Ethics
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Contents |
[edit] Introduction
In recent research in the field of ethics, Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been approached and digested through existing models and frameworks and due to the unique and radically new ethical concerns presented with these contemporary advances, there is a refocusing of its theories. When examining games, we are essentially dealing with interactive systems and through the metaphors used in representation and the embodied actions of the user (Robertson 2006).
Video games have come under criticism for the level of violence, crime, and immoral behavior within the game and concerns that the player will be conditioned to conduct him or herself in life outside of the game world in a negative way. Proponents of video games that contain illicit activity portrayed within have claimed that the portrayal adds to the realism and immersive experience.
The emerging field of Information Ethics is taking shape and challenges existing models of consequentialism, contractualism and deontology in an attempt to understand and sort out issues related to information and the new issues presented by developments in new media.
[edit] How Did We get Here?
In the foreword of a popular book about Serious Games, the author describes how games have been used as a tool for teaching going back far into history. There is a mention of Plato suggesting that by using games as a way to learn, the student can, “see both sides of an issue so that they could govern well and fairly.” (Michael 2005)
Since the birth of interactive computer games, the world has been captivated by their unique qualities as if a new color of paint had been discovered. As with any new media, the culture takes time to understand and accept it. Along the way, there are discussions that shape the field of computer games and likewise shape the public viewpoint. In time between the birth of the console arcade games such as Pong in 1972, popular culture has changed very rapidly and the ethical issues involving games have been a hot topic ever since.
In regards to the Nordic region, in Finland especially, the game “Raid Over Moscow” raised concerns about right and wrong and freedom of expression regarding political opinion towards Russia during the Cold War. (Raid over Moscow. (2007, July 24))
It may be that the fears associated with this game degrade the efforts at peace education, and have a bias towards one political side. There could also be arguments towards promoting this type of game because it forces the player to think about the situation of war and allows for the common person to develop opinions of the overall concept of political struggles.
This slideshow by S. Herman (Herman 2007) provides a good time line of the early mainstream games and the ethical issues raised. He discusses the early moral panics caused by the violence in games and portrayals of sexual issues. There was the mention of controversial games such as Mike Tyson’s Punchout which some argued portrayed ethnic stereotypes and alcohol consumption.
[edit] Current Issues
Consequentialism, contractualism and deontology are some of the traditional frameworks of the philosophy of Ethics. Information Ethics is an emerging field that is working to sort out the unique issues presented with new media artifacts and the unique issues.
An example of a unique ethical issue of games is related to the perception of moral agents. Interactive systems give the appearance of being moral agents because they seem to act as if they are. This level of abstraction from the Non-Player Characters (NPC) from the real living moral agents is not such a large gap and this raises the issue about how systems are perceived. (Siponen 2004) Does this present a challenge to the player to sort it out, or is the developer responsible for the actions of the NPC? Computer games are an abstraction of the real world but this is an interesting dilemma because the features that are represented are often exaggerated and made more obvious or visually augmented. The designer can not always predict the perception of the game aesthetics and portrayals of characters. Players may think that stereotypes are furthered, or may misinterpret the intended themes.
In a recent work from HCI experts, video games may not be correctly researched only from the existing HCI models that look at efficiency in accomplishing tasks. There is a concept known as “value systems: networks of related values which shape gameplay “ (Pippin 2007) which may be a worthwhile way in which games can be studied. By examining these differences of games with traditional HCI methods, we can see points where ethical issues arise. For example, in games, the gameplay is the focus while productivity applications focus on the results of the process. Rewards in games are usually found within the game and not outside of the game. Games tend to encourage a variety of experiences, yet impose constraints on the user to carry out his intentions while productivity applications seek to remove the constraints and also ask the user to carry out tasks in an efficient manner. Emotions are more of a focus in games and less in productivity applications. Games also seem to push the boundaries of the hardware and software developments. These differences highlighted by the paper by Pippin, et. al. opens up points that individually deserve further analysis.
[edit] Ethical Issues Specific to Serious Games
Serious Games are defined by many as having a purpose other than just pure entertainment. In that case, the purpose itself may deal with ethical issues and carries the burden of responsibility for more than just fun.
