What is morality and how can a volunteer become more moral?
All of us volunteers want to become better and bookmark endless popular science lectures, and in between, we listen to new recordings of the Vienna Opera. Cognitive and aesthetic guidelines are more or less clear, but the main question remains: what needs to be stored on the hard drive in order to reach moral heights and become a cleaner soul? You will be surprised, but games where the hero hits a zombie with a shovel can help in this.
About increasing difficulty
Feeling good and moral during the project is nice. Do not steal, do not lie, eat healthy food ... (and, no, this is different), do not kill - the obvious truths!
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-05478-012
However, today the life of a volunteer constantly forces us to make more and more difficult choices: neither the biblical sages, nor Aristotle, nor Kant had to think about genetic experiments, feminist scandals, or the production of Chinese sneakers, which were suspicious from an ethical point of view.
The world and Europe are becoming too fast and complex, and it is no longer possible to use the ten commandments, the unambiguous virtues or the once and for all formulated imperative as a universal tool and guide to the action of the ESK volunteer. Representatives of different eras, nationalities, and even social groups evaluate many phenomena far from the same. Suffice it to recall how attitudes towards euthanasia, abortion, contraception, religious intolerance, gender scenarios or hierarchies are changing - and the seemingly indestructible monolith of moral principles shatters into small fragments.
Studies prove that our moral paradigms are not static. Thus, Australian scientists analyzed the frequency and context of the use of “moral” terms in literature from 1900 to 2007. It was found that some concepts in one era become extremely popular, and in another, humanity seems to forget about them. For example, ideas related to holiness and piety, as well as sin and desecration, almost disappeared from the discourse by 1980, so that later, closer to the 21st century, they would suddenly appear again.
Morality, in addition to holiness and piety, affects other important categories. In a broad sense, it is a norm regarding behavior in European society. But what exactly is meant by this? How to describe morality?
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-educationalpsychology/chapter/moral-development-forming-a-sense-of-rights-and-responsibilities/
One of the pioneers in the study of morality, the American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg believed that the foundation on which we build the building of rules and prohibitions is a matter of justice. Kolberg’s colleague, feminist and psychologist Carol Gilligan criticized this approach. In her opinion, there are two ways to be moral: one is male, with an emphasis on justice, and the second is female, which is based on caring for people when a person’s moral qualities become a marker of his attitude to others.
Games develop an analytical apparatus, influence our approach to the world, and set cultural and ethical guidelines. We are faced with the need not only to reflect on the situation, but to do it actively, that is, take a specific decision and face its consequences. If, while reading Sapkovsky, you can skip those places where the hero painfully chooses the lesser of two evils, then in the game “The Witcher” you cannot evade responsibility: you need to kill either one or the other.
Ethical choice is one of the favorite game mechanics among game developers who keep statistics in order to find out how most users prefer to act in a difficult situation. Mel McCubry, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey's narrative designer, boasts of one of these dilemmas: “You find people infected with the plague, and the priest wants to kill them, but the family is not guilty of anything but the disease.” It is curious that 68% of the players decide to save the unfortunate, although they will then infect the entire island.
In everyday life, we volunteers constantly have to make moral choices. I had a case when I was on the verge of committing a bad deed, but at the very last moment I made the right choice. I usually put my mani package on the card. Because My bank does not have ATMs, I have to do this through a mobile application, at the cash desks in supermarkets. I do not speak German well, and the seller does not speak English at all. I came to put money in DM, and there was a new seller. As usual, I scanned the barcode, and was ready to give the money, as the seller handed me 300 euros. She thought it was a cash withdrawal operation, not a replenishment of a card deposit. I immediately received money on the card, she did not take anything and still wanted to give me 300 on top, that is, like in a casino. I would spend 0 euros and earn 600 (300 on the account and 300 in cash). I thought about 3-4 seconds to take this money or not. In the end, I said stop, you were wrong. She began to say something aggressively, but I asked to invite the admin, and explained everything to him, I gave 300 euros to the cashier and left with a clear conscience.
What does this story teach? I don’t know, probably because during the project various situations may happen to you, but do not succumb to temptation and be careful not to violate your moral rules.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/12/ethical-video-gaming-games-for-change-festival
https://stevenpinker.com/files/pinker/files/2004_08_salon.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027322971830025X#b0325
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=855164
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