Ethical mediarhetoric in videogame cybertexts: procedural explication of moral topics in an educational context

Abstract

Introduction. Education in the field of ethics and practical philosophy is important both within the framework of educational and disciplinary discourse and in terms of personal and social formation of a person, his/her value-behavioral system of coordinates. Video game cybertexts containing moral themes in their narrative and procedural structure can increase interest in the study of theoretical issues of ethics and create a special virtual-simulative space of moral experimentation. Materials and Methods. The theoretical part of the paper is based on the conceptual framework of understanding video games as a procedural cybertext formulated by E. Aarseth and I. Bogost. The operation of the multimodal-semiotic structure of video games is based on the ideas of J. Havreljak and W. Toch. The experimental cluster of work is realized on the principles of Digital Game-Based Learning developed by M. Prensky and a set of pedagogical practices on the use of ICT-based learning. Results. Based on the interpretation of the features of multimodal semiotics of ethically engaged video games, two modes of their distinction are revealed – narrative and gameplay. Narrative represents moral themes through narrative storytelling, and gameplay through gameplay. It has two forms of manifestation and certainty - external-iconic (based on visual reading and ethically binary interpretation of videogame cybertext) and procedural, where at the level of program architectonics the possibilities of choice and realization of simulations of ethical activities are created. The experiment allowed a radical change for the better (from 20% to 73%) in most students' expectations about the educational possibilities of video games in this disciplinary area. The DGBL methodology helped the learners (80%) to experience (80%) the practical dimension of important ethical issues and to conduct a series of moral experiments within the virtual simulations. Most of the students (75%) were able to correctly relate theoretical knowledge from philosophy and ethics to specific video game situations and successfully interpreted them. Conclusion. Given the time-consuming nature of these cybertexts, it is recommended that they be used only as supplementary media to the main course texts. It seems most appropriate to study them as part of an elective to a basic course in ethics or philosophy. This material could also be the basis for the creation of an educational laboratory on practical ethics in a social and humanitarian quantorium.