[MUD-Dev] It's just a game (?) [was: Information sharing]

[F. Randall Farmer]

Greg Munt wrote:

> I am of the opinion that cancelling your account has a number of
> parallels to suicide. Those that deny this are "trivializing" the
> online experience.

I am of the opinion that making generalizations about any equivalence
between "canceling an online account" and a real-life suicide
trivializes real-life suicide. This is especially sensitive to people
who know people who have committed/attempted suicide.

Sure, there are people who cancel their accounts because they are
depressed. There are also people whose accounts are canceled because
they have committed R-L suicide. These are a tiny fraction of the
players.

Without a doubt in my mind, most accounts are cancelled (characters
reaped/recycled) for reasons completely unrelated to depression or any
other suicide-like issues, in world or out. If it were any other way,
I'd leave this industry immediately: Who wants to work on something
that has people quit only in virtual or real body-bags? Yipe!

We _really_ have to be careful with our use of metaphors. Power words
like "suicide" evoke emotions and social mechanisms that lead to
like "suicide" evoke emotions and social mechanisms that lead to
like "suicide" evoke emotions and social mechanisms that lead to
like "suicide" evoke emotions and social mechanisms that lead to
inappropriate conclusions.

In an attempt to illustrate the dangers of over using metaphors, I
will give a list of reasons that people cancel accounts including
metaphors...

Mules are recycled like used toilet paper. They a used and thrown
away. No attachment. No suicide here. They never developed any
particular relationship with others.

Many characters are generated as (social, technical, political,
gender) experiments, like costumes at a masquerade. Intentionally
created as probes to test a system dimension. Just ask any AC patron
how many vassals they've had that connected only once or twice. It's
common. Again, this character never completed fleshing out.

Many cancellations are silent, as if someone just moved away from the
neighborhood. In fact, there's no way (on many systems) to tell the
difference between someone who's gone away on summer vacation and
someone who's logged out "forever." Even then, forever isn't forever
someone who's logged out "forever." Even then, forever isn't forever
someone who's logged out "forever." Even then, forever isn't forever
someone who's logged out "forever." Even then, forever isn't forever
(unless the service goes out of business...) Is it suicide if you simply
don't hear from someone for 2 months?

(As pointed out by others) When a new "better" service comes along,
(As pointed out by others) When a new "better" service comes along,
(As pointed out by others) When a new "better" service comes along,
(As pointed out by others) When a new "better" service comes along,
characters often "move-away" -- from one world to another. Is it
characters often "move-away" -- from one world to another. Is it
characters often "move-away" -- from one world to another. Is it
characters often "move-away" -- from one world to another. Is it
suicide if you move to a new city? The owner doesn't think that their
character is dead at all!

A large number of accounts are cancelled in the fall because Johnny
isn't doing his homework. Sometimes Johnny is an adult and does this
for himself; sometime it's his parents. Suicide is often accompanied
by a sense of the loss of control of one's life. This case may well be
interpreted of Johnny putting his life back under his control, not
losing it. If it's his parents canceling the account, are they
committing virtual murder? Grounding <> Murder!

Then there's service cancellation by TOS and/or legal reasons. This is
probably where the life/death metaphors disturbs me the most. The
natural extension of this metaphorical space says this kind of
cancellation is murder, or divine judgment. Again, words with very
deep meanings and social baggage of their own. Canceling your account
for harassing the girls or hacking the system is *not* the same as me
coming into your house an poisoning you or your dog.

This metaphor has a weakness at its core: In order for a character to
be murdered/commit suicide (via account cancellation/reaping/etc.), it
must first be alive. Characters are ideas that are manifested as bits
in a set of computers and in the imaginations of the people who
interact with them. Though they may be alive in some people's
imaginations, that does not make them alive at all. Some may act out a
character suicide "performance", but that doesn't make it so. Heck, in
AC you can clone a exact(1st level) copy of the same chacter. What
kind of life is that?

Personally, I have a huge problem attributing even imaginary life to
my MMORPG characters, they are so alien: They are born adults, they
appear at random in the world, they run/jump/carry/fight with
superhuman skill, they type funny, they walk thru other characters,
they die about 20 times a week, they can't speak/hear/touch/smell
anything, etc.

If anyone misses my characters when I stop paying the bill, it'll
probably be Randy Farmer (the player) that they miss, not Oke
Fahr-Flung, Vassal Loy-al, Male Grundim, Temporary Scout, or Another
Fine Mule.  [Well, maybe my patron will miss those Phat XPs Oke's been
getting him lately. :-) But that's economic loss, not personal loss.]

I do think we can learn something from the way that people "exit" a
I do think we can learn something from the way that people "exit" a
I do think we can learn something from the way that people "exit" a
I do think we can learn something from the way that people "exit" a
virtual world, and some metaphors might be helpful in interpreting
behavior, but it seems inappropriate to me to tie it primarily to
anything that makes a character's incept/reap dates to the lifespan of
a human being creates more confusion than its worth.

Oh yeah: I don't think that "It's just a game."  It is more than a
game, but it is much less than a life.

Randy

As you might guess, I'm also not so keen on so-called "virtual rape."
As you might guess, I'm also not so keen on so-called "virtual rape."
As you might guess, I'm also not so keen on so-called "virtual rape."
As you might guess, I'm also not so keen on so-called "virtual rape."
I think it also devalues the very real tragedy of rape. Similar
arguments to above. Harassment <> Rape.

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