- 1. Designing Ethical Dilemmas Manveer Heir Raven Software July
28, 2009
2. What Would You Do...
- If you had to choose between your wife and your daughter?
- You found a wallet on the street with $1000 and no clear
owner?
- Watch a mother and her child wither away to ensure your
survival?
3. Who Is This Guy?
- B.S. Computer Science Virginia Tech
- Programming Intern at Big Huge Games onRise of Legends
- Gameplay Programmer at Raven Software onWolfensteinfor 2+
years
- Game Designer at Raven Software onWolfenstein
- Currently Lead Designer on a top-secret project
4. What This Talk Is About
- How to understand and design games that let players experience
ethical dilemmas
-
- Ethical responsibilities of the designer
-
- How to act ethically in the workplace
5. No one told me research = reading :( 6. Why Ethical
Dilemmas?
- One tool to create more meaningful play experiences
- Need game emotions beyond fear and aggression
- Can be the key to unlocking these new emotions in players
7. 8. Ethics vs. Morals
- Morals are the principles of right and wrong behavior
(Merriam-Webster)
- Ethics are a set of moral principles: a theory or system of
moral value (Merriam-Webster)
- Ethics are a rational, methodological approach to the questions
of good, evil, duty and values (Sicart)
9. Types of Ethical Designs
10. Open Ethical Design
-
- Rules, systems, and mechanics are affected by player choice,
but not narrative
-
- Character, narrative, fiction being affected by player
choice
11. Closed Ethical Design
-
- Player knows actions have weight, but has to decipher
-
- Player deciphers the ethics of gameplay outside the scope of
the game
-
- Create a relation between the actions of the player and the
character
-
- Can reward unethical gameplay this way to challenge the
player's ethical framework
12. Dilemmas Require Open Design
- Closed designs rely on a high level of authorship by the
designer
- These games can potentially become preachy and don't take full
advantage of the medium
- Open designs are harder to account for, but potentially more
rewarding
- Open designs will be the way in which our games will open up
new emotional responses in players
13. We Got Problems 14. 15. Black and White Model
- Designers tells you if you are doing a good or bad job
- Binary system that doesnt account for ambiguities that
exist
- Applying scores and mechanics to ethical decisions marginalizes
the decision
16. BioShock
- Saving or killing Little Sisters starts off as an emotionally
impactful decision
- Turns to realization of the strategy
- Robs the impact of the ethical decisions and turns the decision
into one of optimal strategy
17. Star Wars
- Never feel like Luke in the games
18. World is Gray 19. How Do We Reach Our Potential?
20. Narrative
- Player must be invested in world
- Not economically invested
- Ludic elements need to support narrative elements
- Ludonarrative Dissonance (Hocking)
21. No Magical Formula For Narrative 22. Consequences
- Choices have consequences
- Need to significantly impact the game
- Player needs to understand consequence is a result of earlier
choice
- Do not minimize impact of consequences
23. Mass Effect 24. Obstacles
- Obstacles can make the player stop
- Push player down a new path
- Try making moral road the more difficult
- Game paths don't have to be equal
- Challenge player's conceptions of what is ethical!
25. Train 26. Permanence
- Redoing our choices robs them of the impact
- Choices that are mechanical (shooting) are fine to redo
- Forces player to live with consequences
- Lends self to experiential gameplay, not mastery
27. Tenpenny Tower 28. A Funny Thing Happened... 29.
30. How Does Tenpenny Tower Fare?
- Narrative I care about the world of Fallout, I feel bad for the
Ghouls being treated like less than humans. I want to save them and
do the right thing.
- Consequences If I do the right thing the humans still die and
they never come back.
- Obstacles It's easier to just kill one side outright. Doing the
right thing requires me to convince others and do an extra
quest
- Permanance I decided not to let myself reload... why?
31. VENGENCE 32. This Is The Potential Of Ethical Dilemmas In
Games 33. Thank You
- Design Rampage: http://designrampage.blogspot.com
- Follow me on Twitter: @manveerheir