Genuine feelings in a (literally) fake world? Orson tried to argue something along those lines.
Do I find ‘their way’ trivial? Nah. I find it mockable (perhaps even stomach-turningly pathetic). Apparently so did 20 other people. So they mocked it using the tools availible.
Good job choosing not to respect something because you don’t get it.
To be fair though, since they didn’t even consider that jackasses exist on the internet and would be happy to cause whatever grief they can, I can’t have a lot of sympathy for them.
The original video probably was, but places like youtube and google video compress the crap out of all the video submissions. That’s why I don’t like to distribute vids on them.
Where people can communicate with each other, as they can do in the chat function of an MMO, meaningful relationships can form. The “fakeness” of the world in which the chat function exists is irrelevant. There is of course a possibility in any non-face-to-face friendship that there could be deception. But exactly the same thing could be said of a friendship formed in correspondence, or, for that matter, a friendship that is face to face, where deception and insincerity remain a possibility. So I find the “fakeness” of WoW as a medium for interpersonal communication to be a red herring.
I have no idea why it is “stomach churningly pathetic” for a bunch of guildies to hold a modest service in remembrance of a friend, in the context in which they knew her. It may not qualify as a “real” according-to-Hoyle funeral, but that does not render it either meaningless or absurd IMO.
And folks wonder why so many of us want nothing to do with PvP gameplay. Sure, unwise trusting other folks to have a modicum of decency online in that environment but who actually would get a thrill from this? That’s who’s messed up, seriously.
Only time I’ve run into PvPers that didn’t set my teeth on edge were some Jump-to-Lightspeed pilots on SWG. Old flight simmers and full of courtesy for anyone who showed them the same. S! On Starsider they even attracted new folks to space combat and instilled the same sense of respect. The fact they could clean anyone’s clock out there also helped. And it helped that power wasn’t based on how many hours you could waste in the game but on actual eye-hand skill and team tactics. The hardcore SWG PvP clans were scared of space. Couldn’t dominate just through sheer numbers and the best stuff.
Now I’m sure there are some very nice people who also like to PvP reading this. But man, even you have to know what kind of jerks are out there. Why would a reasonable person pay to be in such company?
Cthulu, is that the ass to ass guy from Requiem For A Dream?
While amusing, it’s only so because it hasn’t sunk in for anyone how “real” online worlds are. It’s the equivalent of mocking someone sobbing about a dead relative on an old telephone party line, back before they had direct dial.
Conversely, you could say that after 70 years of advanced radio technology, the people who thought martians actually landed in New Jersey are still wrong.
In other words, saying that WoW is more like a communications medium than a game or a form of fiction is to assume exactly the point that is under argument.
/mc
Even better job creating a ridiculous standard for respect. How far are you willing to take that? On the internet alone you will be kowtowing to some batshit insane things.
It is their prerogative to engage in their pitiful little ceremony in a virtual warzone. I would not expect real life combatants to respect that unless there was something in it for them…why would you demand it of imaginary ones who face absolutely no material consequences?
How can anyone with a heart watch that…and not smile?
The voices in my head are real, too.
In a war situation, an attack like that would offer a strategic advantage and would make strides towards winning the war.
In WoW, the war can never be one. They gain nothing by attacking the funeral other than their own amusement. If it was some stupid roleplayer funeral where no one really died, I could understand that motivation, and I too would join in on the laughter.
However, a real life was lost. Would you go streaking someone’s funeral, in front of their friends and family, in real life because you didn’t like the guy? No, but of course we can’t hold internet behavior to the same standards as the real world, but I think this one qualifies. It’s an act of disrespect towards the recently deceased and the bereaved, for no other reason than to be disrespectful.
However, I don’t really understand what the hell these people were thinking having it in a contested zone. They pay the price for their own stupidity.
Serenity Now are postmodern heroes,
Yes, but collectively they’ve probably had sex like twice. Which, I suppose, makes them stone cold pimps in your eyes, so never mind.
Seriously, this isn’t funny. It’s sad.
Fucking with someone because they are losers is always childish, but it’s the height of hilarity when the people doing the mocking are equally pathetic.
That’s because you can’t relate. It’s a matter of what you’ve experienced.
Serenity Now- Heroes of Asperger.
Uh, yeah.
In WoW, the war can never be one. They gain nothing by attacking the funeral other than their own amusement. If it was some stupid roleplayer funeral where no one really died, I could understand that motivation, and I too would join in on the laughter.
Are you arguing against me or against the concept of WOW altogether? What, should PVP cease altogether because no one can finally “win”? Serenity Now are in fact the apex of good roleplaying; it is those seeking to turn WoW into a chatroom with graphics that need to piss off.
However, a real life was lost. Would you go streaking someone’s funeral, in front of their friends and family, in real life because you didn’t like the guy? No, but of course we can’t hold internet behavior to the same standards as the real world, but I think this one qualifies. It’s an act of disrespect towards the recently deceased and the bereaved, for no other reason than to be disrespectful.
You know what the act of disrespect was? The ridiculous ceremony in the first place. I’m SURE this guy will be remembered for his life etc and not for the retards that tossed his body up in the midst of a free for all. It reminds me of the Ayatollah’s funeral procession back in the day when he was torn into Khomeini McNuggets by people desperate to acquire a relic. Personally, the moment you separate from real life into a video game, any memorial should reflect the spirit of the video game (if you absolutely must have one). This one did, once Serenity got involved. Really, the only downside was that the mourners were such a bunch of pansies.
However, I don’t really understand what the hell these people were thinking having it in a contested zone. They pay the price for their own stupidity.
Exactly. Be a loser in a safe place, if at all. Don’t take your buddies into the ghetto to celebrate your birthday, unless you come looking for trouble.
And if you already live in the ghetto, tough shit.
Yeah, I’m sure folks with multiple thousands of posts on a single online forum are lightyears ahead, and nowhere near as easily stereotyped. But I love it when the guy claiming to be coming from the Land Of Maturity to regale us maggots with the way things ought to be does so with an ad hominem that spirals his own lecture onto himself.
What does that even mean? Have you now moved on from decrying the very nature of MMORPG to being upset because poverty and crime often coexist? Is there such a thing as an issue you won’t embrace from an overly simplistic and selfrighteous approach?
Look, if I had known this was the Biggest Pussy in the Universe nomination process instead of a regular thread, I would have let you all of the hook to hysterically mourn the virtual desecration of a virtual funeral. Death is why gallows humour was invented.
You’re not worthy of Jim Morrison’s nickname, bitch.
That was a zinger.
I was making a comparison of motivations in doing something this like in real life and in doing it in the game. There is a benefit to attacking the enemy unprepared in real life. Every enemy soldier killed is potentially a life saved on your side. In WoW specifically, there’s no strategic gain, no real motivation for them to make an attack like this, other than to be an asshole. That’s moronic.
You know what the act of disrespect was? The ridiculous ceremony in the first place. I’m SURE this guy will be remembered for his life etc and not for the retards that tossed his body up in the midst of a free for all.
I’m sure she will be remembered for her life, but I don’t see what is so wrong with mourning a friend in the best way that you know how. I’m sure they would have all liked to have flown across the country and attended whoever’s funeral, but that likely wasn’t a feasible option. They did what they thought was best, and I don’t see why that deserves abuse.
But they shouldn’t have had it in a contested zone. That was just really, really dumb.