Games - the ethics issue

Supply and Demand

As with most forms of prohibition though, the illegal nature of these banned games often only serves to heighten demand. Vince Desi, one of the creators of the Postal series has been quoted as saying:

“Yes, we do sell [Postal 2] online and receive many orders from Australia, so we're happy to ship there. It's quite expensive and a real show of support when someone pays more for shipping than the actual cost of the product they're buying.”

The fact that Australia bans the majority of adult games released does not inhibit our friends from Down Under purchasing if they have access to Amazon, eBay or any other major retailer.

Banning games is an option few countries are quick to take. The videogames industry is now one of the most profitable in the world, and thus contributes a lot of revenue to country's coffers. Much like alcohol and tobacco, it is a double edged sword for governments. The public doesn’t want to see school massacres or dreadful acts that have been attributed to videogames, however, they don’t want to lose the tax revenue video games contribute. In many cases, especially Britain, the Government tends to only act when there is public outcry.

Two recent cases were videogames released by Rockstar. Manhunt was removed from various stores in the UK after one child murdered another. The victim’s mother claimed that the murderer was obsessed with the game Manhunt and, despite police roundly rejecting the claims, the mainstream media ran with the story for weeks. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas caused huge amounts of controversy with its infamous hot coffee mod.

It's not just violence

From the perspective of the non-gamer the most worrying games are those that contain the traditionally catalogued list of bad things: sex, drugs, violence and death. Without doubt these are all areas where concern is warranted but it is not in this area of computer games that the ethics of gaming is changing the most swiftly.

No, the major concerns for games lie in their evolution. The widespread introduction of the internet has lead to a rise in different types of games including massively multiplayer behemoths. These new types of games have, and will continue to, raise issues regarding human nature, society and what is right and wrong.

Let us begin with the role playing game. Over the past few years the role out of broadband internet has made games such as Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest and World of Warcraft immensely popular. The games offer the chance to live in fantastical and brilliantly designed worlds with the chance to create a character whom you can evolve and mould in whatever way you like. For some, the chance to slay fantastical monsters or setting up your own moisture farm on Tatooine is an idle amusement. For many though, it becomes far more than that. To achieve that status as Jedi Master or to find the ‘Gloves of Destiny’ that will make your character nearly invincible becomes more like obsession, an itch that must be scratched.