AoIR Abstract

Author(s): Ren Reynolds

Title: "Is it wrong to cheat on-line ? "

*** Everyone knows that cheating is a bad thing. But does being online change the game ? This paper will examine what we mean by cheating in the broadest sense then will apply these concepts to online relations particularly those formed during game play in virtual worlds such as massively multiplayer role play games. On-line relationships are necessary mediated. Information communication technologies both enable us to connect with people and put barriers between us. In addition, being online often encourages the creation of masks i.e. shifts in the presentation of identity. These identity manipulations can be subtle e.g. emphasis of particular parts of ones character, or major e.g. presenting oneself as a different gender, age etc. An area of the internet where the playing of roles is actively encouraged is in massively multiplayer role place games such as EverQuest and the closely related social worlds such as Second Life and There. In these virtual spaces people can take on the role of their charter: warrior, elf, jedi etc. But role play goes deeper than this – many males that play female avatars openly admit to being male, others do not; moreover the norms that frame the boundaries of acceptable action are created by subtle negations that are informed by player / characters interacting within and outside the context of the game conceit. This nexus of actual and fictional, written rules and unwritten norms, person and character, casts the simplest of acts in a complex light. For example: if I promise to meet you at the cinema tomorrow at 19:00, is this the same as my character promising to meet your character at some point in a virtual world tomorrow ? Can we say that nature of moral obligation is the same ? Where do the boundaries of cheating lie when norms are highly artificial ? From the analysis of sites where role play is explicit the paper will examine whether broader conclusions can be drawn about situations where it seems moral obligations are being formed or broken within a mediated environment. The paper will draw upon traditional normative ethics and recent work in the field of ethics of technology such as theories of the moral status of virtual action. The paper will also examine whether political theories, such as social contract, are applicable to virtual communities and will seek to understand how boundary cases such as internet-grooming inform our understanding of online identity.

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AoIR 5.0

	*Author(s):* Ren Reynolds
	*Title:* "Is it wrong to cheat on-line ? "

***	Everyone knows that cheating is a bad thing. But does being online change the game ? This paper will examine what we mean by cheating in the broadest sense then will apply these concepts to online relations particularly those formed during game play in virtual worlds such as massively multiplayer role play games. On-line relationships are necessary mediated. Information communication technologies both enable us to connect with people and put barriers between us. In addition, being online often encourages the creation of masks i.e. shifts in the presentation of identity. These identity manipulations can be subtle e.g. emphasis of particular parts of ones character, or major e.g. presenting oneself as a different gender, age etc. An area of the internet where the playing of roles is actively encouraged is in massively multiplayer role place games such as EverQuest and the closely related social worlds such as Second Life and There. In these virtual spaces people can take on the role of their charter: warrior, elf, jedi etc. But role play goes deeper than this – many males that play female avatars openly admit to being male, others do not; moreover the norms that frame the boundaries of acceptable action are created by subtle negations that are informed by player / characters interacting within and outside the context of the game conceit. This nexus of actual and fictional, written rules and unwritten norms, person and character, casts the simplest of acts in a complex light. For example: if I promise to meet you at the cinema tomorrow at 19:00, is this the same as my character promising to meet your character at some point in a virtual world tomorrow ? Can we say that nature of moral obligation is the same ? Where do the boundaries of cheating lie when norms are highly artificial ? From the analysis of sites where role play is explicit the paper will examine whether broader conclusions can be drawn about situations where it seems moral obligations are being formed or broken within a mediated environment. The paper will draw upon traditional normative ethics and recent work in the field of ethics of technology such as theories of the moral status of virtual action. The paper will also examine whether political theories, such as social contract, are applicable to virtual communities and will seek to understand how boundary cases such as internet-grooming inform our understanding of online identity.