A new email from the one who brought you "I don't really. I just play it." (thanks!)

[Some of the comments contain profanity - you are hereby warned...]

"I sent an email about WoW to my best friend and my little brother, because I like to keep in contact with crazy things that I dredge up. It concerns some 'player justification' about playing MMORPGs after the famous death of Snowly. There are plenty of addicts stories that I know of - including especially your excellent blog! - but what I want to find out more about is what players say about continuing to play even thought they know of the problems to do with the games, in order that I may construct my essay.
Also in this email is stuff about the recent ambushed funeral controversy. I thought about cutting it out because I am pretty sure you'll know all about it, but there's an offchance it may add to your understanding of the issue. Or you may not even know about it. If the latter is the case, I am sorry for introducing you to this rather questionable example of online life.

This is the text of the email I sent:

Remember when the person behind the character 'Snowly' died playing World of Warcraft? Have just found this interesting blog post about it:

However, I don't see this as a reason to bash these games. Clearly the addictive nature of these games are a risk from a productivity and health perspective, but I think that the sense of responsibility and teamwork that is built by the games exceeds this cost...
http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/11/04/funeral_in_world_of_warcraft.html

I found that page because I was looking out for the recent 'ambushed funeral'
controversy. Here is what happened:
http://cvirus.foolab.org/?p=33
"Apparently, some dude dies in real life who is a popular World of Warcraft player. The people in the game think it would be nice to have a memorial for the player so they log into his account, take the character to a lake, and set it up for everyone to come pay their respects.
"A bunch of dudes decide this would be a great time to ambush everyone so they run over a hill, kill the dead guy’s character, and then wipe out everyone who was there to show their respects. They filmed the whole thing and put it on the net for everyone to see.
"Here’s the Video … ITS FUCKEN HILARIOUS :D LOOOOOOOOOL :D"

Some comments from that page:
"that was the fucking best video ever. those funeral bitches got pw000ned like the n00bs they are. fuck them and fuck their dead video game friend. my condolences to the real dead person though."
"That video rocked. The MMO community is the worst in gaming, and I’m not referring to the guys who raided. They rock for teaching those MMO-obsessed no-lifers a hard lesson about how video games and real life should never mix, and all people who feel the least bit of sympathy for the morons who had their little boohoo sob story broken up need to get off of the internet once in awhile."
"hahaha, i think tis the funniest goddam thing iv ever seen. how pathetic really aswell.. holding a virtual funeral. yes i feel for the victim but really… how
nerdish can u get.."

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=212276
"See, I'm an actual WoW player and i'm in two halves about this. One half of me says that it was cruel, disrespectful and completely distasteful - someone died after all! I've seen the aftermath of this and everything, there's an even bigger file around. The memorial took place after the ambush happened again anyway. One the other hand, i thought it was superb, especially the video we just saw and its editting. I'd be lying if i said i didn't at least chuckle. If i knew someone who had died in the game and there was a memorial, i'd definitely attend, no doubt, just as a sign of respect for something that they were clearly passionate about before their passing. But game or no game, people have completely overlooked the fact that someone actually died in real life...that's the saddest part about it."

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=313557dbfa5adbd8aab43be72942e2ea&t=255837
"IIRC part of the motivation for the attack was that the horde repeatedly requested that the alliance not interfere. People who pvp and grief and stuff really can't resist attacking someone who is begging them not to."

What this last post says is that "it's hard not to crash a virtual funeral when you've been asked not to do it". Just like "it's hard not to break the law against murder when people keep reminding you"."