Slashdot Mirror
The Warriors Stood in the Shape of a Heart
An anonymous reader writes "Here's a picture of Warsingers funeral. Warsinger was an in-game persona in the rather good MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot". and generally well-liked.
The real person behind Warsinger was a 32-year-old with heart trouble, who really died.
So the players on his server organized an in-game
funeral.At the funeral, players from the three realms of Camelot, who normally kill each other gleefully on sight, stood in the shape of a heart (check the pic above); the two figures in the center of the heart are Warsinger's real-life sister and girlfriend."
How many people they had to kick for spoiling the fun and and getting free kills?
It's next to impossible to find a (FPS) game with friendly fire enabled that you don't find kiddies shooting you in the back for fun - let alone not shooting the other team..
*Oops, trigger slipped*
Wow! That's what I call an online community! I don't play Dark Age of Camelot, but my deepest sympathy goes to his family.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent - Salvor Hardin
... as the first "religious" ceremony in virtual reality? Only quoted religiousness, as the ceremony does not seem to lock into any one religion, and does not make a statement of belief.
Probably not the first one either, but the first one to draw enough eyeballs through slashdot to be publicly remembered.
This makes one wonder whether gaming was his foremost achievement in his life, and if so, was it fullfilling. Probably at least the latter.
Rest in peace. And loved.
I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
You're kinda missing the point. There was a community that has been developed through the guild. One of its members died - not left, not terminated his account, died. As a result, the community felt a rather sharp sense of loss. His character didn't die, he did. I think it's a very good example of being in TOUCH with reality, and choosing to take a moment out of the virtual world's rules to honor him. If they were disconnected from reality, they wouldn't really have given a rip. They were holding a funeral for HIM, the player behind Warsinger, not for the character Warsinger. They chose to honor him in a way rather well suited to the game.
I think it's pretty cool.
just further proves the depth of the relationships that are kindled through online gaming. For all of us who have logged on at 4am just to talk to friends and occasionally do some killing it is nice to see this sense of community alive and well. I just hope there weren't any trolls wandering around causing unnecessary mayhem at such a sacred time.
Read the article High-Tech Ways to Handle End-of-Life Issues and visit this site of a company that organizes (semi) virtual funerals.
I do indeed think Warsinger was honored by this, and my respects go out to all who attended and made a great statement about community spirit.
The flippant end comment was just a lame attempt at getting +1 funny for once. Clearly it was in bad taste. My apologies.
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
I play in a chat-based RPG known as A Call To Duty. It's been around for about 6 years and currently stands at 240-something players. We've seen real life marriages and births as the result of players meeting in the game. Inevitably, we've also had players who have passed away. Recently, the passing of one of our game managers was marked by dedicating a ship in his name. His family understood what the game meant to him, and they were happy with what we had done.
It's nice that in a way his funeral meant something to his friends, rather than a boring sermon from a speaker that didn't really know him.
A few years back a guy died on the field in the reenactment of the battle of tewksbury (1471).
I think of a burst aorta, possibly exacerbated by hefting a large sword around a field in 33C heat, wearing plate armour...
It wasn't until afterwards that people realised that he was really dead. They had a wonderful funeral the next day, in the nearby abbey (where many of the noble dead from the battle were buried). Thousands turned up to pay their respects, most still in kit. He was buried in the same way a respected knight would have been.
Though I didn't find out personally, I'm told that the pallbearers had a hard time holding up the coffin, as he was buried in plate.
And of course, I didn't just respond to a post from a person, just to a bunch of electrons (well, deep down, we're all just clouds of atoms and electrons anyway)?
Money for nothing, pix for free
And I'm a slashbot who spits out random characters to form random words to form random sentences, right? I mean, I'm not a person, just a bunch of electrons, apparently.
There are people behind the words. In a game like DAOC, you start to care deeply about them. Friendships and bonds are formed. When they're broken by death, "silly displays of emotion" are quite called for, and the medium of their relationships made the medium of their rememberance quite fitting.
Amazing how jaded some people can be.
The same thing could be said from phoning your mother. You are not really talking to her, you're just interpreting some waves coming from a horn. How strange! ... communications, then you're losing a grip on reality.
Of course, I am not a person, I am just something your computer created. Or not?
If you forget you're constantly dealing with people on the other side of your IM, e-mail, message board,
Teenagers these days don't have as much sex as they want each other to think they do.
