Welcome to the Ethics of Video Games podcast. The first and only podcast dedicated to the intersection and relationships between video games and ethics, brought to you by an Ethicist (Shlomo Sher, Ph.D.) and a Game Designer (Andrew Ashcraft).
Here we’ll 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).
If you have any ideas for a topic you think our team should explore in a future podcast, please drop us a line! (shlomo at ethicsandvideogames.com)
- Episode 76 – Including Older Players in Video Games (with Bob De Schutter)
[Release Date: September 5, 2023] 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 - Episode 75 – Fighting Extremism in Games (with Rachel Kowert)
[Release Date: August 22, 2023] 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? - Episode 74 – When Games Simulate Real World Cultures For Profit (With Andrei Zanescu)
[Release Date: August 1, 2023] 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? - Episode 73 – How Gaming treats the Global South (with Aditya Deshbandhu)
[Release Date: July 18, 2023] 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? - Episode 72 – Battle Passes (with Daniel Joseph)
[Release Date: July 4, 2023] 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. - Episode 71 – Women in Esports (with Theresa Lee, Joseph Sarnoski, and Kelly Williams)
[Release Date: June 20, 2023] 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. - Episode 70 – Advertising Games (with Celia Pontin)
[Release Date: June 6, 2023] 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. - Episode 69 – When Video Games Get Kinky (with Kate Gray)
[Release Date: May 23, 2023] 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? Kate Gray is a games writer and journalist with a specialist interest in portrayals of sex, sexuality, and relationships in video games. She - Episode 68 – Ethical Issues With Adult Games (With Fae Daunt)
[Release Date: May 9, 2023] 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. - Episode 67 – Player sexuality and consent (With Fae Daunt + Zhia Zariko)
[Release Date: April 25, 2023] 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 lack of, and how video games can take chances and explore sexuality responsibly. - Episode 66 – Video Game Design Lessons from Moral Psychology (with Paul Formosa and Malcolm Ryan)
[Release Date: April 11, 2023] 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. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:05:14.680 –> 00:05:22.970Shlomo Sher: All right. Welcome. Everybody. We’re here with Paul Fromosa, a professor of Philosophy, head - Episode 65 – Problems with Games and History (with Bram De Ridder)
[Release Date: March 28, 2023] 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? - Episode 64 – Monster Ethics (with Dom Ford)
[Release Date: March 14, 2023] 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 - Episode 63 – The challenges of making a game about domestic violence against children (Mathew Staunton)
[Release Date: February 28, 2023] 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. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:03:08.450 –> 00:03:26.389Shlomo Sher: Alright, Hello, everybody! we’re here with a Matthew Stanton, a Phd. Originally from a - Episode 62 – The moral challenges of using an AI to reduce toxicity in games (with Camille Guillemot)
[Release Date: February 14, 2023] Toxicity in online gaming is an incredibly complex problem to solve. Teams of moderators often seem hopelessly outmatched by the amount of toxicity and it’s 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. SHOW - Episode 61 – The Ethics of Making Money on Twitch or YouTube (with Mark Johnson)
[Release Date: January 31, 2023] 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 - Episode 60 – Which monetization tactics are truly predatory? (with Elena Petrovskaya)
[Release Date: January 17, 2023] 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 - Episode 59 – 35 potentially predatory monetization tactics (with Elena Petrovskaya)
[Release Date: January 3, 2023] 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 - Episode 58 – Politics Tyranny and Citizenship in Video Games (with James “Pigeon” Fielder)
[Release Date: December 20, 2022] 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? - Episode 57 – The Ethics of Play to Earn (with Tom Rodgers)
[Release Date: December 6, 2022] Putting in 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? In this episode we explore what the promise of Play to Earn is supposed to - Episode 56 – Loot Boxes and the Law (with Leon Xiao)
[Release Date: November 22, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:13:24.780 - Episode 55 – The Growing Gamblification of Video Games (with Mark Johnson)
[Release Date: November 8, 2022] 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? - Episode 54 – The Games and Online Harassment Hotline (with Jae Lin)
[Release Date: October 25, 2022] 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 - Episode 53 – How Video games Depict Madness (with Stefan Simond)
[Release Date: October 11, 2022] 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. - Episode 52 – How Video Games Represent Poverty (with Adam Crowley
