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Death and Virtual Reality

One of the things I've been thinking about is the problem with policing on-line (virtual worlds). First, should they be policed. I guess before that you have to admit that some "place" exists in which crime can take place. I'm sure you've all heard of the scams in the online world Second Life. Maybe not. The point is that people are making (real) tax-free money by tricking others. For now, there are no rules that ban this type of activity.

Another different yet similar case I present below:

In the MMORPG (mass mulitplayer online role-playing game), World of Warcraft, there have been in-game (virtual) funerals commemorating real-life people. Of course, this has been happening since the days of EverQuest (the 1990's World of Warcraft), and before; marriage, funerals, birthdays, etc.... What makes this event so hilarious and yet disturbing (though there are times where it's only hilarious), is that a large group of players (a guild) attacked everyone during the online funeral procession, and killed them all (see Below video).



As for the image: this was a post to the World of Warcraft online message board in response to the announcement of a different player's death in real life. The response is hilarious and terribly ill-humored (though I hear George Bernard Shaw saying: Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.)













Comments

  1. phong3:29 AM

    we should get into this game, you and i

    ReplyDelete

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