Resisting the Gamer’s Dilemma

Abstract

Intuitively, many people seem to hold that engaging in acts of virtual murder in videogames is morally permissible, whereas engaging in acts of virtual child molestation is morally impermissible. The Gamer’s Dilemma (Luck in Ethics Inf Technol 11:31–36, 2009) challenges these intuitions by arguing that it is unclear whether there is a morally relevant difference between these two types of virtual actions. There are two main responses in the literature to this dilemma. First, attempts to resolve the dilemma by defending an account of the relevant moral differences between virtual murder and virtual child molestation. Second, attempts to dissolve the dilemma by undermining the intuitions that ground it. In this paper, we argue that a narrow version of the Gamer’s Dilemma seems to survive attempts to resolve or dissolve it away entirely, since neither approach seems to be able to solve the dilemma for all cases. We thus provide a contextually sensitive version of the dilemma that more accurately tracks onto the intuitions of gamers. However, we also argue that the intuitions that ground the narrow version of the Dilemma may not have a moral foundation, and we put forward alternative non-moral normative foundations that seem to better account for the remaining intuitive difference between the two types of virtual actions. We also respond to proposed solutions to the Gamer’s Dilemma in novel ways and set out areas for future empirical work in this area.

Redefining Boundaries in the Metaverse: Navigating the Challenges of Virtual Harm and User Safety

“…Devices such as VR headsets and haptic gloves create a compelling sense of "presence", making the virtual experience more real and immediate. 2 This refers to the experience of "being inside" the simulated environment, i.e., successful "location" illusion (Cummings and Bailenson 2016), and the feeling that one is performing some action (even though the setting is virtual), i.e., the "action" illusion because of this, a so-called "virtually real experience" is created, i.e., an experience perceived to be "real at the moment of experience" (Montefiore and Formosa 2022;Ramirez 2022). For example, in an interview, VR researcher Jessica Outlaw states that when talking to people she knows in a VR headset, she feels she is with them, has an embodied experience, and "creates memories" with them (Dolan 2022).…”

XR Embodiment and the Changing Nature of Sexual Harassment

“…Presence is also often described in terms of creating an 'action' illusion, or the feeling of actually doing something albeit users are acting only in a virtual space [18]. Furthermore, experiences of presence have been associated with other psychological effects including the facilitation of "virtually real" experiences [19,20]. Although they are distinct from (albeit dependent on) experiences of presence, virtually real experiences are experiences perceived as if they were real during the moment of experience.…”

A Kantian response to the Gamer’s Dilemma

“…Although the consequentialist approach is discussed in research (Luck, 2009;Montefiore & Formosa, 2022), it receives comparatively little attention and is usually dismissed quickly. Mostly, this is justified by the lack of empirical data.…”

“…Moreover, significant long-term effects on the gamer's character from specific in-game actions are unlikely (Ferguson, 2 I thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, from which this chapter in particular has benefited substantially. 3 Despite a variety of recent attempts to narrow the dilemma down (Luck 2022;Montefiore & Formosa 2022) or to split it up (Ali 2022;Kjeldgaard-Christiansen 2020), I turn to the Gamer's Dilemma in its original form, which has lost none of its provocative power. Narrowing it down to particularly explosive cases is not necessary, since a full response to the Gamer's Dilemma should not only explain clearcut cases but rather resolve the moral conundrum for all conceivable cases.…”

“…There are numerous promising approaches within the framework of Descriptive Ethics that are compatible with the moral analysis given above and capable of explaining our intuitions regarding the Gamer's Dilemma (Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, 2020; Montefiore & Formosa, 2022). Rather than summarizing these approaches here, I will try to provide a Kantian explanation, which should add to the already existing contributions.…”