The Ethics of Our Art: Research Ethics and the Games User Experience | Ann Johnson & Lisa Rigtrup
Channel: GRUX SIG
Date: 2022-05-23

Description
“Any tool can be used for good or bad. It’s really the ethics of the artist using it.” John Knoll, visual effect artist 

Many professions have ethical principles or a code of conduct that they follow to make sure their work is credible and trustworthy. Adhering to these principles can also ensure that the people within the profession and interacting with the profession are treated with respect and care.  

When research is done in an academic setting, three ethical principles are used to guide researcher conduct:  
1) Respect for persons, also known as a person’s right to choose based on good information.  
2) Beneficence, the idea that we will ‘do no harm’ and try to benefit others 
3) Justice and fairness. 

These same principles also have unique applications to the field of Games User Research. The purpose of this session is to explore why and how these ethical principles should be considered by the Games User Research community. The session will also propose actions Games User Research and Experience professionals can take to treat their users with respect and care.  

The session will be led by two research ethics professionals who have a combined 30 years of experience in academia, including research ethics in the field of entertainment arts and engineering. 

Speaker Information
Dr. Ann Johnson - Director of Institutional Review Board and Human Research Protection Program, University of Utah
When people ask Ann what her dream job would be, her answer is always the same: making one-of-a-kind clothes. She loves the creativity and artistry that pours out of her when designing and sew clothing. She loves having stacks of beautiful fabrics to run her hands over and feast her eyes on. She is a sewist of 30 years, an Etsy shop purveyor of 6 years, and a newly minted fabric designer. And yet, Ann is a scientist at heart and by profession. She loves scientific inquiry, academics, and discourse. Talk about microbes and botany and physics and ethics, and she simply swoons. She has degrees in biology, chemistry, and public health, and her career is making sure people who volunteer to be in research studies are as safe and respected as possible (Director of the University of Utah IRB & Human Research Protection Program). So she is complex and she loves it.

Lisa Rigtrup - Operations Manager and Webmaster of the Institutional Review Board, University of Utah
Lisa Rigtrup manages board member onboarding and training, convened meeting logistics, reviewing and processing SIRB reliance consultations, organizing continuing education initiatives, and serving as the IRB Webmaster. She is interested in how to increase community awareness of human subject research ethics using avenues that are fun and interesting, such as her latest exploits as a panelist at the Salt Lake City FanX Convention discussing the research ethics of fictional scientists. Lisa enjoys spending time with her many pets, gardening, trying out new gel nail designs, and hanging out with her brothers and sisters on Xbox Live. 

Sections
00:00:00 Introduction & Overview
00:02:01 What is Ethics & Why We Care
00:04:11 The 3 Core Ethical Principles
00:06:36 The Field of Human Research 
00:08:31 Historic Examples of Issues in Human Research
00:18:50 The Field of Games User Research
00:20:06 The 3 Ethical Principles in Games Research
00:21:18 Consent
00:26:13 Example: Mass Effect
00:29:07 Consider the Impact
00:31:55 Example: Metroid: Samus Aran
00:33:16 Equitable Selection
00:36:15 Example: Overwatch: Soldier 76 and Tracer
00:40:14 Social Benefit
00:44:21 Example: Gears of War: Violent Content
00:47:50 Societal Responsibility
00:52:18 Fairness
00:54:38 Key Takeaways