# 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:** 12
**Author:** ![VegemiteMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/221 "2006-04-08T02:06:11Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Why is this criticism coming towards me? I’m the one detesting nerd empowerment. “Internet tough guys” are weak and have been on the wrong end of sadism during their lives due to lack of power. If I were among them, why would I be criticizing that very thing? No-no. Not ‘criticism’, mockery. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/222 "2006-04-08T05:39:46Z")
> [@VegemiteMoose](#): > > No-no. Not ‘criticism’, mockery. Ok, let me try to explain this again. I have criticized these assholes because in real life, they’re powerless. Nerds. Whatever. So they become internet tough guys as a way to act out aggressions and assholic behavior in a safe manner. I am CRITICIZING THIS BEHAVIOR. So why mock me as if I was displaying that behavior myself? Why would you assume I’m a sheltered little nerd _when I am criticizing that exact behavior_? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/223 "2006-04-08T07:08:01Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Ok, let me try to explain this again. > > I have criticized these assholes because in real life, they’re powerless. Nerds. Whatever. So they become internet tough guys as a way to act out aggressions and assholic behavior in a safe manner. I am CRITICIZING THIS BEHAVIOR. > > So why mock me as if I was displaying that behavior myself? Why would you assume I’m a sheltered little nerd _when I am criticizing that exact behavior_? Clearly, this is your pathetic way to attack them, without them even knowing it. You must be a _really_ sheltered little nerd to have to attack other nerds on the internet in a place where they won’t even know about it, all while thinking somehow it will boost the opinion other posters on this board have of you. We see right thru that, tho. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/224 "2006-04-08T12:49:47Z")
The idea that crashing a funeral is AOK during war speaks more to our real world culture of total war than to the culture of Azeroth. Other societies historically didn’t take such a pragmatic approach and might have allowed something like this, depending on if it was a cultural tradition of theirs. Heck, even up until the end of World War 1 there were some niceties that Western culture obeyed. WoW players are, in effect, making the game a relic of their own times. If they get off on simulating a totally ruthless and evil culture, that is their choice. Just understand that not all cultures take this approach to war. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/225 "2006-04-08T13:14:08Z")
If Osama played this game and his character died and Al-Q decided to have a cermomy IRL for the dead character and advertized it on WoW, would it be wrong for Bush, who also plays WoW, but on the other side, to attack them? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/226 "2006-04-08T14:29:04Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > If Osama played this game and his character died and Al-Q decided to have a cermomy IRL for the dead character and advertized it on WoW, would it be wrong for Bush, who also plays WoW, but on the other side, to attack them? No, but only because you can sell your goods for cash. If the game were a totally enforced separate entity, then yes, it would still be wrong no matter who the entities were, all else being equal. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/227 "2006-04-10T21:30:16Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I don’t buy this. It isn’t a real war, it’s a game. However, it was a real memorial - even if it’s nerdy, it deals with a real death and real people’s feelings. The game “war” does not deserve to be placed on the same level as an actual memorial with real feelings. Well maybe they should deal with their real feelings in the real world and not in this virtual world where people are trying to play a GAME. It’s not real. If anything, bringing real life into a game world trivializes those real life events. Why does everyone have such a problem comprehending this? Do you have any idea how offensive it is to make suppositions about people’s characters based on their behaviors in a game? That’s about as logical as saying that Stephen King is really a crazy mofo because he writes about monsters and murders. It’s make believe. I killed a whole bunch of ogres last night for no other reason that I wanted their mithril. They weren’t doing a damn thing to me. Does that mean that I am a selfish, greedy bitch who will “kill” whoever is in my way to get what resources I need in the real world? No, it means _I was playing a fucking game_. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/228 "2006-04-11T12:33:39Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Do you have any idea how offensive it is to make suppositions about people’s characters based on their behaviors in a game? I’m not going to assume that all people playing WoW are homicidal maniacs, but if a player goes out of their way to be a jerk, I tend to assume that they go out of their way to be a jerk IRL as well. Surely you’re not saying that the people who went out of their way to crash the e-funeral might actually be wonderful and considerate people IRL? :dubious: I don’t mean to say that they would crash a real funeral, but I somehow doubt they are entirely innocent of jerk-itude. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/229 "2006-04-11T13:58:08Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Surely you’re not saying that the people who went out of their way to crash the e-funeral might actually be wonderful and considerate people IRL? :dubious: Sure, why not? Bah, I’ve made my point on this subject so many times it’s not worth trying again. