Abstract
This chapter discusses how John Dewey’s theory of ethics can enhance the pedagogical potential of game-based writing projects. The chapter begins by examining how Deweyan ethical inquiry and the process of analyzing video games both rely on a sympathetic connection to the perspective of another person. This connection allows us to diagnose the material circumstances surrounding collective value systems and understand how value systems habituate individuals into acting in deliberate ways. These concepts are then applied to teaching scenarios in which students design critical video games that explore real-world events. This learning activity demonstrates how creating gameplay scenarios which condition players to inhabit new perspectives on problematic issues encourage students to undertake a nuanced form of ethical critique. The goal of this chapter is to highlight the ethical dimensions of analyzing and creating interactive games to help instructors implement game-based projects into the writing classroom.
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Kelly, M. (2021). This Isn’t Supposed to Be Fun: Using Game-Based Writing Projects as a Form of Pragmatic Ethical Inquiry in the Composition Classroom. In: Colby, R., Johnson, M.S., Shultz Colby, R. (eds) The Ethics of Playing, Researching, and Teaching Games in the Writing Classroom. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63311-0_9
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