The Alphaville Herald

Op/Ed: Saw it Coming – anonymous gaming as a training ground for sociopathic behavior

by Alphaville Herald on 21/12/04 at 6:40 am

In this essay, our reader DigitalGaia takes us back to the early days of virtual communitites and contends that griefing and predatory behavior (especially by teens) has always been with us and should come as no surprise now. Sample quote:

“It was then that I began to observe the frighteningly real effect a life without consequences in an anonymous virtual world could have. I played all the games and always helped out the newbies in these games, showing them the ropes and seeing that they had a good start. The young guys (15 – 18) were always polite with good manners to start with. Eager to learn and eager to help. I met most in person at BBS’s gatherings. Once they learned the ropes, 60% would turn into HK’s human killers. The viciousness and rudeness coupled with a severe lack of empathy and remorse was rampant. Because of the anonymity, these kids would do any and everything. The games became worlds where they could act out their darkest fantasies. The truly frightening part was that this behavior was spilling into the real world. These once polite and well mannered children were becoming sadistic monsters in real life. Anonymous gaming was a training field for sociopathic behaviors that would carry into adulthood.”

I saw a BBC article about the dark side of humanity in a virtual environment. I must confess that it amused me.

My first (1979) computer was a CP/M based system called an Osbourn. It was a dual disk drive with a built in modem and about the size of a sewing machine. Way ahead of its time and very portable. You could drive up to a pay phone, run it off the car battery, slap on an acoustic modem, sign onto Tymnet, and log into the Source (which ultimately turned into Compuserve) and turn into a sadistic monster.

I was one of the few and far between woman on the early net that played multi-player games (this was before BBS’s became popular). I knew 2 facts about the people I played with by virtue of them just being there. 1. They had money. 2. Were well educated.

Women were treated respectfully and not condescendingly. We comprised about 5 – 10% of the users. Most of the multi-player games were word games. Competition was fierce, gender not an issue. But the competition was an intellectual one.

I don’t remember exactly when, but the Source was sold by Readers Digest and became Compuserve. Enter the real time, multi-player, very elaborate and dynamic text driven role playing games. The first two were the Island of Kesmai and Galactic Empire.

I played both. I was the original DameBeryl in Kesmai and Zuleika in Galactic Empire. These were ongoing games, like the Virtual Worlds. I lived DameBeryl for over 8 years. The demographics of players was slightly different. Women comprised about 20% of the users now. Users were still educated, but a lot younger, late teens and early 20′s compared to the late 20′s to early 40′s of the Tymnet days. The majority still had money and manners was essentially the norm in these games, but a very subtle rudeness and mercenary tendencies started to creep in within the next few years.

By the early mid 80′s computers were getting cheap and the demographics changed radically. Still educated, but class distinction due to money no longer existed. No longer was altruism an assumed thing. Players (always men) were becoming downright evil. There was stealing, ambushing, bullying, murdering and just plain cheating wherever they went. Virtual life was becoming frightening and very stressful. Mercifully for us old timers, it was less than 20%. By the late 80′s a rudimentary police force and government grew in Kesmai and Galactic Empire in response to these rogues.

About 1985 BBS’s were cropping up in every town and local members for the most part knew one another. The demographics included just about anybody, except the abject poor and uneducated. Women comprised about 25 – 30%. Games like Kesmai and GE were being cloned to a bare bones level for the BBS’s

It was then that I began to observe the frighteningly real effect a life without consequences in an anonymous virtual world could have. I played all the games and always helped out the newbies in these games, showing them the ropes and seeing that they had a good start. The young guys (15 – 18) were always polite with good manners to start with. Eager to learn and eager to help. I met most in person at BBS’s gatherings. Once they learned the ropes, 60% would turn into HK’s human killers. The viciousness and rudeness coupled with a severe lack of empathy and remorse was rampant. Because of the anonymity, these kids would do any and everything. The games became worlds where they could act out their darkest fantasies. The truly frightening part was that this behavior was spilling into the real world. These once polite and well mannered children were becoming sadistic monsters in real life. Anonymous gaming was a training field for sociopathic behaviors that would carry into adulthood.

I ultimately quit mp gaming in the late 80′s mostly because it became terrifying and no longer fun. By then I was no longer surprised by the criminal tendencies of users and it was escalating out of control, actually turning into the norm rather the exception among young men.

What I learned from all of this was a kind of intrinsic understanding of social behavior and the societal restrictions on unacceptable behavior. Once these restrictions were removed in a virtual world and users understood there were no real consequences for actions good or bad, predatory behavior was not far behind.

I saw what you are seeing now, decades ago. I find it amusing that it has taken the rest of the world this long to see what was so patently obvious back in the 80′s.

DigitalGaia
DigitalGaia@yahoo.com