[Release Date: September 27, 2022] 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 - Episode 51 – The challenge of Creative Collaboration in game development (with Casey O-Donnell)
[Release Date: August 30, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:06:10.320 –> 00:06:19.710Shlomo Sher: All right, let’s do it alright - Episode 50 – Trash Talk and Sportsmanship in Esports (with Sidney Irwin)
[Release Date: September 13, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT - Episode 49 – When AIs Compete in real-Time Military Strategy Games (with David Churchill)
[Release Date: August 16, 2022] 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! - Episode 48 – Gaming and the Environment (with Paula Escuadra)
[Release Date: August 5, 2022] 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! SHOW TRANSCRIPT hello everybody paula’s cuadra has spent over 12 years elevating the power of - Episode 47 – Ethics in Pirating in Video Games (with the Studying Pixels Podcast)
[Release Date: July 19, 2022] 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 - Episode 46 – What if Game Companies did good as B-Corps (with Justin Michaels)
[Release Date: July 5, 2022] 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 - Episode 45 – AI Ethics in Video Games (with Gillian Smith)
[Release Date: June 21, 2022] 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. SHOW TRANSCRIPT hello everybody we’re here today with dr jillian smith who directs the interactive media and the game development - Episode 44 – Why video game companies need ethicists (with Catherine Flick)
[Release Date: June 7, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT - Episode 43 – What the Research REALLY Says About the Connection Between Video Games + Violence, Addiction, and Sexism! (with Rachel Kowert)
[Release Date: May 24, 2022] 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? SHOW - Episode 42 – How to be a good Video Game God (with Richard A. Bartle)
[Release Date: May 10, 2022] 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. - Episode 41 – Religion, Ethics, & Video Games (with Benjamin J. Chicka)
[Release Date: April 26, 2022] 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 Tillich tell us about how to approach video games? - Episode 40 – The Ethics of Video Games Research (with Ashley Guajarado and Ann Johnson)
[Release Date: April 12, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:11:37.620 –> 00:11:48.390Shlomo Sher: Today - Episode 39 – When/how microtransactions can be exploitative (with Ellie Cohen)
[Release Date: March 29, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:03:26.070 –> 00:03:39.720Shlomo Sher: All right, everybody - Episode 38 – Backstabbing ,Scamming, & Treacherous Play (with Marcus Carter)
[Release Date: March 15, 2022] 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? - Episode 37 – The Problem with Meritocracy of Video Games (with Chris Paul)
[Release Date: March 1, 2022] 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 - Episode 36: Why video games need feminism and feminism needs video games (with Shira Chess)
[Release Date: February 15, 2022] 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? SHOW TRANSCRIPT 1800:02:02.640 –> 00:02:10.860Shlomo Sher: chess is an associate professor of entertainment and media studies at the University of Georgia, she - Episode 35: Is it ever morally wrong to enjoy fantasizing about immoral things? (with Chris Bartel)
[Release Date: February 1, 2022] 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 - Episode 34: How Games Can Make Us More Free (with C. Thi Nguyen)
[Release Date: January 18, 2022] 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 a way that also poses interesting new dangers for us. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:15:22.530 - Episode 33: Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque – An Ethics Review of A Palestinian Liberation Game
[Release Date: January 4, 2022] 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 - Episode 32: What we can do about the wicked problem of ethics in online multiplayer games ? (with Lucy Sparrow)
[Release Date: December 21, 2021] Online multiplayer games are notorious for having hopelessly toxic environments where harassment and griefing abound. 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? - Episode 31: How Should Intellectual Property Apply To Video Games? (with Jose Zagal)
[Release Date: December 7, 2021] 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? - Episode 30: Sexism and the Gamer Identity (with Amanda Cote)
[Release Date: November 23, 2021] 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. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:03:06.810 –> 00:03:15.900Shlomo Sher: All right, everybody - Episode 29: “Cancel Culture” in gaming [Ethics News & Bits]
[Release Date: November 9, 2021] 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 - Episode 28: China’s Kids & Content Warnings in Dating Games [Ethics News and Bits]
[Release Date: October 26, 2021] 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 games and controversies around the content warnings of two dating games. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:13:46.170 –> 00:13:49.110Shlomo Sher: Hello everybody welcome back to the show - Episode 27: Covid Games & Just How Do you make a responsible ethical decision?
