We explore controversial ethical issues about video games (e.g. what should be censored), in video games (e.g. what counts as cheating), and in video game design (e.g. what works to make a game morally interesting). Your hosts are Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. (Philosophy Professor and Video Game Ethicist) and Andy Ashcraft (Veteran Video Game Designer and Professor).
There are over 50 million players over the age of 50 in the USA alone and those numbers will only continue to grow for an activity that's too often viewed as “kids' stuff”. How and when do older players engage with online gaming communities? Do designers need to be concerned about monetizing techniques that might take advantage of vulnerable older adults? What can societies do to help older games access games that would be fun and beneficial for them? How can games themselves be more inclusive for older players? --------------------------------------------------------------- Bob De Schutter (MFA, PhD) is an award-winning game designer, researcher, educator, and advocate for meaningful play in later life. He is a Professor of Applied Game Design at Northeastern University, where he is jointly appointed between the College of Arts, Media and Design and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences. He is also the owner of award-winning game company Lifelong Games (LLC). ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Games are particularly fertile grounds for extremist recruitment. Why is that? What's special about games and gaming culture that might make them attractive spaces for recruitment? How does extremist recruitment work in games? What is being done about it right now? And what can be done to help prevent the spread of extremism through games? --------------------------------------------------------------- Rachel Kowert, Ph.D is a research psychologist and the Research Director of Take This. She is a world-renowned researcher on the uses and effects of digital games, including their impact on physical, social, and psychological well-being. An award-winning author, she's published a variety of books and scientific articles relating to the psychology of games and, more recently, the relationship between games and mental health specifically. Her YouTube channel Psychgeist serves to bridge the gap between moral panic and scientific knowledge on a variety of psychology and game-related topics. In 2021, Dr. Kowert was chosen as a member of The Game Awards Future Class, representing the best and brightest of the future of video games. Dr. Kowert has been featured in various media outlets, including NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Wired, and video game publications such as Kotaku and Polygon. ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you!
When game companies simulate cultures in their games they usually focus on the tropes that their intended audiences have about those cultures and then design their game around those tropes. Is there anything wrong with that? If so, what? What can game designers do to present cultures – present and past – more respectfully? --------------------------------------------------------------- Andrei Zanescu is a newly minted Doctor of Communication at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada. His research focuses on resonance and its uses for (re)producing culture, in blockbuster games both digital and analog, as well as the overlap between blockbuster films and games. He also researches the political economy of game distribution, and the monetization of game platforms. Andrei is co-author of Microstreaming on Twitch, which is forthcoming from MIT Press. And he's co-host of the Humor and Games. ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
Gaming and game development work differently for the developed global north than the developing global south. What are those differences? How does the global south play and pay differently? Why is it so hard to start a game development company in the global south? How can the gaming world better take these things into consideration in order to be more inclusive to the global south? --------------------------------------------------------------- Aditya Deshbandhu is Lecturer of Communications, Digital Media Sociology at the University of Exeter. A researcher of video game studies, new media, and the digital divide, Aditya examines how people engage with digital artefacts and seeks to understand how these interactions shape everyday lives. As someone who actively examines digital acts of leisure, Aditya's research in the last decade has examined social media and OTT platforms alongside video games and digital cultures. Aditya is also the author of Gaming Culture(s) in India: Digital Play in Everyday Life and the forthcoming The 21st Century in a Hundred games ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
In a couple of recent episodes guests have mentioned concerns about battle passes. So, in this episode we decided to explore how they work, how they differ from traditional subscription models or microtransactions, why they're so popular today with game companies, and whether they raise any serious ethical concerns. --------------------------------------------------------------- Daniel Joseph is a Senior Lecturer of Digital Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University where he researches internet infrastructure, platforms, apps, and games. He's also written for a number of publications, including Briarpatch Magazine, Motherboard, and Real Life Magazine. Follow Daniel on Twitter at @DanjoKaz00ie. ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
What can college esport teams do to blunt harassment against female players and make esports more inclusive? Are they in a unique position to help solve these problems in esports? We chat with representatives from Kean University about their attempts to make their own esport teams more inclusive to women. --------------------------------------------------------------- Theresa Lee is a returning student in her 40's, who majors in Environmental science and Drones, and is the captain of the Hearthstone team. Joseph Sarnoski is Kean University's eSports program director. In addition to gaming, Joe is a professor of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences at Kean where he runs their drone piloting and applications program. Kelly Williams is Director of Athletics at Kean University. His 28-year + career includes both coaching and athletic administrative experience, including serving as the head men's basketball coach and as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics at The College of New Jersey. ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
How can ads for video games and for stuff in games be deceptive or manipulative? What do they need to consider when targeting kids? What sort of guidance do they get from governments or their own industry groups? We chat with Dr. Celia Pontin, former UK advertising regulator specializing in video games.
