Applied Ethics Techniques for Video Game Ethics

This paper proposes that two families of techniques from analytic applied ethics, case construction and engaging perspectives, can strengthen both the teaching of video game ethics and collaboration among researchers and practitioners. Its central argument is that game ethics has grown rapidly as a field, but its pedagogical and research challenges are compounded by the diverse assumptions and evaluative standards that characterize games scholarship. Drawing on examples from bioethics and business ethics, the author argues that these methods can help structure debate, clarify points of agreement, and pinpoint the true sources of disagreement.

The first technique, case construction, includes two sub-methods. Analogies compare a target case to a structurally similar one, either to test whether a single case differs meaningfully from a more intuitively clear comparison or to determine which of two contrasting cases a target more closely resembles. Simplifying examples strip away complicating features to reveal which elements drive moral evaluation or to expose generalizable concerns. The paper illustrates these with examples such as virtual violence compared to damaging a photograph, monetization compared to fair and exploitative conduct, and sexualized female characters as a case of reductive representation. The second technique, engaging perspectives, centers on steelmanning opposing views, presenting their strongest versions rather than weak caricatures, and granting premises for the sake of examining their implications. Bartel's steelman of the claim that virtual actions are morally neutral serves as the main example.

The paper's contribution is primarily conceptual and pedagogical rather than empirical. It presents no survey data, sample sizes, or quantitative findings. Its methodology consists of conceptual analysis and the illustration of techniques through worked examples, grounded in existing philosophical literature. The scope is therefore theoretical, focused on the classroom and interdisciplinary research settings in which game ethics is taught and studied, and it is intended to supplement existing game ethics syllabi and to equip scholars and industry practitioners with shared argumentative tools for discussing morality in games.