Killing them slowly: a comparative phenomenological analysis of time-based ethical engagement in video games and cinema

This article provides a comparative phenomenological analysis of the ethical significance of temporality in video games and cinema. We argue that the way time is experienced in the reception of both media can evoke reflective thinking and hence carries ethical potential. In video games, this relates to the temporal experience of players performing morally challenging virtual acts, while in films it involves the temporality of viewers’ affective response to witnessing characters’ ethically challenging actions. Our approach adds a novel temporal perspective to the existing scholarship on the ethical relevance of gameplay, which has previously focused on contextual factors like agency, realism and gaming conventions. Through a conceptual analysis of two contrasting gameplay approaches -- speedrunning and slow play -- we show how the temporality comes to bear of virtual wrongdoing in video game play and thus raises distinct ethical concerns. To develop the mode of slow gameplay, we draw on the literature from film studies, particularly the idea of cinematic slowness. This comparison highlights both similarities and differences in the ethical implications of temporality across these two media, based on their formal features and the distinct user experiences they afford. We contribute to the discourse on the ethics of gaming by proposing that temporality should be considered a morally relevant feature of playing video games.