State of play: video games and moral engagement

Dan Staines, Mia Consalvo, Adam Stangeby, Sâmia Pedraça

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
270 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this article we examine three recent examples of ‘ethically notable games’ (Zagal 2010) and highlight unusual or innovative design features for facilitating moral engagement. Drawing on the work of Miguel Sicart to frame our analysis, our goal is to highlight current trends in ENG (ethically notable games) design and see how commercial games are moving beyond reductive ‘morality meters’ and treating moral choice with greater nuance, resulting ‐ for the most part ‐ in a more morally engaging experience.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)271-288
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds
Volume11
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • Darkest Dungeon
  • Deus Ex
  • Firewatch
  • Morality
  • Video games
  • Virtue ethics

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