Beyond Choices: A Typology of Ethical Computer Game Designs

Abstract

This paper presents a typology for classifying computer games designed to create ethical gameplay. Ethical gameplay is the outcome of playing a (computer) game in which the players’ moral values are of relevance for the game experience. The paper explores the different types of designs that create these types of experiences, and how they are characterized. The author provides an analytical framework for classifying games according to the experience they create and how they create it. The paper is informed by both game design theory and postphenomenological philosophy, and it is intended to provide a theoretical framework for the study of the design of ethical computer game experiences.