Being Bad in a Video Game can Make Us Morally Sensitive

Several researchers have demonstrated that the virtual behaviors committed in a video game can elicit feelings of guilt. Researchers have proposed that such guilt could have prosocial consequences. However, this proposition has not been supported with empirical evidence. The current study examined this issue in a 2 2 (video game play vs. real world recollection guilt vs. control) experiment. Participants were first randomly assigned to either play a video game or complete a memory recall task. Next, participants were randomly assigned to either a guilt-inducing condition (game play as a terrorist/recall of acts that induce guilt) or a control condition (game play as a UN soldier/recall of acts that do not induce guilt). Results of the study indicate several important findings. First, the current results replicate previous research indicating that immoral virtual behaviors are capable of eliciting guilt. Second, and more importantly, the guilt elicited by game play led to intuition-specific increases in the salience of violated moral foundations. These findings indicate that committing "immoral" virtual behaviors in a video game can lead to increased moral sensitivity of the player. The potential prosocial benefits of these findings are discussed.Advertisin

Papers, Please and the systemic approach to engaging ethical expertise in videogames

Papers, Please, by Lucas Pope (2013), explores the story of a customs inspector in the fictional political regime of Arstotzka. In this paper we explore the stories, systems and moral themes of Papers, Please in order to illustrate the systemic approach to designing videogames for moral engagement. Next, drawing on the Four Component model of ethical expertise from moral psychology, we contrast this systemic approach with the more common scripted approach. We conclude by demonstrating the different strengths and weaknesses that these two approaches have when it comes to designing videogames that engage the different aspects of a player’s moral expertise

The Potential for Empathy Learning through Video Games

This thesis has looked at the potential for empathy-learning and exploration of ethical issues through the use of narrative video games in education. Video games is a relatively modern medium that is unique in the sense of the level of interaction, player-agency and engagement it has the potential to produce. Video games can be used as story-telling devices within education, along the lines of traditional narrative text, while also allowing players to craft their own player-generated narratives. To explore the potential for empathy learning and exploration of ethical issues, the thesis presents an analysis of a narrative apocalyptic video game in the survival genre, Frostpunk (11 bit games, 2018). The video game’s framing of ethical issues and its potential for empathy learning is examined in relation to the notion of persuasive games, curricular texts, and genres. Based on the previous analyses, this thesis includes suggestions of how to engage Frostpunk, and by implication of other similar games, in both the English subject and to teach interdisciplinary subjects such as Democracy and citizenship, and Sustainable development. The study concludes that there is potential to use commercial video games as a platform for empathy-learning, while acknowledging that there are practical and pedagogical concerns and challenges with respect to implementing them in an educational setting

Design bioethics:a theoretical framework and argument for innovation in bioethics research

Empirical research in bioethics has developed rapidly over the past decade, but has largely eschewed the use of technology-driven methodologies. We propose "design bioethics" as an area of conjoined theoretical and methodological innovation in the field, working across bioethics, health sciences and human-centred technological design. We demonstrate the potential of digital tools, particularly purpose-built digital games, to align with theoretical frameworks in bioethics for empirical research, integrating context, narrative and embodiment in moral decision-making. Purpose-built digital tools can engender situated engagement with bioethical questions; can achieve such engagement at scale; and can access groups traditionally under-represented in bioethics research and theory. If developed and used with appropriate rigor, tools motivated by "design bioethics" could offer unique insights into new and familiar normative and empirical issues in the field.</p