Let’s take the infamous “prostitute hack” in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as an example. In this game, a player can have virtual sex with a prostitute, thereby gaining some extra health, and then kill her to recover the money. Here the simulation layers and the representational layers of the game raise the ethical issues: the morals of the rules as well as the morals of the representation. It is true that this is, from a formal point of view, an action allowed by the rules of the game, which gives the player a game-relevant advantage. Nevertheless, it is ethically questionable because of what it simulates and how it communicates that simulation via the representational layer.
ZA The Ethics of Computer Games Miguel Sicart
