Friday 9 February, 2018

During my third play through, some complexity actually came up. I didn’t mention, but I chose to do an all-female prison. Two things popped into my head. First, what happens to those who don’t identify with the male or female gender? This isn’t an option in the game, but in real life I wanted to know what happens. Second, and this was the complexity, one of my prisoners arrived pregnant. I had never thought of this. So what does happen in this situation in real life? What happens when a women is convicted to prison, but she is pregnant or gets pregnant interim?
I had to build a separate room for her. While it didn’t develop within the game, I wondered if the other prisons would dislike her for her treatment, and how that dynamic plays out in real life.
This led me to my possible OPA question, which is: does Prison Architect downplay the complexities of prison aspects, and will the player take these for face value?

Really great job on these gamelogs Will! You ask a lot of interesting questions that aren’t immediately obvious such as “what happens when a woman is convicted to prison, but she is pregnant or get pregnant interim?” In regards to your possible OPA Question, while it is a really good thesis question it isn’t quite an ethical question. With that being said, I think one way to make this an ethical question would be to add this sub question to the question you currently have: If Prison architect does downplay the complexities of prison aspects, should the developers be held responsible for how this misinforms player’s about the prison system?” While this doesn’t necessarily have to be your second question, just keep in mind that you should be trying to ask a question that address what larger moral implications the game is addressing, or isn’t addressing and should be.