Yes...but there is a real person behind each of those connections. Just because a community is made up of members who communicate with each other online (whether it be via a message board, chat room, MUD, MMORPG, or what have you) instead of meeting face-to-face doesn't make it any less "real" than any other community. People can (and will) argue endlessly about the "quality" of online versus in-person communities, but the fact remains that online communities are very much "reality", not fantasy.
In this case, a well known and respected member of the community passed away, and the other members of the community paid their respects. It baffles me that you find that "sick."
DennyK
This from someone calling himself "Dark Lord Seth".
I think you're being a little harsh. The computer imposes certain limitations on how you can interact, but there are still real people controlling the characters. That's why people play online instead of against AI. It's why people troll FPS -- the other players get annoyed and react and you know you've upset a real human and they can't respond.
I compare online games to a game of football at the park. All the players have personalities and people often chat while there's no action. They get to know each other. If you run off with the ball one day people will remember. If you were fun to play with people remember that too. The community wanted to homour this guy, so they had a ceremony. That's cool in my opinion -- the other players obviously thought a lot of this guy, and the practicalities of a real life ceremony would prevent it.
Perhaps you've never been a regular on a good game server. There's definately a community spirit.
Back in the days of BBSing there was this BBS in Rochester, NY, and one of the users of this BBS had a heart attack while online.
After the incident the welcome screen was modified to read "Welcome to xxxx BBS" and down near the bottom: "Frags: 1"
In a very similar way, my local football team, Nottingham Forest, held a minute's silence at the start of their last home game to commemorate the death of one of their old players. No one thought that the line between sport and the rest of life was being blurred in an inappropriate way, or that everyone in the ground should have gone and attended his funeral instead. It was a tribute to the man by the club and it's fans, in the same way that this was a tribute to the man from the online community through which he knew them.
It's a strange thing.. when you play RPGs you're used to the idea of people dying and then coming back. Real Life isn't quite like that, unless you believe in Buddhism. There's a sense of loss, but of that person as a game character, not as a real human, and it often comes as a huge shock to remember that these are flesh-and-blood mortals.
Of course, its also rare that you find if someone has died.. sometimes people go away and you're often left wondering why. It's only the most prominent players who you tend to find out about when they pass away. sigh.
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
As someone who spends less time on online games than he does on the toilet I get the point here - just because you don't meet in real life doesn't mean you don't know someone. You can get close to people playing games together, be it monopoly or fragUup.
/poll looking at %age of social time spent online / onplanet / onTivo. I get the feeling that more and more people are spending a bigger and bigger chunk of their life online. Not a bad thing as such, many people spend nearly all their social time hooked to the TV, the Bar, a SkateBoard.
I'd like to see a
This isn't the first time this happened. A player in Ultima Online passed away a couple of years ago and a Gamemaster created an invulnerable dolphin with his name on his home server.
s200.org - visit it (me), love it (me).
This sort of thing has been happening for years in online worlds. Interesting how games that supposedly degrade a person's civility can harbor such a beutiful testament of pure respect.
Even death has become too easy, you can sorrow online and forget it tomorrow.
You cannot see the grief of the relatives, you cannot see the pain or the sadness, it's all game. Do online gamers really understand that a real person died, not a character. Is the sorrow similar to one you feel when the main character in your favorite book dies?
My brother died few months ago, he was very active quake player, member of a succesfull clan etc. His clan mates had never met him in real life, but they were as close as someone can be virtually/online. Now six months later they barely remember he ever was in their clan. Instead his real life friends still grief him frequently.
In my opinion everything online is a shadow of the same thing in real life - even emotions.
The point is that all of these people felt enough of a sense of loss to organise and respect this gesture - to everyone 'there', it means something, and that is what is important. The guy's dead - it makes no difference to him. His close family and friends will have a regular funeral - it makes no difference to them either. But for his gaming contemporaries who fell they have lost a member of their community, this is a mark of respect that each must feel strongly enough about just to log in / turn up.
The point is that the how is not important - as long as each person who feels they want to show some respect/sorrow does it in a way that they are happy with. It just so happens that this particular one was online in a 'newsworthy' manner.
To take the electrons/waveforms/TCP/IP connection thing further, none of us should care about anything - we are simply by-products of a biological system which is designed to reproduce. But that's not what people see themselves as - we have created morality, religion, and a thousand other things to give meaning to our lives. Nature gives us no such meaning.
