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Professional Issues in Computing: Virtual Worlds Morality

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

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Professional Issues in Computing: Virtual Worlds Morality

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

  2. 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

  3. “It doesn’t really matter – it’s only online” Online Interactions

  4. 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?

  5. 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?

  6. VIRTUAL “CRIME”

  7. Habbo Hotel: Virtual Theft

  8. 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

  9. Virtual Paedophilia on Second Life

  10. 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?

  11. REAL-WORLD/VIRTUAL-WORLD INTERACTIONS

  12. Sony & Manchester Cathedral

  13. 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

  14. Medal of Honor

  15. Medal of Honor

  16. Medal of Honor

  17. 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:

  18. Medal of Honour: Warfighter

  19. 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

  20. 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

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