Moral reflection with video games: An approach through spontaneous play with Papers, Please.

Abstract

Research on moral learning with video games (VG), for a long time, has focused on their connection with violent or antisocial behavior. However, there are more and more designs and suggestions about how VG can promote ethics and pro-social learning (Darvasi, 2016). Games with social, political, or moral conflict topics are on the rise, and this is an issue that should interest us as educators, taking into account the rates of their use for entertainment in the youth population. Despite increasing demand and enthusiasm for these VG, the scientific evidence of their benefits is scarce. As de Aldama & Pozo (2020) note, the difference may be found when playing with an epistemic goal -aimed at building reflection and knowledge-, in contrast with following the game’s aims of leisure.

In this study, we analyze, basing on the Social Intuitionist Model developed by Haidt (2001), whether the spontaneous play of "Papers, please" (Lucas Pope, 2013) activates moral intuitions and if they are followed by an explicit reflection about them. This VG is highly acclaimed for its treatment of ethical conflicts in immigration, international relationships, and totalitarianism, in which the player portrays an immigration officer tasked with examining documents and deciding upon authorization or denial of access to the country. We have turned to comments about the game on Steam to see if the speech of players shows terms and structures linked to different moral assessments.

In this study, we have prepared category analysis, applied with the Nvivo software, where we identified references to each of the five moral foundations (Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation) proposed by Haidt (2004). We also analyzed whether conflicts between foundations are identified, and to which topics and emotions are the most linked. Provisional results point to low degrees and frequencies of moral reflection, with a high tendency to resolve moral conflict according to the dynamics and immediate rewards of the game.

These potential results are similar to some studies that have already observed these VG may be counterproductive on their own to pursue education projects for peace and justice, even though their design and topics appear to be coherent with the learning objectives. Therefore, we propose that for VG are useful to develop pro-social behavior, reflection guided by an epistemic goal must be encouraged. Thus, we must put our efforts into designing scaffoldings and educational interventions that favor the reflection on the situations which reproduce in them.