The Ethics of Gaming (PHIL90041)

Within the context of video games, is it appropriate to judge a legitimate action or even a more sustained gaming strategy as morally good or bad? Should virtual enactments within video games be something to warrant moral interest? If so, should there be a limit to what can be enacted or represented within these games, and how do we arrive at this limit? If not, why not? In short, why might the indignant cry of “It’s just a game” not be sufficient to stave off those who would insist on the enactment of virtual taboos being the subject of moral scrutiny?

Students will be afforded an opportunity to cast a critical eye over the applicability of traditional and more contemporary theories of morality to the enactment of taboos within gamespace (inter alia Hume, Kant, Virtue Theory). Can these approaches be used to guide the selective prohibition of video game content by informing us about what should be permitted and what (if anything) should not within these playful arenas?

In addition, rather than endorsing the idea that video game content and enactments are either morally good or bad per se, as an alternative, students will be encouraged to evaluate psychological (and other) research / theory relating to what individuals are able to cope with when engaged in simulations of taboo activities. Might such research / theory provide the basis for a more informed metric of permissibility?

Students will tackle questions such as:

• A priori, what justification is there for the selective prohibition of gaming content?
• A posteriori, what justification is there for the selective prohibition of gaming content?
• How important is player motivation for determining the morality of enacting virtual taboos, or the narrative and what it appears to be endorsing?
• Should the virtual enactment of taboos be used to (i) identify those with a predilection for certain types of taboos (e.g., paedophilia) and (b) their treatment?

As noted above, students will encounter a variety of philosophical theories of morality, as well as interdisciplinary empirical research (e.g., psychology, media studies, sociology)