This project investigates players’ perceptions of ethics and morality in their videogame play. Through semi-structured interviews Mia Consalvo and Carolyn Jong are investigating how players negotiate issues of representation, moral dilemmas, and morality systems in digital role-playing games. Some of the questions being explored through the project include:
• What choices do players commonly make in games, and how do they describe their reasons for making those choices?
• How do players role-play in games and how does this affect the decision-making process?
• How do players relate their in-game choices to the ethical codes and moral beliefs they maintain outside of the game?
• How does moral decision-making impact players’ affective responses to the events that take place in the game, and vice versa?
• What is the relation between in-game features such as companions, romance options, morality meters, and reputation systems, and players’ experiences of moral dilemmas?