These gamers have a strong sense of community, just because they interact and form relationships. The communication is what marks them as friends, rivals, enemies... their friendship is no less valid than a 'traditional' one. Otherwise it could be argued that the wartime radio jockeys (who built up lasting friendships with other radio operators despite never having met) did not have a valid friendship. Or anyone who has met Stephen Hawking since he lost the power of speech. Or any disabled person who cannot communicate 'normally'.
This idea was invented by Shampoo.
It's probably easier as you can see the whole layout from slightly above. That way, everyone can see where they need to be to make the heart shape work.
nice to see some people still remember. Scav is still looked upon with great reverence in what's left of the AW community.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
In some cultures, particularly those that notice St. Valentine's Day, the heart represents love. I'm willing to bet what little karma I have the mourners meant no offense.
Jack
They know how old he is, they know who his sister and girlfriend are and they know how he died, but his name? Nope, not a mention.
Something about technology being dehumanizing?
Yes, I'm next to "Highlander Warrior" on the right proudly holding my Realm Keepers shield with my helmet removed in tribute. I set my alarm clock to get up unusually early specifically to travel (yes *travel*, its a long and dangerous way from Cornwall to Hadrians Wall)
I can't believe the number of "pathetic loser" comments that I'm seeing here. Yes, this is a game, but no it does NOT substitute for real life. We are not detatched from reality. DaoC is the very first MMORPG that I've ever played and it did not take me very long to realize that with the gameplay comes a great deal of human interaction, far beyond just "fragging" people in a FPS.
You truly build and associate with a community of people that you enjoy and care about. One couple in my guild (yes, most of us are over 30, married and have spouses and children that play) just had a baby and we all celebrated. One guild member was just called up to active duty in the reserves and we saluted him when he left (and he is missed already).
If you had a co-worker die, I hope that you would be touched and saddened. These are people that I know and care about....why is this pathetic?
Simusid Hawke
Level 42 Armsman
Albion/Pellinor
Not a lot of people know this, but in Sunset Home, the zone in EverQuest reserved for customer service personnel to enjoy between answering petitions, there are a few memorials to guides (players who volunteer their time to help with the customer service) who have passed away while in the program.
/salute and /hug.
During the training session a senior guide takes you around sunset home showing you the sights, but they're always very serious and sombre around the avatars that exist in memoriam...
On the server where I was a guide for a brief time one of the guides had recently passed away so they made a special point of telling us about him and his avatar. When they would passed by they would always find time for a quick
Ok I'm trying not to troll or be flamebait here but there is something unsettling about this (and it seems that a lot of other modded down posters feel the same way) although I don't know why. I guess it was that the entire thing was carried on in his hobby and not a job or anything "normal" (but what's normal nowadays). There was that other post about the reenactor being buried in full plate by his reenactment buddies. It all goes along the same lines I guess.
In one way both of these people were "playing someone else" and, to memorialize them this way almost seems to say that they are "playing dead" and everyone else is "playing funeral" (kind of like the childrens' game). From this perspective it seems like a trivialization of the event. Sure, the people taking part were close friends, but to outsiders it all seems like an act.
Of course, if I die, it would be neat to have a 12 Arctic Weapon Head Shot Salute... maybe not.
What is music when you despise all sound?
Understandably some of those posts are intended to be trolls and flamebait, but even those intentions in this topic are incredibly thoughtless and a sad indicator of the mentality of too many people in my generation.
This person's death was mourned in a fairly uncommon way and seems worthy of some attention and respect. At the same time, I'm not suggesting that death has to be completely serious and solemn -- I hope when I die my friends and family will hold a party in my honor with laughter and lots of food. But even in a light-hearted situation as that may be, thoughtless comments still do not have any place.
I feel sorry for those that feel this person has wasted his life simply because he found it easier to make friends online than in real life. Having had many online friendships, some still exist today, I can say from experience that I have not forgotten these individuals in as much as they revealed to me.
Certainly knowing someone in real life is more conducive to creating much stronger bonds among people, but it did say his sister and girlfriend were online in the middle of the heart, so that suggests he did indeed have some sort of life beyond the game.
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
> That's like paying homage to a Crucifix to represent the death of a person Crucified...
...
