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The Moral Responsibility of Game Creators
Gamasutra.com has reactions from another provocative question of the week. The topic this time was "Do game creators have any moral responsibilities in teaching values to their audience?" There were many responses on both sides of the issue. From the article: "A resounding NO. Do writers have that same responsibility? Actors? What other limitations would we put on them and our freedom of expression, in order to accomplish that lofty goal? Just ask Jerry Falwell, or the embittered ghost of Senator McCarthy for your answer... NO. Leave the morality lessons to the parents and the priests. They are quite good at their jobs. -Anonymous"
But keep in mind that these contributions aren't forced on to the society.
I think that when it comes to video games, a balance is required. I think that Mortal Kombat, for example, was not a GREAT contribution to society. In fact, it was pretty gratuitous in many respects, but it wasn't forced on you. Since it wasn't exactly wholesome, it was the guardians'/parents' responsibility to see whether or not their children should play/see it.
It's just like with R rated movies: It's up to the guardian to decide if the children can see them.
I just pooped your party.
Do they have a MORAL responsibility? Oh man there's a can of worms! The problem is whose moral standard are we talking about?
:-)
I like what Francis Schaeffer had to say "Art reflects culture". Art is a better reflector of culture more than history books, marketing campaigns or clever political speeches.
So that begs the question: does art LEAD culture? I think most people here would like to say no because it would imply moral responsibiliy. But it's like trying to nail Jello to a tree, once you say someone is morally reponsible, if they don't want the responsibility they can slip away without a whole lot of effort.
Okay moderators, mod me down
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Buwahahah! Scuse me while I wipe the coffee off my keyboard and monitor... Did the person saying that bother reading the paper, current events, or oh - follow history, even a little bit? You know, pesky things like the Crusades, the Inquisition, Salem, ad naseum... Sure there's priests with good intentions, but to leave morality in hands of people who ignore science, the fossil record, the laws of physics, and believe in magic (virgin births, coming back from the dead, walking on water?), and are highly vested in their own organization's power, is folly.
As for people who think morality only stems from religion, esp Christianity -- you need to go back and read the pre-Socratics for starters.
This is not flamebait, I'm being completely serious. I am utterly annoyed with the notion that morality is somehow owned by priests and organized religion, or that it didn't exist before the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity & Islam)
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates