In Free Guy, Free City is a violent open-world online game run by the company Soonami. Its non-player characters (NPCs) follow scripted routines, such as Guy’s job as a bank teller, which is regularly interrupted by armed robberies by human-controlled players. Guy, an NPC, gains self-awareness and independent decision-making. He discovers that his world is a game, that the other NPCs are not yet aware of this, and that Soonami plans to release a sequel that would delete Free City.

For this debate, assume that other NPCs are capable of awareness, that Guy knows this, and that being told the truth would not itself cause them to be deleted.

In the arcade game Fix-It Felix Jr., the characters celebrate the hero Felix, and shun the villain Ralph. Ralph is frustrated with his assigned role. The residents tell him he can only join their celebrations if he wins a medal, just as Felix does. He learns that the first-person shooter game Hero’s  Duty awards medals, which he can win by getting past its dangerous insectoid enemies.

If a game's villain is missing, the game is flagged as malfunctioning and put at risk of being unplugged, which leaves its characters homeless. The arcade has a precedent: Turbo, a racing game character, left his own game and tried to take over another out of jealousy, and both games were unplugged.

Without him knowing, Truman's life is filmed twenty-four hours a day by roughly five thousand hidden cameras and broadcast to a worldwide audience on “The Truman Show” that has run since his birth. His hometown, Seahaven Island, is a set built inside an enormous dome in Los Angeles. Everyone in it, including his wife Meryl and his best friend Marlon, is an actor or crew member, and they advertise products to him and to the audience to generate revenue for the show. Christof, the show’s creator and executive producer, controls nearly every aspect of Truman's life. For instance, when Truman was a boy, his father's death was staged to instill a fear of water that would stop him from leaving. Sylvia, an extra with whom Truman fell in love, was removed before she could tell him the truth.

One day, Truman stumbles upon the truth that his whole life is staged and being broadcasted. He wants to leave to go into the real world but is given a choice. If he decides to stay, the show continues, and Christof agrees to stop hiding the truth from him and to stop manipulating his movements, but the cameras remain and the audience keeps watching. Seahaven is physically safe and some people in Seahaven care about Truman genuinely, while others are only doing their jobs.

Pranay has been in a loving, stable relationship with his girlfriend for close to three years. They are happy, well-adjusted, and in love. A few weeks ago, Pranay cheated on his partner but is unlikely to ever repeat this behaviour again.

A Sunday boyfriend is a casual romantic companion whom you see primarily over the weekends or sporadically for low-stress activities (like cuddling, watching movies, or getting take-out). These relationships are typically characterized by low commitment, convenience, and personal freedom. 

Gunjan is a young professional in her early 20’s who has had an unlucky love life. She was in a long term relationship, but is no longer with her partner and has since been trying out dating. She is ambitious and financially independent. 

The Hunger Games is a deadly competition where 'tributes' from different districts are forced to fight to the death, organized by the Capitol, the wealthy and powerful government that controls the districts of Panem. Each district has an assigned industry that supplies the Capitol, and economic exploitation is a big factor of why the Capitol keeps the districts subjugated. District 12 is the poorest district.

After decades of the Hunger Games, there is a successful rebellion against the Capitol led by Katniss, a tribute from District 12 and a surviving 'victor'. Once the Capitol is defeated, President Snow is captured and awaits execution. The de facto post-rebellion government, formed by the rebels, proposes holding one final Hunger Games using the children of Capitol leaders and officials as tributes, framing it as retribution for the Games that the Capitol imposed on the districts. The surviving victors, Katniss among them, are asked to vote on whether to hold this ceremonial edition of the Hunger Games. 

Many districts have lost an enormous number of people to the Games and the war, including Katniss, whose sister Prim was killed during the final assault on the Capitol. For the purpose of this motion, assume Katniss' vote is decisive, the Games would follow the original format, and that the tributes would be selected by lottery from the children of Capitol leaders and officials.

In the nation of Panem, the Capitol rules over twelve districts. As punishment for a failed rebellion, the Capitol forces each district to send one boy and one girl (aged 12-18), chosen by lottery, to the annual Hunger Games as tributes. The 24 tributes fight to the death in a televised arena until only one survives. This 'victor' gets riches and fame. The Games serve both as mass entertainment for the Capitol and as a tool of control over the districts. 

