Self-Interest and the Game of Blogshares

In any economic scenario, there are big fish and there are little fish. The question of wealth is not in itself a right or a wrong, but simply is. Some players are more influential than others by virtue of their accumulated wealth and the impact that can have on the market, as well as their apparent skill at playing the game, therefore it is in their own self-interest to ensure a stable, viable market for all players, no matter what their net worth. Where moral judgment enters into it is where player conduct is concerned, agreements between players about what is proper play, and of how a player should conduct him- or herself in this gaming community. While wealth augments a player’s own primary survival, it can also have negative consequences which more than offset the value of self-interest.

If a player finds a way to become fabulously wealthy by using tools or techniques that are not available to other players, the economic framework within which he or she is operating is falsified. In short, this player has falsified the actual value of the game, and has distorted his or her own sense of value and the gaming community’s.

Such a player, especially by publicly gloating over his or her wealth obtained in this manner, has promoted the virtue of falsification which debases the social network and the economic currency in a way which is very difficult to revert. By allowing a player who has obtained wealth in this way to keep such wealth, it becomes in effect, a Stamp of Approval on such conduct by those entrusted to oversee the game environment and gaming community. The need to rationalize such methods of play (which should be the first clue that such methods are not ethically correct) also seriously reduces one’s ability to perceive clearly whether other methods of play are good for or detrimental to the game and gaming community, and very likely could result in putting the future of the game in jeopardy.

Often we don�t know or understand crucial facts. We must rank competing moral claims and must be able to predict the likely consequences of choices. Ethical decision-making requires more than a belief in the importance of ethics. It also requires ethical sensitivity to implications of choices, the ability to evaluate complex, ambiguous and incomplete facts, and the skill to implement ethical decisions effectively. When the motivation for ethical behavior is self-interest, decision-making is reduced to risk-reward calculations. If the risks from ethical behavior are high � or the risks from unethical behavior are low and the reward is high � moral principles succumb to expediency. The real test of our ethics is whether we are willing to do the right thing even when it is not in our self-interest.