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Comment by baddox | Hacker News Reader

There's no point to use purely semantic arguments to try to bash these guys. Clearly I wasn't using the term "game dev" with the intention of drawing any comparisons to your livelihood, except for the obvious comparison which is that you both produce interactive applications that most people would call "games."

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No no, it's a distinction I've wanted to make for a long time. It's a positive thing to encourage discussion of how game development is different from social engineering, and what social engineers can learn from game development fundamentals.

This may be an example of the "no true scotsman" fallacy. You're saying no true game developer would use social exploitation in this way. Implying that any game developer who does, isn't in fact a game developer.

The problem with this approach is that it absolves any such person who considers themselves a true game developer of the responsibility. I think it's more valuable to view social engineering as the dark side of game development, and look for ways to minimise it.

It's similar to the way software developers often come up with (or are asked to come up with) "dark patterns" to manipulate users into signing up for stuff or buying stuff without realising it. It's our responsibility as developers to recognise when this is happening and actively work to stop it.

I've actively started to work on a blog series called The Dark Side of Game Design, while at the same time working on a game "from the dark side" for which I've gotten funded for.

Should be interesting exploration of morality and ethics in it. Only real shame is that current game design of the game I'm working on doesn't include parody of it all. I'm just not that good a game designer yet. :)

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