[Release Date: October 12, 2021] 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. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:02:09.900 –> 00:02:19.470Shlomo Sher: So during the corona 19 pandemic that which - Episode 26: Fairness in Esports with Veli-Metti Karhulhti
[Release Date: September 28, 2021] Esport is in some ways similar to traditional sport competitions, but in other ways is a totally new kind of enterprise. In this episode we chat with Dr. Matti Karhulati, who researches esports, about some of the unique concerns about fairness that arise in competitive gaming. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:06:25.560 –> 00:06:39.630Shlomo Sher: Alright Hello everybody, we are here joined today with a maddie Carl hootie God, let - Episode 25: How Games Make Us Better People with Karen Schrier
[Release Date: September 14, 2021] When people talk about games and ethics, it’s almost always about potential moral problems with gaming – things like violence, sexism, and addiction. It’s almost as if games couldn’t do anything good for the world other than just be fun. But video games can also provide us with great opportunities for becoming better people! As our guest, game scholar and author, Karen Schrier, argues in her new - Episode 24: Video Games and Our Real Bodies with Rob Cover
[Release Date: August 31, 2021] We’re used to thinking about games as fantasy worlds we escape to, while leaving our bodies behind. In this traditional perspective of gaming, video games liberate us from our bodies and free us to be anyone and anything. But, is that really the case? In this episode we speak with Dr. Rob Cover, who rejects this view and argues that it’s morally important to remember that we - Episode 23: We Design a Game About Criminal Justice
[Release Date: August 24, 2021] This is the second episode in our “Andy and Shlomo design a game” series. In this game, we want to tackle the issue of crime and punishment. That’s right, we want to make a game dealing with the complex ethical questions around how we treat criminals. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:03:26.880 –> 00:03:42.000Shlomo Sher: hey everybody today’s episode is going to be the second in our series of - Episode 22: Dragon City – an Ethics-Oriented Game Review
[Release Date: August 17, 2021] In this episode we’ll be walking through a game, in this case ‘Dragon City’ a free-to-play game by Socialpoint games through an ETHICAL lens. It’s a game review, but instead of talking about fun or value or quality, we’ll just be talking about certain game features that might be morally problematic. These game features are not uncommon. But “everyone does it” has never been a good excuse! - Episode 21: The Psychology of moral encounters in video games with Jamie Madigan
[Release Date: August 10, 2021] It seems obvious that we would respond differently to the moral dimension of a game that we’re playing, as opposed to the moral dimension of a movie we’re watching or a book that we’re reading. But what are these differences? And are there ways that we psychologically engage with morality that are unique to video games? We’ve invited Dr. Jamie Madigan, psychologist, author, researcher, life-long gamer, and - Episode 20: Teaching Ethics and Video Games with Jose Zagal
[Release Date: August 3, 2021] How can ethics play a role in game design? What’s the point of teaching of ethics to game design students? Our guest, game scholar Jose Zagal 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. SHOW TRANSCRIPT 00:04:09.180 –> 00:04:15.540Shlomo Sher: When I started this - Episode 19: The Ethics of Trolling with Chrissy Cook
[Release Date: July 27, 2021] Trolls are the jerks of the gaming world. They provoke, they insult, they disrupt, they get their gaming pleasure from messing with other players emotions and messing up their games. It’s not hard to say that trolling it typically immoral, but are all trolls the same and is trolling ever justified? Joining us for our discussion is Dr. Christine “Chrissy” Cook (@ChristinelcookL), an expert researchers on trolls - Episode 18: What are parents responsible for?
[Release Date: July 20, 2021] When it comes to the possibility that video games might harm kids, a common and classic position is that game companies aren’t the ones responsible here. It’s the parents job to make good decisions on behalf of their children, and to protect them as necessary. If children do get harmed, the problem is lazy parenting – parents just not doing their job. How sensible is this view? - Episode 17: What’s the point of playing games?
[Release Date: July 13, 2021] “Why do you play the games you do?” is a psychological question that describes your motives. But “why should you play games?” is very different. It’s an ethical question that’s also asks the existential question: “what’s the point of playing games?”. In this episode we explore how the answers we might give to these last two questions relate to the biggest ethical question of all – “how - Episode 16: What are game companies actually responsible for?
[Release Date: July 6, 2021] Gamers and non-gamers alike have plenty of complaints about the ways game companies supposedly act irresponsibly. But in this episode, we’re going BIGGER than that! We’re going to look at 4 ideas about what any corporation is responsible for and apply these to today’s game companies. Which idea is right and how might these companies do things differently if they were convinced to see their responsibilities differently? - Episode 15: Implicit bias in hiring practices at game companies with Celia Hodent
[Release Date: June 29, 2021] When people point out sexism in games and game culture, the classic suggested prescription is that game companies need to hire more women. The idea is that more women in game companies will bring a voice to call out sexist aspects of games, and bring a greater demand to protect female players from a somewhat toxic gaming culture. Women make up about half of players, so why - Episode 14: Is excessive gaming a personal or social problem?
[Release Date: June 22, 2021] When kids play video games to the point where it interferes with their life, whose responsibility is it to help them avoid addiction and get back to living a healthy lifestyle? Most places assume that the responsibility lies with the player or parent and leave it to them to deal with it. But in South Korea and China excessive gaming is seen as an important social problem - Episode 13: Morality Systems part 2 – Can we count the process?
