Presentation Content - The Ethics of Videogames (Medal of Honour)

Introduction of the game

l            A series of first-person shooter games set in World-War II

l            Fight for United States of America in most editions

l            Enjoy stepping into the dangerous battlefields in the boots of warriors with diversified weaponry in order to achieve missions

Positive Ethical Influence

l            America army embraces this type of game

Ø            “Today's U.S. military recruits enjoy an arsenal of simulators and video games that sharpen their fighting skills and may even protect them from the mental stresses of combat.” (Jeremy Hsu, 2010)

l            Facilitate patriotism among American players

Negative Ethical Influence

l            Official Website: “They (the soliders) are living, breathing, precision instruments of war. They are experts in the application of violence.”

l            Extremely realistic figures and surroundings to imitate the war

Ø            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df-dpxmnUqs

Ø            “World War II first-person shooters reduce war to an uncomplicated exercise of killing the enemy and celebrating victory. Dead comrades are not mourned…” (Schulzke, 2010)

l            “The message of World War II games is that violence is heroic.” (Schulzke, 2010)

Ø            “…the enemies are always tough killing machines that seem to represent pure evil. One of the greatest offenders in this regard is Medal of Honor: Airborne, which even abandons the typical German uniforms and weapons in order to create a more menacing enemy. The games reinforce the sense of using justified violence through various techniques ranging from patriotic musical scores to cut scenes depicting enemy atrocities.” (The Context of Violence in Video Games by Marcus Schulzke, 2010)

Irony

l            A new edition released this year changes to fight for Taliban of Afghanistan to kill America’s soldiers

l            Aroused ban of worldwide militaries and huge amount of critics

Ø            Ruin the patriotic image of the game

Ø            Johnny Minkley, a journalist with video gaming website Eurogamer, told BBC News that he thought EA’s decision to allow users to play as the Taliban was a marketing ploy. (Emery, 2010)

Reference

Emery, D. (2010, 14 October). Medal of Honor game goes on sale amid controversy. BBC News. Retrieved 21 November 2010, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11545028

Hsu, J. (2010, 19 August). For the U.S. Military, Video Games Get Serious. Live Science. Retrieved 21 November 2010, from http://www.livescience.com/culture/war-video-games-military-reality-100819.html100819.html

Medal of Honour. (2010). http://www.medalofhonor.com/

Schulzke, M. (2010). The Context of Violence in Video Games. Scan, Vol. 7, No. 1. Retrieved from 20 November 2010, from http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/display.php?journal_id=147

Mouchette / My online identity / Just playing? - the ethics of videogames

Mouchette

The first question is that the website is obviously skillful in terms of web-design and, more importantly, conveying a sophisticated manner about art. It is impossible to imagine that a thriteen-year-old girl could have such quality. Normally a girl should not tell of her misery in such a subtle, weird and intangible way that nobody could sympathize with her! There must be an underlying purpose behind.

The website feels very disturbing because it uses a lot of unpleasant pictures, music, flash and so on. The artist endeavours to form a degenerate image of that girl. In virtue of such image the artist express his/her innermost unscrupulous immoral thoughts. The request of the visitors writing their names and emails seems to be a means to arouse their innermost bad thoughts.

My online identities

I have not many online identities.

The first one is facebook. It is the closest to my real identity. I used to liaise with my friends and get news from one another. And I would share pictures, short films and websites via facebook.

The second one is xanga. I like writing. Once it was my online diary. Now I would write some entries in which I share some of my thoughts or film or book reviews.  There is not much  information about myself.  But people would rather know me more if they read them.

The third one is this blog. Here I only tell the stuff related to the classwork. There is almost
nothing to do with my own personal life.

I have several email accounts. They are mostly for business used. They are just used according to their functions for different business. Meanwhile they act as spare accounts for one another.

