# a guild holds an e-funeral for a member who died IRL. Then another guild crashes it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 25, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840 "2006-03-25T07:31:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Corporate\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Corporate\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporate_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/1 "2006-03-25T07:31:36Z")
[The video put together by the e-funeral raiders](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7667194685876573666&q=World+of+warcraft) I’m having trouble finding solid info on it, a friend of mine just told me about it. Here is a description I snagged from this [blog.](http://www.xanga.com/DarkAznFag) > [@](#): > > On the WoW server, Illidan, the guild Serenity Now is the height of discussion atm. Summarized, a horde guild was going to hold a memorial for a member of their guild that died irl, only they announced the details of it on public forums with date, time and place, and held it in a contested territory on a PvP server. The leader of the alliance guild, Serenity Now, saw this as a golden opportunity to gang rape them all and did so, and made a video from it, a very nice one I might add which served me some entertainment. Now we have flamefests mixed with “lol omg awesome”'s mixed with congratulations to the newly famous guild. So I was pretty weirded out about the whole e-funeral idea, but crashing it for fun and some internet fame? Man, this is just sad on so many levels. The internet sure brings out the worst in people sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/2 "2006-03-25T08:57:27Z")
I feel for the people whose memorial got ganked, but if you’re going to plan these sorts of things in the public forums… And then hold them in a contested zone :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/3 "2006-03-25T09:03:22Z")
It just seems to make much more sense to hold a memorial via an AIM chat or something… not in a game where much of the point is killing other players’ characters. It was also rather surreal to see a bunch of people paying their respects by having strange scratching, leaping creatures stand in a line… also, the video was funny. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/4 "2006-03-25T09:16:13Z")
I saw this a week ago. I thought it was pretty funny. The doofuses were the people holding the ‘memorial’ in a PvP area in a contested zone! I mean, WTF! ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/5 "2006-03-25T10:15:12Z")
That was an amazing video. The E-Drama was truly great. I am glad I don’t give games that kind of attention and time anymore. I am also glad that some others do and make videos of it. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/6 "2006-03-25T15:07:14Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I saw this a week ago. I thought it was pretty funny. The doofuses were the people holding the ‘memorial’ in a PvP area in a contested zone! I mean, WTF! It Looked like they were giving the Alliance players a chance to pay their respects too. One joined the procession before the others approached, and no one was hostile. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/7 "2006-03-25T15:30:41Z")
A few words: 1.) I don’t find the video funny – the build-up is far too long and the payoff poor. 2.) I agree: WTF holding something like that in a PVP zone, just bone-headed 3.) A$$hole isn’t a strong enough term for this. It is a complete disrespect of someone’s grief. It is the equivalent of coming into a funeral home and deficating on the corpse. It isn’t funny, it isn’t cool, and it is an example of the kind of people PVP can draw. 4.) I would like to see the game owners make a statement about this, because it is simply over the line. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/8 "2006-03-25T15:41:28Z")
It’s both refreshing and sad to see that not all the asshats are horde :smack: So much for my surperiority complex. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/9 "2006-03-25T15:51:56Z")
Heh. Back in another game (not WOW) there were a couple of player memorials held in PVP areas on my server so every team could show their respects. They went just fine but that’s because of peer pressure. Anyone who interrupted them would have been smacked down pretty hard. You have to know your audience, I think. The players whose memorials they were were known to hold high respect/affection in all three realms. Generally not what I’d think was a good idea though. For sure someone is going to gank your sentimental display and piss people off. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/10 "2006-03-25T15:52:33Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > 2.) I agree: WTF holding something like that in a PVP zone, just bone-headed It may have been the deceased favorite place. And likely they gave out the forewarning on the boards specifically because they realised it could easily get messed up where they felt was the most proper place for the ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/11 "2006-03-25T15:53:45Z")
> [@Daniel](#): > > It Looked like they were giving the Alliance players a chance to pay their respects too. One joined the procession before the others approached, and no one was hostile. I get the impression the Alliane player was sent in as a spy just to record video of the memorial before the mayhem started. In any case, unfamiliar as I am with the mechanics of this particular game, could the memorial have been staged in another part of the gameworld that was not contested or allowed PvP ombat or something? ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/12 "2006-03-25T15:55:37Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > 4.) I would like to see the game owners make a statement about this, because it is simply over the line. What would you like Blizz to say about it? The Horde players had arranged a get-together in a contested zone, by talking about it on a public forum. Sure, the Alliance players were cocks for doing this under the circumstances, but when it comes down to it they did what they were allowed to do - kill a group of Horde that were gathering in a contested zone. This is no more assholish than a bunch of lvl 60s coming down into a low level zone and ganking all the lvl 20s. It sucks that people feel the need to ruin the game for others in that fashion, but them’s the breaks when you’re on a PvP server. Besides, if Blizz do come down on this, what next? Every group that gets ganked in a contested area then goes howling that they were ‘mourning’ and ‘holding a memorial’ in an effort to get the ones who ganked them banned? Because you know that’s what will happen… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/13 "2006-03-25T16:18:42Z")
