unforum

[Varin]

PM responsibility

[MageSteff]

The difference with ARGs (and other interactive people oriented games, be it LARP, RPG, Ampguard or some other group)as opposed to books, films and video games is that there is the human element on the PM side that is able to notice how a player is reacting and acting.

We may not have a legal responsibility for our players, but I would think that as fellow human beings who want this to be a good experience for everyone, we have a resposibility as both PMs and Player to look out for each other. Because we are friends. If I had a friend who was acting in a manner that made me worry for their safety, as a friend, I would perhaps mention to the individual, or their family, that there might be a developing problem that needs to be addressed. I would feeel very badly if something happened to my friend that speaking out would have prevented.

Sorry, but I do not subscribe to the "Not my problem, therefore I wont help fix it" theory.

I agree that younger children should have parental oversight when they participate in anything on line, just because there are a lot of weirdos out there who will take advantage of them. Any parent that fails to do so needs a wake up call.

I do think that PM's have at least a minor responsibility of verifying players ages, because we all know that even though parents SHOULD be watching their children, sometimes they treat the computer the same as they treat Television. It becomes the babysitter.

[Guest]

Re: PM responsibility

[Varin]

Re: PM responsibility

[jchillerup]

I am 16 years of age, which you, varin, may know, and I apologize for my English. I hope you understand me.

I still remember playing Doom, Doom2, Castle Wolfenstein, etc. I remember, I had quite fun doing it (until I grew older), and I remember, I've never liked war toys.

I don't know how it works over there (USA), but after school in Denmark, every child has the choice to go home or go to an "after-school centre". I've always been interrested in computers, so much (lit:all) of my sparetime was dedicated to computers and computergames, until I got homework in school, which I did on my computer as well.

As I see it, violent computergames are not so much different from games like Sim City, The Sims and whatever. They are intended for fun, and they do their job well on some people. The rest finds it as boring, as I do.

Take war toys as another example. I believe, that a child would not be hurt in any way, when they play with their brand new I-am-Bond-James-Bond-Special-Agent-And-Furthermore-Invisible-Gun. I simply don't. People won't grow to big, dribbling monsters, with nothing but murder on it's head.

My conclusion is, that you, adults, must learn to let the child play whatever it plays (including ARGs ). I am quite sure, that they can differ fantasy from reality, much more than you understand.

[imbri]

[colin]

I think the risk comes from when characters initiate contact with a player. Presumable the player has signed up and consented to this contact. But to draw the analogy; it's like handing a loaded gun to a child, they might not know how to handle it, and that's when it goes bad.

With an ARG like Project MU (little, if any, direct contact), I can't see this occurring, to use the analogy again, they would have to take the gun, load it and shoot themselves in the foot. You can hardly be held responsible.

I guess the easy way to think about it is that the player is there to play the game, not to be played by the game. That is the point at which you start crossing the line into: cause... psychiatric loss or harm.

Of course some people will believe its real but there's not much you can do about that. You can't dumb down the world to the lowest common denominator, well you could, in which case we wouldn't be using computers and the issue wouldn't exist all together….

[jchillerup]

Oh.. I forgot that guns are allowed in the USA. Bad example - my fault.

[colin]

[imbri]

Well how odd. This just in from the BBC

[Varin]