A Story About A Tree

A Story About A Tree

A Story About A Tree is a short essay and an epitaph written by Raph Koster, regarding the "death" of a LegendMUD player named "Karyn" [cite web |url=http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/essay1.shtml |title=A Story About A Tree |first=Raph |last=Koster |publisher=Raph Koster's Website |date=1998-05-05 |accessdate=2008-04-01] . The essay raises the subject of inter-human relationships in virtual worlds, particularly the loss of friends, concluding that these are "not just games". The case, having caused a massive uproar in the MUD's community [cite web |url=http://www.mud.legendmud.org/Community/karyn.html |title=Karyn's tribute Page |publisher=Unknown publisher |date=2005-11-22 |accessdate=2008-04-01] , is used as a paradigm to the human ability to grief about the loss of "imaginary people"cite book |last=Bartle |first=Richard |authorlink=Richard Bartle |title=Designing Virtual Worlds |publisher=New Riders |date=2003 |pages="Chapter 8. Coda: Ethical Considerations", "Yourself" |isbn = 0131018167] as well as the aspect of death in internet-based friendships. It has been later proven that the real person, Karyn's avatar claimed to be, never existed.cite web |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2003/04/14/who_killed_miss_norway/index.html |title=Who killed Miss Norway? |first=Tracy |last=Spaight |publisher=salon.com |accessdate=2008-04-01]

ynopsis

Karyn, being both her given real name and that of her avatar, has first logged into the LegendMUD in autumn of 1996. She claimed to a Miss Norway 1995 finalist and a law student in the University of Oslo. Her particular emphasis in the MUD was placed upon role-playing and being somebody else. Shortly after joining she created a personal website, displaying the pictures claimed as being her own, and founded a Guild named the "Norse Traders". Some time later, her frequent visits to the virtual world ceased, resulting in the stagnation and the eventual decrease of Guild's morale. Two month past her disappearance, Karyn's website displayed a letter from her parents and a news article in Norwegian. It was soon a well known fact that Karyn died in a traffic accident, whilst test-driving Porsche 911.

The news of Karyn's fate, and therefore the fate of a popular member and leader of an influential guild in LegendMUD, quickly spread throughout the community through message boards and the official newsletter. The players soon began pilgrimages to a Garden of Remembrance constructed in memory of the beloved member. The game's code was adjusted to enable pilgrims to leave permanent remembrance cards below a little tree bearing a brass plaque, reading "In Memory of Karyn whose kindness and companionship will always be missed".

As later proven by journalist Tracy Spaight and virtual worlds researcher Richard Bartle, Karyn's real self, as described on her website, was an invented persona. Spaight's investigation, driven by Bartle's suspicions of Karyn's existence, discovered that the University of Oslo had no records of student deaths in road accidents during the respective time frame. Spaight also found that the person in the photographs of Karyn was a contestant in the Miss Norway contest; however, contestant had never heard of LegendMUD. The story was later published in Tracy Spaight's report for Salon.com.

Impact

The "Karyn incident", though not unique in nature, is considered to be a key event in the development of virtual worlds' ethics, similar to the rape in cyberspace. The "death" demonstrated that people can develop feelings for each other via the virtual world medium, thus experiencing real emotions about somebody they've never met. A Story About A Tree is considered as a major counterargument against the "it's just a game"-statement, whilst referring to virtual world. Furthermore, it showcased that while being a very real object of grief to one party, it can indeed remain "just a game" for another.

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tree That Owns Itself — The Tree That Owns Itself is a white oak tree, widely assumed to have legal ownership of itself and of all land within eight feet (2.4 m) of its base. The tree is located at the corner of Finley and Dearing Streets in Athens, Georgia, USA. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of Life (Judeo-Christian) — See also Tree of life for other cultural interpretations of the term, and : Tree of life (disambiguation) for other meanings of the term. The Tree of Life (Heb. עץ החיים Etz haChayim ), in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree Hill — is a fictional town where the CW television series One Tree Hill takes place. Tree Hill is a small harbour, located in New Brunswick County, North Carolina, along the Atlantic Ocean, although the town itself may either not be that small, or it… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of life — For other uses, see Tree of life (disambiguation). An 1847 depiction of the Norse Yggdrasil as described in the Icelandic Prose Edda by Oluf Olufsen Bagge The concept of a tree of life, a many branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of Jesse — The oldest complete Jesse Tree window is in Chartres Cathedral, 1145. The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the Ancestors of Christ, shown in a tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David; the original use of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree model — Austro Asiatic Language Tree Maya Lan …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of life vision — The Tree of life vision is a vision recounted in the Book of Mormon that was received by the prophet Lehi, and later by his son Nephi who wrote about it in the First Book of Nephi. The vision symbolizes the spiritual plight of mankind, and is a… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil — In the Book of Genesis, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (and occasionally translated as the Tree of Conscience, ). A serpent later tempted Eve, who was aware of the prohibition, to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of Life, Bahrain — The Tree of Life (ArB|شجرة الحياة; transliterated: Shajarat al Hayah) is a 400 year old mesquite tree in Bahrain that is considered a natural wonder. [ [http://www.bahrainguide.org/BG1/gardenofeden2.html Bahrainguide: Tree of Life] ] This unique… …   Wikipedia

  • One Tree Hill (TV series) — One Tree Hill Intertitle, seasons 1–4; 8 Genre Drama, Sports Format Teen drama …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”