Game Ethics and More


I attended a party recently where I met a fellow who bragged his game system completely copied games he rented, allowing him to play them sans disk. When he told me this fact, I just stared, dumb-founded. I didn't know what to say, so I said, "Really?" and walked off.

I wish I had said, "You do realize you're at the house of a game designer, that I'm a game designer, and that a lot of people here make their mortgages and feed their families because they rely on the sale of games? And you pirate them?" THEN walk off.

When do people internalize ethical behavior? What IS ethical behavior? Many people do not steal because they're afraid they'll get caught, either by secular authority, or by an all-seeing god.

But when do you learn the lesson not to steal, no matter how easy or repercussion-free it seems, because it would be wrong? And what is wrong? How about: Wrong in the sense that you are doing harm to an economic model that produces the very thing you enjoy so much.

Yes, this requires us to look ahead and think about long-term repercussions of our behavior with ideal-free clarity. Humans usually change their behavior only after being bashed in the face with the consequences of their actions.

But sometimes we plan ahead. I propose the latter.


Posted: Wed - December 21, 2005 at 10:11 AM          

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