As Congress considers a proposal to make it illegal to play non-work-related computer games in government offices, the Justice Department has developed a computer game that teaches federal employees how to uphold the law.
Justice's Ethics Office created "Quandaries," a role-playing game for government employees that presents players with day-to-day situations in which they must decide the ethical thing to do.
For example, suppose a contractor that deals with your department walks into your office and offers you a job working on a particular contract. You are not involved in the administration of the contract. Are you allowed to discuss the job, or should you politely decline the offer?
The answer, you discover, is that you may discuss the job, since you are not involved in the contract. But you must be careful not to participate in matters that affect the contractor once you agree to discuss a job offer.
Quandaries has several different career paths for players to follow, starting with entry level positions and moving up to senior management. The game simulates ethical choices federal employees must make every day, and grades players on the decisions they make.
Justice Department employees who are required to complete an hour of ethics training each year can now use the game to fulfill the training requirement. The ethics office is also encouraging other employees and other agencies to use the game, which can be downloaded off the World Wide Web at www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ethics.
Janis Sposato, deputy assistant attorney general for law and policy, came up with the idea for Quandaries in 1993, when she saw her kids playing an educational computer game. The ethics office signed up Legend Entertainment of Chantilly, Va., to develop the ethics game. Development cost $250,000 and took four years. Justice Department employees pose as characters in the game.
Janice Rogers, deputy director of the ethics office, said people are often surprised when they learn about the subtleties of the ethics laws. For instance, a U.S. Marshal who is invited to participate in a marksmanship contest with a prize of $5,000 can do so, and can use his government-issued gun, but must purchase his own ammunition.
"Ethics rules are not black and white all the time," Rogers said.
The congressional game ban proposal, which was introduced by Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., but struck out of the Treasury appropriations bill earlier this month, would not ban work-related games like Quandaries.
NEXT STORY: Clinton Trims DoD Appropriation