The Ethics of Learning Through Play: What Should Games Teach?
Introduction
Games are no longer confined to arcades and living rooms; they’re in classrooms, therapy sessions, and corporate training programs. As their educational role expands, so does the ethical responsibility of developers and educators. What values should games promote? How do we ensure that learning through play is meaningful, inclusive, and responsible? These questions are especially urgent as games increasingly shape how young people learn, socialize, and make sense of the world.
Games as Moral Laboratories
Some games challenge players to make ethically complex decisions, transforming gameplay into a space for moral reflection. In Undertale, players must choose between violence and mercy, with consequences that ripple through the narrative. Papers, Please, places players in the role of a border inspector, forcing them to balance duty with empathy. These games don’t just entertain, they provoke reflection on justice, morality, and human behavior.
Schrader (2022) argues that serious games engage learners cognitively, emotionally, and motivationally, making them ideal platforms for ethical exploration. Nardo and Gaydos (2021) further emphasize that games can simulate “wicked problems”, complex, contradictory dilemmas that resist easy solutions, making them powerful tools for ethics education.
Designing for Ethical Engagement
• Narrative Depth
Games should avoid simplistic moral binaries. Instead, they should present nuanced dilemmas that encourage players to consider multiple perspectives and viewpoints. For example, This War of Mine places players in the shoes of civilians during wartime, challenging them to make survival decisions that test their moral compass.
• Representation and Inclusion
Developers must be mindful of who is represented in games and how they are represented. Stereotypes, exclusion, or biased narratives can reinforce harmful ideas. Inclusive design fosters empathy and broadens understanding. Butler (2013) highlights how game design processes can help students question constructs around gender, race, and ability, promoting ethical awareness through collaborative play.
• Consequences and Feedback
Ethical choices should have meaningful consequences when players see the impact of their decisions, whether through character development, story progression, or gameplay mechanics; they’re more likely to reflect and learn. This feedback loop is essential for cultivating moral reasoning.
Gamification and Motivation
Gamified learning environments, including points, badges, and leaderboards, can enhance engagement. But they must be designed ethically. Li et al. (2024) found that gamification enhances autonomy and relatedness but warned against manipulative mechanics that prioritize reward over reflection. When gamification becomes purely extrinsic, it risks undermining deeper learning and ethical growth.
Challenges and Considerations
Oversimplification: Games that simulate real-world systems (e.g., politics, economics) risk reducing complex issues to game mechanics. Designers must balance abstraction with authenticity.
Age Appropriateness: Ethical content must be tailored to the developmental stage of the player. Younger audiences require scaffolding to process moral dilemmas.
Cultural Sensitivity: What’s considered ethical varies across cultures. Games must be designed with global audiences in mind, avoiding ethnocentric assumptions and promoting intercultural understanding.
Learning Through Play in Schools
Parker et al. (2022) propose a framework for integrating play into formal education, emphasizing that learning through play should be joyful, socially interactive, and cognitively engaging. When ethics are embedded in playful learning, students develop not only academic skills but also empathy, resilience, and civic awareness.
Conclusion
Games are influential teachers, but with that power comes responsibility. Developers and educators must collaborate to design experiences that challenge, inspire, and respect the minds they shape. Learning through play should be more than fun; it should be transformative, inclusive, and ethically grounded.
References
Butler, J. (2013). Situating ethics in games education. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(4), 1–28. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1057941.pdf
Nardo, A., & Gaydos, M. (2021). ‘Wicked problems’ as catalysts for learning in educational ethics games. Ethics and Education, 16(4), 492–509. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2021.1979283
Parker, R., Thomsen, B. S., & Berry, A. (2022). Learning through play at school – A framework for policy and practice. Frontiers in Education, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.751801
Schrader, C. (2022). Serious games and game-based learning. In Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9_74-1
Li, L., Hew, K. F., & Du, J. (2024). Gamification enhances students' intrinsic motivation, perceptions of autonomy, and relatedness. Educational Technology Research and Development, 72, 765–796. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10337-7