Moral Dilemmas in Computer Games

Abstract

Introduction Some of the most popular recent computer games have used morality as a marketing strategy, promising that players’ moral choices would critically affect the game experience. Although many of these games have been criticized for proposing shallow dilemmas that do not reflect the ethical possibilities of aesthetic expression, morality nevertheless is a topic that professional game designers increasingly feel the need to address. This paper addresses the question of the design of ethical game-based experiences, arguing that developers should focus on presenting players with ill-defined problems that demand ethical thinking and creative engagement as part of the gameplay experi- ence. Taking concepts from design research and philosophical eth- ics, this paper postulates that game designers have approached morality in games as a tame problem, formalizing decision-mak- ing through finite, solvable, computable puzzles. This approach has proven commercially successful but aesthetically unsatisfying because it encapsulates the process of ethical thinking in the con- text of gameplay dynamics, which are not necessarily related to the moral nature of players.