COM 354 Week 5 (9/27)

New Media Ethics

Ethics

– Deciding which frameworks are best suited to particular dilemmas . . .

– To help make the better choice of two or more possible actions.

Ethics

– Deciding which frameworks are best suited to particular dilemmas.

– To help make the better choice of two or more possible actions.

characteristics of digital media• Digital vs. analog (bits easily

manipulated)

• Instantaneous

• enduring

• global

Digital media ethics

How to apply traditional ethical approaches to digital media.

OUTLINE

•First paper assignment

•Computer Games

•Primer on virtual worlds

•Virtual Sex

– Applying ethical frameworks (workshop)

HWK: TBD or TBA

Ethics of computer games• Applies philosophy to

Game studies & firsthand

experience as a player

Ethics of computer games• Incorporates phronesis (Aristotle's idea)

of practical wisdom combining:

–Extensive and embodied experience as a gamer with . . .

–rational reflection

– Recognizes the communitarian component of ethics in player communities

Ethics of computer games• Dismisses notions of stereotypes of

gamers

• Identifies game players as ethical beings

• Differences and connections between:

• player's real world identity and ethics

• ethics and identities as a player of virtual worlds

Ethics of computer games• ethical implications of unethical game

content

• the moral effects of games on their uses

• ethical gameplay

Ethics of computer gamesPlayer virtues: What are the virtues of a

gamer?

– Good sportsmanship

– Grace

– Respect

– Understand rules and strategies

Ethics of computer games: workshopDo you play a computer game?

– What are the habits of of playing well?

– Does the game foster positive virtues?

– Do we need to play these games in order to answer this question? (practical wisdom)

Virtual Worlds - Interactive 3D worlds Characteristics

Built environment Presence Mobility (walking, driving, flight) Spatial orientation (Cartesian logic) Visualization Social mapping of offline behaviors (with griefers and all)

Myth? Communication (real time)

Text (group, private) VOIP

2 Caveats •either/or vs both/and

– Is virtual sex the same as real sex or different?

•Moral panics . . .

•Sensationalize and polarize

• dualism of good and bad

Virtual Sex in Second Life

•Differences and connections between:

• real world identity and ethics

• ethics and identities as a participant of virtual worlds

Ethics of virtual sex•Approaches

– Consequentialist

– Deontological

– Virtue ethics/ethics of care

Ethics of virtual sex•Consequentialist approach of virtual sex (outside of marriage)

– Consequences -

Ethics of virtual sex•Deontological approach of virtual sex

– Promises, the issue of fidelity

Ethics of virtual sex•Ethics of care approach of virtual sex

– Importance of maintaining relationships

collaborative book chapters Applying ethical frameworks to digitial

dilemmas (Ess, p. 182).

I. Describe your dilemma as fully and accurately as you can

II. Explain your own initial response to this dilemma

III. Apply ethical frameworks to your dilemma making clear how each framework leads to a particular outcome

HWK (Due Monday 10/04)

TBA