Electronic Arts and the Ethics of Marketing Hockey Fights

   Preceding the September 10th release of NHL 14, the newest edition of the Electronic Arts award-winning NHL video game series, the company bombarded the internet with videos and developer blogs detailing the features that would vault this version above the previous annual volumes. Featured prominently among these is the new “Enforcer Engine,” allowing the game’s players to engage in very realistic (and very frequent) hockey

fights. Videos of the new gameplay took YouTube by storm as the world’s best hockey fight simulator quickly became one of the most well-advertised and anticipated features of the lastest installment of EA Sports’ flagship series. However, while this addition is certainly impressive in its realism and potential for entertainment value, is fighting in hockey something that should be advertised so prominently?

  Fighting has been the subject of debate among hockey circles for many years, but has faced especially heated criticism over the last several years. As concussion awareness in hockey increases, the necessity and purpose of fighting has been called into question given the extreme potential for injury. This sentiment hit full force during the tragic summer of 2011, when noted NHL pugilists Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak, and Rick Rypien all passed away. Concussion research has led to the conclusion that athletes sustaining multiple concussions are at great risk of depression and substance abuse, factors that were thought to be involved in these deaths. Given the intensely violent nature of fighting and the damage that it caused to these and other athletes, it is unsurprising that it is such a hotly debated topic.

      As such, it is easy to wonder whether or not EA Sports promoting such a feature is at all ethical. Fighting being the controversial topic that it is, perhaps they should have picked a better feature to trumpet about so loudly.