Actually, a closer parallel would be to form things (a group of people, the layout of a church, the shape of a garden) to honor someone who was crucified.
I think some people have done that
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
And maybe they don't know the person as well or don't miss as much as the family of the person who died. So what.
But don't you dare say they don't have the right to morn at all. Online is a way to bring together people from across the world who would otherwise be left out. It's not as close as in person, but it is much better than nothing.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
ANGEL: I watched you, and I saw you called. It was a bright afternoon out in front of your school. You walked down the steps... and... and I
loved you.
BUFFY: Why?
ANGEL: 'Cause I could see your heart. You held it before you for everyone to see. And I worried that it would be bruised or torn. And more than anything in my life I wanted to keep it safe... to warm it with my own.
{they embrace}
BUFFY: That's beautiful. Or taken literally, incredibly gross.
ANGEL: I was just thinking that, too.
From the episode "Helpless"
The reason you don't get to moderate is probably because you read too much. I had the exact same problem until I went out of town for two weeks early this year. When I came back, I got to moderate for the first time. It happened again after two other trips, and I finally got the idea that I was in the top percentage of active readers, and tried reading less. It was hard, but I started getting to moderate more frequently.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Maximum level in DAoC is 50. And I don't think they would've held a funeral near a Lv99 mob like the Dragon.
That said - I wish I'd known about this. I play DAoC and knew nothing. Of course, it WAS on a different server.
I'm honestly surprised at how few people showed up in that picture - That's on par with a single realm's RvR zerg, and word tends to spread REALLY fast throughout a realm in DAoC. If I'd been on the server in question (Pellinor, I play on Lancelot), I would've been there.
Strange thing was, I was at Beno last night... For the first time ever.
One other odd thing to note: It looks like the screenshot was made by someone not from the guild/realm holding the funeral, as the shot is almost all Midgard players but they have the generic "not from your realm" names. I also see a couple of generic Albion tags, so the shot must've been taken by a Hibernian.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Online Communities are not just made up of people who have met online. Sometimes real life friends organize to get together online to enjoy a game together.
I don't know Warsinger or his player. Never met him in real life or in DaoC.
But I find that this gesture is a very nice one, and probably not the only gesture to commemorate this individual's passing. I'm sure his face to face friends met face to face to lay him to rest. His online gaming friends met online to commemorate his passing.
This is no weirder than running a marathon to remember someone who ran marathon's or launching Gene Roddenberry's ashes into space.
If you know someone in a certain context you tend to want to memorialize them in that context.
Rest in Peace
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
As someone else already pointed out: the relationship one builds in an MMORPG is a lot less tenuous than relations in 1st person shooters. It is surprising to non-players how much one can learn about another player through the game, and many players who meet their close on-line-friends in real life end up being close friends in real life as well. Some even marry. I'd say I am closer to some in-game friends whom I have never met, than I am to some of my real-life friends. I cannot imagine many gamers feeling the death of an in-game friend merely as the death of their character.
And does one really have to see the grief of the deceased's relatives to make ones own grief more valid or real? At a funeral, one may find comfort in the presence of others that share ones grief. That is the purpose of these virtual funerals. Friends of the deceased gather to share the grief and thereby easing it somewhat, not because it is a k3wl thing to do in-game.
I have lost 2 friends whom I have met only through an online game (Ultima Online). I personally found much comfort in attending their in-game funeral. (incidently, it usually is the person him/herself who is remembered and "buried", not their character). Oh, these friends died over a year ago but yes, I still remember them.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I should have mentioned that my 12 year old son is a 22 level scout, my daughter is a level 6 theurigist, and my 7 year old son is a level 10 Higlander armsman.
They all play baseball and soccer are "A" students and and have other "real world interests". We all use this game to relax.
Recently (within the past 2 years) I lost a very good friend of mine. I only knew him by his handle until his death, dethvader. Unlike most of the other posts, I did not know him from a game, just an IRC channel. He had been dead for months before we heard the news. We thought he moved away. A blood-clot a doctor missed travelled from his leg and deposited itself in such a place as to kill him. He was gone for months before we knew. One of our mutual friends saw him connect to ICQ. But it wasn't him, it was his mother. Our friend told us the news. She stayed online for the next few days receiving our condolences and prayers that the rest of the family would make it though ok.