[Release Date: June 15, 2021] To take a bunch of different moral decisions in a game and count them in some way as if they’re related, comparable, or calculable requires a “morality system”. Most morality systems in video games classify actions in black and white terms: good/bad, paragon/renegade. But, our moral universe is full of grays that these systems miss out on. In part 1 of our exploration of morality systems, - Episode 12: Morality Systems part 1 – Counting the good and the right
[Release Date: June 8, 2021] It’s one thing to design a game where the player is forced to make moral choices, and another to systemize those choices so that they’re collectively integrated within the game somehow. To take a bunch of different moral decisions in a game and treat them as if they’re related, comparable, or calculable requires a “morality system”. Most morality systems classify actions in black and white terms: good/bad, - Episode 11: Consent in Games
[Release Date: June 1, 2021] How does consent come into play when it comes to gaming? We look at how the idea of player consent works within the RPG table-top role playing community and explore this idea of consent in terms of how you treat players might be applied to video games. - Episode 10: Andy and Shlomo make a game!
[Release Date: May 25, 2021] Has a game ever made you stop and think about an ethical issue? How did it do that? In our latest episode, we look at some of the ways that games can do this and think up a game that would do create ethical reflection while exploring the types of policies a social network like Facebook should have. - Episode 9 – Only 25% racism for you + Steam bans again
[Release Date: May 18, 2021] Intel announces the creation of an audio filter targeted for video games that will give players the power to do things like choose to hear only “some” misogyny or white supremacy. What???And Steam bans yet another game – Super Seducer 3. Were their reasons for doing so good ones? Do they have a morally consistent censorship policy? - Episode 8 – The NEW 6 Days in Fallujah
[Release Date: May 11, 2021] In 2009, 6 Days in Fallujah, the first major studio release of a game about a real ongoing war was “cancelled” 3 weeks before its release date. In episode 3 we talked about the criticism against it and what it had to teach us about the challenges of making responsible games about the real world. Now, in 2021, there’s a new 6 Days in Fallujah game - Episode 7: But is it a morally bad game?
[Release Date: May 4, 2021] Games are sometimes criticized not just for having some immoral aspect like too much violence or unnecessarily sexualization, but of being morally bad games. And if a game is immoral, then we might want to think about banning of restricting it in some way. But how can we decide if a game is immoral or not? In this episode we look at ways to do just - Episode 6: The Gamer’s Dilemma
[Release Date: Apr. 27, 2021] Most gamers believe that there’s nothing wrong with virtual murder in games. After all, none of it is real. No one is actually hurt. There is no murder. It’s all just fantasy. It might even be a way for some people to release some steam. But, most gamers believe that there would be something very wrong with a game that included virtual pedophilia. But why is - Episode 5 – Are video games like tobacco?
[Release Date: Apr. 20, 2021] Yeah, we know the question may sound silly. But, like tobacco, video games can be addictive. Moreover, some video games are made in ways that are designed to manipulate their customers into addictive behavior, so that they want to play more, so that they can be monetized more. Doesn’t that sound like the historical misdeeds of tobacco? And like tobacco, video game addiction has killed. How - Episode 4 – To ban or not to ban: Steam’s Censorship policies
[Release Date: Apr. 13, 2021] Until 2018 Steam had a fairly conventional policy that among other things banned content that included hate speech, pornography, the exploitation of children, libel, offensive content, or content intended to shock or disgust viewers. Then, after vigorous internal debate, they dramatically changed that policy. In doing so, they saw themselves as struggling with a very difficult problem. The issue of what to ban or censor today - Episode 3 – When Game Met Reality And The Result Was A Shitstorm
[Release Date: Apr. 6, 2021] In 2005 Atomic Games decided to do what no other game company to date had done: to produce a major-release game about a real battle in an ongoing war. They spent 4 years making it, but they’re announcement about soon to be released game led to angry public outcry. Their distributor backed up. The game and the company that made it were done. That game, “6 - Episode 2 – Money, Knowledge, and Manipulation in video games
[Release Date: Mar. 20, 2021] Knowledge is power, and in the era of Big Data video game companies have a whole lot of information, which they can potentially use to manipulate players in order to cash in on them. We discuss how they might do this through dynamic reward schemes, how far this information asymmetry may go, and whether players have the ability to fight back and level the playing field. - Episode 1: The Magic Circle, Fairness, and Eve Online
Games are traditionally thought of as acting like magic circles. When we enter the game, we enter the magic circle and leave the real world behind. In our first podcast we explore how the magic circle idea can help us think about fairness and cheating in video games, how this way of thinking was challenged by a brilliant scheme from the chaotic world of Eve Online in 2005, and how this