Procedural Ethics and a Night in the Woods

Abstract

When playing a video game, players not only take part in the social-semiotic system which the game represents, but also the moral judgments required by the act of play. That is, players inherently make judgments of both the world and environment of a game when playing and the rule systems it follows. These systems not only make claims about the system within the game itself, but also require players to practice operating within a proceduralized ethical argument, one that has the potential to alter their disposition through the act of play itself. Offering a data-driven examination of this process, this chapter examines how the game Night in the Woods employs both narrative and procedural ethical appeals in an attempt to influence players’ dispositions, with the results ultimately illustrating that such procedural ethics can influence change in player disposition through hexis.