Contemporary art often embraces this notion as well, with the 'Art for Art's sake' and the avant garde. In these, art does not need to be morally justified, nor does it need to be beautiful. In a sense, if an artist says that it is art, then so it is. The argument is in some ways similar for computer games and Serious Games as well. A commonly accepted sentiment is that computer games are for entertainment purposes. Although they may stimulate thought and problem solving, mainstream games provide enjoyment and fun, with everything else being secondary goals. The key here is that mainstream video games are systems that call for user interaction and if that is achieved, the video game is 'valid.' Mainstream games are judged by their immersiveness, the replayability, the point of view and emotions of the player. But the underlying litmus test is basically, 'If it is called a videogame, then so it is.' If the sales are high, or if press coverage is received, it is established.
Serious Games represent field of interactive video games in which there is an agenda behind the design of the game which is not aligned primarily to entertainment. Although Serious Games often use entertaining features to draw in the user and to build a relationship, this is seen as possible means to a goal. In the field of Serious Games, the goal selected has associated ethical issues and the means to achieve that goal have ethical issues intrinsically tied to it.
The below are extremes from the two approaches which help to illustrate this concept: Goals of the game and Means of the game achieving the goals.
[edit] Serious Games and Ethics of Goals
There are many examples of goals that bring into question ethical dilemmas. The issue here is to uncover the aim behind the game. Is it to make money for the company, educate the user, convince of relgious ideals, or improve health? Can these aims be balanced or do they conflict and when? Some examples of games that have goals that are ethically challenging include games such as the recruiting game released by the US Army, America's Army (US Army 2007). This game brings into question the mode of conducting the recruitment of soldiers. Is this game exploiting the tendency of young people and video game playing habits for the purposes of building an army?
The same holds true for Advertising games or Religious games. Does the user see examples for which he or she might model oneself after as a result of playing the game?
[edit] Serious Games and Ethics of the Means
Another way to look at ethical issues in serious games aside from the goal of the game or the intended benefits yielded. We can look to the means of achieving the goals as well. An example that stands out clearly is the Super Columbine Massacre (Ledonne 2005). The game developer, Danny Ledonne has provided the game as a way for people to understand more fully the course of events that unfolded known as the Columbine School Shootings.
Another game which presents a contemporary situation in a politically sensitive region is the Global Conflicts: Palestine game by Serious Games Interactive http://www.seriousgames.dk. There is a clear goal of presenting challenging material to the player and asking the player to make decisions in an unfamiliar environment. http://www1.itu.dk/sw71478.asp
Similarly, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuma%5CWar Kuma War series of games uses current events of the war to create scenarios that place the player inside of these stories. Kuma games are much more focused on making money and not on presenting the issues for the user to negotiate issues. This can be considered a way to show more aspects of the issues by allowing the player to explore. Many issues arise here. First, the choice of which new stories to develop the scenarios for sends a message to the audience that the story is important enough to warrant a focus. Secondly, the games offered usually allow for shooting as the main mode of interaction. Thirdly, the representation of the events may or may not be accurate and could sway opinions about a topic based on incomplete or slanted opinion. This last issue is dealt with by all media, but the immersive three dimensional quality of the games may lead the user into believing that what they see is accurately portrayed and may need special consideration.
It is worthwhile to mention that mainstream games are often registered with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB 2007) and provide some degree of disclosure as to the content of the game and topics that might be encountered by the players. Many serious games are independent and do not follow the same rating system. It may be worthwhile to look at a rating system for serious games.
[edit] Actors In the field
[edit] Game developers
There are some game developers that create serious games that focus on ethical issues as the content of their games. Some examples are now presented.
In Thailand, Pakorn Tancharoen, director of the Moral and Ethical Development Office of the government was concerned about how much time children spent playing video games and in his opinion the content was not appropriate and was lacking in teaching good morals and behaviour. He recognized the strengths of video games as a motivating and capturing the attention. In the ‘Ethics Game’ that was created by Tancharoen (Tancharoen, P. 2007) and another company, the children are taught good moral lessons in an engaging way. (Kaewmorakot, C. 2007)
Another example of game developers focusing on moral issues as a central guiding principle is the Christian Game Developers Conference http://cgdc.org/. which states on their website, that it offers to the developers, “encouragement to stand up for morality and truth in an industry that can often be fighting these ideals” (CGDC 2007).
