Raven Ar’Manell is Dead
Yes, that’s right. Raven Ar’Manell, a companion of mine for the last two years, has died today. At the hands of a vampire gnome named Ganther Gerbo. However, do not mourn her loss for she died upholding justice and seeking to defeat evil.
Sound weird? That’s only because she was my Dungeons and Dragons character that I’ve had for the last 24 months. Our roleplaying group has decided to switch from DnD to a different setting called ShadowRun (think some world like the Matrix, but with a mix of DnD in there).
Of course, now I must put her aside and create a brand new character for next month’s game session. I am just slightly bothered that it happened like it did, but it was going to happen no matter what.
On a side note, but really the main thrust of the post, I overheard that a friend of one of our group was going to be getting married tonight. The woman is currently engaged to someone else and he’s not happy about this turn of events.
Again, sounds weird, eh?
Well, that would be because there are three real people involved as well as three virtual characters. John and Marsha (not their real names, but provided to give some separate identities) are engaged in the real world and live together in the real world. They each have a character in a multi-player game called Ultima Online. Marsha’s character in the game is going to marry another character, but not the one controlled by her fiance. Rather, her character is going to marry in-game a different guy who is controlled by Frank, the friend of one of our roleplaying group. Interestingly, John is quite upset that Marsha’s character will not be marrying his.
Now, honestly, is it really that big of a deal? To some people, it is a really big deal. After all, there is a tendency to blur the lines between what a virtual character does and what a real person does. I’ve known friends to no longer be friends because of their actions in a virtual world.
Should your character online be a true reflection of yourself? I don’t think so. After all, you’re playing a game in a fantasy setting and you should be able to explore other “lives” in the virtual world with no impact on your real life.
Unfortunately, there are many who have chosen to no longer distinguish between virtual and real. One kid in the United States was so upset at the death of his character online that he killed himself. Another man in Korea was so addicted to playing a virtual game that he forgot to feed his real self and died of starvation.
Is this a rant against gaming in general? Absolutely NOT.
This is a rant against people who CHOOSE to allow the games to take over their lives and replace their real life. They destroy themselves and the games are blamed when the people could not put limits on their own self-destructive behavior.
Don’t let a game get in the way of your life. After all, the game will eventually be replaced by something else… you cannot replace this life with another. When game is over, life goes on. When life is over, you don’t get to reload and start where you left off.
