Political Philosophy Is Useless for the Study of Servers

Players of sandbox games in virtual worlds are often inclined to think that the same social phenomena that spring up in real life are applicable to player-to-player interactions in game; further, that these interactions are often governed by broader moral or ethical principles that reflect those of the real world. Thus, for many it makes sense to apply political philosophy to these games, since they appear to give us a window into how these systems spring up in the real world. Minecraft is perhaps the clearest example; because of its open-ended structure, players consider it to be an ideal environment for simulating and theorizing about political communities. However, I will argue that insofar as Minecraft presupposes ideal conditions which players must then constrain themselves, political philosophy can only engage in a descriptive, not normative, role in the study of communities on Minecraft servers.