De Paoli, S. and Kerr, Aphra (2011) On Crimes and Punishments in Virtual Worlds: Bots, the failure of punishment and players as moral entrepreneurs. Ethics and Information Technology, 14. pp. 1-32. ISSN 1388-1957

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of punishment as a critical social mechanism for cheating prevention in MMORPGs. The role of punishment is empirically investigated in a case study of the MMORPG Tibia (http://www.tibia.com) and by focusing on the use of bots to cheat. We describe the failure of punishment in Tibia, which is perceived by players as one of the elements facilitating the proliferation of bots. In this process some players act as a moral enterprising group contributing to the reform of the game rules and in particular to the reform of the Tibia punishment system by the game company. In the conclusion we consider the ethical issues raised by our findings and we propose some general reflections on the role of punishment and social mechanisms for the governance of online worlds more generally

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Preprint version of original published article. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com. DOI: 10.1007/s10676-011-9281-7
Keywords:	Virtual Worlds; Cheating; Punishment; Rule Enforcement; Moral Entrepreneur;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Item ID:	2903
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-011-9281-7
Depositing User:	Prof. Aphra Kerr
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2011 15:59
Journal or Publication Title:	Ethics and Information Technology
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
Refereed:	No
URI:	http://www.springerlink.com/ http://www.springerlink.com/content/1034...
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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