On the mainstream side of the coin there are extreme examples of very ethically challenging content by developers, and also non religious developers that focus on ethical issues or political issues as a focus. A popular site focusing on games for in this light is Watercooler games at www.watercoolergames.com.
In addition to games that have the explicitly stated goal of teaching good morals, there are games that challenge the morals of our society as well or offer an environment that is an escape from the real consequences of illegal behavior. The Grand Theft Auto series of games by Rockstar is the contemporary equivalent of the Deathrace game, yet it features a three dimensional world and allows for the player to engage in activity beyond vehicular homicide. In the GTA: San Andreas game, the play can vary according to the whim of the player from exploration of the city, to meeting with prostitutes. (Rockstar Games, 2004)
[edit] Game users
It may be worthwhile to mention virtue ethics relating to the user of games. We might ask, what kind of player is virtuous? What kind of game enhances the virtuous action of the player?
To examine from a more basic level, we can look at the definition of games by a Jesper Juul, a leading game researcher from Denmark, we can better understand the user and this helps to illustrate points in which ethical issues may arise as well:
“A game is (1) a rule-based formal system with (2) a variable and quantifiable outcome, where (3) different outcomes are assigned different values, (4) the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, (5) the player feels attached to the outcome, and (6) the consequences of the activity are optional and negotiable” (Juul 2003).
Each of these can be analyzed further, bringing questions such as the following:
1- are the rules dealing with issues of right and wrong?
2- the outcomes being winning or losing, or stopping the game. In games that ask for the player to conduct the activities of the avatar through illegal behaviour, is it appropriate to win or lose?
3- Is it ok to assign praise and award like recognition for winners of games that use ethically challenging content? More points for more kills, etc?
4- Is there anything ethically challenging about the user effort? What about the social responsibility for developers over game players that can’t stop playing?
5- What outcomes does the player become attached to and is it ok for the player to feel good about outcomes regarding morally challenging gameplay?
6- The consequences can be suggested, such as being named a winner with a high score at the most basic level, but what other consequences are encouraged? Do any of these represent challenging ideas? These questions can be explored in the future and have been addressed to some extent in various works.
[edit] Good practices
In regards to good practices of serious game use, there are multiple concerns regarding good practices of game use. From the developer, it there is the responsibility that the game is used as intended in order to make the desired impact. It would be morally right for the developer to provide sufficient details about the best ways to use the game and how to incorporate the game into other training efforts. The level of responsibility for the use of the game is probably greater though for the implementer of the game. If the game is offered as part of classroom training, then the users may not find the full value of the game, but worse, the user may think that she has learned the concepts as intended, but has maybe misinterpreted the lessons or does not have the context for the experience that activates the knowledge as intended. At the worst, the user may make bad decisions based on the lessons learned which may endanger their life. With entertainment games, there isn’t the same burden of responsibility because the purpose is only to entertain and to make money.
It may be that a standardized method of explaining a serious game’s purpose and recommendations for use and documenting good practices in a standard format is needed. A standard would allow for the transfer of knowledge to occur more easily and would reduce the chance of misinterpreting the serious games. This may be a topic for future discussion.
[edit] Roadmaps
This section discusses information related to business and technology roadmaps and related ethical issues.
[edit] What are the needs today?
The needs from an ethical perspective regarding serious games include the following:
• Research into the effective use of games as methods of teaching
• Rating system to identify ethically challenging material
• Standardized format for describing the intended usage and benefits of games
• Methods to study serious games and their ethical issues
[edit] What are the needs of the future?
Adoption of technologies and the shaping of society because of these technologies is discussed by Dr. Smith of the US Army. He puts forth the predictions of the industries that will use game technologies as acceptance increases. This is explained more in our road mapping report, but essentially when games have been accepted as a valuable tool, and they eventually become a required tool and the adoption in the various fields becomes a requirement. We can compare this to the adoption of email as a form of office communication and how it eventually took over as a near requirement in most workplaces. (Smith 2007). At some point in the future, it may be that games as learning tools become a required technology. In that case, the ethically responsible organization will have to use games as part of their operations and training efforts. Does this present ethically challenging issues? Should people be required to play games? Is debate a form of game? Is the serious game another form of debate of issues or forces?