Just playing? - the ethics of videogames


(a) Key Quotes

–“Today's U.S. military recruits enjoy an arsenal of simulators and video games that sharpen their fighting skills and may even protect them from the mental stresses of combat.” (Jeremy Hsu, 2010)

“World War II first-person shooters reduce war to an uncomplicated exercise of killing the enemy and celebrating victory. Dead comrades are not mourned…” (Schulzke, 2010)

•“The message of World War II games is that violence is heroic.” (Schulzke, 2010)

–“…the enemies are always tough killing machines that seem to represent pure evil. One of the greatest offenders in this regard is Medal of Honor: Airborne, which even abandons the typical German uniforms and weapons in order to create a more menacing enemy. The games reinforce the sense of using justified violence through various techniques ranging from patriotic musical scores to cut scenes depicting enemy atrocities.” (The Context of Violence in Video Games by Marcus Schulzke, 2010)

(b) Key Links

•Emery, D. (2010, 14 October). Medal of Honor game goes on sale amid controversy. BBC News. Retrieved 21 November 2010, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11545028

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Hsu, J. (2010, 19 August). For the U.S. Military, Video Games Get Serious. Live Science. Retrieved 21 November 2010, from http://www.livescience.com/culture/war-video-games-military-reality-100819.html

•

• 

Medal of Honour. (2010). http://www.medalofhonor.com/

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Schulzke, M. (2010). The Context of Violence in Video Games. Scan, Vol. 7, No. 1. Retrieved from 20 November 2010, from http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/display.php?journal_id=147

Digital games - But are they art?

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 a) How does Adams define art? Do you agree with his definition?

Adams defines art in its philosophical, historical and formal aspects. Adams said that art is of its artistic value in different ages and should last and be discussed throughout the genereation. He mentioned that art is of several characteristics including conveying a certain message, having content and aesthetic quality, containing ideas, making people feel things and not formulaic. He added that these characteristics are not absolute for discrimination. But the more the characteristics is, the higher artistic value.  

I think Adams' definition is a comprehensive one. But he is more like out of a formalist tone. He emphasizes more on what art can do, what quality that art possesses. He is talking quite in a practical way how videogame changes to be an art . I think he is correct. Becasue this is the fastest and the most convenience way. If he approaches his definition in more philosophical and aesthetic way, it would seem to be very difficult to make videogame become art.

•b) According to Adams, what is needed for videogames to be considered as art?

Adam said videogames should be more like other art forms which people think they are art. And the direction is that videogame should not only focus on fun, but also has aesthetic quality by exploring its independent medium and becoming a new break ground prior to the old design.

Also, there should have been some external factors. Adams thought that videogames should experience what artwork experiences after it is put forth. For example, videogame should receive some decent critics on its "artistic" value, and even some decent awards to celebrate it. Last but not least, videogame require an artist who can be regarded as the author of it.

The ethics of digital games

a) At the beginning of the film, it introduced some Koreans who take playing videogames to be their jobs. They make money in virtue of taking part in videogames competition and winning the prize. Actually, this satisfies those having such apparently useless interest develop their corresponding careers. It is at least a benefit that they are doing a job that they love to do. However, it is very difficult to make such career. Those who do not succeed are just wasting their time. Indulging in playing videogames distracts people from their real lives.

In the aspect of the society, many organizations utilize videogame as a tool for promotion. The most vivid example is the American army. As the recruitment of soldier became harder and harder, the army thought of making a videogame about the army to attract the young people by involving them in a simulated shooting game, "American Army". The best advantage of videogame is providing a virtual world that people can easily approach it and know how it operates. Nevertheless, such a virtual world is not a healthy way after all. There is still a critical difference between simulation and reality. Those who too indulge and are unconscious of that are potentially forming a distorted ideology in the society.

b) The child in the film contracting leukemia could know more about his illness and the corresponding remedy by playing the game "Remission". The child could thus put himself together and feel more powerful to face it. On the contrary, that the film talks about a boy who shot eight people, five in head-shots, revealed that he performed what is interesting to him in videogame but prohibited in reality. He was obviously encouraged by the videogame to do such anti-social action in daily life. Some experts like doctors put forth that there is a connection between the videogame and aggressive brain activity. What I think is that the examples in life make it more convincing.

c) I think the government should not have the right to ban it. Even there is no videogames, crime, violence, mental problems and so on still cannot be avoided. I would say those violence incidents raised are individual cases. Videogame does not appear to universally and seriously jeopadize people. On the other hand, videogames can actually be used as an interesting educational tool like those questioning machines in museums. Videogame still has its advantages. I think the more important thing is education and self-discipline. It is actually a moral problem. We cannot solve the problem by simply banning it in law.