Blog Azeroth runs a delightful exchange of Secret Santa-esque blog posts, and I had the pleasure of participating this year. I gave a set of (root!) beer labels to an old friend, Kamalia of Kamlia Et Alia, and receieved this post from Xsinthis of the Golden Crusade. You’ll find Xsinthis’ gift post to DA below.
Enjoy, and thank you to our intrepid organizers at Blog Azeroth!
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The following is my, Xsinthis of The Golden Crusade, guest post for Disciplinary Action. I must confess I know nothing about Priests and couldn’t draw a stick figure to save the world, so I thought I’d write a bit of a philosophical piece with a slight Auction House flavour since I saw that Disco Priest was such a huge Auction House fanatic like me. Enjoy!
One of my favourite topics lately to discuss about online life is the fact that so many people seem to think that their relative anonymity frees them from the social codes that bind us everywhere else. While many stick to the regular social norms on the web, a startling many completely forgo these unwritten rules society has. This topic, unfortunately, becomes even more clouded when it comes to online games, and even more convoluted with in-game businesses, such as the World of Warcraft Auction House and raiding (yes, I include raiding in here, as it is very much job like and very much has a PvP aspect too it). Phrases like “It’s only a game” and “It’s just business” are thrown around a lot when discussing these topics, and certainly a lot more colourful phrases as well.
The ideas of honour and integrity also seem to have lost its meaning online and in-game. I’m familiar with the phrase “All is fair in love and war” but not only do I disagree with that statement, I disagree that it can even be applied to our fair game. Yes, I realize it is World of *WAR*craft, but we can’t forget that there are other people behind those avatars, yes even the enemies you meet out in the field and your competitors on the auction house. Yes it is only a game, and in the end it means very little what you accomplish inside the game, but can have large repercussions outside the World of Warcraft when we forget that behind those avatars are people too. Let’s explore how all this effects us in our various ways shall we?
The Rules Written in Stone
In some regards Blizzard can take a very hand’s off approach to how players conduct themselves in game. Blizzard will only interfere if a written (well okay typed) set of rules or agreements are made in official channels, and even then there is no guarantee which ever Game Master you draw will support the claimant. The only clear issues Blizzard seems to take a stance on is direct manipulation of their game, such as botting and hacking.
Not that many people bother to read the rules (contained in Blizzard’s <strong><a href=”http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/legal/wow_tou.html”>Terms of Service</a></strong> and <strong><a href=”http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/legal/wow_eula.html”>End User Licence Agreement</a></strong>) and who can blame them? They’re are quite a dry read, and yet they determine and outline what you, other players, and even Blizzard can and can’t do. Noticeably absent from these publications are guidelines on how to conduct yourself, and blizzard even seems to acknowledge the fact that many players aren’t always that nice.
Game play is what World of Warcraft is all about, and Blizzard strictly enforces the rules that govern game play. Blizzard considers most conduct to be part of the Game, and not harassment, so player-killing the enemies of your race and/or alliance, including gravestone and/or corpse camping, is considered a part of the Game.
This certainly leaves the general player base to go about their merry way without any regard.
Going Above and Beyond the Terms of Service
These rules are great and all, and function very similar to laws in most countries for dealing with businesses and interaction between people, but much like in the real world there’s another layer. Social standards; An honour code; Religious beliefs; A set of moral guidelines that keep people from treating people like crap to the full extent of the law. When you deviate from this your integrity and reputation is at stake, and while some people may scoff at something like this, it can have serious effects on your life and how you live it.
Much like how in the real world people uphold themselves to a standard higher than the bare minimum, players in the World of Warcraft have the ability to do this too. An unfortunate amount does not, and especially in the gold making business you hear about all kinds of dodging the grey area tricks. Not to say other more routine activities are free from this either, I’m sure all the serious raiders out there will agree some of your teammates can be royal pains in the ass. The kicker here is, there really isn’t much of a regulating force in regards to ethics in World of Warcraft; while in the real world you have company policy, ethics committees, and even the media when the problem happens on a company level, you don’t have such forces here in World of Warcraft, aside from the occasional GM who enforcing codes of conduct.
Why Should You?
An unfortunate side effect of online life is that one can shed identities like a dog sheds hair in the spring. This means that when you’ve simply ruined your reputation, you can move elsewhere and take on a different name with little inconvenience and have a blank slate. However, someone who conducts oneself honourably can still build a reputation, which can be useful when weighing in on topics, applying for new guilds, acquiring recruits for your current guild, and even securing business partners for your World of Warcraft Auctioning Empire. Just because you can be a Grinch, doesn’t mean you have to be, and it certainly doesn’t mean it won’t have an effect on you.
The decision is ultimately up to you on whether or not you hold yourself up to high ethical standards. In fact, I think it is an extremely important and personal one, that no one should decide upon but yourself. If you do decided to do it however, the rewards can be very satisfying, knowing you’ve reached your goals and have completed them in away that you can be proud of.
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I don’t pay a huge amount of attention to the “big name” AH sellers on my server, but I do have a very short shitlist of people I won’t interact with (including AH sales). Honor is imporant!