[MUD-Dev] PKing minors

[shren]

On Thu, 31 Oct 2002 Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com wrote:
> From: Richard A. Bartle [mailto:richard at mud.co.uk] 
 
>> I'm not sure if this has been mentioned here already, but GamePro
>> have a report on the banning of PKing for under-18s in Korean
>> virtual worlds:
 
> Can this not just be avoided by redefining killing to be knocking
> unconscious or something?

Doesn't deal with the fundamental issue of an enviornment where kids
and adults compete as equals.  For instance, say I'm walking down
the street, I see a bunch of 7 year olds playing football, and I
join the game.

As an adult, my role on the field is different than one of the kids.
I'm allowed on the field to facilitate the playing of the kids - to
play with the kids on both teams, not against anyone.  I make sure
that everyone has fun.

For me to use my full athletic prowress against the other team of
seven year olds is right out.  It would be unheard of for me to
start hitting little kids with full tackles.  Every adult within
sight would yell, "what the hell are you doing?" the first time I
hit a little kid so hard his shoes fly off and end up in different
time zones.

We unconsciously baby kids - the reflex is so engrained that I can't
think of any reason off the top of my head than just because they
are kids.  Online, you can't see that they are kids, and thus you
have young minds subjected to a certain level of human savagery
uncomfortably early.

Once again, I can't help but wonder if more voice communications
would change the way we treat each other online.  I think the
average PK would hesitate a little more at hearing "please don't
kill me!" compared to just seeing the text.



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