[MUD-Dev] It's just a game (?)

[Ananda Dawnsinger]

> From: "F. Randall Farmer" <randy.farmer at pobox.com>
 
> 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.

As a statistically insignificant sample of the above dataset, I don't
feel as though the comparison trivializes real-life suicide, but I
don't think it's a particularly useful comparison either, except in a
certain subset of cases.

To Dave Rickey's credit, however, I think he was referring to that
subset of cancellations -- those in which the player goes out of their
way to give away items, behave erratically, leave cancellation notes
on public boards, and otherwise behave in a "suicidal" manner.  I
think it's fair to describe this as an attempt to remove one's
character from the world in such a way as to be mourned by those one
likes and noticed by those one doesn't.

As part of the same phenomenon, am I the only person who takes "tragic
death" stories like NOWHEREMOM's ("Player X tragically died yesterday
of a chronic and terminal brain cloud/in a random meteorite
fall/bravely defending the life of an innocent kitten") with an
underground deposit load of salt?  Or have I just gotten cynical in my
old age?  (Of course, what really sucks is that sometimes those
stories are true.)

On the other hand, the metaphor doesn't extend for two major reasons:

  1) Describing account cancellation as "suicide" assumes that it's an
  intrinsically bad thing for a player to cancel an account.  (Either
  that or you assume that suicide isn't an intrinsically bad
  thing... but I'm not going to go there right now.)  In fact, a
  certain amount of player turnover is to be expected, and even
  desirable.  A large number of players (especially the coveted
  "casual gamer") will play for a while, gradually lose interest, and
  move on to other things.  This is not a grave tragedy that must be
  prevented at all costs.

  2) For most players, the game is not a "virtual life."  It is only
  one part of an overall "real life" that just happens to take place
  in a virtual world.  For these players, quitting the game is no more
  like suicide than resigning from a job, switching to a different
  church, leaving school, or dropping out of the weekly coffee klatch.

(On a related topic, IMO the players least likely to return to your
game are the ones who leave quietly.  Those who make a big deal about
killing off their characters are likely to return later with a new
account.  I suspect those who feign player death are likely to return
later under a different persona.)

> 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.

I don't know... "suicide by cop" sure fits a lot of behavior I've
witnessed over the years.  OTOH, sometimes it's more accurate to
compare it to trying to see how much harrassment the bouncer will take
before he knocks you out on the street.

> 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.]

It's more complicated in a more RP-oriented (persona/character-based
rather than avatar-based) game, in which players choose how much of
themselves they reveal behind the character mask.  Even there, one
tends to miss both the character, and the mysterious player who was
able to manage the character so skillfully.  OTOH, people often miss
retired characters even though the player's still around with other
personae.  But I still think the main portion of the "value"

   --  Sharon

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