"Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (Re: [MUD-Dev] MMORPGs & MUDs)

[J C Lawrence]

On Sat, 2 Feb 2002 18:36:03 +0000 (GMT) 
Matt Mihaly <the_logos at achaea.com> wrote:

> Really. So, today, you could just summarily decide, "I am in love
> with Jesse Helms." I could make my character love him, but there
> wouldn't be any actual emotion behind it, particularly as I
> actually loathe him.

Some aspects are easier than others, and some are variously
difficult, but more generally, yes.

> I also question whether you've ever experienced anything truly
> emotionally shocking, because the feeling of watching, say,
> someone shot to death 2 feet from you is not one I would be able
> to conjure up spontaneously, despite having seen it happen and
> knowing exactly what it feels like.

Spontaneity is a problem (for me) if you define it as, "can turn on
off instantly".  Much of that emotional shock requires various
endocrine supports and that takes time and effort to get in place
(and in particularly is something I'm not good at).

> I maintain that roleplaying, by necessity, involves disconnecting
> your actions from your emotions to some extent.

Which centers on the question of whether emotional control is
necessarily a concious deliberate repression (keeping the wild beast
caged) or can be a simple choice at any instant as to how something
(specific) is viewed (ObJeers toward the silly "mad at XXX so kick
the cat" transfer model).

> (Incidentally, I don't think this is off-topic, because it drives
> to the core of one of the complaints about roleplaying: It cuts
> people off from themselves, and dampens emotional connection to
> events.)

Oddly enough, prior to this thread, that's not been a complaint I've
run into.

--
J C Lawrence                
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. 
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?		  
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.
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