{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,26]],"date-time":"2026-03-26T15:53:07Z","timestamp":1774540387657,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]],"date-time":"2023-07-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688688000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]],"date-time":"2023-07-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688688000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Bond University Limited"}],"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, initially proposed by Luck (Ethics and Information Technology 11(1):31\u201336,\u00a02009) posits a moral comparison between in-game acts of murder and in-game acts of paedophilia within single-player videogames. Despite each activity lacking the obvious harms of their real-world equivalents, common intuitions suggest an important difference between them. Some responses to the dilemma suggest that intuitive responses to the two cases are based on important differences between the acts themselves or their social meaning. Others challenge the fundamental assumptions of the dilemma. In this paper, we identify and explore key imaginative and emotional differences in how certain types of in-game violence are experienced by players, consider how these differences factor into the moral lives of players, and use these insights to resolve the dilemma.\u00a0The view we develop is that the key moral emotion in offensive video gameplay is self-repugnance. This is not repugnance of the act one directs a game character to perform in the game, nor repugnance of the character one plays. It is repugnance of oneself in playing the game. If self-repugnance is a fitting emotional response to playing a videogame, then this is prima facie grounds for thinking it is wrong to play the videogame. Our approach to the gamer\u2019s dilemma is to distinguish the fittingness conditions of self-repugnance from the fittingness conditions of other moral emotions as they pertain to playing videogames. We argue that because of the virtual character of the actions performed in video games, self-repugnance is a fitting response to particular kinds of offensive gameplay. On the other hand, in-game murder is not invariably a fitting ground for self-repugnance. We argue that this difference is grounded in imaginative responses to the harm of death and the harms of profound suffering. Our task is to explain and justify this difference in fittingness conditions and use this to resolve the gamer\u2019s dilemma.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-023-09711-z","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]],"date-time":"2023-07-07T07:04:17Z","timestamp":1688713457000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Between death and suffering: resolving the gamer\u2019s dilemma"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6514-7463","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Coghlan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Damian","family":"Cox","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"9711_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. (2015). A new solution to the gamer\u2019s dilemma. Ethics and Information Technology, 17(4), 267\u2013274. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-015-9381-x.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"key":"9711_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-022-09638-x","author":"R Ali","year":"2022","unstructured":"Ali, R. (2022). The video gamer\u2019s dilemmas. Ethics and Information Technology. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-022-09638-x","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"issue":"1","key":"9711_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-011-9280-8","volume":"14","author":"C Bartel","year":"2012","unstructured":"Bartel, C. (2012). Resolving the gamer\u2019s dilemma. Ethics and Information Technology, 14(1), 11\u201316. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-011-9280-8.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"key":"9711_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350121904","volume-title":"Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time","author":"C Bartel","year":"2020","unstructured":"Bartel, C. (2020). Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time. Bloomsbury."},{"key":"9711_CR5","unstructured":"Bramwell, T. (2014). Is the most disturbing scene in GTA 5 justified? Retrieved from Eurogamer: https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/is-the-most-disturbing-scene-in-gta5-justified."},{"key":"9711_CR6","unstructured":"Epicurus. (1926). Epicurus: The extant remains. (Cyril Bailey, Trans).\u00a0Clarendon Press."},{"key":"9711_CR7","volume-title":"The Moral limits of Criminal Law","author":"J Feinberg","year":"1984","unstructured":"Feinberg, J. (1984). The Moral limits of Criminal Law (1: Harm to Others vol.). New York: Oxford University Press."},{"key":"9711_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"217","DOI":"10.1007\/s10790-008-9118-8","volume":"42","author":"P Formosa","year":"2008","unstructured":"Formosa, P. (2008). A conception of evil. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 42, 217\u2013239.","journal-title":"The Journal of Value Inquiry"},{"key":"9711_CR9","unstructured":"Hern, A. (2013). Grand Theft Auto 5 under fire for graphic torture scene. Retrieved from The Guardian: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2013\/sep\/18\/grand-theft-auto-5-under-fire-for-graphic-torture-scene."