In this episode we explore some of the ethical issues related to kinks in video games – mostly adult ones. How can games allow us to explore kinks? What are some ethical pitfalls designers should consider? How do issues like representation and consent fit in?
We've rarely discussed the specific category of adult games on this podcast. So, we do so here and now and honestly, with a bit more speculation and off-the-cuff “let's try this idea out and see if it sticks” mentality. We explore whether adult games should be treated differently than other types of pornography, whether age-gating is actually desirable, and a bunch of other issues. --------------------------------------------------------------- Fae Daunt is an Australian academic, researcher, and developer. Turning their experience in web into an endless curiosity for development and design, they have married their cultural experiences and academic knowledge into a sort of cosmic horror of curiosity. Fae wishes to further discussions of inclusivity, safe exploration, and understanding in games. They're currently developing an experimental mobile game that progresses in real-world time ------------------------------------------------------------ JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
What should we think about when we bring sex and intimacy into video games? In this episode, we explore issues of player sexuality, in-game intimacy, representations of consent, and how video games can take chances and explore sexuality responsibly. --------------------------- Our guest for this episode are: Zhia Zariko is a media and communication expat into games design and development. Originally studying written communication, she did an elective in games, aesthetics and culture and never looked back. She now holds a Masters on Let's Play videos from RMIT, Australia, and has been teaching games design and theory for 5 years. She is currently in pre-production for a narrative-driven game on romance, intimacy, and vulnerability in a dark fantasy universe." Fae Daunt is an Australian-born, English-temporarily-raised, Australian-returned academic, researcher, and developer. Turning their experience in web into an endless curiosity for development and design, they have married their cultural experiences and academic knowledge into a sort of cosmic horror of curiosity. Fae wishes to further discussions of inclusivity, safe exploration, and understanding in games. They're currently developing an experimental mobile game that progresses in real-world time" --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
How do players morally engage with games? What can user experience research and moral psychology tell us about how players experience and think about ethical decisions in games? We chat with philosopher Paul Formosa and Game Designer Malcolm Ryan about their collaborative ongoing research exploring these questions. --------------------------- Our guest for this episode are: Paul Formosa is a Professor of Philosophy, Head of the Department of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Paul has published widely on topics in moral and political philosophy, with a recent focus on the ethical issues raised by new technologies such as video games and AI. He also collaborates regularly with colleagues from a range of different disciplines outside of philosophy, one of whom is our other guest today, Malcolm Ryan! Malcolm Ryan is Course Director of the Game Design and Development program in the School of Computing at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Malcolm has published in game design, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. His current research focuses on how players make ethical decisions in video games, in collaboration with colleagues from philosophy, psychology and creative writing. He blogs about video game ethics research at MoralityPlay.org. Their research together (which is what we'll be talking about today) is founded in moral psychology and user experience (UX) research. They're interested in how players engage morally with games, how they exercise their ethical thinking to make decisions in games and how they experience these kinds of decisions. The hope is that this research will lead to richer, more engaging ethical content in games both for entertainment and education. --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
Games are supposed to be fun and playing in a historical setting or replaying historical events can be really fun. But when does the use of history become morally problematic by misrepresenting that history, leaving out alternative perspectives, or failing to communicate to the player when the game is or is not meant to be historically accurate? --------------------------- Our guest for this episode is Dr. Bram De Ridder - a postdoctoral researcher in applied history at the University of Leuven, Belgium. He has performed extensive research into the topics of public and applied history, and has advised numerous organizations on how to better use the past. His research has also studied how game developers and gamers relate to the past, leading him to found Sunken Tower, a history and game design company. Currently, he mainly plays Crusader Kings III, attempting to turn the Dukes of Brabant into the leading European power. --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
The monsters we see in video games are usually antagonists that we destroy without remorse. But what is a monster and are there ethical questions that arise in relation to how they're represented? In what ways can monsters utilize racist and sexist tropes in harmful ways? Can we treat a type of monsters as a race of pure evil? And is there anything that monsters might do that is beyond the pale? We chat with Dom Ford about Monster Ethics!
