[Air-L] Fwd: Ethical Inquiry through Video Game Play and Design: A Symposium

[Lois Scheidt]

May be of interest.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Assoc for Practical & Prof Ethics <appe at indiana.edu>
Date: Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 1:31 PM
Subject: Ethical Inquiry through Video Game Play and Design: A Symposium
To: APPE_NEWS at listserv.indiana.edu




Ethical Inquiry through Video Game Play and Design: A Symposium

Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics

DePauw University

October 10-12, 2011



A growing number of designers and critics have demonstrated that games
can mediate ethical inquiry through the simulation of moral choice and
consequence. This concept of games as models for moral problems has
motivated a search for ethical criteria that might guide the design
and analysis of video games. The symposium will consider the claims
that video games might serve as a platform for ethical inquiry, that
they offer a new means of investigating social relations between human
beings, and that their interactive capabilities allow them to act as
mirrors for self-examination. How do video games promote ethical
positions? Can they enhance our ethical sensibility by simulating
moral problems? Should simulated experience reinforce the ethical
principles of real experience, or should it, as play, be allowed to
transgress them?



Invited Speakers



Peter Molyneux has been creating video games for three decades, and
invented the “god game” with Populous in 1989. As founder of Lionhead
Studios, now a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios, he has developed
a number of innovative and popular games that incorporate moral choice
as a central aspect of play, including Black & White, Fable, and The
Movies.



Michael Abbott is Associate Professor of Theater at Wabash College,
where he has led the effort to add the video game Portal to the core
curriculum. He writes lively and informed commentary on video game
culture on his blog, The Brainy Gamer (http://www.brainygamer.com/).



Edward Castronova is Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana
University, where he established the Synthetic Worlds Initiative, a
production team focused on creating online games to foster the
teaching of political economy, history, and literature. His books
include Exodus to the Virtual World and Synthetic Worlds. He blogs at
Terra Nova (http://terranova.blogs.com).



John Gosney is Faculty Liaison for Learning Technologies at Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis, where he also teaches
literature and American studies courses using novel pedagogies
integrating computer gaming. His publications include Beyond Reality:
A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming.



Kathy Vrabeck has been a president at both Electronic Arts and
Activision. She has also headed the digital division at Legendary
Pictures, a partner in the production of films including The Dark
Knight and Inception. She currently serves on the boards of Zeebo,
Inc. and GeekChicDaily (http://www.geekchicdaily.com/).



Call for Proposals



We invite 250-word proposals for presentations addressing any ethical
dimension of video games. We especially encourage perspectives on the
potential for games to pose moral dilemmas and foster sharper ethical
awareness. The proposal deadline is August 1, 2011. Seating and
accommodations are limited. Registration is $75. Please direct
inquires and proposals to Harry Brown at hbrown at depauw.edu.






-- 
Lois Ann Scheidt
Doctoral Candidate - School of Library and Information Science,
Indiana University, Bloomington IN USA
Webpage:  http://www.loisscheidt.com
CV:  http://www.loisscheidt.com/cv.html
Blog:  http://www.professional-lurker.com

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