On the Moral Consequences of Gaming

N'Gai Croal and the LevelUp blog are collaborating with the popular UK games magazine Edge, and late last month we discussed the emotional impact of games. Or, more realistically, the lack thereof. This week N'Gai has been exploring what could be done to reinforce that emotional impact, and perhaps take those choices to a moral level. "What if developers attempted to bring social sanction into the experience? What if your Gamertag were designated 'Child Killer' for having murdered [Bioshock's] Little Sisters--or 'Good Samaritan' for having saved them? Microsoft recently announced its plans to add the Facebook and MySpace-inspired feature of allowing you to browse your friends' Friends Lists; what if everyone on your Friends List were notified each time you killed a Little Sister--or every time you rescued one--like the Status Updates on Facebook?"

Comments

Re:What about tags that do have an implication?

[Das Modell]

Decisions made in multiplayer games can actually tell you something about a person, not to mention that those decisions actually affect other people. Players who gank in MMORPGs or grief in shooters very likely suffer from personality disorders, maybe even to the point of being psychopaths.