EDITORIAL: The Necessity of Respect

Given the major role that BL land claims are playing in the game at present, the Times will begin covering the issue as a news and opinion topic, and will also create informational resources about land claims for players to access. We will also begin to accept editorials from Illyriad gamers on a wide range of topics.

In our first guest post, anti-land claimer ajqtrz frames his arguments for how in-game actions between players should conform to real-life, societal standards, and how enforcement of land claims as a rule violate these standards. The thoughts and ideas expressed by AJ in this editorial are entirely his own, and do not express the position or opinion of the Times or any of its staff, and the editors will seek a rebuttal editorial on this issue.

 

Sometimes out of the sparks of debate a fire is started that lights our way, or burns us, depending upon our desire for civility. So, in the spirit of civility here is what I think the whole thing is about, and why it’s important.

The debate in which we have been engaged, I believe, centers around very simple question:  “If the players of Illyriad are real people, how SHOULD we treat them?  If they are not real people then it, obviously, does not matter, as they are only “pixels on the page.” But if they are real people then  should they not be treated the same as we OUGHT to treat people with whom we deal face to face?

How do you treat those you meet face to face?  Or more to the point, how SHOULD you treat them?  You can answer that for yourself, but generally speaking most people would say they try to treat people with respect.  As much as possible we respect each other.  We respect each other rights, and we respect each other goals and aspiration.  This respect is not perfect, but it is a goal, and a worthy one at that.

If you were standing face to face with someone who was debating you, would you reach over and slap them silly when they got the better of the argument?  Would that be respectful?   It is on of the hallmarks of bad debating style to threaten force when you can’t convince.  And it’s disrespectful of your opponent and the audience who, one supposes, wish to actually hear the arguments for both sides.  In a game with rules if a person cheats by finding an exploit, do you think it respectful?  If a baseball player carried the bat around the bases clubbing the opposing team would you think that respectful?  Or course not.  But you wouldn’t think it disrespectful because it was against the rules, you would think it against the rules because it was disrespectful of the players and  the game.  You would think that if it were allowed instead of calling it “baseball” we would call it “basebrawl.”

So the question becomes, “do land claims in their current form” respect the players of Illyriad?

To “land claimers” land claims appear to be nothing but a technique or strategy to accomplish their goals.”  They say, and have said, “don’t make such a big deal about it.”  And if those effected by land claims in their current form, were just avatars floating across the screen, I could agree.  But while land claims may appear to be, and are, good strategy, they are also very disrespectful of the players and the game.

Land claims disrespect the right of settlement every player has been granted by the developers.  It takes away this without agreement amongst the players and thus is disrespectful of their desires and opinions.  And that it does so through the use of intimidation by threats of coercion, only adds insult to injury.

But of course, land claiming players will say, it’s a “sandbox.”  And it is “just a game.”  And it is a “war game.”  But these answers are based upon an immediate, simplistic, and unsophisticated view.  If you glimpse Illyriad and don’t think to hard about it, it looks like “just a game.” It looks like a “war game.” And the sandbox looks like a place where you are allowed to do whatever you wish.  And if the avatars you see with your two very real eyes, look just like pixels on a page, then you have no need to regard the real people behind the avatars.  “Elves, dwarves, orcs and ‘humans’ in the game aren’t real, are they?”  That is what a shallow view of any game will give you.  But any game can be viewed as “just a game.”  If you are playing Monopoly and the players you are facing are not real people, reach over and slap them silly if they start to win.  They aren’t real people after all.  At least that’s the story you must tell yourself if you need to justify something you wouldn’t and shouldn’t do to them if they were real people.

You wouldn’t do it in “real life” and the only way you can be disrespectful in Illyriad is by separating it from real life in a fantasy version in which you are the only real thing in the game….all other players are just being pixels on the page.

But of course, you know that behind every Stukahh, every Shogun, every Ajqtrz, every Pico, every Rill, every Kojak,

and every other of the many unnamed players, there is a person sitting, typing away, clicking on things and building or warring or trading his or her real time and talents to reach a goal in the game called Illyriad.  And you know that you can treat them as mere objects in your immediate electronic environment or you can decide that the story you are weaving about how you achieved your goals can only be a winning story if you don’t stomp on real humans as you pass.

There is an ironic twist to all this that land claimers love to put forward.  They say it is disrespectful for anyone to tell them they can’t play the game the way they wish  But how they wish to play the game is by taking from all of us the right of settlement and by using their size to enforce their desires.  It is never disrespectful to resist those who are trying to rob you.  It is never disrespectful to rise up and stop those who are trying to take your rights.  One is not required to respect bad behavior.

In the past this war over respect has played out over and over as players have come and gone.  In the past the players of Illyriad have decided that the person playing is important.  In the past they set up expectations about how real people will play the game. Noobs can’t be attacked without serious repercussions.  The 10 square rule can include gathering and parking armies.  And injustices and unjustified attacks are often dealt with because we understand intuitively that if we allow such behaviors we are allowing bullying.  You can’t bully an avatar, but you can a real person   In the past, and I think most of us today, understand this. And most of us, I believer reject the disrespect shown to all of us by the use of intimidation by threats of coercion, which is how the dictionary defines that awful word, “bullying.”

We want the game to be enjoyable and if we can make it enjoyable to more people, then so much the better.  Of course it isn’t perfect and some injustices go unpunished, but that doesn’t mean they should be allowed.  Disrespect, the kind that uses intimidation by threats of coercion, is not something that makes the game more enjoyable except to those who use it.  Bullies often get a kick out of stomping on kids as they pass.  Thus, because we are human, because humans want to be respected, and because bullying is not respecting the humans playing the game, land claims in their current form must be stopped.

Editorial by ajqtrz

 

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