{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]],"date-time":"2026-04-09T13:57:12Z","timestamp":1775743032482,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,9]],"date-time":"2023-07-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688860800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,9]],"date-time":"2023-07-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688860800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Johannes Gutenberg-Universit\u00e4t Mainz"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Ethics Inf Technol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>The Gamer\u2019s Dilemma consists of three intuitively plausible but conflicting assertions: (i) Virtual murder is morally permissible. (ii) Virtual child molestation is morally forbidden. (iii) There is no relevant moral difference between virtual murder and virtual child molestation in computer games. Numerous attempts to resolve (or dissolve) the Gamer\u2019s Dilemma line the field of computer game ethics. Mostly, the phenomenon is approached using expressivist argumentation: Reprehensible virtual actions <jats:italic>express<\/jats:italic> something immoral in their performance but are not immoral by themselves. Consequentialists, on the other hand, claim that the immorality of virtual actions arises from their harmful consequences. I argue that both approaches have serious difficulties meeting the moral challenge posed by the Gamer\u2019s Dilemma. They tend to confuse the morality of in-game actions either with the morality of their real-world counterparts or with the morality of games as objects. Following this critical analysis, I will develop a Kantian argument and defend it against two objections. So far, deontological responses to the Gamer\u2019s Dilemma have been sought in vain. Yet, with Kant, its moral challenge can be met by looking at the gamer\u2019s reasons. From this perspective, the Gamer\u2019s Dilemma is based on a false assumption: the moral status of gaming acts does not derive from a\u00a0normative equation with their real-world counterparts but only from their justifications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-023-09710-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,9]],"date-time":"2023-07-09T12:01:35Z","timestamp":1688904095000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["A Kantian response to the Gamer\u2019s Dilemma"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2057-0193","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuel","family":"Ulbricht","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,9]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"9710_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"267","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-015-9381-x","volume":"17","author":"R Ali","year":"2015","unstructured":"Ali, R. 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