Affordances and constraints of analog games for ethics education: Dilemmas and dragons

Today’s students face a wide range of complex moral dilemmas, and games have the potential to represent these dilemmas, thereby supporting formal ethics education. The potential of digital games to contribute in this way is being increasingly recognized, but the author argues that those interested in the convergence of games, ethics, and education should more fully consider analog games (i.e., games without a digital component). This argument draws from a qualitative study that focused on the use of an analog roleplaying game in an undergraduate activity that explored ethical issues related to politics, society, and culture. The results of this study are examined through an educational technology lens, which suggests that games (like other educational resources) afford and constrain learning and teaching in certain ways. These results demonstrate that this game afforded and constrained ethics education in both ways similar to digital games and ways unique to analog games.

Greenhalgh, S. P. (2016). Affordances and constraints of analog games for ethics education: Dilemmas and dragons. In K. D. Valentine & L. J. Jensen (Eds.), Examining the evolution of gaming and its impact on social, cultural, and political perspectives. IGI Global