Ethical, Professional and Cultural Issues of ICT - Essay Example

?Ethical, Professional and Cultural Issues of ICT Introduction; Ethics represent a set of principles having right conduct. In other words, it is a theory or system of moral values. It is the rules or standards that govern the conduct of a person (Ethics. 2011). Ethics can be everywhere. There are ethics in business too. Here ethics means written or unwritten code of values and principles that govern the actions within a business establishment. In business, the establishments’ culture sets the standards for determining the good and bad behavior of the decisions that is made (A Definition for Business Ethics. 2011). When coming to entertainment, it is a large part of our daily lives. People spend some time every day for the sake of entertainment. Ethics in entertainment is more based on the mediums popularity rather than the creators need to be ethical in nature. The entertainment media is constantly under the attack by the so called guardian angels of ethical standards for portraying unethical values through the media. This attack is on films, music as well as video games industry. It is an acceptable fact that what is more corrupt is easier to get accepted. Keeping this in mind, the movie industry has moved one step forward by creating the MPAA system in which questionable stuff would be rated higher so that adult people can warn their children well in advance. Now newer industries are forced to come under the scrutiny of maintaining ethical standards. The video game industry which comes under the category of interactive entertainment industry is facing stiff challenges from gurus of ethical standards. Now the video games industry is facing challenges in ethical standards maintenance, it has been constantly accused of ruining the moral standards of children in particular. However there is a good reason behind these allegations. Since the industry is relatively new, it has resorted to some lower least common denominators to sell its games. It has used scantily clad and physically impossible women and men. Moreover questionable as well as violent subject matters are also used by the industry. The industry pundits who defend these moves are relying on the fact that other types of Medias have also used such stands before. They feel that this has to be seen as a sign of times and growing popularity. However in general sense, such actions should be viewed as a loss of production ethics or part of the inevitable routine that takes on the industry every time (Ethics and Entertainment Introduction. 2000). The banning of the video game manhunt in 2007 by the BBFC in 2007 was an eye opener for the gaming industry which was starting to act careless with regard to ethics in the media. Most of the technicians , artists and story tellers in the gaming industry are tuning to some blood spilling and sexist unusual themes in their products on the belief that its just fun. They also have an intentional idea behind this move that only such things sell quickly. Degradation of values has swept towards different segments in the industry. Its effect has started showing to the gaming industry as well. Primarily gaming industry is concentrated on children below eighteen years. Children are the main users of its products other than any other group. To show explicit and debatable as well as questionable content in the form of games to children on the false imagination that it is only fun is a serious crime that is done towards the society. The video game manhunt 2 was banned by the British authorities because of its relentless imagery of savage killing and slaying. Manhunt video game was very popular among children because of its violence. It even prompted in a killing of a fourteen year old boy. Banning the video game was a bold step taken by the authorities for the first time in a decade. Manhunt 2 shows sustained as well as cumulative sadism which are labeled casual in the way the killings are committed in the game. Such types of entertainment are not at all acceptable because it is targeted towards children (Censors ban 'brutal' video game. 2007). Banning manhunt game was a good step made for up liftment of ethics in the gaming industry. Its ban provoked many game developers to think much about ethics in video gaming industry and act according to it. Producers and developers resorted to some kind of self censoring with respect to some violent titles (Hayward.2007). Banning of the video game manhunt and the subsequent controversies surrounding it has raised many questions. Predominant among them is that should violent video games be banned? Studies have shown that violent video games are the most sought after video games by people. Because of this trend, lots of violent video games are made every year. All of these are competing each other to be more violent so that people get more attracted towards it. Normally video games having high degree of violence would have a high age limit for the game. For example games like mortal combat which has high violence is aimed for persons who are eighteen plus. But kids also get such games easily. From these games they can learn easily the violent sides and act according to it. It is been common now that some young people acting certain moves in an unsafe wrestling match on others. This could cause grave injury. It is the same with video games having high violence. There have been numerous instances when kids practicing