Killing in Video Games May Eventually Count as Murder, Report Argues

Photo by R Pollard, via Wikimedia

Artificial intelligence in video games will eventually reach a point where it could qualify as murder to kill in the game, behavioral theorists at MIT now postulate.

“It’s not a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when,’” argues Ethicist Evelyn Monet, part of the team that came to this conclusion. “I’ve heard that, already, game makers are programming characters to feel pain, so that they’re reactions in games will be more realistic. It’s disgusting.”

Her team’s report outlines the progression of intelligence displayed in games over the last few decades. Twenty years go, killing artificial opponents was similar to using bleach to kill bacteria. Ten years ago it was close to burning an ant with a magnifying glass. Right now, it’s equivalent to stepping on a cockroach.

“In a few decades, it will be on the level of drowning a kitten. In a century, who knows?”

Steve Chan, a designer at Rockstar Games, feels that the argument is moot. “You wouldn’t be killing the characters anymore than you’re killing your friends when you play multiplayer. It doesn’t matter how intelligent they are, because they can be recreated instantaneously. It’s like saying smashing a DVD is the same as murdering the actors who starred in the movie.”

Monet disagrees strongly with this position. Just because they can be recreated, she argues, doesn’t mean that the original hasn’t been killed. “If I shoot you, then clone you, you’re still dead.”

Chan isn’t phased by these arguments, though he says he often finds them annoying. “These people drive me crazy. They have no idea how computers work at all.”