Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Members of the Association of Interactive Performance Professionals
Create a safe place for play – The first priority of Interactive Performance is that it always is safe for all involved.
- Physical Safety / No physical harm – Inter-actors do not physically harm spect-actors during play.
- Emotional Well-being / No emotional harm – Creators and inter-actors always strive to avoid emotional harm to spect-actors during play. If there is a question of emotional harm, a debriefing process is employed with support resources available.
- Personal Morals / Respect personal morals – Spect-actors and inter-actors are never required to play in a way that violates their own personal morals.
- No judgment or punishment – Inter-actors respect the contributions of spect-actors without judgment or punishment. If a spect-actor’s choice violates the Code of Ethics, inter-actors may take action to constrain play and address harm.
- Privacy – Creators and inter-actors strive to protect the privacy of participants.
All players are respected – Creators and inter-actors welcome all people and welcome diversity including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, skin color, body shape, religion, apparel, social class, financial status, or disability.
Players choose to engage – Inter-actors and spect-actors always choose whether or not they want to play. Spect-actors are not tricked into playing. Whenever possible, informed consent is sought from spect-actors before they participate in Interactive Performance.
Play is fictional – All Interactive Performance is treated as fictional. Fiction allows spect-actors to play without fear of judgment or punishment for what happens within the story. When real-life elements become part of the play, these elements are treated as part of the fiction. While spect-actors may introduce elements from their real life into the story, such elements are never forced into the story by inter-actors.
Respecting spect-actors doesn’t mean always treating them gently or as fragile or weak. Spect-actors’ are respected with strong play on the part of inter-actors. Strong play is modulated based on the spect-actor’s responses, with the intention of empowering the spect-actor within the process of play
Techniques are limited to performance – Within an Interactive Performance, influence is a part of the inter-actor’s craft because facilitating the story can require it. However, using Interactive Performance techniques to manipulate people outside the context of the fictional experience is considered unethical.
Interactive Performance is not therapy – If Interactive Performance is to be used in a therapeutic or clinical context, a certified expert in the related field assists in the experience design and provides support for inter-actors and spect-actors who engage in the experience. Any therapeutic aspect is clearly communicated to spect-actors before the experience so they can fully consent.
External ethical standards – Since the context for Interactive Performance may involve training, simulation, and research from other disciplines, the Association defers to the Codes of Ethics established within those fields for further guidance, while still maintaining the AIPP Code of Ethics.
- Training. In a training situation, the inter-actor has considerable power to make a situation go well or poorly. Since it is training, it should be a safe space for the spect-actor to experiment. Any assessment component opens up ethical questions for the privacy and professional safety of spect-actors. Inter-actors’ job in a training context is to act as a tool for the training. Therefore, inter-actors in a training context make narrative and behavioral choices that maximize the training priorities even when those choices may not be most dramatically interesting.
- Evaluation. Since evaluation can result in consequences, special care is taken to minimize bias or inconsistency that impact the evaluation of the spect-actors. Unless interactors are separately trained to provide post-performance evaluation, inter-actors do their best to avoid making post-performance evaluations and do not contribute to conclusions or reports about spect-actor performance in any training scenario.
- Deception. Many kinds of research involve deception in order for valid data to be gathered. When inter-actors participate in such research, this deception can be augmented by the necessary fiction of the performance. The deception must be minimal, necessary for the research being conducted, and the informed consent to which spect-actors agree must not contain deception.
- Training Consent. Spect-actors must understand that their participation involves interacting with an inter-actor, and that the purpose of the performance is training. If evaluation is included, spect-actors must be informed of that component before they agree to participate in the training.
- Debrief. Debrief is especially important when Interactive Performance is used in training, simulation, and research. inter-actors ensure that debrief protocol is followed according to the rules of the training, simulation, or research.
Post-show debrief – After an Interactive Performance, debriefs are used whenever possible to give spect-actors and inter-actors the most complete experience. The spect debrief allows spect-actors to share their perspectives and feedback without judgment or defense from the cast or production team. When spect-actors are no longer present, a production team debrief is employed to adjust or refine the experience, or simply as a learning opportunity.
Privacy – Creators and inter-actors act responsibly where the privacy of spect-actors and other inter-actors is concerned. If recordings are made of Interactive Performance, informed consent is required from all parties before participation. The context for any display or broadcast of such performance is necessarily described so that any third parties who view the recordings or broadcast understand the fictional nature of the performance.
The AIPP Code of Ethics is not intended to be a basis of civil liability. Whether a member has violated the Code of Ethics does not determine whether a member is punishable by any party, but may be grounds for dismissal from the Association.