I never knew what he looked like. I had to ask her. It's....an interesting feeling to confide in someone you trust and appreciate and go through their entire short life (he wasn't even 20) not knowing what they look like. Perhaps there is something to be said for a race of beings that can seperate friendship and companionship from a corporal body -- that we can still connect even if we can't ever see each other. Something about our passions and intellect can allow us to comfort each other and help those in need without ever being there.
I know my friend is gone now, but there is much to remember him by. When we all heard the news, we had a wake where we each perused our logs for any of his quotes or conversations we had. Many of us still have those logs. There is even a website dedicated to his memory, one he frequented often. The community back then was in its height...but now..well it's not like the good ole days. But those of us still in the community will always remember him and what he contributed.
I know alot of people might find this lame, but there is alot to be said about how we express our feelings through media. Be it art, poetry, music, or even fellowship. There is still humanity in all we create, even the internet. Even if we choose not to use it, notice it, or even laugh at the people who do, it is still there. It is there for those of us who don't have to let physical boundries seperate friends and who aren't concerned about what the internet should and should not be used for. It is here for us to express ourselves --- sometimes, unfortunately...it is our grief.
Zech Harvey, MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA
...where the two main characters of the story, who have been working together to solve a mystery involving an illegal virtual gaming universe created from a book whose author had specifically forbade such adaptation, get married--virtually, of course. I guess it's a bit like how Creative Anachronist types will celebrate personal liaisons by getting themselves up in period dress and drinking mead--only at least _they're_ wearing real clothes and drinking real alcohol.
It's sweet, I guess...but really creepy, too, if you ask me.
hyacinthus.
Over at Everything2, in the two and a half years it's existed, we've had a few permanent departures or deaths of well-known members of the community. Now, E2 isn't anything like an MMPORG, unless you consider the subjective assembly of a encyclopedia of culture a "game".
But the community is solid there, and an essential part of E2. A special subset of the "nodespace" is carved out just for that community to recognize itself. Gatherings take place in cities large and small so that regulars and irregulars can meet face-to-face. People who stop contributing to the database entirely sometimes stick around for the friendships.
So when a regular needs to leave the site for good, or we learn one has died recently, even those who didn't know him or her closely are affected. Homenodes and daylogs suddenly fill with memories of the person, or at the very least an acknowledgement of his or her contributions, both of knowledge and friendship. A "virtual funeral" wouldn't work there, or at least it wouldn't work the same way. It's more like an unofficial wake. I think that if the Slashdot editorial pool suffered a similar loss, we'd all gather in one forum to do the same thing.
Things like this are good to record, and to pass around. It lets people know that online community is still community, that friends exist in places where we may never meet them. Many will look at things like this and find it disturbing or unnatural; I'd argue that the opposite is true.
In real life if a student of a school dies, or an employee of a company, or a member of a sporting team dies do we not hod a memorial to that person IN the place we know him? Do we not stop the sports game and have a moments silence? Do we not pause or work and remember that person? These people knew this guy in his game. This is how they meet him, talked to him, interacted with him. THIS is the place where they will miss him, this is where they have spent time with the person, building a relationship and getting to know him. So what if they have never seen his picture? So what if they what if they only know him from a game? How is this different to knowing someone from a sporting club? Do we not stop the game and have a moments silence anyway?
Nobody thinks anything when a former great of a sporting club dies of that club holding a memorial to him before their next game, even though most of the people don't know the person. Just the image, just the story. Just the media.
I too got a tear to the eye when I heard this story. This person meant a lot too his clan. The fact that other players showed the humanity to the other players to allow them to hold a memorial to their fallen comrade says great things about the community spirit that the games has, and should be let to stand as the monument it is.
A memorial to a fallen friend by his comrades and those that WILL miss him.
As a monument to the humanity of man.
As a monument to the potential of the internet to allow people from all over the world to contact each other. Build a community of the whole and to develop friendships with people who we would otherwise never have meet.
Please detractors, leave it alone. Respect the wishes and the morning of these people and allow them the genuineness of their grief without debate.
Tomorrow their will be a new topic for debate. Now we have the chance to foster that community. I urge detractors to read the logs of linked at the top. After reading them I have no doubt that the feelings where genuine, and the symbolism of this memorial a powerfully healing experience for those suffering lose at his death.
Maybe he should have bought the Lipitor +2 instead of the Palladin Shield.
