It’s Just a Game

Over the last month, Blogshares has seen some major changes to the game with the introduction of Idea Commodities and Industry Artefacts. There have been a lot of complaints about how the Rich Players are using Artefacts. Many Players seem to have fallen into the trap of believing that they actually “own” something tangible, others have fallen into the trap of believing that certain parts of the game are their “turf” and shouldn’t be touched by other players… some even act miffed and walk off in a huff. All I can say is, if you want buddy back-up, then be the provider of back-up to others when they ask for it… and don’t laugh off their concerns which are probably just as serious to them as yours are to you.

Actually, the game of BlogShares is like any other thing online… pixels and lines of code. The Internet is not like physical space which is limited and must be staked out. Domain names are leased, not owned. The Internet has an infinity of virtual real estate, but the beauty of it is, it is owned not by any individual, government, or corporate entity… what it is is held “in the common” for all to use, create, and enjoy.

Intellectual property rights are a hot issue and are still in dispute. Anything you put on the Web is already out of your hands and on your visitors’ computers as soon as your web page is loaded into their browser. Even disabling right-click doesn’t stop people from having possession of your graphics or other files… if it appears on a web page, they already have it in their computer. I’ve even seen people get down-right indignant over other people having a link to their web page, demanding that they remove the link. If you didn’t want someone to see something, then why did you put it on the web? Or, why didn’t you put it in a password-protected directory?

But… back to BlogShares. I’ve recently had a disagreement with a couple of people I thought were my friends in the game. I’ve stood up for them time and time again in one capacity or another. Yet, the other night, they wanted to seek retribution for wrongs committed by one of the players in the game, only they wanted to do so in the IRC channel (outside of the game). I disagreed with them. For one thing, the channel does not belong to them, it belongs to another player. For another thing, using IRC ops status for the purpose of getting back at a player is just plain Wrong. The channel is open to all BlogShares players, regardless of their play in the game and regardless whether they wish to chat or remain lurking.

I’ve been an IRC channel op in one channel or another for almost as long as I’ve been on the Internet. Among long-time channel ops there is a sort of unwritten code of conduct for how channel ops should behave, and if a channel op does not behave in the proper manner, then his or her op privileges can be removed at the discretion of the channel owner or IRCops (the bigwigs who oversee the network). Anyway, when this debacle presented itself in the IRC channel, I thought to myself “If this were my channel and I was AFK but logging… how would I want my channel ops to behave in a situation like this?” So, I stood up for what was Right in the eyes of a channel op rather than taking the easy road and just going along with what my friends wanted, and I objected to the use of ops to boot a lurker (who was “spying” in lurk mode). The thing is, IRC is a part of the Internet. If there are things that you don’t want others to see, then you should probably take those things to a secret, invite-only, private channel, or use Private Message to communicate those things. If a person feels he or she cannot speak openly in a channel, they do have other options. Private Message is not that much of a hassle… double click on a nick and voila! the PM is open.

On the other hand, booting out people just because you don’t want them to overhear what you’re saying… that’s a big no-no in the world of IRC. It is also a bad precedent to set for the channel, and as a channel op. It says to outsiders and newcomers that “You are not welcome here.” It is the wrong road to take, and a path not easily reversed.

At this point, these friends I thought I had are no longer speaking to me. But maybe they’ll read this and realize the dilemma I was in. I don’t take the game as seriously as I used to, it’s true, but I am still playing it… and for me, it’s not just about fake money and virtual turf wars.