ethics
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Germany will implement ethical guidelines for self-driving tech
Germany is working on implementing a handful of new rules for autonomous cars that address ethical questions that come with the technology. In June, the ethics commission of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure -- made up of 14 scientists and legal experts -- released a report with guidelines it believed self-driving vehicles should be designed to follow. This week, the ministry said it would implement and enforce those guidelines.
How to avert (even more) disaster at Uber
Uber is a classic example of that old adage about money not being enough to buy you class, especially in 2017. The startup, valued at around $70 billion, has been helped and hindered by the leadership of its controversial CEO, Travis Kalanick. After a tidal wave of revelations about the company's ethical lapses, Kalanick is taking a leave of absence. Upon his return, his role will be diminished, with freshly appointed executives, including a new COO, taking on some of his responsibilities.
All opinions are equal in BuzzFeed's new comment system
President Donald Trump's election win was shocking to many, which seems to say that Americans understand each other less than ever. Part of this disconnect may be a lack of exposure to opposing viewpoints. That's what Buzzfeed seems to think, and it's addressing this problem with something called Outside Your Bubble.
eBay and LinkedIn founders back research into ethical AI
Some big names in the tech world aren't just fretting over the possibility of dangerous AI, they're taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar (through his Omidyar Network) are pouring a total of $20 million into a newly created Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund that will fuel research into the social considerations around AI. The organization wants to be sure that machines aren't just guided by "engineers and corporations" -- they should consider the input of everyone from social scientists through to economists and politicians.
UK calls for a taskforce to keep AI and robots in check
While artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are starting to play a more valuable role in people's lives, a new report states that the UK is ill-prepared for an inevitable autonomous future. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said today that the UK government "does not yet have a strategy" for fostering AI and robotics or properly considered the "social and ethical dilemmas" they may pose.
Should autonomous vehicles save passengers or pedestrians?
Oh, humanity. New research published in Science shows that we, as a race, want to have our cake and eat it too when it comes to autonomous vehicles. Specifically, we're totally okay with self-driving cars that will sacrifice their passengers in favor of not harming pedestrians -- so long as we aren't the passengers when that happens. What's more, those surveyed would like other people to buy those self-sacrificing rides, but don't want to buy one themselves, and don't agree with the idea of enforcing regulations for them. Sure; this makes perfect sense.
The Panama Papers, a breach we can all get behind
Now here's a breach and leak everyone can get behind (unless you're a billionaire despot, that is). Selected excerpts from the Panama Papers dropped on Sunday, an unprecedented snatch-and-grab of offshore tax haven records released to a handful of global news organizations. In them, the tax-avoiding dealings of the super-rich were exposed in a gigantic haul of data said to total around 11.5m files (2.6 terabytes). It was taken from shell-company specialist Mossack Fonseca by an anonymous source, who shared the Panamanian law firm's trove with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
SXSW cancels online harassment panel, because of harassment
Online harassment is a real world problem, and you don't need to look any further than a cancelled South by Southwest Interactive panel for more reasons why. Citing "numerous threats of violence" the SXSW planning team has annulled "Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games" at next March's event according to an email sent to panelists that was obtained by Jezebel. What's more, the festival has cancelled a pro-GamerGate panel, dubbed "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community," as well. An official statement from the organizers says that since announcing the two panels they've been inundated with threats of on-site violence and in the interest of keeping the marketplace of diverse people and diverse ideas (their words) safe, the best way to do that was simply not act as a venue for the discussions. "Maintaining civil and respectful dialogue within the big tent is more important than any particular session," the statement reads.
Germany rules that using ad-blocking software is legal
The ability to silence the constant braying of advertising is great, unless you're a publisher who relies upon the cash that it generates to keep running. This tension between media outlets and ad-blocking agencies has finally spilled over into a courtroom punch-up after some German newspapers took AdBlock Plus to court. The outlets, which include Die Zeit and Handelsblatt, claim that the browser plugin was an anti-competitive product that threatened their businesses. Judges in Hamburg, however, ruled in favor of the company, saying that software that saves you from watching that awful Kate Upton advert for the thousandth damn time this week is perfectly legal.
Apple still faces challenges in the fight for better working conditions
The factories where our gadgets are built can be nasty, inhumane and sometimes lethal places to work. As the richest company on the planet, Apple has a duty to lead the charge against poor conditions and child labor. Today, the company has published its ninth annual Supplier Responsibility report that repeats its commitment to treat all workers with "dignity and respect." The headline stats are positive, and the company only found 16 child labor violations, but there's still a few things that have to be worked on.
