Violence, Sex and Immorality: Video Games and Philosophy
According to the NPD Group, U.S. video game sales generated $21.4 billion in 2008more than double what the U.S. box office brought in the same year. In November 2009, Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare broke opening-day records for any type of media ever sold, earning $310 million in North America and the U.K. alone.
Video games are extremely prevalent in our culture, says
PhD student Vanessa Gorley, but they havent been paid much attention as a cultural phenomenon. Most attention has been paid to the negative aspects of gaming and not the good aspects of it.
Its about time we start analyzing what it says about culture and what these changes have to do with society.
She plans to delve into the topic this summer when she teaches Philosophy 299, a course called Violence, Sex and Immorality: Video Games and Philosophy.
Gorley, whos been playing video games since Breakout was available on Atari, is also taking courses in the graduate program of University of Cincinnatis
Department of Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
(WGSS), where she is studying gender roles in video games.
She decided to create a class on philosophy and video games to entwine her interests in philosophy, gender portrayal and the virtual world.
Fallout 3.
The course will focus on the social and moral implications of video game play, she says. Im using video games as a medium to discuss traditional philosophical problems, as well as talk about issues that arise from video game play.
Certain games like World of Warcraft, Fallout 3 and Farmville will be the backdrop to study philosophical ideas like morality and ethical issues, personal identity, and the relationship between the virtual world and reality.
Gorley hopes the class will establish an interest in philosophy for students who would otherwise not get an exposure to the area of study.
For people who wouldnt normally take a philosophy class, this might introduce them to the subject and who knows? Maybe theyll find out they have an interest in it, she says.
The Video Games and Philosophy course fulfills the humanities and social and ethical issues categories in undergraduates Breadth of Knowledge requirements for graduation in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.
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