What struck ME about that is that if he's 32 and had heart trouble, maybe he should have spent a little less time parked in front of the computer, and a little more time on the treadmill. Unless dying at 32 as an honored and respected DAOC guild leader was really what he wanted... Different strokes for different folks I guess.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Why do some folks on this board feel the need to criticize how a group of people honored the loss of a casual friend? It's not as if he didn't have a real life funeral for close friends and family. Would it be better if they hadn't done it at all? These are people who othewise wouldn't have known the guy and wouldn't have cared if he dies. But they did care and that's significant.
Would it be more humane if the opposing clans stuck to character and celebrated the death of a sworn enemy? No, because even mortal enemies know when to take a moment of silence.
The conservative part of the media industry has made many arguments that FPS and hack'n'slash games dull people's sensitivity to violence and death, but this proves that gamers know the difference.
Have we seen this much positive human emotion and respect in Israel or Palestine when an 'enemy' is shot, gassed, or brutally blown apart on a bus? No.
I'm proud to be a part of a community that values human life.
$8.95/mo web hosting
So what happened at the end of the funeral? Did everyone slaughter each other? Seems like a great opportunity to miss. It could be like one of those mafia family funerals where someone gets whacked as they're leaving.
In all seriousness. this is a very nice gesture. It may be perceived as a bit sad, but it's a fitting tribute.
We've done similar things in WWII Online, as well, with honor guards and gun salutes on the ground. Really, it's no more silly than corresponding 'real life' rituals of a similar nature are.
I consider the people I meet on line and get to know every bit as much friends as my non-virtual friends--and several of them, I've taken the trouble to meet in real life, too. I am happy for them when they marry or have children--I am sad for them when they suffer loss. If the place I interact with them most happens to be a virtual world, then I don't see the problem expressing my condolences in that forum as well.
Some of the most touching gestures I've seen--on line or in real life--ever, was some of the interactions between people on the WWII OL boards on September 11th last year. A lot of people lived in New York--one prominent member of the community works for NYPD and was at the collapse. Several others had friends or family in the towers and were frantic with grief. One guy, in particular, was out of his mind with worry over his fiance, who was working in one of the towers, while he was out on a trip in my neck of the woods (opposite coast). Several of us offered immediately to just go be with him, to get drunk, or whatever... I don't know if he took anyone up on it (thankfully, two days later he found out she was all right) but try getting that sort of response out of any other group of strangers you just happen to be around. As someone else said, a community is a community, whether virtual or real.
No relation to Happy Monkey
why is this pathetic?
... Are you sure?
Because you spend enough time away from real life on a computer to develop these "close" relationships and become a "Level 42 Armsman".
You can say these are "close" relationships, but in fact they are just typical schizoid-type interactions.
These people can be whoever they want online, and you have no REAL idea of who they are, how often they neglect their spouses and/or children due to some silly game.
The mere fact that people attempt to intimate that it's more than a game suggests a problem. When you neglect your responsibilities (kids, wife, job, personal hygiene, personal fitness), there's a problem.
I spent years on the early Internet, wasting time on MUDs and other such crap. Sure they were fun for a while, but it became apparent that I was accomplishing nothing useful.
Note that these comments may or may not be directed at you, specifically. I'm using educated generalizations based on personal experience, acquaintances, and observations.
You have to ask yourself:
- Will I look back years from now, and be happy with all this time spent on online games?
- Am I neglecting my wife and kids?
- Do I smell bad? Is my place in shambles?
- Do I ever plan my real life events AROUND the game?
- Am I proud of how much time and energy I spend playing these games?
If the honest answer to any of these is "no" or "maybe", it's time to quit.
There are probably enough "realms" to waste 30 human lives exploring, but why?
Enjoy reality, instead. It's so much more fascinating, I assure you...
I have seen many comments on the perceived shallowness of an on-line gamer's life.. the "get a life" syndrom. But what if an on-line life is the only life you have access to?
Many people who are physically restricted in their movements find that on-line life is vastly superior to having only doctors and nurses for "friends". Warsinger, with a heart problem, may not have had access to a girlfriend in the "real world" but in a gamer's world he did.
There are lots of reasons people move to on-line life for therapy. I had a young IRC friend who used her on-line life to recover from years of sexual abuse. In my case an on-line life helped me recover from a terrible accident that left me unable to walk at all for a year, and without help for a decade.
