Be prepared for a LONG post!
THIS IS GOING TO HURT
Online Universe
People play EU from different reasons. While I am sure a lot of people see this game as being a "fun" way to earn extra money, I am also sure that a lot of people use this game for more than being a money-mashine. Your reason for playing is your own, and I wont say that one way is better than another way, because EU gives us different oportunities which other games might not allow us.
The whole money issue can block the way of thinking. To some people money must mean everything. To other people money means a lot but there are things with greater value - like RL family or even in game friendship. Since RL money is involved, it is very hard to differentiate the two worlds from each other.
No matter how important game must seem to some people - real life should always come first. Real life is reality - you are connected to real life people - some maybe even dependent on you in different ways, like children. Friends you have known for years. Family..
It can happen that a real life issue influents on your virtual life. If you loose a family member or your job or if anything else important happens. You cannot help not taking it with you. Life is as dynamic as this Universe - and you can suddenly find yourself in a situation you did not foresee and which you never ever thought you would be a part of. Maybe it involved your family or friends you thought you could rely on because you wished to do best. Maybe the situation is so horrible and hurtful that you wish to reveal it to your ingame friends as well. And maybe the situation is even dealt with an ingame friend and therefor hurting other people as well ... That is when the line between RL and Virtual life is being crossed.
We all have to remember that friends in EU might
only be virtual friends - because otherwise you might get disappointed. But it doesnt have to be so. To some people - mostly because of the money - virtual become reality. When you're being hurt in RL you're being hurt in Eu and the other way around. That means your situation might also affect people in game which you are socialized with.
Nobody knows for sure who is on the other side of the pc screen. Something might look wrong, but you do not know the other persons life or the reason for a persons actions. We are thousands of players here with each our story - no one can tell wether your story is more correct than mine - wether your story is a lie or wether it is the truth - unless we know you very well in RL as well. The person you see as your enemy today might be your best friend tomorrow. A person who you might have considdered your best friend today, might stick you with a virtual knife tomorrow. No matter what - a situation happens so fast, that you should not judge a person ending up in a shitty situation.
People with the best intentions could be the worse people. People who seems to have done wrong, might be right. Unless there are proofs so clear that nothing can be misunderstood - nobody knows what is happening in a persons life - behind the screen - outside the universe. No RL letters revealed electronic, reports or whatever can prove anything. In a virtual world, everything can be adjusted to fit the truth anyway ... not only to find innocense - but indeed also to find guilt.
I have noticed that it is easy to pick on people when one contribute virtually. It is also easy to pick on and dig into situations without having a clue what it is about. Also it seems that a lot of people feel that it is their "duty" to put their noses into every issue they find, to find what they call "proofs" or to state their opinions in a way that highly miscredit other people. Some even sees it as a very uncharming sport and they get carried away so much, that they cannot even see how their own curiousity makes them look like.
It iseems to be so much easier to press a weak person down than to open up our eyes to see a story from another point of view and to give the person a constructive hand. Because in our own selfishness we are afraid we will end up in the same mess .. Also very often it is easiest to follow the crowd because it justify ourselves by standing on the "right side" of the fence.
I personally dont believe it is anyones duty to reveal any personal information to anybody here. And if there is a matter between a couple of people, that is only between those two and nobody else. What a person chose to reveal to other people in public, is a choise that person does but do not at the same time gives any obligations to reveal more.
We ALL hide behind an avatar - but it seems that we forget there are real people behind every pixelated girl/boy with real feelings living under very different - and some very bad and difficult - conditions. What might seem right for me might not be easy for another. This doesnt justify a bad action - but if a situation turns up the important question should be "what happens next?".
I am sure that to people without any sense of responsibility it would have been easier just to stay away in a difficult situation. It requires SO much more
BALLS to stand forward and try work things out - even though some people might not find the explanations suitable in their head and views on the world situation - and to get to a final agreement on a big problem.
A persons reasons for not making things up right away can be as many as there are people. Real life and eventually consequenses might fill even more - and perhaps trying to suppress the gravity in the situation makes the preasure a little easier - but in the end of course, the seriousness will catch up . .
When a person realizes he/she could have done things differently and that friends are believing and willing to help out even though he/she might have been too proud to ask for help - it is easy to see, that the thin line between RL and Virtual Universe is gone. It is not my duty to judge a persons way of handling a problem before - but more to help out in future. That certainly doesnt mean I don't have an opinion.
When a person who was down decide to move on even despite of difficulties in RL it would be much easier and a hell more helpful if people are pushing that persons back with goodwill and positive stroaks instead of shouts and discredits. One can ask oneself why one should do that. But personally if I try to imagine myself in a similar situation I would wish that my surroundings did this too. And that answer should be enough.
A person who is not only running away when things get hot should be credited for his/hers courage to stay and take the fight. And questionsmarks towards what happened is really at that point, pointless in my world - no matter how many "proofs" some think they find behind old actions and pm's and conspirasies. It is a mans will that counts to me. And that is what I wish to encourage and support.
In RL friendships you stand up for a friend and you try to help out the best you can. You very rarely put up questionsmarks to your friends sincereness - because it is a matter of course that you believe in each other. You know that this friend would - if he/she didnt already - stand up for you as well, if you were to be found in a bad situation. You will hand out your hand or good advice because that is what friendships are about! The closest friendships you find in EU are often those inside your society.
A matter can be bad or worse than bad, but how each of us wish to look at a situation is often depending on our own situation and experiences in life.
I'm not the person who imagine the worse scenario before it ever happens - because I chose not to believe in worse scenarios. I believe there is always a better road to follow - and that is why I move on and keep fighting for what and whom I believe in!
But of course if it at the end means that loyalness is being stepped on - it hurts more than bitting your balls ... it really hurts
Because behind screens we are only humans.
- imagine that, already ...
DAMN it's going fast!
