Ethical Issues

Are users' privacy expectations met by your software?

There are multiple privacy policies to take inspirations from to follow appropriately: the GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act, and so forth. We would need to be clear about what data we are collecting, why we are collecting the data, and only collect data that fulfills a specific purpose that is necessary for the game.

Our game is a multiplayer game, but the confines of any data collection is limited only to the functions of the game. Gameplay data would not be used beyond showcasing on a mission summary screen the progress of players during a mission completion. There are no microtransactions or any purchases that would track personal user data such as payment details since the game is free and lacks any payment requirement.

Could the use of your software result in racial, gender, religious, or any other type of discrimination? How does your software try to mitigate this problem?

Multiplayer games have a strange relationship with racial discrimination and discrimination against women, fermented by the gaming community rather than video games themselves - though exceptions can occur. From games like League of Legends or Call of Duty where hostility is almost expected, and voice communications allow users to utilize unscrupulous vocabulary. These kinds of discrimination usually localize to more “serious” games such as the aforementioned; our game may fall into the section of “casual game” and would avoid the serious vitriol that may occur.

Our game seeks to minimize these forms of discrimination by limiting the use of in-game communication to emotes. They would be visual cues similar to what you may see when scuba diving. This will, at least, eliminate any typical forms of discrimination through the use of voice or text but it will not stop any discrimination outside of the game through external forms of communication like Discord if they are to be paired alongside playing the game. The game will also not stop players who may develop their own methodologies of discrimination through a combination of emotes, and there would most likely be no active moderation given the scope of our video game. The onus of moderation will be on the host of the lobby.

Can your software be abused by some users to cause harm to other user, or to the public at large? How do you mitigate it?

If personal data is not stored correctly or collected when multiple players are available, malicious users can access this data and use it for their own ends. This can be remedied by following proper protocol best practices when dealing with user data to ensure such material cannot be accessed or extremely difficult to access.

Another case is the application of financial manipulation; video game companies may use multiple sorts of manipulation to garner profit through methods like the gacha games, loot boxes, FOMO, and more. Our game, given that there is no incentive to buy anything with real money, does not utilize manipulative tactics to entice players to purchase content with real money - nor will any manipulative tactics be used in-game.