“Monetization is hard, because you have to sell the game and you have pressure from executives and shareholders, for good reason, because it's hard to sell a game. But sometimes there's a certain pressure to do these things without really considering: could it be harmful?” – Ethical Games organizer Celia Hodent
THE Ethical games The initiative will make a major effort to have the industry create its first-ever code of ethics this fall, and will ask developers to contribute to this effort.
Talking to Game filesconsultant Celia Hodent discussed the initiative she’s spearheading with colleague Fran Blumberg. The plan is for the code to benefit studios and players, and address long-standing issues like loot boxes without being the “morality police.”
Loot boxes and child and general safety have been recurring concerns for the medium, and the hope is that a code of ethics can address them. The ESRB and other regulators can only do so much, and Hodent wants the code to benefit studios and players in specific, lasting ways.
“I want to be constructive,” she said. “We have to be evidence-based when we have data. And when we don’t have data, it would be great if we could get industry to collaborate with researchers so we can have a more nuanced conversation.”
Building the Game Industry Ethics Skill Tree
Ethical games website contains guidelines for five categories. For “community,” it is suggested that staff interacting with players at remote or in-person events have a clearly communicated and enforced code of conduct.
Meanwhile, the “game design” guidelines include player-level inclusivity and accessibility, along with appropriate counsel on sensitive topics. It also suggests that games have business models that “respect the well-being, time and money of players, especially minors.”
Those same guidelines also call for “dark patterns,” defined as “intentionally deceptive” features, such as UI that pushes players into buying something unintentionally. That and ongoing in-game rewards constitute “punitive engagement,” in Hodent's eyes.
As far as she's concerned, the biggest obstacle to the would-be code of ethics is the broader turmoil in the video game industry. Still, she argued that it's badly needed now, even if it's been rather overdue.
“We can always argue that if we do it now, it will create trust among players. And in the long run, it will probably mean more revenue.”
More information about Ethical Games' mission and the first draft of its code is available Here. Different laboratori with developers, educators and policy makers will be held in the fall, and research papers from a conference in January will be available to read Here.