GameRush Case
Potential ethical issues:
GameRush LLC is a company with good growth potential. But it has potential because the
idea of the start-up progress obtained by Alice was from her previous company which is GameDay
Inc. Under the financial proposal, Alice indicated that game production would be outsourced to a
company in India. But according to the plan, Alice and the other two friends will form an LLC to
develop the GameRush computer game, ethically, Alice's company must take full responsibility
for research, production, and distribution of games publisher, if reported to have outsourced game
production. It is a violation of the copyright section of business ethics, which can be sued by the
company in India at any time.
Alice did not suggest going to India to inspect the plant, but simply contracted the
company's representative here in Alabama to get the job done. Her responsibility to the company
is almost non-existent, her only concern is to develop GameRush. She knows the factory in Bhopal,
India has a lower labor rate than most other parts of India and shorter lead times than other
manufacturing sites in Vietnam or India. Alice is right when analyzing the investment capital will
not be too much, the labor is cheap, it does not take too much time to wait, but the problem here
is that she does not care about the production process, does not check carefully whether the factory
is double qualified to manufacture the product. That is equivalent to not complying with business
ethics about ensuring product operation stages.
David suggested that advertising would be incorporated into the game to attract investors,
in Alice's experience, she had access to psychological research while working at GameDay. She
argued that repeating advertisers' names increases the probability that an advertise viewer will
purchase the product, and that using the name in the context of a "fact" situation as games, even
increases more than the probability of the user buying the advertiser's product. Not only does it not
put the interests of the user first, but this promotional offer is not a resource available to
GameRush. Building addictive game qualities according to Alice's plan is a serious violation of
business ethics when the purpose of developing games is to entertain users, not immerse them in
the game world. There is a lot of evidence about the consequences of game addiction, most of
which are very serious and psychologically damaging to players. Therefore, if it is reported that
the implementation of addictive qualities of the game will put the company at a very high risk of
legal action because the company knows the problems that can occur but still implements it reveals
that idea. So, the moral issue here is the intentional focus on profit.
The implications of each issue, including who or what may be affected by your or the
company’s response:
Content theft can have dire consequences, including arrest and imprisonment. The
copyright problem has serious ramifications and implications if another company is caught
stealing. If GameRush was found to be using GameDay's ideas and research without the consent
of the GameDay Company, then me and my other four friends, Alice, Joan, Albert, and David,
could end up behind prison cells. I do not want to be locked up because I have a family, a wife,
and two children who depend on me. Since my wife does not have a job, it is my responsibility to
take care of her and my kids.
By not showing up in person to deal with the contract as the company representative, it
may show that Alice was disrespectful to the Indian company. This will tarnish the company's
reputation and all the employees will be affected indirectly.
The acquisition of cheap labor could also have future consequences, such as lawsuits if the
labor provided was that of children or exploited and underpaid people. Such lawsuits could also
damage the reputation of the company after its founding in the future. If the business is in a state
of disrepair, it would be difficult to return to.
Potential course of action that I or the company could take with respect:
Instead of stealing ideas from Alice’s previous company, which is GameDay Inc,
GameRush company could have its own advertising strategies and start-up ideas such as creating
its own Marketing company for advertising. But if the investment capitals are not enough or they
think GameDay company has a great strategy, GameRush company could buy the copyright
strategy from GameDay Inc.
To have a contract, companies will have their representative for each company to complete
the deal. If not, Alice come to deal in person, either one of the employees must represent
GameRush company to check and sign the contract. Having a company representative is a way to
show your business partner respect.
To new attract investors with psychology research, GameRush can send the trial or demo
of the games to the employees and clients. After the trial or demo reviews, GameRush company
can create psychological research on their clients and employees’ reviews. But if the trial or demo
was not ready, they could do some quick survey on their clients and employees to have the
psychological test. These strategies will make investor assured on what they invested in are legit
and reliable.