Grinding Gear's Wilson talks F2P ethics in Path of Exile
Gamasutra reports that over five million people have signed up to play Grinding Gear's Path of Exile title. The company hasn't disclosed how many of those people are actually paying for the free-to-play Diablo-style game, but Path of Exile's critical and financial success invites a closer examination of its business model. Unlike most F2P titles, Path of Exile completely avoids gameplay gates and delaying mechanisms and thus avoids the dreaded pay-to-win stigma. Microtransactions are purely cosmetic, and Grinding Gear's crowdfunding campaign has now morphed "into a permanent rewards-based structure for monetization." Managing director Chris Wilson tells Gamasutra that PoE's supporter packs are a big part of the game's success story in addition to traditional microtransactions, the latter of which offer "enough money to run the company on" by themselves. Wilson says that players want to support PoE because its business model puts gameplay first. "We've been careful when designing the game so there's no paying for game content or advantage in the game," he explained. "We've purposefully divorced any game mechanics from the monetization."
Norwegian school teaches ethics with The Walking Dead
A teacher at Nordahl Grieg Upper Secondary School in Bergen, Norway, is using Telltale's The Walking Dead video game to help teach students ethics. Norwegian news station NRK has a report you can watch above, but we suggest turning on captions - unless you speak Norwegian. As part of his religious studies class, Tobias Staaby has students take anonymous polls which are centered around events of the game. When Glenn wants to save a woman trapped at a motel for example, Staaby asks his students if it's the "right thing" to do. "I want a good catalyst for discussions about ethical theories or ethical dilemmas," Staaby told NRK. "This game provides the students with a space they can navigate and discuss within based on the curriculum." Staaby said he hopes his method will become more common as time goes on. We're inclined to agree, and who says it needs to be limited to ethics classes? Imagine Business 404: Zombies and You. Yeah. You're welcome.
The Azeroth Ethicist: Is it cheating to trick the LFR loot system?
Before I write anything else here, the issue to be discussed in this article will no longer exist in patch 5.3 if the changes announced in the PTR patch notes from May 22 survive. For the record, I think this is one of the best changes to come along in a while, as it should reduce queue times for the Raid Finder significantly, while also being a great quality-of-life bonus for anyone trying to gear an offspec. However, it's still a problem at the moment. After reaching level 90, I ran heroic after heroic obsessively in order to scrape the ilevel needed to enter the Raid Finder. After a few drops and the generosity of a guild leatherworker, I cheerfully queued as a tank for Vaults, and then went off to do dailies, figuring that the wait might be a little longer than normal given the popularity of new raid content, but it probably wouldn't be too bad. 30 minutes later, I shrugged and thought to myself, "Well, everybody's running LFR now." 52 minutes later, it occurred to me while yanking pink turnips out of the ground that I had been a little overoptimistic about wait times. Oh well. The farm wasn't going to tend itself. An hour and 20 minutes later, I tabbed out of the game to check the forums, wondering if others were complaining about queue times, or if I'd just had a stroke of really bad luck. Nope. Wait times for tanks through LFR, as a legion of enraged forum posters screamed, were through the roof at the beginning of the expansion. Right now, it seems like DPS players are getting the lion's share of agony. Rather than wait it out, many -- perhaps most -- tank players chose to exploit a loophole that allowed them to get a raid more quickly on a less easily-filled role.
Korea Times quotes Mercedes Lackey calling City of Heroes closure 'unethical'
NCsoft's recent closure of City of Heroes didn't win the company any fans in the US market, but it looks like the effects are being felt even over in the company's home of Korea. A new article in the Korea Times quotes fantasy author Mercedes Lackey regarding the game's shutdown. Her words on the matter were unambiguous: "I think canceling a game that is making a profit, along with destroying jobs and an online community, is entirely unethical." The article covers several of the pieces of confusion regarding NCsoft's management of the shutdown and the perceived ambiguity about the financial side of the decision. Lackey also emphasizes in her quotes that she and other City of Heroes fans will not stop until they have exhausted every option to resurrect the game. NCsoft is clearly feeling the pinch considering the news of recent layoffs, but it looks as if the company is losing the image war on several fronts as well.