},{"issue":"1","key":"9711_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-019-09518-x","volume":"22","author":"J Kjeldgaard-Christiansen","year":"2020","unstructured":"Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, J. (2020). Splintering the gamer\u2019s dilemma: Moral intuitions, motivational assumptions, and action prototypes. Ethics and Information Technology, 22(1), 93\u2013102. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-019-09518-x.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"issue":"1","key":"9711_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-008-9168-4","volume":"11","author":"M Luck","year":"2009","unstructured":"Luck, M. (2009). The gamer\u2019s dilemma: An analysis of the arguments for the moral distinction between virtual murder and virtual paedophilia. Ethics and Information Technology, 11(1), 31\u201336. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-008-9168-4.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"issue":"3","key":"9711_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1287","DOI":"10.1007\/s11406-021-00455-y","volume":"50","author":"M Luck","year":"2022","unstructured":"Luck, M. (2022). The grave resolution to the gamer\u2019s dilemma: An argument for a moral distinction between virtual murder and virtual child molestation. Philosophia (United States), 50(3), 1287\u20131308. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11406-021-00455-y.","journal-title":"Philosophia (United States)"},{"key":"9711_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511627231","volume-title":"The philosophy of death","author":"S Luper","year":"2009","unstructured":"Luper, S. (2009). The philosophy of death. UK: Cambridge."},{"issue":"3","key":"9711_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-022-09655-w","volume":"24","author":"T Montefiore","year":"2022","unstructured":"Montefiore, T., & Formosa, P. (2022). Resisting the gamer\u2019s dilemma. Ethics and Information Technology, 24(3), 31\u201344. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-022-09655-w.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"issue":"5\u20136","key":"9711_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13601","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-021-03391-2","volume":"199","author":"H Naar","year":"2021","unstructured":"Naar, H. (2021). The fittingness of emotions. Synthese, 199(5\u20136), 13601\u201313619. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11229-021-03391-2.","journal-title":"Synthese"},{"issue":"1","key":"9711_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.2307\/2214297","volume":"4","author":"T Nagel","year":"1970","unstructured":"Nagel, T. (1970). Death. No\u00fbs, 4(1), 73\u201380.","journal-title":"No\u00fbs"},{"key":"9711_CR17","unstructured":"Nintendo (1985). Super Mario Bros."},{"issue":"4","key":"9711_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"303","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-010-9250-6","volume":"13","author":"S Patridge","year":"2011","unstructured":"Patridge, S. (2011). The incorrigible social meaning of video game imagery. Ethics and Information Technology, 13(4), 303\u2013312.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"key":"9711_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-012-9310-1","volume":"15","author":"S Patridge","year":"2013","unstructured":"Patridge, S. (2013). Pornography, ethics, and video games. Ethics and Information Technology, 15, 25\u201334.","journal-title":"Ethics and Information Technology"},{"key":"9711_CR20","volume-title":"Remorse: Psychological and jurisprudential perspectives","author":"M Proeve","year":"2010","unstructured":"Proeve, M., & Tudor, S. (2010). Remorse: Psychological and jurisprudential perspectives. Taylor & Francis Group."},{"issue":"1","key":"9711_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1007\/s10677-019-10049-z","volume":"23","author":"EJ Ramirez","year":"2020","unstructured":"Ramirez, E. J. (2020). How to (dis)solve the gamer\u2019s dilemma. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 23(1), 141\u2013161. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10677-019-10049-z.","journal-title":"Ethical Theory and Moral Practice"},{"key":"9711_CR22","unstructured":"Rockstar North. (2013). Grand theft auto 5. Rockstar Games."},{"issue":"1","key":"9711_CR23","first-page":"269","volume":"38","author":"D Suits","year":"2001","unstructured":"Suits, D. (2001). Why death is not bad for the one who died. American Philosophical Quarterly, 38(1), 269\u2013284.","journal-title":"American Philosophical Quarterly"}],"container-title":["Ethics and Information Technology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10676-023-09711-z.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10676-023-09711-z\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10676-023-09711-z.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,20]],"date-time":"2023-09-20T03:35:00Z","timestamp":1695180900000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s10676-023-09711-z"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,9]]}},"alternative-id":["9711"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-023-09711-z","relation":{},"ISSN":["1388-1957","1572-8439"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1388-1957","type":"print"},{"value":"1572-8439","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]]},"assertion":[{"value":"7 July 2023","order":1,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}}],"article-number":"37"}}