How would you make a game about a topic as important, complex, hard to talk about,, and NOT fun at all as domestic violence against children? We chat with Mathew Staunton about his game in progress on this topic and the ethical and design challenges it faces.
Toxicity in online gaming is an incredibly complex problem to solve. Teams of moderators often seem hopelessly outmatched by the amount of toxicity and its sometimes ambiguous nature. But, what if we brought an AI into the game to help us with both toxicity and fraud by bots, which are essentially other AI? In this episode we look at one company's attempt to do just that. --------------------------- Our guest for this episode is Camille Guillemot who started her career fighting fraud by making gaming a safer place for gamers. She quickly realized that fraud was only one part of the puzzle and decided to engage herself more on topics that mattered to her and joined Bodyguard as its Gaming Partnerships Manager, where she's now dedicating her energy to make gaming a safer and better place for all players, developers, and content creators. --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
Making money playing games on Twitch or YouTube sounds like a dream come true! But money never comes without strings attached. Streamers face pressures to build up their audience, ask for financial support, land and keep sponsors. It's hard work and many burn out. Meanwhile, there's questions about the ways Twitch and YouTube benefit from their labor. What are the ethics of making money playing games on Twitch or YouTube? --------------------------- Our guest for this episode is Dr Mark R Johnson, a Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on game live streaming and Twitch.tv, esports, and gamification and gamblification. He has published in journals including ‘Information, Communication and Society', ‘New Media and Society', ‘Media, Culture and Society', ‘Convergence', and ‘Games and Culture'. Outside academia he is also an independent game designer best known for the roguelike "Ultima Ratio Regum". --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
This is part 2 of our first two-part exploration of predatory monetization. Our guest, Elena Petrovskaya has been researching player complaints about monetization and has categorized them into 35 different types of potentially predatory monetization techniques – from pay or wait to the use of battle passes to aggressive advertising and dark interface design patterns. In part 1 we went over all of them. If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend going back and checking it out. This time, we evaluate. We ask what is supposed to be predatory in these techniques, which ones we think are not actually problematic, which ones we think are particularly problematic, and what, if anything, should be done about them in terms of regulation.
When it comes to monetization in games, what do players see as misleading, unfair, or aggressive? Elena Petrovskaya asked this question to over 1000 players and organized their complaints to create a taxonomy of 35 potentially predatory monetization techniques organized under 8 different domains. There was so much here to talk about, we ended up with our first two-parter episode. So, in this episode (part 1), we go over each of these monetization tactics from unfair matches to how in-game currency can disguise real prices, to the use of aggressive advertising, and much more. Then in our next episode (part 2), we'll explore whether these tactics are actually immoral and the potential consequences of predatory monetization on the gaming world.
When a player steps into a game, often that game will have a political structure and the player's choices in that structure may respond to their sense of justice. That sense of justice can also connect us as groups or factions in games. Can these factions engage in unethical in-game political action? Can players in massive multi-player games be considered citizens of those gameworlds in some sense? If so, can those worlds be tyrannical or benign dictatorships? Does justice demand giving players in such games democratic representation?
Putting blockchain and NFTs into games and marketing that as Play to Earn promises a revolution in gaming that will make money for both game studios and players. It's a win-win for everybody! – or is it just hype created by cryptobros to ruin games by turning them into money-making machines? What is the promise of Play to Earn supposed to be and what ethical concerns does it raise with regards to how it treats both players and developers?
Putting blockchain and NFTs into games and marketing that as Play to Earn promises a revolution in gaming that will make money for both game studios and players. It's a win-win for everybody! – or is it just hype created by cryptobros to ruin games by turning them into money-making machines? What is the promise of Play to Earn supposed to be and what ethical concerns does it raise with regards to how it treats both players and developers?
