unforum

[celina63]

Suicide over MySpace hoax could put PMs in legal trouble

[Rekidk]

Certainly this is a tragedy, but--despite what some may say--this isn't MySpace's fault. Not even close. The problem has nothing to do with the Internet. The problem has everything to do with bullying.

To do such a mean thing to a mentally unstable girl was cruel. You'd think that adults--it was a mother in the neighborhood that made the "Jake" account, right?--would be above such things. That said, I'm sure that--regardless of cruel intentions--"Jake's" creator did not intend for Megan to die.

What happened to Megan was horrible, but it seems like her mother is looking for someone--or something--to blame. Why wasn't she monitoring her child's online activities, especially if her child had mental instabilities? By pushing for this law, she is trying to justify herself, in my opinion.

Ultimately, it was a horrible tragedy, and I imagine that everyone involved has gone through a great deal of pain. I feel terrible for everyone who was involved.

[labfly]

so sad

[celina63]

[celina63]

Re: so sad

[Rekidk]

[konamouse]

The issue in using MySpace for fictional characters isn't one where it has to be identified for the purpose of ARGs. The issue in this particular tragic case was the purposeful misleading by an adult in her interactions with a minor child. I see a huge difference between Happy Rogers, Higgs, Dwin, etc and this "Jake" persona (created just to befriend and then "punish" a teenager).
Sammeeeees never contacted strangers, they always waited for players (or non players) to contact them. And there was "who are you" type interactions initially - is this person to be trusted was a question asked the first time we reached out to them. I would think the same thing would occur in any ARG that used MySpace for social networking/fleshing out characters/making them 'real'.
This should be a civil lawsuit, unless you can get the local jurisdiction to bring around harrassment/stalking type charges.

[celina63]

[Giskard]

Re: Suicide over MySpace hoax could put PMs in legal trouble

[labfly]

[imbri]

I think that we can all pretty much agree that what happened to Megan Meier was tragic and awful. However, we really need to look at the facts of the situation without the emotional ties.

Situation: Adult woman takes on a teenage male persona for the specific purpose of communicating with a 13 year old girl who had a public myspace account (which is only possible if you list your age as 14 or older, I believe). The situation escalated to the point that the child developed a crush on the boy persona and after a fight the child, with a known history of mental illness, killed herself.

It is a fact that personas have been used for ages for a variety of reasons. From corporate and government spies to advertising (Betty Crocker was created in order to provide personalized responses) to writing advise columns (Dear Abby) to a million other reasons. The problem is *not* the use of personas, it is the intent in which they are used. In the case above, it potentially turned into a predatory situation (the woman claims that she was trying to protect her own child by learning what Megan was saying about her and it got out of hand).

Now, of course, ARG designers are not dealing with personas, they are dealing with characters created for fictional works. This is not unlike television shows and movies, some of which have made use of social networking sites for their characters.The issue comes down to the realism with which they are presented as well as the name recognition. I doubt that anyone would suggest that Dear Abby have a disclaimer on her myspace page (if she has one) that says "This is the fictional persona of Jeanne Phillips"

When it comes down to making a law on such a thing, frankly, I think it's up to the individual websites for how they deal with such things. Just as Unfiction has rules in its TOS to disallow characters from posting, I would respect MySpace if they made the same decision or one that required creatots to disclaim the fact. However, in my opinion, it should not become a rule of law because, if so, where are the lines drawn? What about websites like livejournal which are social networking sites and have a thriving fanfiction community? What of a social networking site created explicitly for a fictional universe?

As ARG desiginers, I think that it's important to push the boundaries of where story and play meet, but it's equally important to respect the rules set forth by the places and tools that you want to use in the process of pushing those boundaries.

[Shutaro]

[imbri]

[Shutaro]

[Ivo]