The role of frames in meaningful moral game play

The role of frames in meaningful moral game play

The role of frames in meaningful moral game play

Kevin Schut, Kelly Arbeau, Myron A. Penner

Abstract

"This paper addresses the findings of research on a set of frames that game players adopt while playing video games and the way those frames impact moral and ethical reasoning and decision making. Moral and ethical actions in games presuppose understanding: how players understand what is going on while playing a game very much shapes the way they may respond. Using a version of Erving Goffman’s frame analysis, this research reports on two empirical studies: one that established the validity of a set of eight frames; another that asked gamers to report on how their use of frames impacted their moral and ethical game actions. The research finds that game players do indeed deploy multiple frames and that this has a very complex impact on the meaning of their in-game actions. This raises a number of philosophical issues about right and wrong action in video gameplay."

Reference

Schut, K., Arbeau, K., & Penner, M. A. (2023). The role of frames in meaningful moral game play. Morality Play. https://moralityplay.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MP2023_paper_7.pdf

Keywords

Video Games, Morality, Ethics