The Gamer’s Quagmire: 28th Edition
- Jamison DeLorenzo

Crossing the line is a lot of fun when you can get away with it. The gaming world provides the opportunity to do such things, much like your own imagination (which is much more powerful and evocative if you think about it… heh heh heh). Every time gaming makes the news for crossing the line it always makes me laugh because we are breaking old ground in a newer field. We’ve already gone through our social revolutions in comedy, television, art, and music. The time for video games to take that step is definitely here.

What’s always needed is a perfect example that tests the mindset of people and challenges them to think about the situation as a whole. GTA has definitely stirred the pot and it should as the game is meant to be controversial. When a role playing games affords the opportunity and allows players to do it then the blame starts shifting from the game to the players.

Thank you, World of Warcraft. A game is inflaming people’s sense of morality once again.

In the latest act inside the game to make gaming headlines is a guild raiding an online funeral held by another guild. Translating this act to the real world is unconscionable. Imagine a funeral being broken up with a bunch of violence (and try to do it outside a cartoon setting or with circus music as otherwise it sort of deters the thought off point). The whole situation should at least bring you to pause and make you question why someone would do this in the first place.

Now I’m one who doesn’t even want a ceremony for when I die (I plan on being a hermit by then anyway) so I’m more removed from this than most, but bear with me. A guild had one of its members die so they decided to pay tribute to that person in game with a quick little ceremony. This is one more example of a guild you want to be in because they have a closeness that doesn’t get ripped apart by some stupid argument over loot. Word got out that they would be doing this and it was all in a sense of goodwill. This should bring a sense of warmness to your heart.

Oh, and they held the service in an area of the game where PvP was always flagged.

Those of you not familiar with online games need to know that PvP is player versus player, and in the case of this funeral there is absolutely no way to prevent someone from being attacked once they enter one of these areas. You may question the wisdom of why an area such as this would be picked. I know I did. Before we start down that road let’s take the kneejerk reaction side of the argument to this situation.

The guild whose members did this promptly started to sever and split because some members found the act distasteful. But because those in the ceremony made note of which players were involved in this attack some of these members have not been able to get into a new guild because a lot of people are strongly against what they did. From the morality standpoint it is hard to argue with them. The intent of what they were doing was pretty clear. Just let them run a peaceful little ceremony. How much more simple can it be?

But the reality of the situation is, which is ironic considering we’re talking about an online game whose universe technically doesn’t exist, that this homage to a dead guild member happened in an area which is designed for PvP. If the ceremony were scheduled in an area where attacking another player wasn’t possible then this couldn’t possibly have happened. When you get right down to it this is what some consider to be the beauty of natural selection. It’s hard to blame people for even being tempted to disrupt such a ceremony.

Especially inside a game.

I know, this makes me sounds like a horrible person. Truly it is the thought that counts- a guild was honoring a member. Fundamentally it’s no different than planning a boss fight in a dungeon only to have a stray patrolling mob come in and destroy the entire plan. Are we to curse a server GM every time this happens? Plans go awry sometimes, and when you afford the opportunity, such as by planning an event in a hostile area, sometimes you get what you ask for.

Of course there’s a reason why I interjected the notion of not wanting to be buried or even remembered (and it has nothing to do with some deep social commentary). I mentioned it because it should give you a clear idea as to where I stand on the matter. I do respect others who find value in these types of ceremonies but the rest of the world should not bend to these wishes. This should hold true especially in a video game. I honestly feel this point can’t be stressed enough. I get a little irritated every time city traffic has to slow down to let a funeral procession parade through part of town. For me the thought is enough. The way I see it anyone who objects to the attack is simply imposing their own set of morals as what they feel the law should be.

Did I mention this is just a game?

The main basis of the game is two opposing factions which are at war with each other. In a certain sense not attacking the other group would be the characters in the game ignoring role playing- they are supposed to attack opposing characters. These online RPG’s don’t have nearly enough role playing as it is. Factions that supposedly hate each other work together. Everyone has access to the same quests, and in many cases choosing to dislike a faction and warring with them prevents you from getting anywhere near a decent endgame. So when a group of characters waltzes into an area that is marked as an open battleground they are subject to the same rules as everyone else… and they all have targets on their backs.

People need to put themselves into the mindset of actual role playing. RPG’s create a universe where your character is supposed to play a specific role and react to the laws that are present inside that universe. Having the players impose their own laws on the game defeats the whole premise behind role playing. Role playing has never been about getting the best equipment, spells, or becoming famous. Role playing is about exploring a universe as a character. Maybe that’s what most so-called online RPG’s are missing the most- that players aren’t necessarily given a system where they’re allowed to role play.

In this case that’s all that happened- characters decided to role play… in a game. Bravo for them- they played the game the way a game based on war should be played.

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