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Draft:Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time

Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time
AuthorChristopher Bartel
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreMoral Philosophy
PublisherBloomsbury Academic
Publication date
August 20, 2020
ISBN978-1-350-12187-4

Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time[1] by Christopher Bartel[2] is a moral philosophy book that explores the ethical implications of violence and actions committed in video games and virtual worlds through the lens of virtue ethics. Bartel argues (by citing Matt McCormick) that virtue ethics are preferable to utilitarianism and deontology as a normative ethical theory that can help humans understand the moral implications of actions committed in virtual settings. According to McCormick, the empirical data that would support a utilitarian or deontological approach towards understanding such ethical inquiries is lacking. While the empirical data that would support a utilitarian or deontological approach towards understanding the moral implications of actions committed in video games is lacking, virtue ethics is not contingent upon the availability of empirical data. Bartel argues that via virtue ethics, actions committed in video games and virtual worlds are judged in relation to their contribution towards the cultivation of a virtuous moral character.[3][4]

Bartel suggests that actions committed in virtual realms that are "purely fictional, willful, and malicious" deviate from an effort towards cultivating a virtuous moral character. Video game players that revel in committing in-game actions that would otherwise be construed as immoral (had the action been perpetrated in a real-world setting) are referred to as "degenerate players" by Bartel. According to Bartel, an example of a degenerate player would be a hypothetical video game player who revels in the terroristic objectives of the controversial campaign mission 'No Russian' in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 so much to the point that they replay the mission for the sheer enjoyment of killing civilian non-combatants.[5] Actions committed in video games and virtual worlds that contribute to the discontent of an individual's moral character by inculcating immoral desires (in contradistinction from immoral behavior) into the player responsible for the aforementioned actions are morally problematic.[6] For Bartel, the question is not whether the controversial campaign mission 'No Russian' is inherently immoral, but rather what the moral implications are in regard to how the player responds to playing such a mission. The player who uses the Modern Warfare 2 campaign mission 'No Russian' as an incentive for moral reflection in respect to state-sponsored terrorism, war crimes, and as an outlet for the criticism of the romanticization of war is distinguished from Bartel's example of the degenerate player.[7]

Reception edit

In a book review with the New Humanist, freelance journalist and social media professional Oliver-James Campbell criticized the book for its failure to establish a demarcation between an adult player and an adolescent player's potential reaction to the controversial campaign mission 'No Russian' in Modern Warfare 2. Campbell argues that pre-teens who played the controversial campaign mission would likely lack the emotional and intellectual maturity required to thoroughly reflect upon the nuances and subtleties that would establish 'No Russian' as a virtual simulator intended to give rise to moral reflection and as a polemic against the glorification of war.[8]

Editions edit

  • Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time. Christopher Bartel. 1st Edition. Hardcover. August 20th, 2020. Bloomsbury Academic. 978-1-350-12187-4.
  • Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time. Christopher Bartel. 2nd Edition. Paperback. March 24th, 2022. Bloomsbury Academic. 978-1-350-20270-2.

Related subjects edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ bloomsbury.com. "Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  2. ^ "Christopher Bartel". Christopher Bartel. 2018-06-14. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  3. ^ Bartel, Christopher (2022-03-24). Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-350-20270-2.
  4. ^ Matt, McCormick (2001). "Is It Wrong to Play Violent Video Games?". Ethics and Information Technology. 3 (4): 277–287. doi:10.1023/A:1013802119431. S2CID 207743525.
  5. ^ Bartel, Christopher (2022-03-24). Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-350-20270-2.
  6. ^ Bartel, Christopher (2022-03-24). Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-1-350-20270-2.
  7. ^ Bartel, Christopher (2022-03-24). Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-1-350-20270-2.
  8. ^ "Book review: Video Games, Violence and the Ethics of Fantasy". newhumanist.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-22.

Category:Draft articles on philosophy and religion Category:Philosophy Category:Philosophy-related lists Category:Video games Category:Ethics books Category:Ethics games

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