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/230 "2006-04-11T14:58:19Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Surely you’re not saying that the people who went out of their way to crash the e-funeral might actually be wonderful and considerate people IRL? :dubious: What I’m saying is that I have no way of knowing anything about any of these people based on their behavior in an artificial world! Are my posts that difficult to read for comprehension? Perhaps, like me, they were offended by the very idea that someone would trivialize the death of an _actual human being_ in this manner and decided to make that point by reminding them in no uncertain terms that this was a GAME. But the fact is, I don’t know. They might be jerks. They might be saints. They’re very probably just regular people who are somewhat of both, like all of the rest of us. But the idea that I can make a judgment of their character _because of how they play World of Warcraft_ is laughable. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/231 "2006-04-11T15:17:10Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The idea that crashing a funeral is AOK during war speaks more to our real world culture of total war than to the culture of Azeroth. Other societies historically didn’t take such a pragmatic approach and might have allowed something like this, depending on if it was a cultural tradition of theirs. Heck, even up until the end of World War 1 there were some niceties that Western culture obeyed. Oh, I dunno. there are plenty of pre-1914 examples of surprise attacks and massacres and whatnot to demonstrate that when an opportunity is presented, it’ll be aggressively exploited. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/232 "2006-04-11T23:36:41Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > But the idea that I can make a judgment of their character _because of how they play World of Warcraft_ is laughable. Why the hell would a non-jerk think “gee, some people are going to be really grieving… let’s go shit on them”? No, the behavior is inherently jerkish. ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/233 "2006-04-12T01:18:01Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Why the hell would a non-jerk think “gee, some people are going to be really grieving… let’s go shit on them”? No, the behavior is inherently jerkish. You obviously have a very hard time differentiating between the real world and a game. Here’s a clue…WoW is a fucking **GAME**. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/234 "2006-04-12T01:25:35Z")
> [@Xploder](#): > > You obviously have a very hard time differentiating between the real world and a game. Here’s a clue…WoW is a fucking **GAME**. Irrelevant. Their actions were motivated by the chance to hurt vulnerable people. That was the entire point of the excercise. They wanted to show what assholes they were - proudly. How can that possibly be non-jerkish behavior? Sure, it’s small stuff because it’s in a game, but the intent was there. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/235 "2006-04-12T01:30:02Z")
Another analogy. Someone knows someone through AIM. They know someone is really insecure vulnerable about something, so they decide to harass this person endlessly about it. Now, aim “isn’t real”, even though it’s not a game. If the interaction took place in real life, and someone went nuts trying to harass the insecure person, could they do more damage? Sure. And shitting on a corpse in a funeral would do more damage. But is the intent any different? They intended to harm to empower themselves. The only difference is the matter of degree. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/236 "2006-04-12T01:41:50Z")
> [@Xploder](#): > > You obviously have a very hard time differentiating between the real world and a game. Here’s a clue…WoW is a fucking **GAME**. A game that has _real_ people in it. Jerkish behavior is jerkish behavior, in or out of a game. It’s arguably _worse_ in a game, since a game has no higher purpose than fun; if you make it un-fun, it’s just ruined. At least a jerk at a job doesn’t automatically render the job pointless. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/237 "2006-04-12T01:51:46Z")
Here’s a little excercise: Create a hypothetical line of thought that could’ve occured in the instigators of this event that wasn’t jerish in intent. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/238 "2006-04-12T02:14:34Z")
Perhaps they felt, as role-players, it’d be in the spirit of the game. Alliance attacking the Horde and all that. A bunch of them all together and unprepared. It’s the perfect ambush. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/239 "2006-04-12T02:22:44Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > Perhaps they felt, as role-players, it’d be in the spirit of the game. Alliance attacking the Horde and all that. A bunch of them all together and unprepared. It’s the perfect ambush. Why would they proudly label themselves as assholes? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-guild-holds-an-e-funeral-for-a-member-who-died-irl-then-another-guild-crashes-it/349840/240 "2006-04-12T02:40:24Z")
I don’t know. A change of heart afterwards? I don’t seriously believe that’s why they did it. I’m simply offering it as a reason someone without malice might do it. Frankly, I’ve no idea why I even got into it. It’s all pretty silly. You can’t know much about a person based on some Internet event. You certainly can’t say they were bullied in real life or whatever it you were going on about before all that nonsense with analogies. [Previous 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=11) [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=13)