<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds. --> <!--X-From-R13: "Lnx Xneivf" <mnxNibvqzbafgre.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 07:22:53 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: NDBBKBHGBINDDPKLMPBHCELFCMAA.zak@voidmonster.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real mone</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:zak@voidmonster.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00221.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00219.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00249.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00237.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00220">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00220">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00220">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Zak Jarvis" <<A HREF="mailto:zak#voidmonster,com">zak#voidmonster,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 01:44:03 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Importance</em>: Normal</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> This is going to be a narrative of some events I was a part of which touch several of the issues being discussed lately. About nine years ago I was playing Dragon's Gate on GEnie. I had attained more or less the highest political posting a character of my race could attain. This being the Bad Old Days of metered service ($6/hour in this particular instance), I had put myself into a great deal of debt, and so I prepared to leave the game. I needed to find a successor for my post. There were several people vying for it, and choosing was left completely up to me. Dragon's Gate was a multi-play system which allowed 3 characters per account, so I had two other characters as well. I guarded my identity and kept my characters separate. Being young, somewhat personable and given to trying to impress people -- especially people I liked or trusted -- I usually told the people who got to know me which other characters I played. My other two characters had no political significance to speak of. I had a number of acquaintances at this point, and at some time it'd become more public than I'd ever really intended which characters were mine. Several weeks before I needed to vacate my post, I was aware of perhaps two or three people that I thought would replace me well. Honestly, I felt like any of them would do a better job. Being the leader of a self-composed bureaucracy is dull as dishwater. Among those in the ranks was a relatively new character who was rapidly making all the social rounds. In pretty short order, she ended up married to one of the council members of the group I was head of. I knew the council member fairly well, as I did all of them really. (I'm either sad or glad -- I'm not really sure which -- to say I can't recall how many there were). Not terribly long after, one of my other two characters was approached by a smart, friendly woman. They hit it off pretty well (and yes, I am talking about my character in the third person as that's how I think of all of my characters, though it gets really messy sometimes). The reveals happened pretty quickly in the relationship. "I also play X and Y", "Oh, well I'm Z and W!" Thanks to my ham fisted foreshadowing, you've probably guessed that this was the same person married to the council member. All is fine and dandy. Then I announce that I'm going to have to leave the game, and I need to fill my leadership post. I get MANY hints from her that really, she'd LOVE to have the job. In the course of this, I learn quite a bit about the player behind the character. I learn she's pretty wealthy. She's a fair bit older than me. Maybe I'm easily impressed by people who can add words to my vocabulary, but she came across as sophisticated and intelligent. She becomes flirtatious with me in a low-key but persistent and out of character way. I'll call her Anne. Meanwhile, my character in the soon-to-be-vacated post is married to another character. I knew her player fairly well at this point as well. We'd chatted on the phone quite a bit, and were what I'd only be able to describe as good friends. She was running low on cash too, and so she didn't want the post I was leaving. She shall be called Shinobu. There was also another woman who had gotten my attention as quite a responsible sort, level-headed and very much in tune with the game world and interested in the 'story' as it were. Despite much petitioning from Anne, I chose this woman who I didn't actually know very well. Or rather, who I knew largely through the strength of her character. I bowed out, sold one of my old computers and made a trip out to Los Angeles to visit some of the friends I'd met in the game. As it happened, I stayed with Shinobu and I also had planned to meet with Anne while I was in LA. To condense the story a bit, Anne turned out to not be Anne at all. Anne, in fact, was a man. I learned this from another friend while in the car to meet 'her'. I wasn't really bothered by that exactly, his characters were role-played really rather well. The deception bothered me though, and ultimately, I ended up feeling pretty good about the choice I'd made. (IE, not giving it to 'her') I went home (and like most games addicts) found more ways to stay in the community. Over the next few weeks, the decision I'd made started getting really ugly. It became abundantly clear that 'Anne' had *really* wanted that post. He began taking shots the woman I chose as my replacement. In fact, he began the most pernicious, viciously passive-aggressive campaign of character assassination I've ever seen, or hope to ever see again. Well, a lot of issues came and went, after a very long time, he finally got what he'd wanted but only after the position had become pretty evidently a booby prize. What occurred to me recently is that if he'd offered to pay off my debt for the game, I would have given him the post. Of course, to do that he might have had to give up his ruse, which may have been the deciding factor. I very effectively would have had no choice. I wouldn't have been able to stick around the game. And there you have it. Multi-play, gender identity issues and purchase of in-game goods or services. Granted, the last is only theoretical. I like multi-play, I have no problems with gender swapping and I'm queasy about selling game stuff. -Zak Jarvis <A HREF="http://www.voidmonster.com">http://www.voidmonster.com</A> _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev mailing list MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00237" HREF="msg00237.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Morten Andresen" <morten@mgon.com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00221.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale of online characters from its populargaming sites</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00219.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00249.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00237.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00220"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00220"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>RE: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00227" HREF="msg00227.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</A></strong>, John Bertoglio <a href="mailto:jb@pulsepoll.com">jb@pulsepoll.com</a>, Wed 12 Apr 2000, 16:39 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00230" HREF="msg00230.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</A></strong>, Jeff Freeman <a href="mailto:skeptack@antisocial.com">skeptack@antisocial.com</a>, Wed 12 Apr 2000, 17:49 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00238" HREF="msg00238.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</A></strong>, Brian Green <a href="mailto:brian@psychochild.org">brian@psychochild.org</a>, Fri 14 Apr 2000, 02:52 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00249" HREF="msg00249.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran</A></strong>, S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:choke@sirius.com">choke@sirius.com</a>, Fri 14 Apr 2000, 02:52 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00220" HREF="msg00220.html">[MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.</A></strong>, Zak Jarvis <a href="mailto:zak@voidmonster.com">zak@voidmonster.com</a>, Wed 12 Apr 2000, 14:22 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00237" HREF="msg00237.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] [LONG] A slightly different perspective on Real money in Virtual worlds.</A></strong>, Morten Andresen <a href="mailto:morten@mgon.com">morten@mgon.com</a>, Fri 14 Apr 2000, 02:52 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00211" HREF="msg00211.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Meta] other activities</A></strong>, Jeff Freeman <a href="mailto:skeptack@antisocial.com">skeptack@antisocial.com</a>, Wed 12 Apr 2000, 05:50 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00209" HREF="msg00209.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Meta] other activities</A></strong>, Par Winzell <a href="mailto:zell@alyx.com">zell@alyx.com</a>, Wed 12 Apr 2000, 05:50 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00206" HREF="msg00206.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Meta] other activities</A></strong>, Dominic J. Eidson <a href="mailto:sauron@the-infinite.org">sauron@the-infinite.org</a>, Wed 12 Apr 2000, 05:50 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>