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Bioshock in the Cave: Ethical Education in Plato and in Video Games

Bioshock in the Cave: Ethical Education in Plato and in Video Games
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Author(s): Roger Travis (University of Connecticut, USA)
Copyright: 2010
Pages: 16
Source title: Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Karen Schrier (Columbia University, USA)and David Gibson (University of Vermont, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-845-6.ch006

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Abstract

Plato’s cave, when read with attention to its ludic element, provides a model for the way video games can teach ethics. This chapter describes the cave-culture-game, the interactivity of the prisoners of the cave with the shadow-puppet play. It argues that on its own, the cave-culture-game gives insight into the standard reproduction of dominant ideological ethics by most games that have frameworks of ethical choice. The attempted disruption of this cave-culture-game by the philosopher, however, gives additional insight into the ethical potential of video games. To explore this, the chapter provides a close reading of 2K’s Bioshock, which shows how video games can teach ethics through disruptive gestures such as the forced killing of a major character.

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