Sunday, June 28, 2009

My Paper

This will be the link that will hold my paper... and it will be updated whenever I make significant progress on it! I am planning on it being the same link for every draft that is due for U.Discover so I will place it in some box on the right for future reference.

http://bfpons.wikispaces.com/file/view/The%20Ethics%20of%20Cheating%20in%20Video%20Games.pdf

B. F. Pons

8 comments:

  1. Hey, Bo! Looks like you've really been reading up a lot on the topic at hand. I noticed that you already have a preliminary conclusion... Is it a working conclusion? Or one that you are fairly sure will be your final assessment? - Amanda

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  2. It is more or less a working conclusion. I am planning on my conclusion being the same but if as I am writing my paper and something comes to mind that would conflict or add to my conclusion, I would not hesitate to change it.

    Thanks for the comment,

    B. F. Pons

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  3. Bo,

    Regarding changing your focus: I've found that narrowing my topic has proved very worth while. Alll of the reading you've already done helps you put your narrowed topic is perspective, and you may find more satisfaction in thoroughly covering a more narrowed topic. I think your research question could produce a lot more research in the area of child development. With a large number of children playing video games, some may take what they learn from video games and incorporate it into their morals. Have you read anything on this by chance? I know there's been a lot of studies on violence in video games, but I haven't heard anything about the ethics of cheating in video games and its implications on children. Interesting stuff Bo!

    Jami

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  4. I might be inept; I cannot access your working paper. I noticed a comment earlier suggested that you have a preliminary conclusion. What is that conclusion?

    I am also curious of your research method. This is a philosophy research paper, correct? I do not have an understanding of how your particular area of study conducts research.

    Once I can read your paper, I hope to have more in-depth and probing questions for you. Otherwise, good luck and hope all is well. Sorry about your Grandmother.

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  5. Karl, I just re-updated the page so that might help. Also, it links to a pdf file, so if it was that aspect which was problematic, please let me know so I find another way to post my paper.
    As for my conclusion, I am planning on first arguing that video games can be discussed in an ethical sense and that cheating is one of those actions which has an ethical nature (not necessarily that it is ethical, but can be discussed in terms of ethics). This would be the main conclusion if I choose to focus on that for my U.Discover presentations. Secondly, after this premise/conclusion is established, the main conclusion I am going for, meaning possibly after U.Discover, is that cheating can be ethical in the play stages but not in a competitive sense. Due to the individual nature of some play, this type of cheating is allowable, but when cheating violates the formal rules of the magic circle in interpersonal competition, that's when cheating can be deemed "unethical." There is certainly much more to it than that, but that is just a brief description of the conclusion. Also, some terms like magic circle have yet to be fully described in both my working paper and this blog. Do not worry folks, that is the next part of my paper on which I am working.
    As for my research method, I essentially find all articles and books that relate to my topic in some sense, like ethics of video games, ethics of cheating, cheating in video games, etc. then realize that most of it is trash. After condensing to the most useful information, along with a little useless knowledge (which may come into play later, who knows!), I just generate a general outline from which to advance. A lot is just thought experiments, for me at least, and just thinking of counter-arguments which pose a threat to my position. Also, I come from the belief that in order for a philosophical work to advance knowledge on the field, one should pose their own well-argued answer or solution to the problem or debate. Finally, after the research on the actual topic is completed from the articles I have found explicitly discussing my topic, I am planning on drawing analogies to other famous philosophical positions. For instance, I am planning on incorporating some Machiavelli and Mill into my work already.

    Great questions Karl, I am honestly surprised that no one has asked that question before since philosophical research seems really nebulous and abstract, rather experimental or surveyish as in other fields.

    As for everyone else on the focus of my presentation, I sincerely appreciate your thoughts and will take them into consideration.

    B. F. Pons

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  6. Bo, I am interested in your thoughts on the consequences when a player is caught cheating. Do you think that 'kicking' or 'banning' a player could teach a real-world value to try to contradict the moral decline of cheating?

    Mitch

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  7. From what I've read in your paper so far, I think you have a very strong grasp on what you are trying to accomplish through this research. I'm really interested to see what you have for the rest of your paper regarding the magic circle and the types of players as well as the types of cheating. As a fairly avid gamer myself, I'm really looking forward to see how well what you conlude relates to myself as a gamer, and I'm fairly confident it will be right on.

    Eric

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  8. In response to Mitch's question, I do believe that when a person gets caught obviously cheating, the person should be kicked out of the community. Not because it would teach them a real life lesson, but because it would help balance the playing field for the online game. This aspect of cheating will be covered in the second half of my paper.

    And thank you Eric for the comment.

    B. F. Pons

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