Under these circumstances, any friends at all, even "virtual" friends are a step up from what they've got now. And enough of them find their way out of whatever darkness they're in now because of their friends on line.
The expression of sorrow on the part of these gamers for a friend touched me deeply. Some of us have to make our community where we can get the access. And heroic hearts often dwell in unlikely bodies.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
Dang. It might be a virtual gesture, but there's around 100 characters in that screen shot. Each one represents a real person -- that's 100 real people moved enough to logon and gather for the ceremony.
And then, there's the girlfriend and sister.
*sniff*
But what's real once we're all dead? What's playing and what's not?
From my Christian perspective (eternal life/death, finite world): The world doesn't really matter in the end, the people do.
Virtual world, real world, whatever. The thoughts count, the people are real.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matt 5:27-28
27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
This concept is becoming even more applicable nowadays as the lines between thought, speech and deed are getting blurrier. Good or bad deeds can be done with just a few keystrokes or mouse clicks. Soon you just need to think it to do it, and what is done is just changing a bunch of numbers in computers - just numbers controlling money, ownership, ID, lives, the fate of nations etc.
Saying that this was an online gathering of "characters," mere ones and zeros, is completely incomprehensible. If it had been videoconference or teleconference instead, would you have said the same thing? At what point does it become "real enough" for you people? What is so special about physical nearness? Why does it become less meaningful if it just so happens that the big bunch of atoms I call "my body" is far away from that big bunch of atoms you call "your body?"
Do I suddenly become nothing more than an electrical wave if I speak over the telephone? No, I don't. Don't reduce these people to "characters" simply because they met over the Internet.
They stood in shape of a heart, that is a symbol for love. Not a symbol for the heart attack.
If it was a symbol for a heart attack it would have been a picture of a REAL heart, and the warriors would be stepping in/stepping out and then suddenly stop.
A form of a cross is a respect to a particular brand of religion. If they were going to symbolize the actuall crucifiction someone would have to be a nail and be driven 'into' the cross.
Look at the articles next time.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
Do you also think it is lame when professional athletes wear black armbands during games after someone significant to the sport dies? Is it lame for soldiers to fire guns at a veteran's funeral? Is it lame for someone to have their ashes spread at a place they loved in life?
The parallel I'm drawing, before someone flames me for comparing a veteran to a video game addict, is the idea that it's normal for people to remember someone through something important in that person's life. You may think having a video game be so key to one's life is pathetic, but if that's what he loved, so be it, let him be remembered through it.
Rather than replying.
I think I know why fewer people showed than I expected.
The location of the funeral ingame, Caer Benowyc, is a keep on the Albion frontier.
There are relatively nasty critters wandering around the area - Dangerous for people as high as 37 when solo, and probably dangerous for anyone under 25-30 even when escorted. (My guild was congratulating me for making it there solo w/o dying - Not easy.)
It's also the farthest keep out for Albion players, through some really dangerous terrain.
The only safe place to have the funeral would've been in Midgard, but that would've prevented anyone from Albion or Hibernia from participating.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Pardon me, but you're a fucking idiot.
"those people you're talking to aren't people, they are simple electronic connections to a server"
YES, THEY ARE PEOPLE. You don't talk TO connections, you USE them. Guess what? I'M a real person too, not just a handful of packets sent to the Slashdot server. People you talk to on the street are also real, not just a sequence of vibrations in the air. The communications medium doesn't change who is ultimately on the other end.
"When the line between reality and fantasy becomes THIS blurred"
WHAT blurring?? 'Blurring the line' would be like, treating his CHARACTER dying as if it was a real event, or vice versa.
These people's grasp of reality is just fine. Their friend died in real life, they chose to commemorate him in the space they knew him best, in a touching and solemn salute... not some "sick display of online emotions".
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
The term frag derives from fragmentation grenade and has been in use since Vietnam when it was coined to denote the killing of one's superior and making it look like an accident.
illegitimii non ingravare
Yes, thanks for posting that!
I absolutely agree. A name is simply a way to refer to a person with minimum confusion.
When you enter the "online world", you normally choose to carry on conversation under a "nick", "handle", or whatever you'd like to call it. It's every bit as customary as it is to give a child a first, middle, and last name when he/she is born. (Also, don't forget, these assumed names are picked out by each individual when they go online - so they do have meaning. Perhaps, they have more meaning to a person than their real name, which was assigned to them by their parents before they were old enough to have a say-so in it.)