Ask Massively: Missives from the Massively yacht
So here we are, lounging on the deck of our yacht, sipping cool drinks out of fake coconuts while lifeguard cosplayers -- they're cosplayers, right guys? -- gently wave palm leaves at us. Later, of course, we'll dock somewhere and whip out our laptops and dash off some posts about video games before we get back to enjoying the titillating payoffs we earn as members of the gaming journalism front lines. Hopefully you've guessed that Massively doesn't have a yacht. We don't even have an office. The Massively yacht is a mythical destination, a running joke that's only mildly funny and then only to the people who work here, since only we know what we're paid, how insanely strict the Joystiq network is about accepting items on the spectrum between gifts and bribes, and how that strictness both hurts and helps us and you. That's something worth talking about in light of the Eurogamer debacle.
PBS draws link between digital music ethics and magic spells, somehow makes it look simple (video)
AAC files and the arcane don't have much in common on the surface. After some digging, however, PBS' Idea Channel has found that magic is an uncannily good analogy for digital music rights and explaining the thorny ethical issues that come with them. Both music and spells stem from grassroots cultures that give away their content for free, but (at least until an anti-magic clampdown at eBay) have since become businesses. That nature poses a key ethical question: when we're used to a free experience and can copy songs or spells as much as we like, what does it take to keep us as honest customers? As show host Mike Rugnetta suggests, it's a matter of personal responsibility -- if we want more of either, we have to think of the commerce as showing support for future work. You can catch Mike's clever train of thought after the break, and ponder what constitutes DRM for a potion while you're at it.
TangiBot manufactures ethics controversy by replicating open-source Makerbot 3D printer
A Kickstarter entry has managed to stir the fairness pot by touting a MakerBot Replicator clone called TangiBot -- legally copied from the original 3D printer's open source plans. The project's creator, Matt Strong, says that the device will offer "the same performance and features at a roughly 33 percent discount" to Makerbot's $1,800 price tag, thanks to Chinese manufacturing. That's inflamed some in the 3D printing fraternity, who take exception to the exact copying of a design without any improvement. The founder is unrepentant, however, saying that "MakerBot's technology is nothing new" and insists his replica product's lower price will open up 3D printing to more hobbyists. TangiBot has addressed a trademark gripe from its doppleganger by removing the MakerBot references from Kickstarter -- but hey, we know a KIRF when we see one.
The Azeroth Ethicist: Cheating (or not cheating) the roll system
I was healing a Well of Eternity PUG a few days ago when I got a whisper from the group's warrior tank. Warrior: Could you help me out with something? Me: Sure, what do you need? Warrior: If Varo'then's Brooch drops at the end, would you roll on it for me? Me: Um ... I'd been off in my own little world watching health bars and thinking about next week's Shifting Perspectives column and hadn't paid any attention to the group's composition. It turns out the DPSers were a mage, a hunter, and -- oh, there we go -- a frost death knight. So in the event that the strength trinket dropped, the warrior tank wanted me to roll on it and, if I won, give it to him over the DK. He probably asked the mage and the priest to do the same thing, but the group was quiet in party chat, so I have no way of knowing. We had a small and, to his credit, civil conversation over it, and there are a few issues here on which I'd like to get readers' opinions.
The Soapbox: MMO slot machines
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. We are beginning to drown in a sea of MMOs that are shedding variety to mimic simplified slot machines. The danger in this is that MMO gameplay is becoming akin to gambling. Enjoyment of minute-to-minute gameplay is being replaced by hours of frustration unless we manage to match three-of-a-kind to get our loot drops. The success of the games isn't resting on the shoulders of enjoyable content but on the prizes to be won by schlepping through that content. We're letting developers know this not just by playing these games but by literally asking for more of the same. The result is that money flies into developers' hands while they skirt the boundaries of ethics by supplying "gameplay" soaked in habitual greed, delivering to players only the barest skeleton of an MMO.
Ask Massively: Go outdoors edition
Here is the salient piece of advice from this week's Ask Massively, right up front and in the intro paragraph -- go outdoors. Right now. Shut down your computer and go for a walk. Take a hike somewhere you've never been. Explore. Take some time to just walk around out in fresh air and sunlight, or heck, enjoy being rained on. But take the time to break from a routine in which you read a whole lot of words on the Internet and just go see what's outside for a few minutes at least. Really, this column will still be here after you're done. It'll wait. I'm hoping that the two or three of you that actually listened to that advice enjoyed your walk. For you (and slightly earlier for everyone who just skipped over that paragraph) we've got questions this week about gold farming and the consistent scourge of site bugs. If you've got a question you'd like to see answered in a future installment, just mail it along to ask@massively.com or leave your question in the comments.
