theft in games originated from an in game featured known as an inventory. It enabled the in game character to store items that had been acquired throughout the game.
This featured in a number of 2d platform games, it is possibly most commonly associated with the vastly popular Tomb Raider games from Eidos. In this game the objective is to prevent precious and powerful artifacts from falling into the wrong hands. You have to negotiate a number of different tombs located over the globe, in which you have to kill and steal keys and codes off henchmen who are preventing your progression through the game. Thisi concept of being able to steal in video games, added a new dimension to gameing.
The idea of theft is not just limited to adventure games though, Brand demonstrates that it is also present within action games too. He explains that ‘carrots’ are used to attract the player to steal, these come in the form of weapon upgrades, healt packs, armour etc. These features area an itegral part toany modern action or shhoooter game. In some resepcts though you are not really stealing, ryou area aquiring things that have beeen left lying around on the floor. However, this raises the ethical issue of what is actujally considered as stealling??? In games such as Grand Theft Auto it is a lot more clear cut, in tehat you can steal cars and go and get them sprayed so the police will not recognised the stolen vechicle. One of the missions also required you to go to a rival gangs headquarters and steal some vital information.
It seems to me that stealing within games is a feature used sparingly, and brand suggests that “it seems that, ethically, this issue is considered a non-issue by most games (you don’t hear about any court cases where a defendant says that he learned to steal by playing Thief).”
Here is the link to the original blog post:
http://brandg.blogspot.com/2004/11/video-game-ethics-part-two-theft.html
Rambling Brand: Video Game Ethics: Part One – Death November 17, 2007
Posted by nutheadgreg in Gaming ethics.Tags: delicious, ethics, philosophy, values, video games
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In this blog post the author deals with death in video games, he based this ideas upon Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto San-Andreas. He sets out the article by explaining the ethical conflict relating to death that is present within GTA: SA. In one mission he describes a situation where the character is asked to burn down a rival gangs house. Once this is on fire someone is screaming from a upstairs window, the player has to go and rescues here from the fire the gamer has created. This is the only character that is rescued out of the house, the others are left to burn. This demonstrates a complex ethical conflict within the game, that can often seem confusing to the player.
He suggests that 90% of all the games made involve murder, even those as simple as Mario and Space Invaders contain it. However, these games were based on sprites as characters (16×16 pixel beings), and the player was able to distance themselves from the ideas of killing. According to the authors in current games with high advanced 3d characters and lush environments the player has more difficulty distancing them-self from the heinous act of killing. With high vicerol and graphic was of dispatching people, such as the use of the plastic bag in Manhunt. This view has been taken up and applied by Rockstar to their games.
The author goes on to explain that other developers get over the problems of killing by disguising how it takes place, or making it seem morally right in the situation. This is often done by dehumanising the characters you murder by turning them into zombies or monsters, possibly the most popular though is to turn them into aliens. In this players don’t think of death in the same way, or don’t pay as much significance to the act of murder.
The post is concluded by a moral dilemma operationalised in the examples of the games of Mario World and Manhunt. One is where the character casually kills for the extra hundred points and the second is the character vicerally kills to protect his own life. He suggests that niether is less morally correct, they are both the same as each is concerned with murder.
To me this arguement that is structured in the form of a blog post demostrates how games have been constructed around the notion of killing and murder. This is to the extent that if it were taken out of the game, it would undermine the whole playing experience.
Here is the link to the original blog post:
http://brandg.blogspot.com/2004/11/video-game-ethics-part-one-death.html
Morality Play – Creating Ethics in Video Games November 12, 2007
Posted by nutheadgreg in Gaming ethics.Tags: ethics, philosophy, research, values, video games
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The author of the article describes himself as a New Media Developer, he explains the pitfalls of the moral structure within specific games. Within the article he suggests that a number of games have fallen short in a number of measures in terms of their moral development. He explains the areas in which the development of such moral structures in games are lacking.
The first area is described as ‘Consistency’, in that players are rewarded for one deed and then aren’t rewarded for the opposite. Grand Theft Auto Vice City is an example where players are rewarded for “wrongs” like stealing cars, shooting gangs etc. but are not rewarded of “rights” like sticking to the speed limit on the roads, or driving the ambulance that features in the game.
The second problem is ‘Cause and Effect’, when a player commits a certain action or crime they should suffer for it. When playing GTA Vice City you can steal a car and not receive any punishment for it.
The next issue is relates to something know as ‘NPC Actions’, this stands for non-player character. I that if you draw a gun the people around the character who are not involved in the game play should react. This reaction however, does feature in GTA 3, as when you open fire in the street the NPC’s run away screaming and shouting. This only features in a few games though, so it can still be classified as a problem.
Another problem relates to the ‘Memory’ of the NPC’s who your character interacts with. He suggests that if you have mistreated a character at some point in the game, then when you see the same character later in the game then that character should fear and not trust you. This is has only just started to permeate into video games, with the release of Bio-Shock a few months ago.
The fifth problem relates to the lack of ethical ‘Alternatives’. The author explains that some games may require you to do things without having an alternative option. He uses the example of Deus Ex: Invisible War, where the only way to succeed in the game is through lying and deceit.
Finally is the issue of moral ‘Conflict’, in that it should be introduced into games. The player should have two specific routes that they can choose to follow through the game. Each choice should have different consequences.
This set of guidelines in some respect are rather presriptive, however some of the suggestions are good, and I think that some have already been integrated into more recent games. I do also believe that there are other qualities in games that are not related to ethics like teamwork.
Here is the link to the original article: http://www.adamjthompson.com/thought/CreatingEthics.pdf
Gaming makes people violent??? May 31, 2007
Posted by nutheadgreg in Online Gaming.Tags: ethics, philosophy, values, video games, violence
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I spotted another piece of information relating to computer games being blamed for violence. This article was again on the Microsoft Network homepage http://www.msn.co.uk. The article suggests that the opinion some people share of games cause players to become killers, is somewhat misleading. The problem is considered to be much more complex societal issue, and cannot simply be pinned to one specific thing. The problem of blaming the game dates back to The Columbine Masacre, where it was found out that the shooters play Doom (first-person shooter game) extensively. As a result the media jumped on the opinion bandwagon, spreading this moral panic about the dangers of playing violent games. Blaming the media is just the same as blaming the problem on societal things such as gun culture, drugs or lack of value for life.
