Moral Distress in The Last of Us: Notes

Moral Distress in The Last of Us

Abstract

• Moral agency is developed through evaluations of social and contextual information.

• In fixed-narrative games like The Last of Us (TLOU), player moral agency is compromised by:

  • Excessive violence

  • Restraints in player control

  • Moral dilemmas

• Players use moral disengagement and rationalization to reduce emotional and moral distress.

• TLOU's character realism, ubiquity of violence, and inability of players to make in-game moral decisions may make coping mechanisms ineffectual.

• Study findings suggest players expanded their moral agency through mentalizing character perspectives, thus:

  • Reducing emotional distress

  • Increasing empathy and prosocial beliefs

• This process was facilitated by TLOU’s character realism and simulation of social practice within player-character interactivity.

• Deontological and utilitarian moral perspectives illustrate how people interpret moral behaviors and practice moral agency.

  • Deontological: Moral virtues like