When I used to go to regular "get-togethers" a local IRC channel organized, the only way we really put faces to the names was to call each other by the "nicks" we knew them as. Sure, eventually, you'd make an effort to learn their real names too. (After all, you're in the real world with them... not just behind a screen any longer, so it seems appropriate.) But ultimately, more people could always recite who was who by their nicks than by their real names.
I started using IRC waaay back. Then gravitated into MUDs, good old Compuserve games, and various NGs and Forums. And I'm a frequent participant on several mailing lists.
That said, I have to say you seem to have a very jaundiced perspective when you say you've yet to meet people who are fit, eat right, talk right, and have charisma about them who play EQ or MUDs.
I have quite a few friends who play EQ or DAoC(even to the point of disappearing for an entire weekend to play). Many of them are highly paid programmers, sales support engineers, application designers, etc. People who work in close-knit real-world teams all the time. Many of them also play ultimate frisbee, softball, soccer, etc. - team sports. And a fair few have webs of social contacts that boggle my mind, and I have so many friends I can't keep up with them all.
Now, I've met some of the people you seem to think all EQers or MUDers represent... there are some. But then I've met plenty of maladjusted or poorly socialized people outside of the game world, so I have no reason to suspect a huge correlation.
Your assumption seems to be that these people are developing on-line friends INSTEAD of off-line ones. My experience has been that off-line friends get sucked into common on-lne activities and that the intersection of the on-line and off-line friend sets is high.
The Internet has allowed me to meet people in Australia, Sweden, UK, Tasmania, NZ, Spain, Germany, etc. A lot of them have offered me a place to stay when travelling. I've purposefully travelled to the US to meet many of my on-line buddies (after knowing them for a few years on-line) and real-world friendships I expect to endure have formed. Some have even blossomed into annual pilgrimages. None of that could have happened before the Internet very easily. And these aren't unhappy, poorly socialized, unfit, or immature folks - quite the contrary.
Then again, this may reflect the character of the populations of the lists I hang out on, the forums I frequent, etc. So maybe it is just a case of needing to expand your horizons?
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
Offtopic of what? Someone posted something that could be interpreted as a troll, and someone commented on it. Trying to moderate meta-moderation is just a waste of mod points, and not very nice either.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
The ties that /bind, in Dark Age of Camelot, do not restrict themselves to the interpersonal. Read this story of a summoned Cabalist pet, loved by many, who a realm chose to /follow and /bow down to til death by his master's hand tore him away from them:
1 07 &replies=48
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=35356
For Steve!
(people are strange)
________
Yst - 50 Bard - Guinevere
How the hell does these people, who only knew him online, showing their grief "lessen" the grief of his family and real-life friends?
re you so shallow, so limited in thought processes, so narrow in vision that you can't allow these people to show their grief in a way that they can?
You probably find the Irish Wake to be offensive, too.
You are truly pathetic.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
When I die I hope someone does that for me (probably not in an online game, as I'm not a big fan, but where I hang out, in real life or somewhere else). Kudos to whoever organized it.
sulli
RTFJ.
Well, in fact, I do have a wife and three kids, three young boys. Been married 8.5 years myself. I sleep ~6 hours a day, I cook with the kids, I shop with the kids, I clean with the kids, and I do maintenance with the kids. Its a good way for me to get good time in with them while still getting done what I need to get done. Personal study is a tough one....that would eat into the free time. Physical fitness..yep, another thing I do with the kids. My boys are slightly older than your's, and they get worn out during their day, so I just put them to bed at 8pm(that was a nightmare to train, but now its easy...just put them in bed, tell em its bedtime, and off they go to sleep.)
Oh, another thing. I don't have TV. At all. Well, we have some DVD's we've bought, but no cable, no antenna, nothing. It's amazing how much time that freed up! See, for me, it was relatively simple to garner 20 hours a week of my life back-I just stopped watching TV and playing video games. Now, of course, I could choose video games as my hobby, but I don't have that urge. To each their own, I guess.
By the way, when my kids were as young as your's, I had about three hours a week of discretionary time-if I was lucky...wife needed to sleep too-due to the increased need for sleep caused by those late late nights with the little one(s). Give yourself about two years, and you'll see that your sleep and discretionary time will increase as their schedule solidifies into a regular schedule.