Work

Dark Patterns Meet the Gamer's Dilemma: Contrasting Morally Objectionable Content with Systems in Video Games

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Much of the philosophical discussion of video game ethics is dominated by the literature on the Gamer's Dilemma, which forces us to focus on the ethics of certain forms of extreme virtual content in video games, such as virtual murder or molestation. While a focus on the ethics of video game content is important, we argue that scrutinizing the ethics of video game systems is needed to properly capture the full range of ethical concerns raised by video games. Drawing on a distinction between intravirtual and extravirtual effects, we identify ethical issues with video game content and, by linking to the dark patterns literature, video game systems . To illustrate our view, we give examples of how a game can appear to have morally objectionable content without the game being, at least clearly, morally objectionable, and how a game can appear to be morally unobjectionable despite having morally objectionable systems .

Source: Games and Culture

DOI: 10.1177/15554120251319173

Authors: Thomas Montefiore, Paul Formosa

Institution: Macquarie University

Language: English

Topic: Digital Games and Media

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650