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Has Ali dissolved the gamer’s dilemma?

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Abstract

In this paper I will evaluate Ali’s dissolution of the gamer’s dilemma. To this end the dilemma will be summarized and Ali’s dissolution formulated. I conclude that Ali has not dissolved the dilemma (at least not fully).

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Notes

  1. See Young (2016) for an excellent summary of the resolutions offered.

  2. A similar conclusion was reached by Luck and Ellerby (2013) regarding Bartel’s proposed resolution to the dilemma (2012).

  3. It possible that a player could create their own story and play it out through this game. For example, a player could create a story about the police officer they are playing (perhaps this officer is attempting to save their own child from molestation, whilst also trying to kill the molester in an act of revenge, as they also molested the officer when she was a child). So, there is a way in which games that are not designed to be storytelling games, may still help tell a story. However, (a) this is not what Ali means by a storytelling game, and (b) this possibility is ruled out once we limit ourselves to cases of appropriate engagement (as the game is designed with the intent of allowing gamers to compete, rather than to embark on a narrative journey).

References

  • Ali, R. (2015). A new solution to the gamer’s dilemma. Ethics and Information Technology, 17, 267–274.

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  • Bartel, C. (2012). Resolving the gamer’s dilemma. Ethics and Information Technology, 14(1), 11–16.

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  • Luck, M. (2009). The gamer’s dilemma: An analysis of the arguments for the moral distinction between virtual murder and virtual paedophilia. Ethics and Information Technology, 11(1), 31–36.

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  • Luck, M., & Ellerby, N. (2013). Has Bartel resolved the gamer’s dilemma? Ethics and Information Technology, 15(3), 229–233.

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  • Young, G. (2016). Resolving the gamer’s dilemma: Examining the moral and psychological differences between virtual murder and virtual paedophilia. Palgrave: Cham.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Rami Ali and Garry Young for all their help on this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2650, Australia

    Morgan Luck

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  1. Morgan Luck
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Correspondence to Morgan Luck.

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Luck, M. Has Ali dissolved the gamer’s dilemma?. Ethics Inf Technol 20, 157–162 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9455-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9455-7

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