Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange

Anna Dechering; Sander Bakkes

doi:10.1145/3235765.3235779

Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange

Anna Dechering, Sander Bakkes

University of Amsterdam

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The present paper focuses on moral choices in interactive narrative games. Particularly, it investigates factors that contribute to moral engagement in short-term decision making in games; as opposed to the somewhat better understood factors that underlie moral disengagement in games. To this end, the paper proposes factors for assessing moral engagement in games, that build upon (1) the general aggression model, (2) the moral disengagement model, and (3) self-determination theory. The paper reports on two case studies that explore the factors in actual interactive video games; it investigates meaningful choices in the games Life is Strange and The Walking Dead Season 1.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018
Editors	Sebastian Deterding, Mitu Khandaker, Sebastian Risi, Jose Font, Steve Dahlskog, Christoph Salge, Carl Magnus Olsson
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450365710
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3235765.3235779
Publication status	Published - 7 Aug 2018
Event	13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018 - Malmo, Sweden Duration: 7 Aug 2018 → 10 Aug 2018

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference	13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018
Country/Territory	Sweden
City	Malmo
Period	7/08/18 → 10/08/18

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 ACM.

Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Access to Document

10.1145/3235765.3235779

3235765.3235779Final published version, 489 KBLicence: Taverne

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Dechering, A., & Bakkes, S. (2018). Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange. In S. Deterding, M. Khandaker, S. Risi, J. Font, S. Dahlskog, C. Salge, & C. M. Olsson (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018 Article 23 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3235765.3235779

Dechering, Anna ; Bakkes, Sander. / Moral engagement in interactive narrative games : An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018. editor / Sebastian Deterding ; Mitu Khandaker ; Sebastian Risi ; Jose Font ; Steve Dahlskog ; Christoph Salge ; Carl Magnus Olsson. Association for Computing Machinery, 2018. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

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title = "Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange",

abstract = "The present paper focuses on moral choices in interactive narrative games. Particularly, it investigates factors that contribute to moral engagement in short-term decision making in games; as opposed to the somewhat better understood factors that underlie moral disengagement in games. To this end, the paper proposes factors for assessing moral engagement in games, that build upon (1) the general aggression model, (2) the moral disengagement model, and (3) self-determination theory. The paper reports on two case studies that explore the factors in actual interactive video games; it investigates meaningful choices in the games Life is Strange and The Walking Dead Season 1.",

author = "Anna Dechering and Sander Bakkes",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 ACM. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.; 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018 ; Conference date: 07-08-2018 Through 10-08-2018",

year = "2018",

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doi = "10.1145/3235765.3235779",

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publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

editor = "Sebastian Deterding and Mitu Khandaker and Sebastian Risi and Jose Font and Steve Dahlskog and Christoph Salge and Olsson, {Carl Magnus}",

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Dechering, A & Bakkes, S 2018, Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange. in S Deterding, M Khandaker, S Risi, J Font, S Dahlskog, C Salge & CM Olsson (eds), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018., 23, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018, Malmo, Sweden, 7/08/18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3235765.3235779

Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange. / Dechering, Anna; Bakkes, Sander.
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018. ed. / Sebastian Deterding; Mitu Khandaker; Sebastian Risi; Jose Font; Steve Dahlskog; Christoph Salge; Carl Magnus Olsson. Association for Computing Machinery, 2018. 23 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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Dechering A, Bakkes S. Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange. In Deterding S, Khandaker M, Risi S, Font J, Dahlskog S, Salge C, Olsson CM, editors, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2018. Association for Computing Machinery. 2018. 23. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3235765.3235779

Moral engagement in interactive narrative games: An exploratory study on ethical agency in the walking dead and life is strange

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