Ethics in BG backlash?

maraki

Member
At first I thought I was getting good responses. Oops.

It is weird to me that an entire global culture misses the value of discussion on a deeper level. Both the discussion and the depth seem off-putting to them. It really is an eye-opener and explains why people don't consider being more laid-back or RL in their interactions with people in the game.

I really wanted to talk about gear here, but I did that for about 3 mins and then got side-tracked by this circus.

Does everyone on here really not know that thinking and philosophy are about discussion and depth? It's not always about direct answers and it sometimes starts from a place of metaphysics (does reality exist) in order to get to a question of metaethics (are morals absolute and objective?) and ends up in applied philosophy (should we act more like people online so that we don't slide further into post-modern sociopathy?).

If you already know, for example, Russell's questions about reality (Problems of Philosophy, 1912) then that question might seem repetitive, but the practice it affords the people that haven't read that book might be invaluable. As an eminent philosophy professor I can tell you that kids in the first couple years of college in this country are so adverse to thinking and predisposed to sociopathy that every little intervention creates a huge, social and intellectual change. If you don't know the question, as Russell assumes in his book, then it may take some time, but you will eventually see the value in your own life of thinking.

I don't know. Maybe try an experiment. Talk about gear and ethics in a way that represents discussion and depth, and quit trying to sound smart and oh so "radically skeptical." I did that as a kid and then I read "On the Road."
 
We're trying our best

dumb-patrick.gif
 
Sir, we get gear to crush our enemies in pve/pvp, not sure how deep and philosophical you think we are supposed to be.
 
I saw some disagreement, but I wouldn't call it "backlash". The idea that real life ethics and morals should be applied to video games ignores the reason why many people play video games - as an escape from all the real life bullshit. In an MMO like this you have many different people with different reasons for playing all put together. Some are looking for social interaction, and I feel like these would be the people more likely to adhere to the same social ethics that we use in real life. Others are looking for an escape, or maybe looking to "win" something when they haven't been winning much in real life...these people probably don't care about being nice in a virtual world after they spent 12 hours working a job they hate and being nice to every asshole customer they interacted with.

As an "eminent philosophy professor", I fear that you may be out of touch with most common people. I realized a long time ago that most people are lazy and self-interested. To deny this is to deny human nature. A good framework of rules and laws will allow people to pursue their self-interest in a fair and competitive manner. Many of the best advancements for society were created from self-interested endeavors. But someone must enforce the rules and laws for any of this to work. It only takes relatively few people with a different moral outlook to make it all break down. There were probably less than 10 DF geared lvl 60 twinks, and apparently that was enough to ruin bgs to the extent that we are having this discussion.

In a game like this Blizzard makes the rules and must enforce them. If you want the rules changed or enforced better you must take it up with them. You will never gain enough compliance on a voluntary ethical basis to make anything work, especially after people see so many others getting away with it.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top