Morality Online: How much do IRL morals apply in a game?

[babiker]

A bit of an odd question, so let me spell it out a little: Are the things we consider to be right or wrong in our every day lives, also right/wrong in an online environment such as an MMO? This may sound like an easy question, but I can't really think of a satisfying answer. Let me show ya'll an example that happened to me once:

In the very first MMO I played, I was trading with this one fella I randomly met. It was a very expensive and rare item he had, and he gave me quite a big discount (almost 50%). During the transaction, he accidentally clicked "accept" when I'd yet to give him any money. So I ended up with a rare item and he had nothing. He immediately begged me to give him the money, and since it felt wrong I just gave it to him. Later, after I told my other online friend about this incident, he laughed at me and said "why'd you apply your morals to an MMO? It's just a game. You're ok with raiding a party and stealing all their equipment, but this is too much for you?"

I... Didn't have much of a response at the time and just dismissed it as two very different scenarios. But when I thought more about it, I realized that people do tend to create their own online "moral code", especially those who've played for a large amount of time in a particular game. I'm mostly familiar with Hearthstone, but you have stuff like stream sniping, in which one player runs into another that happens to stream, opens the other's stream to see his cards and predict his moves. Many have called it "wrong", but is it really? You can simply use the "it's just a game" justification here too. Who can really decide what's wrong or right in a game other than the creators themselves?

[Eclipsed]

Ye, everyone has their own 'code' that has been influenced by their life experience, and it can vary both in game and IRL

IRL if someone accidentally mailed me a valuable item, I'd probably give it back. Upon Request.

Ingame, tyvm bblates

 

[Asonn]

Like I don't care about moral in a game. In the game I can be the super dick / villain, without being punished. And I won't let that chance go away. 

(this might explain my behavior on fuwo)

[Kaguya]

Agreeing to a trade and then taking advange of your partner's slipup to steal an item from them makes you an asshole, yes. 

When you open your MMO, you don't close reality. The things you do to other people still affect them, and still make them angry, sad, happy and everything else, just with slightly lesser impact.

The only thing you gain is anonymity, as well as the ability to not face consequences for most of your actions.

The fact people seem to automatically become assholes in those circunstances may or may not say something about human nature, though. I wouldn't know. 

[Flutterz]

I'm the kind of person who, when given a choice in-game, needs to constantly force himself to be the bad guy.

Morals apply in games, just not to the same extent they do irl. As for to what extent, that probably depends on the person.

[Zakamutt]

Humans play games, and morals tend to be about human-human interactions. It would be silly for them not to apply in some form.

Fairness tends to be very important to humans; here's an experiment on the subject where people will willingly turn down gain to themselves merely to stop a person perceived as unfair getting anything.

Stream sniping is playing unfair because it is not following the usual rules of the game. Agreeing to a trade then not following through on the terms is unfair. Raiding a party in-game is a supported game mechanic; the game's rules, which you accept when you start playing it (well... okay, maybe not everyone), allow it from the very beginning.

Immoral acts in online games are due to lack of physical presence and anonymity - no feels, no consequences.

Now... would you mind if I roll need?

[Darklord Rooke]

20 minutes ago, Kaguya said:

as well as the ability to not face consequences for most of your actions.

That's one of the more serious problems. There's no right or wrong in the world, no fair or unfair, no justice, just actions and consequences. Remove the consequences from the picture and you get a serious section of the community acting like jerks because 'why not.'

That being said ... heh, I shouldn't be the one advising people about 'not acting like a jerk'. I do tend to use some underhanded methods to win games (IRL) I play.

[Kenshin_sama]

Really depends on what you consider right or wrong. If you think it's the wrong thing to do IRL, it won't be any different online.

44 minutes ago, babiker said:

Later, after I told my other online friend about this incident, he laughed at me and said "why'd you apply your morals to an MMO? It's just a game. You're ok with raiding a party and stealing all their equipment, but this is too much for you?"

To be fair, there is some logic to feeling differently in that scenario. When players participate in PvP, they should have a full understanding of what they have to lose. Whether they want to take that gamble or not is up to them, but that shouldn't be considered stealing. The person you traded with made a minor slip with his transaction and lost a lot because of it. It's kinda like the difference between taking advantage of a loophole in a trade agreement and winning a game of poker. Again, what you consider wrong is still entirely up to you.

[Dark_blade64]

I follow my own personal rules and being an asshole or not to fictional characters is my own damn problem. Now trying to be a jerk to players is something I've done like tea bag and whatnot but I certainly help people when I want. Like I was the guy/idiot or whatever people think I'am who spent reviving a teammate in call of duty zombie mode 64 times. Also I usually play the role of a medic and try to head back to my fallen teammates to revive them.

