Miguel Sicart

Now it's personal: on abusive game design

In this paper, we introduce the concept of abusive game design as an attitude towards creating games -- an aesthetic practice that operates as a critique of certain conventionalisms in popular game design wisdom. We emphasize that abusive game design is, at its core, about spotlighting the dialogic relation between player and designer.

The banality of simulated evil: designing ethical gameplay

This paper offers an analytical description of the ethics of game design and its influence in the ethical challenges computer games present. The paper proposes a set of game design suggestions based on the Information Ethics concept of Levels of Abstraction which can be applied to formalise ethical challenges into gameplay mechanics; thus allowing game designers to incorporate ethics as part of the experience of their games. The goal of this paper is twofold: to address some of the reasons why computer games present ethical challenges, and to exploit the informational nature of games to suggest how to develop games with ethics at the core of their gameplay.

Newsgames: Theory and Design

Computer games have a long history as entertainment media, but their use for educational or political communication is relatively recent. This paper explores the use of computer games as news media. Newsgames are computer games used to participate in the public sphere with the intention of explaining or commenting on current news. The paper provides a set of concepts for analyzing newsgames, based on public service theory. The paper expands this analytical approach with a reflection on game design methodologies for creating newsgames.

Moral Dilemmas in Computer Games

Introduction Some of the most popular recent computer games have used morality as a marketing strategy, promising that players’ moral choices would critically affect the game experience.1 Although many of these games have been criticized for proposing shallow dilemmas that do not reflect the ethical possibilities of aesthetic expression, morality nevertheless is a topic that professional game designers increasingly feel the need to address.2 This paper addresses the question of the design of ethical game-based experiences, arguing that developers should focus on presenting players with ill-defined problems that demand ethical thinking and creative engagement as part of the gameplay experience. Taking concepts from design research and philosophical ethics, this paper postulates that game designers have approached morality in games as a tame problem, formalizing decision-making through finite, solvable, computable puzzles.3 This approach has proven commercially successful but aesthetically unsatisfying because it encapsulates the process of ethical thinking in the context of gameplay dynamics, which are not necessarily related to the moral nature of players.4 This paper starts with a brief definition of gameplay and ethical gameplay in the context of single-player games. The purpose is to understand what ethical gameplay is and how it has been implemented in computer games. The next section discusses the concept of wicked problems, focusing on how design thinking and moral practices relate. The third section elaborates on why wicked problems can be used for creating ethical gameplay, and the article closes with a short reflection on the implications for game design. These arguments are illustrated with the critical analysis of existing computer games using the terminology of ethics and design research. This analysis is based on the author’s individual experience as a player—a method recognized as a fruitful approach in game studies.5 The theoretical findings in this paper have been presented and discussed with individual professional game designers. They have also been used in game development 1 Examples include 2K Marin/Digital Extremes/2K China/Arkane Studios, Bioshock 2 (2K Games, 2010); Quantic Dream, Fahrenheit (Atari, 2005); Quantic Dream, Heavy Rain (Sony Computer Entertainment, 2010); Obsidian Entertainment, Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks, 2010); Lionhead Studios, Fable (Microsoft Game Studios, 2004); Irrational Games,Bioshock (2K Games, 2007); and Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks/ ZeniMax Media, 2008). 2 For analyses and critiques of the games, see Miguel Sicart, The Ethics of Computer Games (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2009); and Jose Zagal, “Ethically Notable Videogames: Moral Dilemmas and Gameplay,” (2009) http:// facsrv.cs.depaul.edu/~jzagal/Papers/ Zagal-EthicallyNotableVideogames.pdf (accessed February 27, 2012). Morality and aesthetics are addressed in: Wayne Booth, The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988); and Elisabeth Schellekens, Aesthetics and Morality (New York: Continuum, 2007). For explorations of the possibilities in game design, see Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design (Scottsdale, AZ: Paraglyph Press, 2005); Jonathan Blow, “Design Reboot,” (presented at the Montreal Indie Game Summit, November 27, 2007), http://braid-game.com/ news/?p=129 (accessed June 30, 2012); and Richard Rouse III, “Seven Ways a Video Game Can Be Moral,” (presented at the Game Developers Conference 2011, March 2, 2011). 3 Richard Coyne, “Wicked Problems Revisited,” Design Studies 26, no. 1 (2005), 5-17.

