Ethics and Video Games Podcast

Release Date

All Episodes

Episode 76 – Older Players in Video Games(with Bob De Schutter)

There are over 50 million players over the age of 50 in the USA alone and those numbers will only continue to grow for an activity that's too often viewed as "kids' stuff". How and when do older players engage with online gaming communities? Do designers need to be concerned abou ... Show more

. 1h 6min

Episode 75 – Fighting Extremism in Games (with Rachel Kowert)

Games are particularly fertile grounds for extremist recruitment. Why is that? What's special about games and gaming culture that might make them attractive spaces for recruitment? How does extremist recruitment work in games? What is being done about it right now? And what can b ... Show more

. 38min 16sec

Episode 74 – When Games simulate Real World Cultures For Profit (With Andrei Zanescu)

When game companies simulate cultures in their games they usually focus on the tropes that their intended audiences have about those cultures and then design their game around those tropes. Is there anything wrong with that? If so, what? What can game designers do to present cult ... Show more

. 1h 8min

Episode 73 – How Gaming treats the Global South (with Aditya Deshbandhu)

Gaming and game development work differently for the developed global north than the developing global south. What are those differences? How does the global south play and pay differently? Why is it so hard to start a game development company in the global south? How can the gam ... Show more

. 1h 1min

Episode 72 – Battle Passes (with Daniel Joseph)

In a couple of recent episodes guests have mentioned concerns about battle passes. So, in this episode we decided to explore how they work, how they differ from traditional subscription models or microtransactions, why they're so popular today with game companies, and whether the ... Show more

. 50min 26sec