Keiya wrote:

Mac_Fife wrote:

While it's important to be aware that there are "risks" in a relatively unregulated cavern, and RAWA made that point at the opening of MOULa, we do not really want to see specific incidents discussed on the forums: That inevitably leads to speculation and witch hunts, whether or not that is the intent.

Then shut down the cavern. If you're not going to allow people to give others an accurate assessment of the risks of being in game, it is *hideously* irresponsible to keep it running.

I understand Keiya's concern. Still, asking that specific incidents not be discussed does not prevent the discussion and assessment of risks. It is, after all, possible to discuss crime rates, the odds of being a victim, and good safety practices without getting into the specifics of individual crimes.

It *is* important that players understand that Myst Online - much like the real world - is largely an unregulated environment. It is possible that the "Play" page would benefit to have a legal disclaimer about this. As the ESRB says of all the games they've rated with online components, "Game Experience May Change During Online Play."

It is also important that parents whose children play Myst Online should monitor their activities on the computer. This is true for any game, even if it may be slightly "more" true for MOULa than others. I know that parents can feel overwhelmed by all of the responsibilities they have in raising a child, and they sometimes seek relief by asking that others share that responsibility (including the companies that run the games); while it's good for the rest of us to help, that doesn't shift where the real responsibility still rests.

Parents that are uncomfortable with the risks can disallow their children from playing. That is all that is necessary. Shutting down the game would accomplish nothing in the end but annoy the people who enjoy it; there are a million-plus places on the internet that are less safe for children than here, and shutting down this place would just mean an unsupervised child would move on to something potentially worse.

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MOULa 26838 | Prologue Video Project: On Hold pending Minkata support
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I agree with the above post of Marten, and Alien as well.

Our biggest problem most of the time is that we can't help ourselves when we feel one of our buddies is being attacked and we jump in to give justice, making things worse of course. And that we get online all fed up and moody and needing to escape from our stressful real lives, sometimes so much we have no patience to deal with our fellow explorers' cr#p. Or way too bored and wanting to stir things up, same result in the end.
Oh well, we learn eventually...!

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adi KI#04439197
~proud member of Greece's Hood~

I know we sometimes get unsavoury people in the cavern who can and will do irritating or even unpleasant things. But let's not get things out of proportion here. The overwhelming majority of visitors are friendly, welcoming and helpful. I know we all have real-life frustrations, but I'd like to think we don't vent these frustrations on our fellow explorers.

As I've said before, my experiences in MOULa are usually very good, and if I do get pestered by someone (which is extremely rare), they quickly go on the 'ignore' list.

We have a great community in MOULa, exemplified by how we all pulled together to raise the CAVCON level from 2 to 4. So please, let's not continue to paint this picture of doom and gloom.

We have a great thing going here; let's not spoil it.

Every so many months we go through this discussion. All the opinions and actions described and discussed are common human actions and reactions. So, if this is new information to you or you have the idea things should be different then you must be new… either young or new to online games and communities.

What happens in our online community and game is a mirror of RL in a small community. We have an enforcement team (police & justice system), vigilantes, victims, counselors, the oblivious, the ideologues, party people, griefers, and all the other descriptive types one can think of. It is a complex environment with numerous factions just as in real life.

We see people with expectations of how things should be and what they want. We can watch to see how well they cope with what they find. Some persist, some rage quite, others silently fade away, and some abuse others that don’t conform to their expectations or ideals.

How a person deals with all of this can reveal who a person is. I never paid attention to who posted and idea as I only cared about the idea and its merit. Then I realized for others who posted what was a major consideration of any idea. As I began to pay attention to who were abusive, thoughtful, helpful, ridged, curmudgeons, young, elitist, arrogant, and all the attributive adjectives I saw patterns. The patterns reveal noble and ignoble aspects of people and their level of self-awareness.

MOULa has changed little since it opened. We can pretty well predict what is going to happen in a given situation. When it is going to happen is unpredictable. Those have been around awhile can predict who is going to take what position. It is even possible to make reasonably accurate predictions of how new fans will handle issues based on their initial reaction to problems.

So, when we see:

Keiya wrote:

Then shut down the cavern. If you're not going to allow people to give others an accurate assessment of the risks of being in game, it is *hideously* irresponsible to keep it running.

It isn’t the first time we’ve seen the attitude and sentiment. Many old timers seem to have a problem recognizing this is not a single person posting an identical sentiment for the umpteenth time. People do get tired of repetition. I am perpetually amazed Cyan and the moderators tolerate such repetitions so well.

The only questions left are whether Keiya, or whoever is filling the role of incredulous, outraged, irate, or [whatever appropriate adjective here] fan at the time, will figure out what is going on while gaining some self-awareness and how people will handle them.

Each post reveals more about who a person is. If Main_Avvie chooses to stop posting, it is certainly his right. It reveals something about his nature. Whether you see that as good or bad reveals something about you.

Since posting reveals you, the final question distills down to how you want to be seen, who you want to be, and what you hope to become. Doesn’t that affect how you post and behave in-Cavern?

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Nalates - GoC - 418 - MOULagain: Nal KI#00 083 543, Nalates 111451 - Second Life: Nalates Urriah
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