Comments on: Comments on 30226

Post number 30226

limitedpie — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 13:41:54 -0800

"A self-proclaimed under-age virtual self-pimping cyber prostitute and madame" says that s/he turned to prostitution in the online game, "The Sims Online" because s/he "never was a skill person. i needed money. why skill when you can suck [virtual] d**k to keep [virtual] food on the [virtual] plate." And as the Sims Online brothel grew s/he would only hire sex workers who were "real mother f**k'n b****s to represent that sh**..." (Obviously NSFW and more inside...)

By: limitedpie

limitedpie — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 13:42:31 -0800

Meanwhile, the seedy underbelly-- including prostitution-- of The Sims Online is being reported by an independent virtual newspaper, "The Alphaville Herald," which is now being censored by the game makers. As Salon (annoying day pass req'd) comments on the whole messy situation: "There's a fundamental divergence between the interests of a community (typically high-minded goals like freedom of speech and assembly) and the interests of the corporations that run those communities (typically not very high-minded but otherwise understandable goals like making money and avoiding public association with words like 'prostitution')."

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 14:00:15 -0800

And add into that the Shadow Sim Government and their special brand of Vigilante Sim Justice and that game is looking less and less like suburbia and more and more like the wild west.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 14:15:20 -0800

They only forgot one thing: monsters from the id.

By: keli

keli — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 14:31:21 -0800

Remember MUDs? Being a newbie cleric elf and needing the help of a clan-leading paladin giant to kill the white queen on the chessboard? And he'd help you for a price? Ah, good times.

By: inksyndicate

inksyndicate — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 14:51:18 -0800

Jfuller: Nice. Very nice.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:13:54 -0800

I've been thinking the same thing, keli - people seem shocked and stunned by the "real" turn games like Sims and Everquest are taking, but I saw all this years ago in MajorMud. Level 52 warriors being sold for hundreds of dollars. Players ganging up to mess up other people's scripting runs. Players pleading to the sysops to get their stolen gear back. I think it just demonstrates the power of these games - if you create a virtual world you can expect players to act like virtual human beings.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:35:23 -0800

A much better example of how low virtual life can go is the ten-year-old piece A Rape in Cyberspace.

By: limitedpie

limitedpie — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:37:58 -0800

Jimbob: Great point! I'd say that I do not find it so much shocking and stunning, as I find it utterly fascinating. The problem of the needs of the corporate game masters butting up against the human crush of vice unleashed ("players [acting] like virtual human beings") creates a sort of tension that, for me, keeps this story fresh and intriguing. These games are now run by major, publicly traded corporations-- a major shift from the good old MUD days. If a possible lesson is that in the face of dionysian human nature, corporations will necessarily turn towards a sort of reactive fascism (to protect the bottom line), maybe we should look carefully at the seeping corporatism of our democracy.... Just wondering if these are "sims in a coal mine...."

By: oissubke

oissubke — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:11:47 -0800

When Sims truly reflects reality (which is where it seems to be going) will people still play it? If so, why?

By: pandaharma

pandaharma — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:31:06 -0800

Eventually someone, open source or commercial, will release something like Neverwinter Nights which will allow end user created universes but, unlike Neverwinter Nights, will allow as many connections as the computer and connection can handle. This will be the comeback of MUDS and will play out similar to how the web has. Corporate sites will still probably dominate, but user created content will be very popular as well, especially with sites which will do things the corps will shy away from: sex, drugs, extreme violence, sacriligious items, weird humor, and various experimental ways of telling a story.

By: ODiV

ODiV — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 18:48:31 -0800

Thanks for the link, WolfDaddy. Interesting read. Maybe I'm just not a "mudder" or whatever, but I can't really imagine getting upset to the point of tears over something like that. I guess they tie themselves into their character.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 20:20:45 -0800

Being a newbie cleric elf and needing the help of a clan-leading paladin giant to kill the white queen on the chessboard truly, there is little hope for humanity.

By: Mick

Mick — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 21:48:55 -0800

If only we all could be the same beacon of light that you are quonsar.

By: namespan

namespan — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 00:21:43 -0800

Be a beacon? /sneakers

By: kalessin

kalessin — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 06:24:29 -0800

WolfDaddy and ODiV, it must be noted that like the author's _My_Tiny_Life_, many of the denizens of the MOO "Rape in Cyberspace" is about feel that Mr. Dibbell has a penchant for overdramatization. Having had many personal conversations with the "victim" of the event narrated in "Rape in Cyberspace", it is clear that even her emotional response to the issue was not nearly as cut and dried and Dibbell said it was.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 15:54:55 -0800

If so, why? Respawns, basically, I think.

By: Satapher

Satapher — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:25:45 -0800

sneakers?

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:41:11 -0800

Overdramatization on or about the Internet? Oh. My. GOD!

By: kalessin

kalessin — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 19:12:38 -0800

WolfDaddy, I'm just saying that the "Rape in Cyberspace" article is sensationalized. Those of us who know the "victim" know that she was not nearly so upset as Dibbell said she was, and now, something like 10 years later, the real inconvenience is that when people who read that article or read Dibbell's book figure out who she is and come looking for her to ask her how awful it was, she just wishes they'd leave her alone. She was, even then, a veteran Internet user, and knew that it's very easy to disconnect from such worlds if things happen that upset you there.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:12:39 -0800

Sorry, that wasn't a ding at your comment, rather to express that I shouldn't be at all surprised what you say is true.