Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

The Coming Sh*t Storm? Game Design and Research Ethics after Facebook

Sebastian Deterding
August 08, 2018
370

The Coming Sh*t Storm? Game Design and Research Ethics after Facebook

Panel introduction at FDG 2018 on the new ethical issues and challenges around game data and engagement optimisation in games.

Sebastian Deterding

August 08, 2018
Tweet

More Decks by Sebastian Deterding

Transcript

  1. the coming sh*t storm?
    Game Research and Design
    Ethics after Facebook
    Sebastian Deterding, Anders Drachen, Catherine Flick,
    Ben Medler, Lies van Roessel, José Zagal
    Foundations of Digital Games 2018
    August 8, 2018
    c b

    View Slide

  2. it started with a tweet …

    View Slide

  3. 2014

    View Slide

  4. 2018

    View Slide

  5. 2018

    View Slide

  6. meanwhile

    View Slide

  7. View Slide

  8. View Slide

  9. the issue, as framed in current media
    • New business models harnessing usage time
    (acquisition, engagement, retention) +
    • New data-driven design methods +
    • Companies working with scholars to harness
    psychology, profiling, personalisation =
    • “Addiction by design”

    View Slide

  10. an ethical reckoning in industry & academia …

    View Slide

  11. … leading to calls for principles, procedures, training, …

    View Slide

  12. … given more teeth by recent regulation.

    View Slide

  13. and in games?

    View Slide

  14. well, not quite.

    View Slide

  15. in the media

    View Slide

  16. among players & devs

    View Slide

  17. the issue, as framed by current media
    • New business models harnessing usage time
    (acquisition, engagement, retention) +
    • New data-driven design methods +
    • Companies working with scholars to harness
    psychology, profiling, personalisation =
    • “Addiction by design”
    ?

    View Slide

  18. View Slide

  19. “It really isn’t hard to discern where EA’s priorities truly lie
    when they’re so intent on hiring researchers to find the
    best mathematical way to manipulate players rather than
    just passionately making games that are fun and engaging
    by design”
    yongyea, ea wants to get rid of fair matchmaking …, 2018

    View Slide

  20. View Slide

  21. the issue, as framed by current media
    • New business models harnessing usage time
    (acquisition, engagement, retention) +
    • New data-driven design methods +
    • Companies working with scholars to harness
    psychology, profiling, personalisation =
    • “Addiction by design”

    View Slide

  22. So where is our moment of
    moral reckoning around
    data-driven engagement
    design?

    View Slide

  23. What are the ethical implications of mass
    psychological profiling, personalisation, and
    engagement optimization in games?
    What is good ethical practice for private game
    companies collecting human subject data, and
    academics collaborating with them?
    that’s what we are here to discuss.

    View Slide

  24. BIG
    caveats

    View Slide

  25. #1 cambridge analytica mostly succeeded in selling itself

    View Slide

  26. #2 no solid evidence base that tech/social media use is
    addictive or causes mental ill-health

    View Slide

  27. #3 ditto for gaming addiction

    View Slide

  28. little evidence
    =!=
    little moral relevance

    View Slide


  29. • Everything you ever wanted to know about LARP,
    tabletop, CRPG, MMORPG, weird online freeform
    • Handy textbook/handbook gives state of the art
    in accessible, concise, easy to reference form
    • Co-written by 50+ experts in the field
    • 20% off at Routledge.com with code FLR40 :)

    View Slide