Isk Savvy

Treacherous Play

Examining the ethics and experience of “treacherous play” through 3 games that allow deception and betrayal—EVE Online, DayZ, and the TV series Survivor. Deception and betrayal in gameplay are generally considered off-limits, designed out of most multiplayer games. There are a few games, however, in which deception and betrayal are allowed, and even encouraged. In Treacherous Play, Marcus Carter explores the ethics and experience of playing such games, offering detailed explorations of three games in which this kind of “dark play” is both lawful and advantageous: EVE Online, DayZ, and the television series Survivor. Examining aspects of games that are often hidden, ignored, or designed away, Carter shows the appeal of playing treacherously. Carter looks at EVE Online’s notorious scammers and spies, drawing on his own extensive studies of them, and describes how treacherous play makes EVE successful. Making a distinction between treacherous play and griefing or trolling, he examines the experiences of DayZ players to show how negative experiences can be positive in games, and a core part of their appeal. And he explains how in Survivor’s tribal council votes, a player’s acts of betrayal can exact a cost. Then, considering these games in terms of their design, he discusses how to design for treacherous play. Carter’s account challenges the common assumptions that treacherous play is unethical, antisocial, and engaged in by bad people. He doesn’t claim that more games should feature treachery, but that examining this kind of play sheds new light on what play can be.

In Business

Escape

Summer meant freedom. An Escape from academic responsibilities. In this collection of tales, Escape becomes personal for some of the Space City Preparatory Academy students. Nico has created a flying Venice sim to explore, but when he discovers invisible monsters on the prowl, and a classmate hacks the sim as a prank, he finds surviving to the end a precarious prospect. Trini is reluctant to assist her aunt in handling an infectious disease outbreak among the natives on the planet Letos, but a near fatal encounter with what was believed to be a mythical creature forces her to re-examine her perspective. When his father is seriously injured during a hunting trip on a remote exomoon, it is up to Jiro to locate help, a dicey prospect when two rogue aliens pick up their trail. Dirk and Arielle believe they are in for a nice weekend hike until an ambitious town official wants to frame them for a crime they didn't commit during their summer-abroad diplomat training program. Cade hopes to enter the dangerous Tefnot sub race on Araxia, only to be sold into slavery for his troubles. ​For these six, Escape means not just survival, but choosing the futures they want, no matter the odds.