Most players think that loot boxes (essentially randomized rewards schemes) are a form of gambling, and many are concerned that they'll bring the same dangers of gambling to gaming. Some have called for governments to regulate loot boxes in games as they do with other forms of gambling. What have governments done about this? Has any of it worked? Is any of it necessary?
Games have been getting more and more gamblified in recent years. This has occurred both within games and in terms of gambling on esports and game items out of the games themselves. What is gamblification in video games? How does it occur? Where can we expect it to lead? And should we be concerned about it in the way that we're concerned as societies about traditional gambling? --------------------------- Our guest, Mark R. Johnson, is a Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on game live streaming and Twitch.tv, esports, gamification and gamblification. He has published in journals including ‘Information, Communication and Society', ‘New Media and Society', ‘Media, Culture and Society', ‘Convergence', and ‘Games and Culture'. Outside academia he is also an independent game designer best known for the roguelike "Ultima Ratio Regum", a regular games blogger, and - very usefully for this episode - a former professional online poker player. --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
Players, game devs, artists, voice actors, marketing people, and everyone else that works in the game industry - even game design students - sometimes need to talk to someone who understands how the video game universe can be uniquely emotionally taxing and difficult to navigate. The Games and Online Harassment Hotline was set up two years ago to help! We think they're an amazing resource for the gaming community in ways that go far beyond what you might expect. --------------------------- Our guest is Jae Lin, the Director of the Games and Online Harassment Hotline and a mental health advocate for video games spaces. They have a background in queer community health and suicide prevention, with roots in collegiate esports. Jae is also a community organizer around trans liberation, queer arts, and racial justice in Austin, TX. --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
We're always interested in the way that video games depict us. One topic that we think has got too little attention is that of how games depict madness, mental illness, insanity…. We chat about the ways video games approach madness, common gaming tropes about madness and psychiatric institutions. --------------------------- Our guest, Stefan Heinrich Simond, is a game studies scholar from Germany. He hosts a weekly podcast on game studies and video game culture, called Studying Pixels. He teaches at Philipps University Marburg and University of Wuppertal and is currently working on his PhD dissertation on madness in video games. In 2020, he co-published an anthology on illnesses in video games, titled Krankheit in Digitalen Spielen (open access available). --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
We encounter poverty in lots in games. We might play in a GTA-“ghetto” or interact with people in a “slum” using common tropes our culture has about the poor. We might be poor ourselves and set out to level up through the tropes of wealth and power. Sometimes our real world economic capacity can even be a factor in a game – say, with pay to win gamrs. In this episode, we look at how poverty is depicted in games and what questions it raises about how we should play and design them.
In esports, players trash talk, fans trash talk – even commentators trash talk! Sometimes trash talk is fun harmless banter, but other times is unsportsmanlike and shows disrespect for the game or other players. And, of course, trash talk can easily turn into harassment. What norms do esports have about trash talk and where should we draw the line between morally acceptable and unacceptable trash talk?
Game development is often a creative collaboration among people with very different skill sets, passions, and worldviews. What does it mean to treat the people you're working with in projects like these as a part of a team? What does it mean to respect one another? What can be done when interpersonal conflict inevitably arises?
When we heard that David Churchill hosts an AI competition with the Real Time Strategy game Starcraft, we were instantly fascinated. We wanted to know what cheating concerns a competition among AIs raises, and also what real world implications arise when training AIs to control strategic military assets in a game. Dr. Churchill did not disappoint!
Have you ever considered how gaming and game companies contribute to environmental problems like global climate change? We haven't! At least not until we spoke and were inspired by our guest Paula Escuadra to think about the many ways that game companies and design can help bring about a greener world!
Hundreds of millions of players have pirated video games. Most of them didn't feel any guilt about it. Some even felt justified. But game companies, like virtually all producers of creative products, have told us for decades that piracy is wrong – that it's theft somewhat similar to stealing physical things. Are they right? We've teamed-up for this episode with the hosts of the Studying Pixels Podcast to try to shed some light on whether or when pirating video games is morally justified.
We're used to the idea of organizations that try to do good as non-profits, but what about for-profit companies – like the great majority of game companies? Some for-profit companies are choosing to play a positive role in the world and to do so as a certified B-Corporation. One of these is ustwo games', best known for their fantastic Monument Valley games. We chat with ustwo's Justin Michaels about what it's like to be a game company dedicated to doing good as a B-corp.