violent characters of these games in real like thereby causing either injury or sometimes death (Violence in Video Games, Should It Be Banned?2011). Supporters of not to ban video games have argued that banning would kill the industry as people are behind violent based games rather than non violent ones. They put the point that it is not practical to ban violent games rather a prescribed age classification for viewing and using such games should be strictly followed. The threat of violent content is a very disturbing fact to parents. Children who aren’t exposed to violence would quickly fall in its charisma after they view such games. Such acts are truly unethical in a civilized society and should not be encouraged (If Violent Video Games Really Got Banned.2011). . While developing video games it is of at most importance that some ethical standards like avoidance of spilling of blood and excessive violence, no cheating or manipulating ethical stands of any kind in search of victory and avoidance of sexist and racial remarks; is to be followed. Fears that success rate will be low if these are not included in the games is purely baseless. It is often argued by people who are not interested in ethical standards that maintaining ethical standards in the entertainment industry is purely nonsense and entertainment industry stands for only fun and entertainment. But it also has to be remembered that entertainment industry significantly influences and affects the younger generation particularly children who in turn would be a burden for the society if they are not groomed upon good ethical standards. Generations not living in good ethics will definitely be a hindrance for a healthy society. The success of online video games like MoneyBee.org and PatternBee.org, both online multi player video games has proved that following unethical standards like violence and open sex is not at all necessary to make a video game successful. To make a game successful as well as interesting, it must be competitive. For making it competitive, it is not necessary to fill it with violence and sex (Good News.2011). In a recent interview with Mr. Greg Zeschuk, the creative officer of Bio ware which is a prominent video game producer, he opinioned that it is not necessary to merge violence with story to make a video game popular. Making of good games without non ethical standards has not been seriously tried till date. That is the only problem faced by the industry with regard to maintenance of ethical standards (Reisinger.2005). Other free indeed carefree game developers highlight the point that if violence and other anti ethical issues are allowed in films, why they should not be allowed in games. But the answer to this baseless justification is that in films there is an efficient rating strategy where films are rated according to their veiwership. In many countries including developed ones there are strict rules to stop children from viewing films that are not suited for them. But video games are primarily used by children rather than adults therefore creating a rating system there is not as practical as in the case of the film industry. Conclusion: Due to the continuous outbursts and resistance from protective ethical groups and person, game developers are now seriously thinking about producing games having more fun and maybe displaying some kind of social responsibility. Because of the ethical implications of customers, particularly the younger ones, devoting more time for the game at the expense of family as well as other real life elements, it is not for good to rely completely on additive behavior. Gamers and developers should keep these aspects in mind while they develop the games. Games should be beneficial to both the society as well as to the investors (Becker.2002). Reference: A Definition for Business Ethics. (2011), [online]. Available from: http://business.lovetoknow.com/wiki/A_Definition_for_Business_Ethics Accessed on March 20, 2011 Becker.D. (2002). Game creators tackle ethical issues. [online]. Available from: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-867451.html Accessed on March 20, 2011 Censors ban 'brutal' video game. (2007). [online].Available from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm Accessed on March 20, 2011 Ethics and Entertainment Introduction. (2000). [online]. Available from: http://www.fuzzybinary.com/articles/?page=ethics Accessed on March 20, 2011 Ethics. (2011). [online]. Available from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ethics. Accessed on March 20, 2011 Good News: Video Games Without Violence or Sex!. (2005).[online]. Available from: http://www.ccnmag.com/article/good_news_video_games_without_violence_or_sex_ Accessed on March 20, 2011 Hayward.A. (2007). Rockstar Appeals BBFC Ban of Manhunt 2. [online]. Available from: http://www.1up.com/news/rockstar-appeals-bbfc-ban-manhunt Accessed on March 20, 2011 If Violent Video Games Really Got Banned. (2011).[online]. Available from: http://www.cracked.com/blog/if-violent-video-games-really-got-banned/ Accessed on March 20, 2011 Reisinger.D. (2005). Is violence required to make a good game great?.[online]. Available from: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10281445-17.html Accessed on March 20, 2011 Violence in Video Games, Should It Be Banned?. (2011).[online]. Available from: http://socyberty.com/law/violence-in-video-games-should-it-be-banned/ Accessed on March 20, 2011 Read More