Today’s Plan:
- Introducing Detroit: Become Human
- Upcoming Schedule
- Homework:
Introducing Detroit: Become Human
First things first. And a survey of some previous research.
IRB Informed Consent Document.
Upcoming Schedule
Here’s the plan:
- Mon, Mar 20: Introduce D:BH Project and Study. Start D:BH Hostage.
- Wed, Mar 22: Review Sicart Theory of Ethical Gaming and Play 20 minutes of D:BH
- Fri, Mar 25: Finish D:BH Hostage. Using Sicart and Ethics material to reflect on play. HW: Journal Entry #1
Homework
Quick poll: I have a smart phone or a laptop that I can use in class.
If you can answer yes to the question above, then download the Poll Everywhere App for your phone if that is your preferred device. I will send out a link to the poll-app for laptop users.
As I indicated above, our final project investigates how video games incorporate ethical decision-making. Not all games do this well–what we need is some theoretical material that gives us a lens for viewing and analyzing the choices games provide.
We’ll be using the lens constructed by scholar Miguel Sicart, first reading one of his essays and then chapters from his book Beyond Choices. As you read Sicart, keep asking yourself: how does the terms, distinctions, ideas he articulates help me answer these questions:
- What should/shouldn’t game designers do to make effective ethical dilemmas in their games?
- What should/shouldn’t players do to have more powerful ethical experiences while playing games?
To get us started, I want to read Sicart’s 2013 article “Moral Dilemmas in Computer Games” (you will find this in the Files section of Canvas). I’m not sure how much experience you have reading academic articles, so I’ve designed a Canvas “Quiz” to help structure your reading. Academic articles often have dense, disciplinary-laden prose; given that these articles are written for experts in the field, they do not always define key terms. Further, academic articles often have to acknowledge key debates even if that isn’t the purpose of the article (for instance, you’ll notice Sicart spends a lot of time reviewing definitions of “game play” early in the article–although I do think that section contains some useful and important information).
