[MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.

[Zak Jarvis]

This is going to be a narrative of some events I was a part of which touch
several of the issues being discussed lately.

About nine years ago I was playing Dragon's Gate on GEnie. I had attained more
or less the highest political posting a character of my race could attain. This
being the Bad Old Days of metered service ($6/hour in this particular instance),
I had put myself into a great deal of debt, and so I prepared to leave the game.
I needed to find a successor for my post. There were several people vying for
it, and choosing was left completely up to me.

Dragon's Gate was a multi-play system which allowed 3 characters per account, so
I had two other characters as well. I guarded my identity and kept my characters
separate. Being young, somewhat personable and given to trying to impress
people -- especially people I liked or trusted -- I usually told the people who
got to know me which other characters I played. My other two characters had no
political significance to speak of. I had a number of acquaintances at this
point, and at some time it'd become more public than I'd ever really intended
which characters were mine.

Several weeks before I needed to vacate my post, I was aware of perhaps two or
three people that I thought would replace me well. Honestly, I felt like any of
them would do a better job. Being the leader of a self-composed bureaucracy is
dull as dishwater. Among those in the ranks was a relatively new character who
was rapidly making all the social rounds. In pretty short order, she ended up
married to one of the council members of the group I was head of. I knew the
council member fairly well, as I did all of them really. (I'm either sad or
glad -- I'm not really sure which -- to say I can't recall how many there were).
Not terribly long after, one of my other two characters was approached by a
smart, friendly woman. They hit it off pretty well (and yes, I am talking about
my character in the third person as that's how I think of all of my characters,
though it gets really messy sometimes). The reveals happened pretty quickly in
the relationship. "I also play X and Y", "Oh, well I'm Z and W!"

Thanks to my ham fisted foreshadowing, you've probably guessed that this was the
same person married to the council member. All is fine and dandy. Then I
announce that I'm going to have to leave the game, and I need to fill my
leadership post. I get MANY hints from her that really, she'd LOVE to have the
job. In the course of this, I learn quite a bit about the player behind the
character. I learn she's pretty wealthy. She's a fair bit older than me. Maybe
I'm easily impressed by people who can add words to my vocabulary, but she came
across as sophisticated and intelligent. She becomes flirtatious with me in a
low-key but persistent and out of character way. I'll call her Anne.

Meanwhile, my character in the soon-to-be-vacated post is married to another
character. I knew her player fairly well at this point as well. We'd chatted on
the phone quite a bit, and were what I'd only be able to describe as good
friends. She was running low on cash too, and so she didn't want the post I was
leaving. She shall be called Shinobu.

There was also another woman who had gotten my attention as quite a responsible
sort, level-headed and very much in tune with the game world and interested in
the 'story' as it were. Despite much petitioning from Anne, I chose this woman
who I didn't actually know very well. Or rather, who I knew largely through the
strength of her character.

I bowed out, sold one of my old computers and made a trip out to Los Angeles to
visit some of the friends I'd met in the game. As it happened, I stayed with
Shinobu and I also had planned to meet with Anne while I was in LA. To condense
the story a bit, Anne turned out to not be Anne at all. Anne, in fact, was a
man. I learned this from another friend while in the car to meet 'her'. I wasn't
really bothered by that exactly, his characters were role-played really rather
well. The deception bothered me though, and ultimately, I ended up feeling
pretty good about the choice I'd made. (IE, not giving it to 'her')

I went home (and like most games addicts) found more ways to stay in the
community. Over the next few weeks, the decision I'd made started getting really
ugly. It became abundantly clear that 'Anne' had *really* wanted that post. He
began taking shots the woman I chose as my replacement.

In fact, he began the most pernicious, viciously passive-aggressive campaign of
character assassination I've ever seen, or hope to ever see again.

Well, a lot of issues came and went, after a very long time, he finally got what
he'd wanted but only after the position had become pretty evidently a booby
prize.

What occurred to me recently is that if he'd offered to pay off my debt for the
game, I would have given him the post. Of course, to do that he might have had
to give up his ruse, which may have been the deciding factor. I very effectively
would have had no choice. I wouldn't have been able to stick around the game.

And there you have it. Multi-play, gender identity issues and purchase of
in-game goods or services. Granted, the last is only theoretical. I like
multi-play, I have no problems with gender swapping and I'm queasy about selling
game stuff.

-Zak Jarvis
 http://www.voidmonster.com





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