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Untitled Document
Personally, games as they are now may be distasteful in places but with censorship
in place providing recommended age ratings, I don't think morality really is an
issue that needs to come into play very often when looking at the mainstream offerings.
I really don't want to think about games appearing off the beaten track as such
though. It's probably scary. In terms of why people enjoy playing computer games,
I could write pages and pages of theories but psychologists have dealt with that
far more comprehensively than I could here.
There are of course numerous arguments against the content of many games. Those
that re-enact historical events may be seen as disrespectful to those who participated
and recent offerings such as the game which appeared disconcertingly soon after
the Washington sniper incident, which for legal reasons I'd best not name, can
only be described as milking tragedy for all it's worth. But although these
games make reference to the real world and are possibly more wrong than games
in which random, fantasy figures are annihilated, at the end of the day, it's
still only pixels and mouse clicks. Today that's all it is. Tomorrow, things
will be different.
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Technology moves on in leaps and bounds and even when not
moving forward is ever changing. Computing is fast paced at the worst of
times and the day will come when morality in life like computer gaming will
take on a new significance. What am I wittering on about? Artificial intelligence
of course. |
Creating an intelligent, self-aware, evolving entity has been the holy grail
of many researchers for decades, particularly one capable of fooling people
into believing it's human. AI has already crept into computer games in the form
of crude algorithms controlling elements of game play such as reactions to gun
fire in the little people running away from your trigger happy finger. But there
is no element of learning involved in this. A character will not be shot once,
learn that this is a bad thing and in its next incarnation run away more quickly.
But this will not always in the case.
Humans are exceedingly good at inventing things and throwing them out into
the world without thinking first about the potential consequences. You only
need look at genetic engineering and cloning for a relevant modern example of
this, as it's only now the techniques are in use that the question of whether
or not we should be "playing God", as some put it, is being discussed.
The technology was there before the morals were established and even a cursory
glance over the history of scientific breakthroughs will shed light on a sizeable
selection of such socially disruptive innovations.
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