New Title 32 by Bryan Fields

and war crimes trials into modern warfare games, for example. Requiring moral behavior in order to win, and punishing evil acts with jail time or in-game community service. Providing opportunities for immoral persons to confess and atone for their misdeeds. Public shaming, such as mandatory tags on characters based on the crimes they had committed.
    The speech didn’t get an enthusiastic reception. When the speaker opened the floor to questions, he was met with a polite silence. Until Rose spoke up.
    “Have you factored in the financial impact of removing all the fun from our games? I don’t see this type of change to fundamental gameplay resulting in anything but a net decrease in customers.”
    That got a laugh. Everyone had been thinking it but was too restrained to say it.
    Across the room, a steel-haired woman in her mid to late fifties spoke up. “Whose morality would you propose be used? A game based on the founding of this country, using the social and moral codes of the period, would be unsellable due to that era’s attitudes on race and sex. If you base game-winning play on conforming to modern attitudes and morals, you lose any claim to historical authenticity. A fantasy game would be worse. A Dragon has no moral issues with burning a town, eating everyone, and taking all the valuables they can find. Do you expect the heroes to file a grievance with the United Nations?”
    That opened the doors for actual conversation, and I loved it. I was sitting with people I’d looked up to and envied for years, listening to them discuss issues that could shape the way games were designed for years, impacting the lives of thousands of employees and millions of fans. It was a heady feeling.
    At one point, the speaker made the mistake of attacking Spartan for promoting lawless behavior and war crimes. Tim Lawson came out of his chair, punctuating his words with swift, emphatic gestures. “The player has the option of accepting missions from an orphanage, a hospital, and a refugee camp. They can find supplies for these groups and earn goodwill with the locals. That goodwill earns rewards, such as tips on ambushes, the locations of wanted persons, and starting with a good reputation in the next village. Screwing with the locals causes them to support the insurgents. Morality is built into our game. We just do it in a way the players will accept.”
    The speaker snorted. “That’s not morality, that’s selfish self-interest.”
    “Not wanting to get hauled in front of the Hague is self-interest, too.” Tim threw his hands up. “You can’t impose morality on people. You can’t write a program to control it, either. All anyone can do is offer choices and apply consequences, which we already do.”
    “You’re just not thinking outside the box enough,” our speaker said.
    The steel-haired woman stood up, and eight people in identical suits stood up as well. She said, “Consider what you are saying when you assert games are able to modify behavior to such an extent as to condition someone to abide by the Geneva Convention. Such an assertion would also mean games have the ability to turn peaceful children into amoral sociopaths who see nothing wrong with beating up prostitutes with baseball bats and shooting people for their cars. Are you prepared for a murder defense of ‘playing games made me do it’, and all the lawsuits that would follow? I am not. I reject your thesis and will waste no further time enduring your buffoonery.” She marched out with her entourage following two by two, and the general exodus began. The conversation continued during the elevator ride to the convention floor, but cut off as soon as the doors opened.
    Two giant-ass Minotaurs were squaring off under a dueling flag in the middle of the floor. Both had axes far too large to be practical, but they attacked, parried, and counterattacked with breathtaking speed.
    The fight ended when one misplaced his foot and got thrown off-balance. The