Reality has always been augmented: Play and the promises of Pokémon GO

This piece provides an explanation to the early success of Pokémon GO. It proposes an argument about how this game exemplifies a computational culture of play. By drawing on philosophy of technology (Floridi, 2013) and game design research (Montola, Stenros, & Waern, 2009), this article argues that the success of Pokémon GO is the result of the development of a play experience and a computational interface for a reality that is already augmented. These interfaces open new possibilities for digital play in public, but they also raise concerns regarding corporate appropriation of public spaces.

Digital Games as Ethical Technologies

What are the values of an object? How can philosophy illuminate the inherent rhetorical, social, political and moral meanings inscribed in any designed technology? And how can we do this without falling in the intentional fallacy, ascribing all responsibility to the designer? Because, as design researcher Nigel Cross has stated, “design is rhetorical […] in the sense that the designer, in constructing a design proposal, constructs a particular kind of argument, in which a final conclusion is developed and evaluated as it develops against both known goals and previously unsuspected implications” (Cross 2007, p. 51). In this chapter I will look at game design and how it is used to create ethical experiences, only I will not start from the perspective of the designer, but of the finished product as experienced by a user. In this sense, I am extending the rhetorical analysis of design proposed by Cross, and suggesting a way of understanding the ways in which design conveys meaning.

Beyond Choices: A Typology of Ethical Computer Game Designs

This essay presents a typology for classifying computer games designed to create ethical gameplay. Ethical gameplay is the outcome of playing a (computer) game in which the players’ moral values are of relevance for the game experience. This essay explores the different types of designs that create these types of experiences, and how they are characterized. This essay provides an analytical framework for classifying games according to the experience they create and how they create it. This essay is informed by both game design theory and postphenomenological philosophy, and it is intended to provide a theoretical framework for the study of the design of ethical computer game experiences.

How I Learned to Love the Bomb: Defcon and the Ethics of Computer Games

In this paper I present an analysis of the ontology and ethics of computer games from an Information Ethics perspective. This analysis uses the concepts of Level of Abstraction and Gradient of Abstraction, as defined by Luciano Floridis Information Ethics, applied to the specific study of computer games. The goal of this paper is to argue for the consideration of games as interesting ethical objects and experiences. Computer games appeal to a player capable of ethical reasoning in her interaction with simulated environments and rule systems. This paper provides a theoretical model for the study of the ethics of computer games both as designed objects, and as player experiences.

Take the Money and Run? An Ethical Approach to the Relation Between Game Research and Game Industry

This article tries to give some light to the ethical issues concerning the relationship of research and industry in the field of computer game research. No conclusive answers are reached. The ethical issues addressed here concerned basically the independence of academic institutions as a key feature for the quality of research. While the most common ethical approach, consequentialism, seems not to provide meaningful answers to this questions, a deontological approach seems to be a possible option. Nevertheless, much is yet to be done. Perhaps the most important conclusion of this paper is the relevance of independence for the well developing of the discipline.

Designing for immediate play

This paper is concerned with designing for immediate play, the experience that a player has when joining a game designed for being played without particular preparation. Museum games, urban games, casual sports, and ad-hoc multiplayer video games are kinds of games that facilitate immediate play situations. After a detailed explanation of immediate play, we analyze the context of the immediate play situation, which is mostly characterized by an overlap between different realities of the experience. The article continues by describing various design dimensions and outlining the design space those offer using examples and expert opinions. While most practices and game examples mentioned in this paper are from non-digital games, a special focus is put on the role of technology in immediately playable experiences. Still, the examined design dimensions are independent of the technological foundation of the game. This paper provides a starting point for designing better immediate play situations.