Why? Because I wanted. I don't either mind using underhanded tactics or whatever tool is at my disposition whatever is fair or not. Like people complaining about bloodborne because host where using blood vials which they thought were unfair. You know what? I don't care if it is low or what people think, it might be unfair but that is the developers fault for not balancing invasion right, now I'm not either cheating or using glitches so blood vials are completely right as long it is a game mechanic. (I only apply this rule to multiplayer as I don't care about cheating when playing solo.)

[tymmur]

My approach to issues like that is the same as with more or less everything else. I do what it takes to know that I did the right thing. I do not end up with a guilty consciousness and if something bad happens that I predicted, I do what I can to allow me to say "I did what I could to prevent it. There was nothing I could have done". I have to live with what I have done, so I better make it something I don't feel bad about. This is about everything, not just some online gaming.

 

How I read the first post and the fact that this thread exist, @babiker would feel bad about ripping off some stranger. This mean the answer is: be nice to that stranger and you will not lie the next night thinking "what have I done? Have I become an evil person?" instead of sleeping. When you gave that guy some money, what you actually did was giving yourself the feeling of doing the right thing, which is worth quite a lot. If you could run off and just be happy that you got something without paying and didn't care that somebody got ripped off, then you would likely don't care about other people's feelings, which is a sign of being a psychopath. I would go as far as to say that people who thinks it's ok to run off with the money are less likely to end up in a marriage where both people are happily married.

[spademan]

I feel as though morals are more of a thing society imposes upon people, hence the reason why different cultures and societies have different morals. When you take away the ability of being watched, or having the ability to be anonymous or have no true consequences for your actions I feel as though people truly act differently. I don't see this only applying to an mmo only either, since when people visit foreign countries or new areas they don't usually act so forced because their own society doesn't have such a strong grip on them anymore.  For me, online and especially in games "morals" go out the window, there are things i will do and will not do however i base them more off of the situation than a moral code

[Valmore]

2 hours ago, Kaguya said:

Agreeing to a trade and then taking advange of your partner's slipup to steal an item from them makes you an asshole, yes. 

When you open your MMO, you don't close reality. The things you do to other people still affect them, and still make them angry, sad, happy and everything else, just with slightly lesser impact.

The only thing you gain is anonymity, as well as the ability to not face consequences for most of your actions.

The fact people seem to automatically become assholes in those circunstances may or may not say something about human nature, though. I wouldn't know. 

+1. You did the right thing. There's a huge difference between raid-n-loot and screwing over a guy who was being pretty cool offering a big discount on a rare item, even if it is just a game. That person on the other end of the net is very real.

[Mr Poltroon]

I'm afraid I don't play sufficient online games to relate in any manner, but I can still answer your question.

My morals in real life apply to a game almost to the same extent, where I'll go out of my way to be nice and fair to the AI when possible.

[havoc]

My morals in online gaming mostly stay the same as in real life.
Biggest difference being that i can quit playing before i start swearing and getting really mad.
it is not worth it to get seriously angry wile playing an online game, it takes the fun out of the game and makes it stressfull.
I play games mostly to relax so getting genuinely mad is not worth it.
Makes me wish i could guit real life for a day when i get mad.....

Altough i must admit i do kind of enjoy poking a hornets nest with a stick when playing games like world of tanks and world of warships.
And that i generally am a bit more sarcastic and spiteful.

[kingdomcome]

Morals should stay the same, especially where it can affect somebody else. People spend real money, time, and invest real emotions into games. You could really hurt somebody.

Better play a single player RPG and go the dark side if you must..

@babiker Nice conversational question.

[Okarin]

It's not just a game, it's an investment of your time, effort and money.

Besides, if it's supposed to be funny, then leave the competition and profit outside, and instead have good, clean fun.

Jerks are jerks IRL or online, and good people stay good people, too.

If you didn't give him the money, he would be entitled to feel angry to you, and with all reason.

[Kurisu-Chan]

I actually act the same as i would do IRL, i've never been able to do a "evil" playthrough in RPG, and in most games, i apply my own logic to the game. 

[Siegfried]

Morality eh? Well I'm the pragmatic type, but even in game my morality is still pretty much the same as irl.

I just apply my own logic & reasoning in game as I do irl, maybe that's why I like my stories more realistic & leaning more to the cynical scale, since overly idealistic stories have no appeal to me since it feels like I'm fooling myself.

Though in the end I do enjoy what I play for what it is. In terms of morality though, I don't really change in game, especially in online gaming.

Generally, I play games to have fun & enjoy the immersion it provides me. Hence why I like high quality plot centered VNs so much.