Archaeological ethics, video-games, and digital archaeology : a qualitative study on impacts and intersections
Representations of archaeology in media such as films and television have been historically problematic. Video-games, however, have taken these depictions of archaeology and archaeologists to the next level, not only allowing media consumers to view unethical behaviors such as looting and site destruction, but to participate in them, as willing and complicit bad actors. In 2017, the video-game industry reported a worldwide 36 billion US dollars in consumer spending, with over 6 billion of that spending occurring within the United Kingdom. In order to confront the deep and growing ethical implications for archaeology, this project turns a spotlight onto two key areas of concern: video-game players' perceptions and professional archaeological practices. In the first instance, I seek to understand whether depictions of archaeologists in video-games impact player perceptions of archaeologists as skilled professionals. This research contributes to contextualizing the relationship between representations of archaeological practices in the real and virtual worlds. From here I turn to matters of ethical practice in professional archaeology, seeking to understand how ethics are being considered (if at all) in evolving
Dennis, Laura Meghan
Archaeological ethics, video-games, and digital archaeology : a qualitative study on impacts and intersections. Representations of archaeology in media such as films and television have been historically problematic. Video-games, however, have taken these depictions of archaeology and archaeologists to the next level, not only allowing media consumers to view unethical behaviors such as looting and site destruction, but to participate in them, as willing and complicit bad actors. In 2017, the video-game industry reported a worldwide 36 billion US dollars in consumer spending, with over 6 billion of that spending occurring within the United Kingdom. In order to confront the deep and growing ethical implications for archaeology, this project turns a spotlight onto two key areas of concern: video-game players' perceptions and professional archaeological practices. In the first instance, I seek to understand whether depictions of archaeologists in video-games impact player perceptions of archaeologists as skilled professionals. This research contributes to contextualizing the relationship between representations of archaeological practices in the real and virtual worlds. From here I turn to matters of ethical practice in professional archaeology, seeking to understand how ethics are being considered (if at all) in evolving
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