Each district assigns its tributes a mentor, a previous victor who advises them on training and strategy. Mentors also court wealthy Capitol sponsors, who can pay for supplies sent into the arena mid-Games. It is also useful to note that some districts (1, 2, and 4) are favoured by Capitol sponsors and have 'Career' tributes who have trained for the Games much longer and thus volunteer (and usually win) the Games. 

Haymitch is the only living victor from District 12, the poorest district, which has few victors and little resources from sponsors. He won the 50th Games, after which the Capitol killed his family in retaliation, and every tribute he has mentored since has tragically died. This year, Haymitch is assigned to the two new District 12 tributes and must decide whether to mentor them or refuse. 

In the nation of Panem, the Capitol rules twelve districts through fear, and as punishment for a failed rebellion, it forces each district to send two tributes (aged 12-18) to fight to the death in the annual televised Hunger Games. The Games serve as both entertainment for the Capitol and a demonstration to the districts of their powerlessness. President Snow is the Capitol's autocratic leader, and his rule depends on keeping the districts too afraid and too divided to rebel.

The 74th Games ended in an unprecedented way: two tributes from District 12, Katniss and Peeta, threatened to eat poisonous berries rather than kill each other, forcing the Capitol to allow two victors and leaving their leaders publicly humiliated. 

Since then, unrest has spread. There is open defiance in some districts, and the gestures used by the District 12 tributes in the Games are being adopted as symbols of resistance amidst a growing uprising against the Capitol. Snow must now decide how to respond to maintain his stronghold. He can either give in and offer concessions to the districts (for example, easing rationing, loosening Peacekeeper control, or softening the Games). Alternatively, he can escalate repression through sending more Peacekeepers, harsher punishments, and tighter control over daily life. 

In Ready Player One (2018), set in 2045, people live in poverty and scarcity in the real world and spend most of their time in the OASIS, a free virtual reality platform. Its late creator, James Halliday, left his fortune and full control of the OASIS to whoever finds three hidden keys and an Easter egg inside it. The people who devote themselves to this search are called Gunters (egg hunters). Independent Gunters have made strides in the hunt for the egg and have also formed their own groups for the hunt. 

Innovative Online Industries (IOI) is a corporation that wants to win the hunt and take control of the OASIS. Its plan is to fill the platform with ads and paywalls, and it employs a large workforce of "Sixers" (IOI-employed Gunters) to search full-time. Gunters who refuse to join or sell out to IOI are hunted, harassed, and threatened, both in the game and in the real world.

IOI now offers individual Gunters a large payment to permanently withdraw from the hunt. Accepting means being a Gunter for IOI and giving up any chance of winning the prize — if you win, you must hand over control to IOI. Refusing means staying in the race against a far better-resourced competitor, with the risk of continued targeting by IOI.

For the purpose of this debate, assume that the payment is large enough to meaningfully improve the Gunter's real-world circumstances and accepting is a one-time irreversible choice.

In Ready Player One (2018), set in 2045, most of the population lives in poverty and scarcity in the real world. Most people spend their days in the OASIS: a free, massive virtual reality platform where they work, study, socialize, and play. Its creator, James Halliday, left control of the OASIS and his fortune to whoever could find three keys and an Easter egg hidden in the game. Wade Watts wins, beating the corporation IOI, which wanted to take over the platform and fill it with ads and paywalls.

Wade now holds full control of the OASIS along with his co-winners. Halliday, Wade’s personal hero, left a final message for him — that reality, for all its flaws, is the only place where real meaning and real connection exist.

For this debate, assume that Wade has the power to shut down the OASIS permanently, that it cannot be restored by anyone else, and that the real-world conditions people live in would stay the same on the day it goes dark.

In Ready Player One (2018), Wade Watts and Art3mis first develop a deep romantic connection inside the OASIS, a virtual reality world where people can construct ideal identities and also pursue relationships. The OASIS is not just a game; in the dystopian 2040s, it has become the primary social, economic, and cultural space for much of humanity, allowing people to escape poverty, environmental decline, and extremely difficult real-world lives. 