> [@Sierra Indigo](#): > > This is no more assholish than a bunch of lvl 60s coming down into a low level zone and ganking all the lvl 20s. Hmm… Mess up people’s new characters. Mess up a bunch of people paying their respects to a **real** deceased friend in the only medium they may have to go about it. No, those don’t strike me as equal. No more than I would find walking into an arcade and randomly pressing people’s buttons as they tried to play equivalent to walking in on a funeral and assaulting all the guests. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/14 "2006-03-25T17:10:50Z")
No Sympathy. It’s a video game. Where part of the point is to attack other players. It’s not a forum for expressing grief. If they wanted to, they could have used the same forum that they set up the even at to memoralize their friend, or organized a non-gaming online venue for a memorial. Or at the very least one of teh areas where PvP was disabled. It’s a game, not a funeral home. Seems to me that the attackers were the ones with the more appropriate behavior. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/15 "2006-03-25T17:15:58Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > Mess up people’s new characters. > Mess up a bunch of people paying their respects to a **real** deceased friend in the only medium they may have to go about it. Not true. If they have an internet connection then they could (and should) have taken it to AIM, or something of the sort. Having an in-game funeral for a real-life person is definitely not roleplaying, in any case. Having a memorial as part of a fantasy role playing multiplayer combat game is… odd. It’d be like me logging on to Battlefield 2 and trying to halt the game in order to have a real-world discussion of some sort. And, heck, all this went down on a server which allows PvP! Bottom line, if you are playing a _game_ which allows players to fight other players, don’t complain if other players end up fighting you. It is, after all, a public server. If they really wanted to restrict the ability of other people to use the game as it’s designed, then they should’ve asked for admin permission first. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/16 "2006-03-25T17:17:22Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > It may have been the deceased favorite place. And likely they gave out the forewarning on the boards specifically because they realised it could easily get messed up where they felt was the most proper place for the ceremony. I wondered if maybe it had special meaning to the lost player and if they specifically asked to be left alone, this makes the attack even more disrespectful than initially it appears to be. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/17 "2006-03-25T17:20:30Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > I wondered if maybe it had special meaning to the lost player and if they specifically asked to be left alone, Yes, and yes. > [@ddgryphon](#): > > this makes the attack even more disrespectful than initially it appears to be. Perhaps… but having a memorial service in a public video game is still not the proper forum. If you try to hold a bereavement group in the middle of a playground, expect the kids who’re playing to be disruptive. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/18 "2006-03-25T17:25:17Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Not true. If they have an internet connection then they could (and should) have taken it to AIM, or something of the sort. They could have, but if this is the venue in which they knew the person, it does make sense to have it here rather than somewhere else – I’m still not sure why it HAD to be held in a PVP zone. > [@FinnAgain](#): > > Having an in-game funeral for a real-life person is definitely not roleplaying, in any case. Having a memorial as part of a fantasy role playing multiplayer combat game is… odd. It’d be like me logging on to Battlefield 2 and trying to halt the game in order to have a real-world discussion of some sort. And, heck, all this went down on a server which allows PvP! Not really. This is the place where they knew the person best. It had meaning and was an important part of HOW they knew the person. They also lost the in-game personna, so, it is in effect a double loss. This isn’t the forum for it, but we can discuss the relative sadness of that elsewhere. > [@FinnAgain](#): > > Bottom line, if you are playing a _game_ which allows players to fight other players, don’t complain if other players end up fighting you. It is, after all, a public server. If they really wanted to restrict the ability of other people to use the game as it’s designed, then they should’ve asked for admin permission first. This is probably a good idea – they likely should have discussed it with admins first, and in the future, it would be a good idea for anyone wanting to express grief in this way to do so. It doesn’t excuse the disrespect and saying “I was just playing the game” is simply making excuses for being an asshat – plain and simple. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/19 "2006-03-25T17:27:35Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Not true. If they have an internet connection then they could (and should) have taken it to AIM, or something of the sort. Probably they assumed people were cooler than that. I wouldn’t assume people would mess up a funeral for a real person no matter where it is held–because that’s just one of those things you **absolutely** do not do. In what way does it being a PVP area in any way justify people turning off the way they should behave towards the death of a real human being? If I was at a paintball place and a group of people came in and said they had a friend who had died who loved the place and they all wanted to have a moment there, what person isn’t going to step aside for a moment and let them do it? And even if someone was annoyed by having to stop playing to let them do it, you are never going to see someone shoot one of the people. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/20 "2006-03-25T17:27:41Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Perhaps… but having a memorial service in a public video game is still not the proper forum. If you try to hold a bereavement group in the middle of a playground, expect the kids who’re playing to be disruptive. There’s a difference in going about your business and actively disrupting something. I would expect kids to pick up on the grief vibes, they are pretty attuned to such things. Plus, it would be up to the parents to inform their children that it is a “quiet, repsectful moment” and use it as a tool for teaching them proper respect for others grief. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840.md?page=2)