An Indication That People Suck

I have proof. Now, not all people are bad, not all people are evil, stupid, ignorant, bigoted, and self-centered, but I have proof that there are a lot of them.

This story I am about to retell is not terribly new, but I was just reminded of it and felt compelled to prove that people are evil in many ways.

There is a video game out there known as World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is described as a "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game". It involved a lot of people from around the world playing together and to achieve common goals. Often, people realize that they like playing together, and they will form "guilds", which often consist of hundreds of people that can become friends.

One of these guilds had a member who fell terminally ill, and died. The members of his guild were all very close and were friends and grieved the loss of life in general, and the loss of their friend specifically. All his online-friends decided to have something similar to a memorial for him in the only way that they all could: online, in World of Warcraft.

Is this idea odd sounding at first? Yes. But it is a genuine attempt to honor the memory of a friend and show him respect. There are good people out there.

But, that would have been too easy.

Apparently, news of this event spread through World of Warcraft, and an opposing guild got wind of it.

So, while the group of friends was gathered to perform their version of a funeral, speaking with each other over an online voice-chat program so they could express their memories of their friend, the opposing guild swept in and interrupted the ceremony by killing all of their characters.

Let me quickly recap that:

1. Friend dies
2. Friends organize to mourn his death
3. Other people do the digital equivalent of breaking into a funeral and defecating on the corpse

I can only hope that when these people are grandparents, if, in fact, these poor excuses for human beings should ever be fortunate enough to make it with a member of the opposite sex, and their grandchildren ask what they were like when they were younger, they look back and regret this action.

But I know they won't. I know they probably forgot about it the next week. And I'm honestly not sure which is worse: the action, or the casual nature with which I am sure it was performed.

The final detail about this story that I feel you should know is how other people have reacted to it. I first heard about this story from some one who thought it was hilarious, as have most people with whom I have discuss this event. When I question him as to what was so funny, he responded by explaining was geeky and lame the whole idea of the digital lament was.

How silly of me. I forgot that simply because you believe some one behaved in an odd way, you have the right to ruin his attempt at mourning his friend's death.