Wade initially knows Art3mis only through her avatar and online persona, so most of his attraction is built around the identity she chooses to present in the OASIS. Their relationship becomes increasingly serious, but Art3mis is skeptical of allowing their virtual relationship to define their real lives. She is also deeply committed to the real-world struggle against IOI, the corporation attempting to seize control of the OASIS to make money off of it. Wade eventually discovers Art3mis’s real-world identity, Samantha Cook and has the opportunity to pursue a relationship with her outside the OASIS. 

The trolley problem is a thought experiment that sketches a scenario in which a runaway trolley is on course to collide with five people down the track, who are unable to move out of the way and are certain to be killed upon contact with the trolley. You, the only bystander, are the only one who can intervene to divert the trolley to switch onto a different track, where there is only one person. You are unable to stop the trolley or in any way communicate the imminent danger to anyone.

A newly developed virtual immortality technology, Carshagun, involves digital scanning, copying and uploading of the human brain onto a computer. As a result, human consciousness can be preserved without any risk of damage or decay, enabling humans to “live forever” long after their physical bodies may have perished.

The Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others (CMIO) model is a racial classification framework used in Singapore. It groups the population into one of the four categories. The government uses this system for public housing, political representation, and social policies to manage diversity and maintain harmony.

Standardising rental agreements refers to the use of legally defined or state-approved baseline rental contract terms, such as provisions on lease duration, renewal, eviction procedures, maintenance responsibilities, and tenant-landlord rights and obligations.

Crashes refers to a situation in which housing prices rise significantly above levels justified by underlying fundamentals (such as income, rents, or demand), often driven by speculation, and which may be followed by market instability, stagnation, or decline when expectations adjust.

For the purposes of this debate, the cap is decided proportional to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Examples include, but are not limited to: Germany's debt brake, capping their annual borrowing at 0.35% of GDP, and Switzerland's Schuldenbremse.

In many major cities, housing costs have risen rapidly due to population growth, urbanisation, and limited new development. Economists broadly agree that two leading strategies can reduce housing costs:

Supply-side solutions aim to increase the total number of housing units, primarily through zoning reform, easing building restrictions, and incentivising private development.

Demand-side and redistributive solutions aim to help individuals afford housing through government interventions such as rent control, public/social housing, rental subsidies, or taxes on vacant homes.

While both approaches can coexist, governments often have limited resources and must prioritise one approach in both funding and political capital.

Brazil’s Cerrado region covers 21% of the country and is a large biological hotspot. Since the 1970s, large areas in the region have been deforested and converted from native savanna to intensive agriculture.

This expansion was largely driven by soybean monoculture agribusinesses, as Brazil is the top exporter of soybeans globally. In 2023, soybean production accounted for 6.3% of Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and roughly 16% of the developing country’s total export revenue.

Indigenous communities often rely on traditional land-use practices for food and their livelihoods. However, some of their practices may cause forms of ecological harm. Examples include, but are not limited to: swidden (slash-and-burn) farming in Southeast Asia, which has contributed to regional haze events; the use of poison by pastoralist communities to kill livestock predators such as lions and hyenas, which has caused secondary poisoning and a decline in biodiversity in Africa; and the use of lead ammunition in subsistence hunting in Ecuador and the Amazons, which has been said to contaminate soil, water, and wildlife. The case of Rapa Nui (Eastern Island) also shows how a community that depends on traditional harvesting of palm trees for canoes, houses, and tools for daily life, may contribute to deforestation of palm trees through their extensive harvesting.

You are an executive working at a successful movie studio. After having produced multiple films this year, you now have limited budget and can only spend on one more movie for the year. You can choose to greenlight a sequel to a proven hit with an established audience, or invest in an unexplored original script. The unexplored script has never been tested with audiences but has gone through rewrites and edits to land at your desk. 

For the purpose of this motion, assume parents have completed treatment and are assessed as low-risk.

In most universities, a fixed major refers to a single concentration (major/minor) with a syllabus typically prescribed by the university.

“Black-and-white morality” states that actions are inherently right or wrong. In contrast, “moral grayness” states that an action is morally ambiguous, depending on its context and circumstances.

Society A has a dominant belief in Ahimsa, which is an ancient Indian principle that centers on maximum non-violence. (“Do not cause injury or harm to anyone.”)

Meanwhile, Society B's prevailing belief is the Golden Rule. Thought to have originated from China, this belief centers on reciprocity. (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”)