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submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by YUART@feddit.org to c/gaming@lemmy.zip

Hi,

I recently had an idea - what if we create a community-driven database of computer games companies, where for every company, you have an ethical score of that company. You can also check how that score changed over time and how that score is calculated.

I was thinking about that because it feels like a lot of gamedev companies are doing shit right now, but there are 2 problems:

  • A lot of that shit will be forgotten by the masses in a year or two. Such a database would address that issue by remembering all the immoral stuff a company did in the past.
  • Some companies are bullied by people because of one shitty thing they did, but at the same time, nobody really remembers what good that company might have done. For example, a lot will remember that company X fired a bunch of workers but not a lot of people will remember that a year prior, the company supported a group of minor game developers. Such a database would help calculate a "fair" score of the morality of that company.

Maybe in the future, such a knowledge base can be used to pressure game development companies into better decisions, who knows?

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[-] unmagical@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 days ago

How will the ethics be computed? Some people care about AI use in development, some about mass firings, and still others about the presence of non-white characters.

Would your moral compass be imposed or would it merely be a list of attributes that others can assign weights to for a final score based on their criteria?

[-] dragontology@retrofed.com 2 points 3 days ago

Wild guess: aggregated score card with individual reviewers having a score card. Let users vote up a reviewer to make their vote count more (or down for less) or ignore/block a reviewer to make theirs not count. That way, the user’s own views weigh the score card.

[-] hayvan@piefed.world 5 points 4 days ago

It doesn't have to be one final score, but a few aspects. Crunch times, slop use, gambling...

[-] YUART@feddit.org 3 points 4 days ago

I think this definitely must be controlled by a community, because, as you correctly said, different people care about different things. Maybe it should be some kind of consensus or voting for different types of ethical problems, idk.

For now, I have no idea how such calculations can be done to be actually "fair", I'm just proposing a topic for discussion. But, in my opinion, this shouldn't be done by one person - that's for sure.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago

It would be personal opinion, obviously.

One thing I've started seeing more of is "scores" where the user is able to actually add multipliers to different characteristics to help them find something that suits their personal needs.

[-] TomAwezome@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

Hell, why limit it to gaming? I mean I know this is posted to Gaming, but still. There could be a lot of benefit to a tech industry wide Public Shame Index with how utterly soulless some companies are getting. Though, it would be under constant pressure from the largest companies to call it slander or libel, whatever they'd try to say to the abuse contact email of whoever hosts it to get it taken down.

[-] YUART@feddit.org 4 points 4 days ago

Well, I agree, but it will require a lot of resources and people to handle different areas. + I think gamedev is really behind other industries right now. And I'm personally interested in the game development industry becoming better.

[-] Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago

Perhaps, but the "ceo is the enemy of the people" section is gonna fill up quite fast

[-] Auster@thebrainbin.org 1 points 3 days ago

I'd propose instead a review platform specific to companies, so users can leave their votes and the evaluation average is the company's score. And in that idea, apparently ~~NodeDB~~ NeoDB, which has ActivityPub support, can do. Just yet to test to see how reliable it is, and how it propagates around.

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago

There's a number of problems with a site like that.

  1. The need to have some level of ranking for bad and good things is very problematic.
  2. Even if it's true, being a catalog of all sorts of negative things a large company does will likely come with a lawyer bill that makes it not worth it.
  3. Game companies change a lot, is it fair to carry over bad deeds if a company gets acquired? What if a large amount of people leave company A and found company B, is that a clean slate or should the harassment concerns be noted for them as well?
  4. Should there be a forgiveness period on bad things or a forget period for good things?
  5. Does good things with tax incentives or in the midst of scandal even count as good?
[-] YUART@feddit.org 2 points 3 days ago

Points 3 and 4 are actually interesting, not sure what the right thing to do is in this case.

  1. True.
  2. I'm not sure about that. If you base your data on public info and have a proof - I don't see what lawyers can do to you.
  3. Hard to say, its probaby different for every case.
[-] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

I’m not sure about that. If you base your data on public info and have a proof - I don’t see what lawyers can do to you.

They can force you to go to court to prove it repeatedly, and without a lawyer you might actually lose even with "proof". Just because you are in the right, doesn't mean you don't need lawyers.

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 days ago

Fact is a defense for defamation/libel, but it can still be costly because anti slapp laws aren't very effective. The big companies can afford to hire an attorney full time to send notices to and sue any site they feel is overly negative about them.

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world -2 points 4 days ago

In the current state of things, might as well call it an AI score board. If that's not your intent, that's what it will become.

this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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