Plotting the slow, subtle, and yet egregious demise of our new friend and former corpsmate I find myself wondering, have I developed a pathological lust for destruction, harm, and foul play in MMOs over the course of the past decade since I began playing them?The short answer: Yes.
The long answer: Well, here goes.
So, what is it about the internet that makes it the great equalizer while at the same time creating a vacuous hole with which every vermin in society can roam almost entirely free with wild abandon, able to reap undue harm unto others in ways that would get them locked away in real life?
In most MMOs with intangible and permanent artifacts, one finds oneself immersed in a static and perpetually stale world where intransitive material goods are just waiting to be seized at some opportune time through social interaction, timing, chance, perseverance, and a little greed. This is true of most realms in the virtual world where there are no real consequences for lewd, outlandish, or otherwise civally disobedient behavior that would typically result in stiff citations or small claims in real life. The closest we come is for blatantly seditious or malevolent behavior that is universally criminal in nature and immediately acted upon by whatever authorities have jurisdiction at the time.
However, in an MMO like EVE or others which have transitive materials that can easily exchange hands or simply cease to exist through various actions taken upon or received from them, the rules change in a subtle but fundamentally extreme way.
Knowing this, where does this put a person like me, who has spent years as a social group leader off and on for a decade now, largely helpless to enact tangible reprimands or punishments for the kinds of rampant misbehavior, greed, and userism that so opaquely colors everything around us?
It puts me in the unique position of planning, manipulating, coaxing, and enacting every tiny little evil thing I have ever dreamed about doing to people for a decade, when I have thus far been mostly helpless to do so.
What does this all mean? Well besides alerting you that I may have a college degree in Philosophy, which I do, or that I am an avid philosopher period, which I am, it lets you know that there are no limits to the depths of subtle, manipulative, heinous, and maniacal things to which I will do to those who cross our social group and attempt to do harm, within the limits of the game mechanic and EULA of course.
So if you were wondering, do I have an evil side, the answer is, you do not want to know.
