Gaming Responsibly

This was an entry I made for another blog a couple years ago that I'm reposting here because it fits and it's a good thought bubble:

Part of our human nature is to tell stories. We regale our friends with events of the past in a perhaps more fabricated way. With gaming becoming more socially acceptable, stories about exploits within a game can come up as topics of conversation.

You won't believe what I did last night

Personally, I've noticed that whenever I tell a friend about something that happened in a game play session, I tend to say "I" did something. I defeated the archdemon and I caught a unicorn. And I'm not alone in this. I do remember distinctly when Fable 2 released that my friends proudly proclaimed that they got an STD.

I don't generally think that people boast about their genital warts. (At least not in the social circles I hang out in.) The fact of the matter remains that no, I actually did not go out last night and kill an archdemon nor did I drive down to Mexico to lasso a unicorn. However, the mode of telling the in-game events comes across as reality, which can be quite humorous on one hand but offensive on the other. For example, some of the guys I once worked with regaled some of the violent sex crimes they wanted to perform in a game. However, they used the terminology of "I want to bash her head through a wall." Disturbing, no?

It just comes so naturally to us when we talk about what happened within a game. Really all I did last night was press buttons in a sequence and move a joystick. I didn't exert myself. Sometimes I catch myself before I say "I did this in my game" and try to frame it as "my character did this in my game." Particularly when retelling in game events to a non-game playing friend.

With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility

I understand saying that "I beat the last level" or "I won the Halo tournament". That is something that the game player does take responsibility for: their performance.

But do we also feel subconsciously responsible for character actions within a game?

When we say "I", that means we claimed some kind of ownership over the performed action even though we did not physically perform that action. Because I don't think any of us physically harvest a field in Farmville.

Is it because visually, we see results of our button pressing that we feel some ownership? Because we "made" or "forced" a character to act?

Perhaps it is different for other players but I feel no twinge of regret shooting and killing a stranger in Halo. However in reality I know I could never bring myself to shoot a person in real life.

Yet in other games where I have a choice about how to respond in a conversation, I wrestle with how I should respond because I don't want to hurt their "feelings". 

Conclusion

In the end I don't think there is a solid answer to my pondering. How responsible am I for a character's in game actions? Do I really claim ownership over slaughtering a horde of undead or have I really only triggered the programming to display video?

I suppose it's up to individual conscience how they deal with this question.

Or perhaps we should consider the way we retell our in game achievements.