22/10/2024
Ethical Games looking to craft industrywide ethics code, seeks developer input
The Ethical Games initiative will be pushing hard for the industry to create its first-ever code of ethics in the fall, and it's calling on developers to help with the endeavor.
Talking to GameFile, consultant Celia Hodent discussed the effort she's heading up with colleague Fran Blumberg. The plan is for the code to benefit studios and players, and tackle longstanding issues like loot boxes without being the "moral police."
Loot boxes and overall and child safety have been repeated concerns for the medium, and the hope is that an ethics code would address them. The ESRB and other regulators can only do so much, and Hodent wants the code to benefit studios and players in specific, everlasting ways.
"I want to be constructive," she explained. "We need to be evidence-based where we have data. And for where we don't, it'd be great if we could get the industry to partner with the researchers so we can have a more nuanced conversation."