[MUD-Dev] "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG"

[Geoffrey at yorku.ca]

Matt Mihaly wrote:

> Not true. Questions generally presume some sort of implicit
> worldview. For instance, the question "Is it violating my freedom of
> speech if I'm arrested for shouting FIRE in a crowded theater."
> presumes that there is such a thing as freedom of speech.

Granted.  If you're going to go as broad as possible, one can claim
everything that occurs is somehow a function of one's worldview.

(Off-topic - I would also argue that that particular example does not
pertain to a debate about ethics, but rather about the extent and
limitations of rights.  A question along those lines more relevant to
ethics might be to ask whether it's correct to play a joke and falsely
scream fire in a crowded theatre when people could get hurt in the
resulting exodus.)

However, the questions to which I was referring were not that specific
- and are in fact not structured questions at all.  Every culture has
it's belief set about when it's ok to use violence, have sex, commit
theft, tell a lie - and all those other ethical scenarios.  You can
test a player's ethical composition, or have them question their own
approach, by simply placing them within a situation that brings those
choices to light.

Now, I will completely grant that an exercise like that would be
totally lost on the vast majority of players, who would simply blunder
on through the game pleased by whatever it is they gained.  But if
done well, I think the same percentage of people who understand the
sub-text of a film like Dr. Stragelove would realize the point that
was being raised.

I think another important difference applies to the mindset from which
a player approaches a computer game.  People are used to having their
ethics and morals plucked at by films and novels - they are not used
to looking at computer games for anything more than a chance to bash
heads.  (A sweeping assumption, but an arguable one.)  Before you can
start to raise an issue, you have to prepare your audience to be open
to what you're about to bring up.  You could place a deep ethical
choice in a Naked Gun movie, but I doubt anyone would see it.  By
contrast, because of the way in which the film was introduced, I doubt
anyone missed the ethical argument in Schindler's List.

G.
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