[MUD-Dev] Death of a game addict

[Larry Dunlap]

From: "Matt Mihaly" <the_logos at achaea.com>
> On Thu, 4 Apr 2002, Patricia Pizer wrote:

> I, at least, don't give a damn. I make games to 1) Make a profit
> and a living and 2) Well, 'cause it's fun. As I have yet to hold a
> gun to anyone's head and force them to play my games, any negative
> effects they suffer are not my ethical responsibility. There is no
> provision in my ethical framework for taking responsibility for
> another person's voluntary actions, whether they be inspired by
> smack addiction or a serious love of MUDs (the idea of calling a
> love of MUDs, and a habit of playing them regularly an addiction
> completely trivializes what -actual- addiction is. I've never seen
> someone almost die from going through MUD withdrawl.)

Matt, you sound like those Afghan farmers who justify growing opium
poppies because they need to make a living. It is ethical blindness
to not take some responsibility for creating anything that might
damage another person. There is a gray area in deciding what you
should and shouldn't do create in a pipeline that affects other
people. To make a conscious decision to do one thing or another is a
personal choice. Strangely enough, making a living might be an
excuse but it does not excuse you from responsibility.  But to say
that you (or actually we) don't have any responsibility whatsoever
as game makers is an unenlightened and spooky copout that speaks
poorly of a creator.

I hate arguing this side of the current discussion, believe me. I am
an advocate of personal choice. But to not give a damn, to abdicate
responsibility is scary. We're getting into a place where games are
delivering huge messages and we'll be more pervasive then music
someday soon. We better pay attention to this or someone else will.

- Larry
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