It depends on whether the simulation itself is conscious, which is an open question in the philosophy of mind (is our wetware the only feasible substrate?) with much debate. If the answer is no, it's therefore not capable of suffering and not worthy of ethical concern, but as of yet we don't know the answer. We may of course wish to assume that it is conscious, just for the sake of risk aversion.
It depends on whether the simulation itself is conscious, which is an open question in the philosophy of mind (is our wetware the only feasible substrate?) with much debate. If the answer is no, it's therefore not capable of suffering and not worthy of ethical concern, but as of yet we don't know the answer. We may of course wish to assume that it is conscious, just for the sake of risk aversion.