Ethics in the Virtual World: The Morality and Psychology of Gaming

by Garry Young

Overview

Ethics in the Virtual World examines the gamer's enactment of taboo activities in the context of both traditional and contemporary philosophical approaches to morality. The book argues that it is more productive to consider what individuals are able to cope with psychologically than to determine whether a virtual act or representation is necessarily good or bad. The book raises pertinent questions about one of the most rapidly expanding leisure pursuits in western culture: should virtual enactments warrant moral interest? Should there be a limit to what can be enacted or represented within these games? Or, is it all just a game?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844655502
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/28/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Garry Young is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. He is co-author of Transcending Taboos: A Moral and Psychological Examination of Cyberspace (Routledge, 2012) and Cyberpsychology: The Study of Individuals, Society and Digital Technologies (Wiley/Blackwell, 2013).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Playing with right and wrong 2. To prohibit or not to prohibit, that is the question 3. Hume's strength of feeling 4. Kant's call of duty 5. The cost-benefit of virtual violence (and other taboos) 6. Are meanings virtually the same? 7. There are wrongs and then there are wrongs 8. Virtual virtues, virtual vices 9. Doing what it takes to win 10. Agreeing the rules 11. Why would anyone want to do that? 12. Coping with virtual taboos 13. Conclusion Notes Bibliography