Ethics in Digital Design

Here is an attempt to overview the most pressing matters of the day in regards to Digital Design Ethics.

Normative and Applied Ethics

Ethical theories usually include three areas of study: Metaethics, which attempts to determine where our ethical principles come from, Normative Ethics, which attempts to arrive at moral standards of right and wrong, and Applied Ethics, which looks at controversial issues like abortion, animal rights, or capital punishment.

Socrates and Aristotle on Ethics

Socrates was concerned with knowledge that had to do with human life, and considered this the highest study. He thought that to know the self was critical, so that a person could work within their capabilities and succeed. This concept goes hand in hand with our discussion on Vision; it will be painful and pointless for a person who has no apptitude for programming to attempt to be a game programmer - they are swimming against the stream. Socrates took this thought to its natural conclusion, that a person must be aware of every fact relavent to his existence, and thought that if people know what is good and right to do, they will naturally do it. He likened evil or bad actions to ignorance. He equated knowledge with virtue, and virtue with happiness.

Aristotle had an ethical system known as Self Realizationism. He believed we are all born with a potential and failure to reach that potential results in a poor life. Therefore, Aristotle said, we must strive to develop our latent abilties and talents, to be as complete and fulfilled as possible. Aristotle believed in moderation as an approach to the extremes of life, for example courage as seen as the moderation between cowardice and recklessness. Aristotle posited a "moderate virtue" wherein a person does the right thing at the right time, to the right person, for the right reason, etc.

Descartes and Spinoza on Ethics

Descartes was concerned with morals and ethics, but was reluctant to write much about them because "there is no other subject in which malicious people can so readily find pretexts for vilifying me" and thought that moral law was only for sovereigns to make. He also thought that ethics had to achieve a basis by first clearly understanding metaphysics and physics, fields he felt were not yet complete.

Spinoza argued that reason can control the emotions, and reason is virtue, and virtue is love towards God. The more active a mind is, the more adequately it knows God, and the more it is able to avoid emotions which are evil. The more passive the mind is, the less it knows God, and the more prone towards evil. In some ways Spinoza's philosophy on ethics parallels that of Socrates, in that he is recommending adequate knowledge as a solution to evil and problems in the world.

Ethical use of Copyright

Copyright, to a greater or lesser degree, protects the originators of content from infringement by others; yet, it also limits the freedom and creativity of others, often beyond what the owners of the copyright would like. One new approach to copyright is the Creative Commons license, which allows people to share and build upon the work of others. The Creative Commons license is changing the way people create and protect their work all over the world.

Deceptive Advertising

When the image in the advertisement leads buyers to believe they will recieve something other than what they actually recieve, that is deceptive advertisng. A thick, juicy cheeseburger, stacked high with lots of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, all between two thick toasted buns, is a far cry from what the customer often gets in reality. The deception can be even more pronounced in the case of a game development book that has a richly colored cover illustration of a well-modeled and textured game character, yet provides only a ball-shaped character between the pages.

Sexual Content in Digital Design

Some games allow end-users to create mods, or versions, of the games and then upload them for sharing. Occasionally these mods may include characters which have been modeled to be apparently naked, and even engaging in sexual acts with one another. The same thing has occured when then game manufacturers have hidden "easter eggs" or special triggers in the game than can be released by players who enter the correct code or solve the puzzle; suddenly one or more characters are naked, or have the ability to engage in sexual acts. This is certainly an area that breeches ethical standards, particularly when considering that a vast percentage of game players are children.

Violent Content in Digital Design

The jury is still out as to whether violence in games affects the player's choices in reality. There is also the question of what kind of violence is "acceptable". Should violence against innocents be acceptable in the game? Is rape or murder acceptable in a game? And how old should a player be before they can be exposed to certain types of violence?

Online Harassment

When one user of a social networking site to slander another user, the repercussions can be severe. Recently a teen killed herself when jilted by a boy she had met online. The boy didn't even exist, but was concocted with the help of a picture and some imaginative words by another teen girl and her mother in a psychological attack on the girl. Online harassment takes many forms and is certainly an area of ethical concern for the world of digital design. The potential for harm exists and needs to be considered when designing such systems.

Sexual and Financial Predators Online

Chat room conversations have many times led to the sexual abuse of minors. Identity theft and financial account breeches have affected thousands of online users. It is important for digital designs to take into consideration at least the most obvious and common breeches of security and try to close those up when possible.

Who owns User-Generated Content

The contracts on Social Networking sites can stipulate that the pictures, videos, words, etc, that users upload now belong to the social networking site itself, and can be used for any purposes the company decides upon at any time in the future - or they can state that the content belongs to the user. Who owns the content, and how is does that play out in reality?

Using Digital Design to Further Good Causes

One of the best examples of using Digital Design to further a good cause is The Meatrix animation series. The Meatrix is 2D, online animation, based on The Matrix movie, where farm animals embark on a mission to combat the greedy and vile practices of corporate farming and cruel treatment to animals. The Meatrix is entertaining and holds the viewer's attention long enough to make a powerful point. A somewhat related video called Farm to Fridge exposes what happens to animals between thier time on the farm and when they end up in our houses as food. Worthy ethical causes abound and the digital design arts can play a starring role in supporting them and calling others to action.