Abstract
This article offers an analysis of intentionality for virtual objects and explores some of the ethical implications of this analysis. The main example which serves as a motivation for the article is the case of a Chinese gamer who, in 2005, committed murder in retaliation for the theft of a virtual object, the theft of his virtual dragon sabre. The intentional analysis reveals that the way in which we experience virtual objects shares a structural similarity with the way in which we experience physical objects. Both virtual and physical objects are accessible through action and intersubjectively available. The final part of the article introduces three ethical points based on the intentional analysis. First, virtual objects can have the same ethical significance as physical objects. Second, it will be important to consider empirical results on the factors which influence one’s subjective level of immersion in the virtual world. Finally, the intentional analysis of virtual objects suggests specific questions for future research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
See "Chinese gamer sentenced to life" BBC, 8 June 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4072704.stm.
One option, explored and rejected by Crane, is to deny that relations entail the existence of their relata. For a critical discussion of this move, see Crane (2001: 24 and 25).
Here I am assuming a particular level of sophistication in the virtual environment. One can imagine rudimentary virtual environments in which exploration is not possible. The virtual environments widely used today allow for the kind of exploration I am discussing. Obvious examples include World of Warcraft and Second Life.
Although I will not pursue it here, there is an interesting question as to whether other players experience the object itself, or merely a representation of the object. Similarly, one could argue that all players involved only experience a representation of the object. I thank an anonymous referee for raising this issue.
For an example of virtual events with real-world impact that is less extreme than the case of Qiu Chengwei, consider what is known as the Battle of B-R5RB, which occurred in the MMORPG Eve Online. The battle occurred in late January 2014 and is estimated to have destroyed between $300,000 and $500,000 in virtual starships. See http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/the-bloodbath-of-b-r5rb/. I thank Yann Wilhelm for drawing my attention to this virtual battle.
I thank an anonymous referee for raising this point.
"Link" is the hero, the player's character, in the game. The review appeared in The Guardian on 11 November 2011.
Issues become more complex when we consider that many virtual environments are places in which games are played. For a discussion of this issue, see Lastowka (2010: chapter 6).
References
Brentano, F. (1874/1973) Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkt. Erster Band. Hamburg: Meiner.
Brey, P. (1999). The ethics of representation and action in virtual reality. Ethics and Information Technology, 1, 5–14.
Brey, P. (2003). The social ontology of virtual environments. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 62, 269–282.
Crane, T. (2001). Elements of mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dreyfus, H. (2000). “Telepistemology: Descartes’ Last Stand” in K. Goldberg The Robot in the Garden: MIT Press.
Drummond, J., & Embree, L. (Eds.). (2002). Phenomenological approaches to moral philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
DuBois, J. and Smith, B. (2008) “Adolf Reinach” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reinach/.
Heidegger, M. (1977) The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. (W. Lovitt, trans.) New York and London: Garland Publishing.
Heim, M. (1994). The metaphysics of virtual reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Husserl, E. (1900/1901). Logische Untersuchungen . Tübigen: Niemeyer.
Husserl, E. (1970/2001). Logical Investigations. (Findlay trans.) Routledge.
Husserliana XVI (1997). Ding und Raum: Vorlesungen 1907. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973; Thing and Space. R. Rojcewicz trans. Kluwer Academic.
Husserliana XI (2001). Analysen zur passiven Synthesis. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff, 1966; Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis. A. Steinbock, trans. Kluwer Academic.
Jacob, P. (2010) “Intentionality” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intentionality.
Kimppa, K., & Bissett, A. (2005). The ethical significance of cheating in online computer games. International Review of Information Ethics, 4, 31–38.
Koepsell, D. (2000). The ontology of cyberspace: Law, philosophy, and the future of intellectual property. Chicago: Open Court.
Lastowka, G. (2010). Virtual justice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Levinas, E. (1969). Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. (Trans. Alphonso Lingis), Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Madary, M. (2012). "Husserl on perceptual constancy" European Journal of Philosophy, 20, 145–165.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962) Phenomenology of Perception. (C. Smith, trans.) Routledge.
Metzinger, T. (2003). Being no one. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Metzinger, T. (2009). The ego tunnel. New York: Basic Books.
Noë, A. (2004). Action in perception. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Reinach, A. (1983) The A Priori Foundations of Civil Law (J. Crosby, trans.). Aletheia 3: 1–142.
Sanchez-Vives, M., & Slater, M. (2005). From presence to consciousness through virtual reality. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 332–339.
Sartre, J-P. (1956). Being and Nothingness. (H. Barnes, trans.). New York: Philosophical Library.
Searle, J. (1995). The construction of social reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Slater, M. (2009). Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364, 3549–3557.
Smith, D. W. (2007). Husserl. London: Routledge.
Strikwerda, L. (2012). Theft of virtual items in online multiplayer computer games: An ontological and moral analysis. Ethics and Information Technology, 14, 89–97.
Zahavi, D. (2005). Subjectivity and selfhood. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Acknowledgments
This research has been supported by the EC Project VERE, funded under the EU 7th Framework Program, Future and Emerging Technologies (Grant 257695).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Madary, M. Intentionality and virtual objects: the case of Qiu Chengwei’s dragon sabre. Ethics Inf Technol 16, 219–225 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-014-9347-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-014-9347-4