Chapter 7 Pushing the Lever: Rule-Consequentialism and Utilitarianism in Life is Strange
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Abstract
Since ethical dilemmas have emerged as a ubiquitous experience of contemporary game design, where choices are presented in numerous ways and where game spaces are designed to enhance reflection on ethical issues, the available methods to approach normative ethics have become more advanced. While many choices in games emphasise virtues and rules through their irreversible nature, Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment, 2015) has taken a different approach by letting the player rewind time and examine the consequences of their actions. Taking Life is Strange as an example, I will examine how the gameplay feature of travelling in time increases the scope of the decision-making process and affects players’ behavioural patterns within a rule-consequentialist style by giving them the ability to weigh the ramifications of their options through gameplay mechanics (Sylvester, 2013; Kahn, 2012). Focusing primarily on the final moral decision of the game, I will demonstrate how rigidity and elasticity in the gameplay steer the player toward the adoption of a utilitarian play-style by purposefully eliciting feelings of shame and guilt through the game’s narrative architecture. In order to address moral awareness, Life is Strange uses spatial storytelling technique, including the use of embedded narratives, to force players into inconvenient situations where they must observe or participate in immoral acts. Furthermore, the predictability of choices mediates the principle of permissible harm and serves as a preparation for modified trolley dilemmas – or ethical quandaries – the players encounter several times throughout gameplay. In this chapter, I will focus on Sicart’s (2009) definition of virtue ethics in videogames, and discuss how players’ behaviour can be steered by provoking feelings of guilt and shame.