Metagame Book Club: Game Studies. "The Ethics and Games Series" by Sherry Jones. Last updated: Jan. 20, 2019.
**This page was first published on the Metagame Book Club.
Ethics and Games is an educational live webcast series created by Sherry Jones, and hosted by Kae Novak and Chris Luchs. Each live webcast introduces an ethical theory or a moral philosophy through the study of a digital game. Some live webcasts feature guest speakers who present unique perspectives on the meaning of the digital game being studied.
Each month, an Ethics and Games live webcast is streamed on Youtube and is recorded for later viewing. All video recordings are archived on this page.
Sherry Jones is a philosophy and game studies college instructor who regards games as thought experiments and uses games to explore the meaning and logic of western and eastern philosophies. In each live webcast session, Jones provides an analysis of the possible social and political rhetoric expressed by a digital game and introduces moral philosophy or ethical theory that better describes and/or challenges the game's rhetoric.
This session features Observer (2017), a first person psychological horror indie game with a cyberpunk theme developed and published by Aspyr. The game story is set in the year 2084 when Chiron corporation establishes and runs the Fifth Polish Republic government, neural hacking and cybernetic body augmentation become legal, and virtual reality and hologram technologies are the new drugs. Daniel Lazarki (voiced by Rutger Hauer) is a neural detective employed by Chiron to investigate suspects by hacking into their brains to access information. The story begins when Daniel receives a call from his estranged son, Adam, who sends Daniel a virtual distress call for help. Daniel sets on an investigation for the whereabouts of Adam, who might not be alive.
Recommended for mature players due to the game's depiction of graphic horror and violence.
Animalism, David Hume's Personal Identity Theory.
Body modification (biohacking), neural hacking, plutocracy, corporatocracy, authoritarianism, excessive government intervention, oppression, loss of liberty, government surveillance; resistance, virtual reality, hologram, addiction, personhood, identity.
This session features Detention (2017, 2018), a first person role-playing survival horror game developed and published by Red Candle Games. The game story is inspired by the actual history of Taiwan in the 1960s, when the Taiwanese government suppressed its citizens using martial law during the "White Terror" period. The game protagonists, Wei and Ray, wake up in an empty school and attempt to leave the school, while encountering a series of horrific events.
Recommended for mature players due to the game's depiction of graphic horror.
Confucian Ethics.
Mass surveillance; suppressing speech; anti-intellectualism; anti-communism; banning of books; education as means of social control; government oppression; government corruption; informing the government/snitching on neighbors; unjust imprisonment; authoritarianism; martial law; rebellion; retribution; karma; guilt.
This session features To the Moon (2011, 2014, 2017), a first person role-playing adventure game developed and published by Freebirds Games. The game story is about a dying old man who wishes to go to the moon using a dream machine. An animation film adaptation of the game is currently underway.
Recommended for players of all ages.
Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism.
Memory and Identity; Memory Manipulation; Memory Loss and Suffering; Trauma; Self-Determination of Memory; Memories as Programs; Technology vs. Privacy; Falsifiable/Unreliable Memory; Rights of the Dying; Dignity of the Dying; Death and Regret; Denial of Reality; Questionable Reality; Asperger's Syndrome; Art as Expression of the Truth; Responsibility of Remembering.
This presentation features The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2014, 2015), a first person horror adventure game developed and published by The Astronauts. The game story explores the adventure of Paul Prospero, an occult detective who has the ability to see past events. Prospero travels to Red Creek Valley to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young boy named Ethan Carter, and encounters a series of supernatural events during the investigation.
Recommended for mature players due to the game's depiction of graphic violence.
Baruch Spinoza's Monism and Ethics.
Conformity vs. Individuality, Fantasy vs. Reality, Child Abuse, Trauma, Confronting the Truth, Unreliable Narrator, Fragmented Memory, Memory and Identity, Memory and Truth, Multiple Consciousness, Subjectivity and Reality, Multiplicity of Truth.
This session features Life is Strange (2015), an episodic graphic adventure game developed by Dontnod Entertainment, and published by Square Enix, Feral Interactive, and Black Wing Foundation. The game story explores the adventures of Max Caufield, an 18 year old photography student at Blackwell Academy, who accidentally discovers that she has the power to time travel.
Life is Strange has received an impressive 57 awards and nominations. Below lists most recent recognition.
Recommended for mature players due to the game's depiction of graphic violence and profanity.
Nietzsche's Eternal Recurrence Theory; Chaos Theory; Butterfly Effect; Moral Dilemma.
Coming of age; Gun Violence; Untrustworthy Authorities; Money and Corruption; Bullying; Religious Dogmatism vs. Choice; Heroism.
This session features The Talos Principle (2014, 2015, 2017), a first person puzzle game developed by Croteam, and published by Devolver Digital. The game story is about an unnamed character who tries to complete a series of puzzles designed by a mysterious entity named Yahweh. The unnamed character attempts to understand his purpose for solving the puzzles.
Recommended for players of all ages.
Determinism vs. Free Will; Transhumanism; Posthumanism; Posthuman; Greek Mythology; Egyptian Mythology.
Artificial Intelligence; AI Rights; Extended Lifespan; Immortality; Consciousness.
This session features Fallout Shelter (2015), a free-to-play simulation game developed by Bethesda Game and Behaviour Interactive, and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game objective is to build and maintain a fallout shelter in a dystopian future that is to experience a global nuclear war.
Recommended for players of all ages.
Egoism vs. Altruism; Capitalism; Authoritarianism; Plutocracy.
Nuclear War; Nuclear Fallout; Counterfactual History; Red Scare; Atomic Bomb; Atomic Age; U.S. History in the 1950s; McCarthyism; Eugenics; Ageism.
Want to discover more ways in which games can be studied? Here are some topics covered in the previous game studies sessions.