There is a long history of memorialisaion in Virtual Worlds. Many VWs are game spaces where player-character and non- player character death is a central part of the game. But given the size and longevity of these communities it is enviable that players die also. This raises the debate about whether a real life death should be memorialised in a fictive space, something that the VW community is divided about. Probably the most discussed case is that of Karyn in the VW LegendMUD. Here someone created the character of a player Karyn; that played a character in the VW – became an important person in the community, made strong friendships with people around the world etc. The person then ‘killed’ Karyn, not simply by stopping playing the game but creating an announcement supposedly from Karyn’s parents, linking the death to a supposed actual car crash etc. The initial reaction (when Karyn was supposed to be an actual person) is most eloquently summed up in Raph Koster’s piece About a Tree: www.legendmud.org/raph/gaming/essay1.html A few years later the documentary filmmaker started to investigate the incident and revealed that it was a hoax: www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/04/14/who_killed_miss_norway/ index_np.html Which sparked a long second round of discussion on the mail list MUD-DEV: http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2003Q2/msg00085.php The two levels of argument are: - if Karyn was a real person, is it right to create a memorial in a Virtual Space, especially one that is fictive. - If Karyn was not a real person, is it right.. Many people argue yes to both on the grounds the community suffered a loss and as this was a genuine feeling in the community then it is fitting to create a memorial. While this is a complex case as it deals with issues such as the identity of people and spaces, I think that it highlights a lot of factors that come into play when we look at memorials in virtual spaces such as VWs or Web sites. Also of course as VWs grow in popularity and complexity the type of memorial that can be created gets ever more sophisticated. There are of course many examples of VWs where people have died IRL and there have been elaborate funeral celebrations etc. Ren www.renreynolds.com terranova.blogs.com PS not sure of the quality of this piece, but there are quite a few links: http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/sociosite/websoc/death.html PPS I wrote a very short thing on TerraNova about VWs / Games as sacred spaces: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/03/sacred_spaces.h tml -----Original Message----- Wrom: LBDXRQBGJSNBOHMKHJYFMYXOEAIJJPHSCRTNHGSWZIDREXCAXZOWCO Behalf Of Tasha Buch Sent: 18 April 2004 13:50 To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Thoughts wanted on online grief-community... Importance: High Dear subscribers on AIR-1: I am working on my thesis project which concerns a case study in a Danish virtual grief-community called Mindet.dk [English: The Memorial]. This community is a possibility for bereaved to meet other people who have lost a beloved one. The website contains functions as an official guestbook, memorials, lighting candles and private fora. In our contemporary society death and grief is experienced as taboo, when these themes becomes private, personal experience. At the same time, when it comes to death in the media there is almost no limit for exploring this private subject. I undertake a theoretical exploration of the ideas of community, death and griefing in our society, together with an empirical study of community on Mindet.dk in order to find out if the Internet can be a new space to fulfill a missing function in our society. I would very much like to hear from anyone who has experience or interesting thoughts about what social aspects (positive, negative aswell as paradoxical) the Internet can contribute to such a private theme as death and grief. Best, Tasha Buch ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ Tasha Buch Graduate Student Design, Media and Communication Program IT-University of Copenhagen, Denmark Email: tabu@itu.dk -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l