The Internet indeed offers an abundance of freedom to all its participants. Sure, that’s what decades of human rights activists have been fighting for, but has the Internet superseded its initial intentions?
Sterling (1993), speaks praise of the internet and claims its ownership belongs to ‘everyone and no-one’ (p.3). This lack of distinct ownership creates troublesome quarrels due to the lack of boundaries in the online world, which was discussed by Mitew (2011) as he showed us an invasion of an online funeral in the World of Warcraft gaming world.
It is unquestionable that the Internet gives users agency to whatever we want, whenever we want to do it, but ethical questions do follow.
· Is there a double standard of ethics for the online and offline world?
· Should unethical actions be punished in the online world?
· Or, should the online gaming world be treated exactly as that, a game?
The distinction between the two does become increasingly blurred, but I think there is a key word that needs to be acknowledged ... Game. This fictitious culture has lost what I consider its initial purpose – to provide entertainment and relaxation.
Perhaps these online gamers need to take a step away from their online world and take a step back into reality.
Sterling, B. (1993) 'A Short History of the Internet', The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [URL: http://sodacity.net/system/files/Bruce_Sterling_A_Short_History_of_the_Internet.pdf]
Hey,
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading this - it was clear, and thought provoking and I think the 3 ethical questions you have really summarise the topic well!
Perhaps there really should be some kind of set guidelines ("laws") for internet gaming, in relation to ethics... I assume there is something that the gaming users agree to when they play just like we agree to conditions when getting a FB account etc.
I totally agree with your last sentence.
ReplyDeleteWoW it's a game and even though they were helding a funeral at it, they should have been aware that something like that could happen.
They don't know the other players so..why did they think that they would care?It's an online game with real money, that's true, but..it's still a game. And they should have known that it's not real life.
I think that there's a double standard, yes. It's easier-and allowed- to do things that you wouldn't do in your everyday life. (just like stepping into a funeral and "killing" everyone in the game)
I really enjoyed your post! I absolutely agree with the notions you suggested, particularly when you stated that the "lack of distinct ownership creates troublesome quarrels due to the lack of boundaries in the online world."
ReplyDeleteI believe the younger generations need to be educated in this area and be more mindful of what they display on the internet, particularly on social networking sites as these are quickly becoming a fundamental factor to contemporary social life.
When Ted accerted that facebook owns anything and everything that is posted onto the site in our tutorial last week, I found this incredibly disturbing as this is surprisingly unknown to the larger population who use facebook.
I believe that gamers do need to realise that there is an offline world also. Your point also relates to Facebook, and that some of us (including myself) need to stop constantly checking it, cause we can live without it for a day.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't computers doing these things, it's gamers! They're only doing it because they know they won't get caught!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting what people will do if they think they can get away with it (some idiots think london riots were funny, got 4 years in jail...N00BS: http://lat.ms/oeQWo1)
like i say in my blog, the internet is a massive grey area, and it's hard to distinguish between right and worng. but let's not censor the &*$# out of it please!