Ethical Dilemma

You will be given 60 minutes to complete this test in class. Think carefully and analytically about the scenario described below. Write succinctly and clearly and pay attention to your English.

Scenario: You are working for a company who are about to launch a new computer game. The adverts have gone out, the newspapers and TV are ready for the launch ... then the day before you are told that there is a bug, a mistake, in the software. It means players sometimes can't kill the dragon at the end of the game. If you hit the problem the only solution is to start the final level again. It can be fixed they think but it will take about a week or so to track it down. The computer code is hard to fix as it's been written by 10 different people and 5 of them have gone on a back-packing holiday so can't be contacted. It is your call, what would you do? Follow these steps in your answer.

Step 1: State the important facts and clearly describe the ethical issue/dilemma faced here about which a decision must be made. (10 marks)

Step 2: Identify all of the people affected by a decision i.e. the stakeholders, and outline how it concerns them. (15 marks)

Step 3: State three possible courses of action and outline the consequences of each for the various stakeholders (10 marks)

Step 4: Analyse each course of action using three ethics principles (or two principles at a minimum). State the principles and clearly explain how each principle applies to that particular course of action. Use different principles to demonstrate your knowledge of the principles. (50 marks)

Step 5: Recommend the course of action that is the most ethical based on your analysis in step 4 (5 marks)

Note - English writing (10 marks)