Science fiction loves to pose complicated philosophical questions to us. And no question feels more in line with the genre than “what is a human?” But this question as a theme of a piece of art like a video game can be done well or poorly. And in particular, it can run into an initial bias based on which characters look human. In this essay I explore a few examples of games that raise this topic to show how getting an audience to engage with the topic is about more than just posing the question.
Tag Archives: morality
Moral Choices: Video Games, Judgments, and Rationalization
Video games can try to get us to think about complex moral problems through their systems and stories. But these tough questions can run up against an annoying facet of human psychology – our ability to rationalize. In this essay I use the ending sequence from The Last of Us to illustrate how the audience can use ambiguity to escape critically thinking about the media they consume, and what this means for game development.
What’s Yours is Mine
Video games allow you to steal stuff all the time from other characters. In fact, games make it pretty easy to get away with theft. And yet…we recognize that theft is morally wrong. So what can we take away from all the stealing we do when we play games?
Moral Choices: On Forgiveness
If a character in a game was evil, but then joins the good guys, when do you forgive them? This question may seem difficult, but it’s a question that is rarely – if ever – posed through a game’s narrative. But by stepping back and thinking more carefully about what it means to “forgive” we can see how these narratives ignore the problem and how we might better incorporate these questions into video games.
Moral Choices: The Virtuous Player
Making good moral choices in video games is complex, and it’s easy to fall back on the simplistic. But when we rely on simple ideas, we lose the power that makes moral choices worth presenting in video games.
Moral Choices: Follow the Rules
When we make moral choices, we often fall back on a set of rules that are easy to remember and stick to. But it can be useful to take a closer look at those rules that we use. In this essay, I’ll look into the moral framework of deontology (i.e. “morality based on rules”), and examine how we might use deontological concepts to create richer moral choices and themes in video games.
Moral Choices: Teachable Moments
When we talk about morality in art, we often want to teach lessons to the person viewing that art. Video games are no different in trying to teach lessons. But how we teach lessons – especially moral lessons – is important, and much tougher than we may think.
Moral Choices: On Judgment
Video games with moral choice systems often like to judge the player for their choices. But these judgments are likely undermining the very purpose of having moral choice systems. So what are the pitfalls of implementing judgments, and how might those pitfalls be avoided?
Moral Choices: The Missing Middle Ground
Morality in video games often looks at good and evil, but tends to miss the interesting conflicts that take place between those two extremes. How might games be better able to portray a sense of moral greyness that is interesting and reflects how morality actually works?
Moral Choice Systems
Words: 5708 Approximate Reading Time: 35-45 minutes My own area of expertise lies in moral/ethical philosophy. Broadly speaking, this is the study of how people ought to behave or act, sometimes in particular situations, sometimes in terms of the habits or dispositions they cultivate, sometimes as general rules. It’s a complex topic, as most topicsContinue reading “Moral Choice Systems”
Abstracting Games 