Death/Incapacitation and Virtual Friends

[Nemah]

This is something most, if not all of us, have encountered by now - whether personally or by proxy. So how have you chosen to handle the whole "if something happens to you" thing regarding your online life?

How will the people that you have a "virtual" friendship with - that are good friends but might not be in direct, daily contact with you - know if you've died or are otherwise out of commission? How will your guild know if you aren't on a close personal level with any of them? Obviously "close personal level" is subjective. Some people give out their contact information freely, others do not.

If you care enough to let people in whatever MMO(s) you play know that you're dead or even otherwise incapacitated, what's your system?

I have given my wife a list of passwords and accounts in the event something happens to me, so that she can let people know....I'm curious how other people have chosen to deal with it.

[Deleted]

i dont care who knows cos ill be dead

[Deleted]

Hadn't really thought of it before, I guess my IRL friends would let guildies/online friends know, we tend to have the same friendship groups.

[Deleted]

It's like asking someone what they'll wear to or how they'll act at your wedding. I don't care because I'll be dead.

[Deleted]

Doesn't really matter because virtual friends aren't proper friends. Your real friends will find out because they are people that generally care about you.

[Immitis]

Doesn't really matter because virtual friends aren't proper friends. Your real friends will find out because they are people that generally care about you.

do not feed it

[Nemah]

do not feed it

Yeah. I just thought it was an interesting question - over the years of playing WoW in particular, I've found out about a few "fake" deaths, and recently about a real one where the person died suddenly and no one knew where she had gone.

Just because it's a "virtual" relationship doesn't mean you don't care about the person. Connections are connections and all....I just wondered if other people had considered anything on that front, particularly with the advent of long-running games like WoW in which people are bound to form certain bonds.

I think the lines have blurred / are blurring, and the question is a reasonable one. I tend to think the "I don't care I'll be dead" mentality is a bit self-centered, but that's just my opinion.

[Noorri]

I don't have any virtual friends, so it's not exactly a problem for me.

I assume most people simply don't care about their virtual friends enough to worry, and alot of people care very little what happens after they die anyway.

[Nemah]

I don't have any virtual friends, so it's not exactly a problem for me.

I assume most people simply don't care about their virtual friends enough to worry, and alot of people care very little what happens after they die anyway.

"Virtual friends" is a term that makes me somewhat uncomfortable, but I wasn't sure how else to phrase it. The people in my guild are people I've been raiding with regularly for almost 2 years now, and we've gotten to know each other on some semblance of a personal level. The person I mentioned earlier was someone I'd met all the way back in Vanilla WoW.

While some of them have ended up as friends on social networks (and would thus find out that way) if that wasn't the case the thought of just disappearing one day makes me sad. I realize that the nature of online relationships is often volatile / transitory, but past a certain point it just seems like - as the culture develops - something that should be added in to normal preparations.

For some reason I thought this post would get many more responses, but I suppose the lack of it tends to underscore your point. Thanks for the reply(ies).

[celinamuna]

Idk, i wondered it a few times. I know some of my friends would hopefully log in and msg ppl on my friend list.
Can't say that i don't care for "virtual" friends, simply because don't really believe in "virtual friends" != "friends".