The Ethics in Video Games
GTA is one of the few examples of provocative games that both genders like to enjoy (I tend to enjoy it a lot from my personal experience), that’s why one of the main purposes of GTA is to entertain people; there are other sub-purposes which include to persuade, and to stimulate information. These purposes are contained in every game, not just provocative; such as The Sims or Counter Strike. One of the differences in GTA is how it promotes high levels of violence, sex and crime, but the only reason it promotes these factors is because it’s implementing everything seen and known in society, in another game. The reason why people love it, particularly why I love it, is because of the freedom this game includes; I feel like I am able to do everything I can’t do in the real world — basically anything illegal — it fulfills my desires to explore my rebellious side. Not all countries worldwide have banned GTA V, but some of the most distinguished countries include UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and Japan and they all had the same reason for this ban which was how offensive it is to women, and how it promotes violence. The main ethical dilemmas that were raised are based on Utilitarianism, Deontology and Virtue Ethics.
Reynolds (2002) decides whether the game is moral or immoral according to Normative ethics which includes the three ethical schools. He starts with Consequentialism/Utilitarianism, by weighing out the benefits and harms of GTA; he concludes his idea by saying that this game does not have anything morally incorrect, and is a regular video game but he couldn’t judge whether this game is moral or immoral based on the theory because some people may believe his argument is incorrect and inconsistent. He then proceeds from a Deontological and Virtue Ethics point of view, and says that it’s immoral and suggests that game developers should take into consideration the consequences and other factors when manufacturing a game. Kilhefner (2015) explains that nowadays, Game Manufacturers are trying to tackle important life lessons and issues by implementing some history and actual events into games, for example there’s a game based on the war of capturing Saddam Hussein also there’s another game about the US army, and this is a very huge step for game manufacturers because they depict what happen in real life and place it in the game, leading to the decrease of misleading of children playing the game. One of the reasons GTA V was banned because of the how it portrays misogyny and disrespect to women, but that’s because the game is filled with false stereotypes of women. The main character of the game is played by a male called Michael, and throughout the game we see several women included in his life, for example his wife (Appendix A) who’s an ex-stripper does nothing but yell at him, and cheat on him; this is one of the offensive gestures towards woman implied in the game; another example is Michael’s daughter (Appendix B) who has a tramp stamp and is always in a one piece or provocative clothing (Appendix B.2); these are merely some examples of disturbing images of women, this was solved by banning the games in country, but it’s insufficient. Game designers tend to have more responsibilities and problems to deal with because players actually embody the main character and make the decisions on behalf of him/her. Players sometimes face difficult choices while playing and they actually have to deal with some tough consequences; “In the game Spec Ops (Appendix C), the player is faced with the moral decision to use chemical weapons on an enemy. One consequence of choosing to do so is that innocent refugees are victims of the attack. The player is forced to witness the results of his or her actions, triggering a mix of emotions” (Bowman, 2016). Entertainment producers do not have the big responsibility as the game designers, because we only watch the characters, also the actions made do affect us viewers but that’s it, we don’t get emotionally attached or attached to the characters. Video games has cause a lot of harm to players, ranging from verbal abuse to violence, but players actually enjoy them and appreciate them. A study was conducted by the APA asking people to call video games that are fun or meaningful, the result was that both games are fun to play but they appreciate the games that are meaningful. This study proves that not everyone think that video games are fun, they have a deeper meaning to them. The immersive plots in video games is the key distinction between it and films; in films, everything is stated and explained in an 1h30mins while in video games, the players tend to embody the character and discover everything themselves. In GTAV, the players play the character Michael and discover who he is and what he does by playing him, they fulfill his missions and needs by simply diving into this game. A video game is like a piece of clothing, when you wear a new shirt you give this shirt a meaning, the way you wear it and style it; this is similar to a video game for example The Sims (Appendix D), Sims is a game where you are able to create people and play them, as soon as you play this game you give it the value, you choose how you want to play them, style them, dress them up, nothing is valuable until you give it value.
Banning the game because of its content is very illogical, I personally don’t think it makes sense. I think that the game does not imply anything wrong, the only negative factor it has is the portrayal of women but other than that is normal. Age restrictions do not cause less people to purchase the game, but instead it causes more under aged people to purchase them because of the hype and excitement. Age restrictions are useless because they don’t stop under aged people from playing, it’s just there as a warning. Game play is a satisfaction to all children and people, I think that playing games opens your eyes and increases awareness, I also think that people should play GTA because it may help them induce the stress and violence they have onto this game and not onto actual people.
References
GTA 5 and 5 other video games banned from stores. (2014, December 4). Retrieved from
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/gta-5-and-5-other-video-games-banned-from-stores-1.2860191
Kilhefner, J. (2015). Ethics in Game Design. Hearst.
Oliver, M. B., Bowman, N. D., Woolley, J. K., Rogers, R., Sherrick, B. I., & Chung, M.-Y. (2016). Video games as meaningful entertainment experiences. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 5(4), 390–405. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-14534-001?doi=1
Reynolds, R. (2009, August 20). Playing a “Good” Game: A Philosophical Approach to Understanding the Morality of Games. IGDA. Retrieved from
http://www.igda.org/articles/rreynolds_ethics.php
Swayne, M. (2015, April 15). Video games can power up from merely fun to meaningful experiences. Retrieved from
Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games
Tassi, P. (2013, September 26). On Gender And ‘GTA 5’. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/09/26/on-gender-and-gta-5/ — 6840276f8cf9
