Marcus Schulzke

Defending the morality of violent video games

The effect of violent video games is among the most widely discussed topics in media studies, and for good reason. These games are immensely popular, but many seem morally objectionable. Critics attack them for a number of reasons ranging from their capacity to teach players weapons skills to their ability to directly cause violent actions. This essay shows that many of these criticisms are misguided. Theoretical and empirical arguments against violent video games often suffer from a number of significant shortcomings that make them ineffective. This essay argues that video games are defensible from the perspective of Kantian, Aristotelian, and utilitarian moral theories.

Rethinking Military Gaming America's Army and Its Critics

With the extensive use of military force by the U.S. government over the past decade, more scholarly attention has been directed at how mass culture is mobilized to support military objectives. Video games designed by the military or by civilians collaborating with military advisers are one of the major causes for concern, as these may provide ways of training players for military service or of building support for wars. This essay organizes prominent critiques of military gaming into structural/institutional, instrumental, and ideological perspectives and examines some of the most common arguments made from each. It argues that while critics of America’s Army and other military games are right to be cautious about military influence on gaming, critics tend to judge military games more harshly than the evidence warrants.

The Critical Power of Virtual Dystopias

This article explores the capacity of video games and virtual worlds to function as critical utopias or dystopias. A theme of utopian thinking over the past century has been that utopian fantasies offer a critical perspective on the real world. I argue that video games and virtual worlds have generally failed to offer utopian fantasies that can perform a critical function because of their tendency of mirroring the real world, but I show that dystopian video games tend to be very effective in presenting critical themes. Moreover, I argue that video games create critical dystopias in ways that display the unique strengths of the medium. Virtual dystopias rely on a combination of engaging narrative elements and gameplay mechanics, which come together to create dynamic worlds in which players are active participants.

The Virtual War on Terror: Counterterrorism Narratives in Video Games

Over the past decade, a great deal of research has been done to analyze the ways in which popular media, especially movies and television shows, construct fictional terrorist threats. However, little attention has been given to the extremely popular genre of counterterrorism video games and how they fit into the War on Terror media narrative. Counterterrorism video games reflect many of the themes of other media about terrorism, such as the demonization of terrorist enemies and the exaggeration of terrorist threats. However, video games strengthen these themes to make the threat of terrorism appear more pervasive and imminent. Consequently, counterterrorism games display an intensified vision of the War on Terror narrative, in which the entire world is a war zone. This leads game narratives to simulate and justify more extreme state responses to terrorism.

The Prospects of Global English as an Inclusive Language

Abstract English is increasingly a global language, as it is the worlds most popular second language and the primary language of international communication. The emergence of English as a global language raises many potential normative challenges, such as the risks that it will erode minority cultures and that it will give core English-speaking countries an unfair advantage over nonnative speakers. I argue that global English can be made more inclusive for nonnative speakers and that the benefits of global English can therefore be realized without suppressing the cultures of nonnative English speakers. However, realizing this potential depends on overcoming the beliefs that English should be neutral and that there is a standard correct form of English.

Being a terrorist: Video game simulations of the other side of the War on Terror

Some of the most theoretically significant moments of video games set in the War on Terror occur in the rare instances when these games allow players to assume a terrorist’s point of view. This perspectival shift raises the possibility that games might offer a humanizing look at the enemies in the War on Terror and that they might give players greater insight into terrorists’ motives and ideologies. This article examines three popular video games that allow players to become terrorists: America’s Army, Modern Warfare 2, and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The author argues that the simulated experience of being a terrorist holds the potential to deepen players’ understanding of terrorism, but that popular games ultimately deliver experiences of terrorist subjectivities that have virtually no content and that leave terrorists almost indistinguishable from the games’ heroes. The terrorists whose viewpoints are shown are portrayed as people who engage in senseless acts of violence that are disconnected from motives or grievances. This leads the games to confirm the overarching War on Terror narrative that terrorists are irrational and evil enemies who are unworthy of respect.

Campaigning in the Digital World: Obama's Use of Dynamic Advertisements

ABSTRACT In 2008, Barack Obama made history as the first politician to advertise in video games, but this was overlooked by political scientists and received little media coverage. Obamas decision marked a major turning point in campaign strategy because he used the new technology of dynamic advertising to target voters in specific states and only in the month before Election Day. He was able to speak directly to young voters for a small cost compared to his expenditures on traditional media. This article explores Obamas use of dynamic advertising and shows why other candidates are likely to emulate him by running their own virtual campaigns.

How Games Support Associational Life: Using Tocqueville to Understand the Connection

One of the greatest problems in contemporary social science is the decline of participation in political and civil spheres. Video games and digital worlds are promising new modes of association capable of connecting people in a way that passive forms of mass communication are unable to. This essay shows the strength of video games as a medium for associational life by turning to the thought of one of the preeminent philosophers of collective action: Alexis de Tocqueville. Although Tocqueville lived long before the advent of video games, his theory of democracy provides an excellent account of the benefits of civic associations. Among these are teaching enlightened self-interest, creating feelings of efficacy, protecting individuality, and establishing meritocratic norms. Video games are capable of providing each of these goods, making them an effective supplement, though not a replacement, to traditional associational life in an age of increasing fragmentation.

The Morality of Remote Warfare: Against the Asymmetry Objection to Remote Weaponry

Remote weapons, such as precision-guided munitions (PGMs) and drones, regularly play an important part in contemporary military operations, but they are extremely controversial on moral grounds. Although critics of these weapons have raised a number of objections against their use, many rely on some variation of the asymmetry thesis. This is the claim that it is immoral to wage war using weapons that allocate risk asymmetrically, allowing those who use these weapons to minimise their exposure to risk while their opponents can be easily attacked. In this article, it is demonstrated that the asymmetry thesis fails as a moral objection to the use of remote weapons by exploring three different variants of the asymmetry thesis and showing that each suffers from serious limitations.

The Bioethics of Digital Dystopias

This essay explores how two popular game franchises, BioShock and Portal, have addressed bioethical issues such as genetic modification, research ethics, and autonomy. BioShock and Portal are set in bioethical dystopias that simulate the absence of ethical restraint. The former is set in a city that that allows unregulated genetic modification, and the latter in a research facility controlled by overseers whose only concern is scientific progress. These simulations allow players to gain insight into bioethical issues and contribute to theoretical debates in bioethics by showing the possible consequences of violating bioethical values.