It's hard to imagine games without AI, but having AI in games also raises a host of ethical questions involving their use by players and game companies. We explore the possible use of AI for cheating and manipulation, the importance of transparency, and responsibilities of AI's programmers.
Game companies have lawyers to tell them how to operate within the law. They have accountants and data analysts to tell them what is and is not profitable. But it's very rare for them to consult with an ethicist about the morality of their games or operations. Well, we think that's unfortunate and shortsighted. What are ethicists and how can they help video game companies?
Video games have been accused of being addictive and making players more violent and sexist. Studies have been cited that confirm these claims. And politicians suggesting laws limiting what video games can do have referenced the “scientific consensus” on these issues. But how does good research on these topics actually work and what does it tell us about the connection between games, violence, addiction, and sexism?
Someday people may be gods – all powerful entities able to control the physics of virtual worlds and the functionalities of NPCs. We might even give NPCs free will, a soul, or immortality – who knows what else? In this episode we have fun thinking about some of the moral choices that would come with being a video game god. --------------------------- Our guest, Dr Richard A. Bartle, is Honorary Professor of Computer Game Design at the University of Essex, UK. He is best known for having co-written in 1978 the first virtual world, MUD, the progenitor of the $30bn Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game industry. His 1996 Player Types model has seen widespread adoption by MMO developers and the games industry in general. His 2003 book, Designing Virtual Worlds, is the standard text on the subject, and he's an influential writer on all aspects of MMO design and development. In 2010, he was the first recipient of the prestigious Game Developers' Conference Online Game Legend award. --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
We've done 40 episodes about ethics and video games and the word “God” or “Religion” never came up. How do religion and video games connect with one another and what can the religious ethics of Paul Tyllich tell us about how to approach video games? --------------------------- Our guest, Benjamin J. Chicka is Lecturer of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Curry College. His work connects classical American pragmatism, process theology, and ground-of-being theology. Playing as Others: Theology and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games (2021) is his book on how moves toward greater diversity and inclusion in the video game industry can inform theological ethics and conversations about diversity and pluralism --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
There's lots of research going on about video games. Some of it involves product testing like VR games or the effectiveness of interfaces. Some of it looks at the impact of gaming on players for things like violence, sexism, and addiction. What ethical concerns come into play when doing research like this on live human beings like you and I? --------------------------- Ashley ML Guajardo is an associate professor of Entertainment Arts and Engineering at the University of Utah where she teaches game design and games user research. When she isn't researching Twitch streamers or Twitch streaming herself, she serves on the Institutional Review Board and is currently co-directing the #gamesUR Summit 2022- the largest conference for games user researchers. Ann Johnson has degrees in biology, chemistry, and public health, and her career is making sure people who volunteer to be in research studies are as safe and respected as possible. She's the Director of the University of Utah's IRB & Human Research Protection Program --------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it! You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
Video game transactions are a highly unusual, perhaps unique, business model. Our guest Elie Cohen essentially calls it an exploitative scheme where “the house never loses”. It's not that they're always bad, but they easily can be exploitative, wrong, or simply “uncool”. What can or does make a microtransaction exploitative and what can be done about it?
There's deception in Among Us and bluffing in Poker. But then there are multiplayer games where players you trusted will scam, betray, and backstab you to get ahead. Few things can be as upsetting in a game as being the victim of such treacherous play. But what, if anything, is wrong with playing this way? --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com
A meritocratic system is one whose “winners” are those who earn their positions through greatest talent and hard work. That sounds like a good system – a fair one! And video games seem to be a fantastic place for meritocracy to be actualized – a place where, unlike the real world, everyone competes on a level playing field regardless of class, race, sex, etc. But, as our guest, Seattle University's Chris Paul, tells us, we need to be aware of the limits of meritocracy and how it can also lead to toxic game cultures.