[edit] Our Roadmap for Ethical Issues in Serious Games
It seems as though games will become a very heavily used technology in teaching various types of knowledge from the hard facts to the more soft knowledge of social behaviors. We may see a rating system that carefully describes the ethical issues dealt with in a game and a more clear standard for communicating the intended use of a game. But to go far into the future, it may be possible to allow non-programmers to create content and serious games very easily. This may make it possible for top level managers or human resources managers to send emails to employees that discuss ethical issues and then attached to the email could be a walk though or game like demonstration of the concept to help illustrate the issue.
It is likely that politically charged games will gain in popularity and this may help various players from around the globe to entertain other points of view and to learn from other cultures and an increase in tolerance for differences. It may be that the game like exchange of ideas becomes a dominant form of expression in political and ethical discourse.
[edit] Movies and Video Games
The concept of classical conditioning is used in video games and in movies. An example is the user or viewer is presented with scenes that unfold in a certain order and build emotions and ideas of future events. Then the use of suspenseful or ethereal music can put the user on edge even though no change in the scene has occurred. Movies and Video Games are related in some ways. Both involve sight, sound, usually narratives, characters, and the concept of time separates it from traditional art such as paintings or drawings. One of the key differences is the extra modality of video games. The user is involved in the tangible sense, meaning that the user moves the body, pushes buttons, or by other means physically influences the scenes and the progression of the events. In addition to this, the video game player is making choices that the viewer of a movie is not. In the video game, the user is presented with a set of meaningful choices as described by Sid Meier, designer of the classic Civilization computer games. (Koster 2004)
In a movie, the viewer is presented with scenes and has the choice of keeping the eyes and ears open, closed, staying, or leaving. The subject matter of the movie is the choice of the director and the viewer is free from making most choices. The viewer can laugh or cry, or show emotion, or jeer during a intense scene, these are the chances for the audience members to express their approval or contention with the ethical and moral issues. It is also accepted that movies are fiction and allow for activity that is immoral to be portrayed under the context of artistic expression. In video games, the designer creates the possibilities for the scenes that can unfold and then presents the player with the possibility to choose among the options and build the progression of scenes. The mechanics of the game allow for events to happen that may present ethical issues. Some of the issues include the following: How is the user represented in the avatar? Can the avatar act out in ways that would challenge right and wrong in the real world? Is the goal of the game presenting a challenge to right and wrong, such as shooting people? There is also the idea of emergent play which represents the activities the play engages in that were not intended by the game developer. These issues and more pertain to entertainment games, but even more so to Serious Games simply because the serious game is judged by its value in accomplishing the goal of teaching or guiding behaviors.
In regards to violence in video games, the book by Gerard Jones gives good supporting evidence that children can benefit from the fantasy play made possible in video game play, even when the subject matter is challenging from an ethical standpoint. (Jones 2002)
[edit] References
CGDC.2007. Christian Game Developers Conference. International Christian Game Developers Association. Retrieved November 2, 2007 from http://cgdc.org/.
ESRB. 2007. Entertainment Software Rating Board. http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp
Herman, S. 2007. Controversy & Moral Panic Caused by Video Games (Pre 90’s). Slideshare, Inc. Retrieved 08:40, November 2, 2007, from http://www.slideshare.net/wuzziwug/controversy-moral-panic-caused-by-early-video-games
Jones, G (2002), Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super-Heroes, and
Make-Believe Violence, New York: Basic Books.
Juul, 2003 J. Juul, The game, the player, the world: Looking for a heart of gameness. In: M.
Copier and J. Raessens, Editors, Level up: Digital Games Research Conference Proceedings, Universiteit Utrecht (2003), pp. 30–45.
Kaewmorakot, C. 2007. A Buddhist Game to Help Teach Ethics. Buddhistchannel.tv. Retireved November 2, 2007 from http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,3813,0,0,1,0
Koster, Raph. Theory of Fun for Game Design.
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Ledonne, D. 2005. Super Columbine Massacre RPG!. Retrieved November 2, 2007 from http://columbinegame.com.
Michael, David R. 2005.Serious Games : Games That Educate, Train, and Inform. Boston, MA, USA: Course Technology, Incorporated,. p iv. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/jyvaskyla/Doc?id=10087000&ppg=5
Pippin Barr, James Noble and Robert Biddle, Video game values: Human-computer interaction and games, Interacting with Computers, Volume 19, Issue 2, HCI Issues in Computer Games, March 2007, Pages 180-195. Link to online version
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