Professional Issues in Computing: Virtual Worlds Morality Kevin Macnish (IDEA CETL)

Professional Issues in Computing:

Virtual Worlds Morality

Kevin Macnish (IDEA CETL)

Plan

• Online Interactions– Hurt, harm, benefit, kindness to others– Proxy personae

• Virtual “Crime”– Habbo Hotel– Second Life

• Real-World / Virtual-World Interactions– Sony vs. Manchester Cathedral– Medal of Honor

ONLINE INTERACTIONS“It doesn’t really matter – it’s only online”

Online Interactions

• Can people be hurt, harmed, benefitted, treated kindly, etc. through what is done online?

• Online behaviour: different rules?– E.g. forums, chat rooms, blogs, IM, etc.

• Is flaming less wrong than face-to-face insults?

Proxy Personae

• Usernames/Avatars - disguise real identity– “It’s ok for ‘me’ (my avatar) to insult ‘her’ (her

avatar) because it’s not really her being insulted and it’s not really me doing the insulting.”

How convincing is this as a justification?What are the similarities and differences between

online interactions between proxy “identities” and, say, fiction?

VIRTUAL “CRIME”

Habbo Hotel: Virtual Theft

Habbo Hotel: Virtual Theft

• Property here is a metaphor– Representative of “real” property– Costs “real” money– Would the situation be different had it not

involved “real money”?• It’s the real-world harms that matter

– “Virtual harm” does not matter• Deception has taken place here

– Deception widely seen as wrong

Virtual Paedophilia on Second Life

Virtual Paedophilia on Second Life

• Is this wrong? Why?• Encourages likelihood of “real-world”

paedophilia• The expression of a vice

– A morally bad trait of character• Do these arguments apply to novels?

– Nabukov’s Lolita?– Graphic novels?

REAL-WORLD/VIRTUAL-WORLD INTERACTIONS

Sony & Manchester Cathedral

Sony & Manchester Cathedral

• Part of what is valuable about certain places is their associations – These can be destroyed/corrupted by fiction– E.g. Notre Dame and Quasimodo

• Issue of consent– How public is a cathedral? Does this matter?

• Do violent games contribute to gun crime?– If so then a reason not to perpetuate violent games

• The building itself has not been touched– Violation charge seems unconvincing

Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

• Real ongoing conflict• Real people being portrayed

– Desensitizes us to war?– Prepares us for war?– Fails to honour dead?

• Ability to play either side– Unpatriotic?– Breed contempt for own soldiers?

• MoH continues to be controversial:

Medal of Honour: Warfighter

Proposed Conclusion

• Only real-world morality matters

• How we behave on computers is part of the real-world– Includes online and virtual activities– Such activities therefore subject to moral

consideration– Acceptance that real people affected

Recap

• Online Interactions– Hurt, harm, benefit, kindness to others– Proxy personae

• Virtual “Crime”– Habbo Hotel– Second Life

• Real-World / Virtual-World Interactions– Sony vs. Manchester Cathedral– Medal of Honor