Do men and women see the role of fun or leisure in their life differently? How does this translate to their gaming habits? Can playing like a feminist help bring about gender equality of leisure time? What are gaming circles and how can they help? --------------------------- Our guest, Shira Chess, is an Associate Professor of Entertainment & Media Studies at the University of Georgia. She is author of Play Like a Feminist. (MIT Press, 2020) and Ready Player Two: Women Gamers and Designed Identity (2017). Her work explores how video games are designed for and marketed to women audiences, and larger themes of leisure disparities. --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com
Is it ever morally wrong to enjoy fantasizing about immoral things in video games? On the one hand, it's just a fantasy. On the other hand, doesn't it seem that something might be wrong about painfully torturing, raping, or hunting down minorities in a game, even though it's all just fantasy? According to philosopher Chris Bartel, it's not about what you do, but why you do it and who you are. --------------------------- Our guest, Chris Bartel, is a Professor of Philosophy at Appalachian State University. His research interests primarily lie within aesthetics and ethics. He mainly focuses on video games, the philosophy of music, and media ethics. He's the Author of Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy, which comes out this month – January 2022. ----------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
One way to think about games is as experiences tailored to give us agency – to provide us with clear values and motivations and then force us to overcome obstacles in pursuit of those values and motivations. Engaging our agency in a variety of ways, games can make us more free, but in ways that also pose interesting new dangers for us. --------------------------- Our guest is C. Thi Nguyen, who used to be a food writer, but now is a philosophy professor at University of Utah. He writes about trust, art, games, and communities. He's interested in the ways that our social structures and technologies shape how we think and what we value. His first book is Games: Agency as Art. It was awarded the American Philosophical Associations 2021 Book Prize. It's about how games are the art form that work in the medium of agency. --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
In ‘Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque' you play as a Palestinian resistance fighter working to end the occupation of Palestine. It's a game where you play someone that looks like a person games typically depict as a terrorist, but from the perspective of that person and his group being the good guys. The game generated a furious reaction from Israelis and Jews. We found all this fascinating and so decided to do an ethics review of this controversial game. --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
Online multiplayer games are notorious for having hopelessly toxic environments where harassment and griefing abound. And then there's the cheaters and hackers… Game companies are obviously aware of the problem and have both moral and financial reasons to make player interaction more ethical – and still the unethical behavior persists. What makes ethics in online multiplayer games such a hard problem to tackle and what can we do about it? --------------------------- Our guest, Lucy Sparrow, is a PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research examines the ethics of multiplayer digital gameplay and design. Lucy also works as an academic editor and has held research and teaching positions in ethics and game design at universities across Hong Kong and Australia. You can find her on twitter at: @lucyamsparrow --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
When and how much is it ok for one game to “borrow” elements from another game? We often think of these sorts of things through the idea of “intellectual property”. What exactly is that idea and how should it apply to video games? --------------------------- Our guest, game scholar Jose Zagal (@JoseZagal) is not just a pioneer on this subject, but also teaches one of only two classes in the world for game design students on the subject of Ethics and Video Games. --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
What is it to “be” a gamer? How did the gamer “identity” become both masculinized and marginalized? How has this impacted female players and is the “gamergirl” identity useful or counter-productive for female players? We chat with Dr. Amanda Cote who argues that video games are in a crisis of authority related to what a “gamer” is. --------------------------- Our guest, Amanda Cote, is Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Game Studies at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. She is also a member of the University of Oregon Esports and Games Research Lab. Amanda studies digital and analog games, as well as their culture and industry. Her first book, Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games was recently published by New York University Press. -------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
John Gibson, the (now former) CEO of Tripwire Games tweeted an opinion about a newly enacted and unpopular Texas law. The Gaming Goat released images of their fishing game-themed game that showed a frog that looked like it was communicating symbols of white power. Both complain that they then became targets of “cancel culture” in gaming. What is cancel culture and were these people treated wrongly in anyway? --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
In our ethics news and bits episodes we grab a few recent news items that we want to chat about, but not devote an entire episode to. This time around we look at China's dramatic new restrictions on when kids can play and controversies around the content warnings of two dating games. --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher
How can you responsibly design a game about an ongoing tragedy like the corona-19 pandemic? How can you make ANY moral decision responsibly? In this episode we introduce a step-by-step approach to think through any ethical decision – using the creation of a game based on the corona pandemic as our example. --------------------------- Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com We're always looking for new ethical issues to explore in future podcasts, so if you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know! Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com. We'd love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher Follow/like us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube You can find all of our episodes, videos, and the Video Games Ethics Resources Center at our website https://ethicsandvideogames.com
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