he'll have to have a personal coming-to-Fire-Wyrd-Night-Jesus meeting when he does.
You called?
For the record, comparing e-baby sacrifice to e-sexual assault/rape/pedophilia is a false equivalence. There is a culture of sexual assault actively being grappled with. There is a real life counterpart to sexual assault and rape issues, it is contentious because it is real.
Baby sacrifice is not a cultural issue with any real life counterpart. It is not real.
Frankly, if you want to make this argument, I would question why you play Lusternia at all. If your argument is anything that simulates things that would be considered "wrong" in real life, why are you not coming out against PK in general? Stabbing people in the neck over religious conflicts is pretty contentious at its core. Is killing the baby's mother okay so long as it's not the baby? If so, why is infanticide more problematic than murder? If this is ultimately a question of general game morality, I am genuinely curious as to how you absolve yourself from answering all the moral issues present in Lusternia, while expecting accommodations for those you do choose take issue with.
There's no reason not to provide reasonable accommodations to people with genuine concerns. The question, really, is what is reasonable? I, for one, don't find people making arbitrary, seemingly very selective, complaints about morality to be particularly reasonable. It seems to me the more rational answer is to not engage in activities that make you uncomfortable, and if that involves not playing in an org, don't play in the org. Some people are highly sensitive to issues of self harm or grapple with issues of how we care for the homeless. They shouldn't play in Magnagora. Drug abuse or alcoholism? Don't play in Gaudiguch. If fake murder is your trigger, don't play in Glomdoring. It doesn't mean your problem isn't real or genuine, but it is unreasonable to expect the game to change for you.
I remember doing the sacrifice on my one character who earned the orgbix. It was definitely a visceral punch to the gut every time she killed it, but I wasn't opposed to that visceral feeling. I liked that the game made me feel so much over just punching in a few keystrokes.
I wonder if I would feel differently about enjoying it if I had a kid or not myself. Either way, I agree that the problem is likely that it's a human baby, and if a plant baby is an option, that seems like it should work. I couldn't say for sure unless I make a character and put them in that situation again, but in theory, it seems good.
Amazing beautiful stunning avatar by Gurashi! ~ A gentle breeze ruffles your wings and whispers in your ears, as if for you alone, "Dragonfly's words shine... seeds, sown and tended, inspire... a forest harvest." ~ Maylea reaches out, Her fingers poised in midair. "Now you are of Me, even more than you were before." Her golden and azure eyes glitter. "Walk well, Eldin. Shed glory in My name, and bring life to the lifeless."
I remember having a twisty gut feeling every time I did the quest because I had tried it so many times and failed through some problem and was anxious. I think combined I've done the forest quests basically all the way through something like 30 times.
No other organization has this gated by the player's IRL squick factor.
That's a highly subjective statement. What is squick to you isn't necessarily squick to someone else.
Meanwhile the constant massacre of small dogs to feed a collection of animals, only to slaughter them and extract their brains in the Magnagoran epic is certainly likely to be a squick factor to someone else.
As are many of the combat lines, especially deaths from all 3 perspectives. There's subject material in there that could really upset people, I don't understand why people are pointing at this as if it's the singular example of "this is too far by real world moral standards"
In truth, Glomdoring is a horrid place. If it were in the real world, even Kim Jong Un would look on in shock and declare they'd gone too far.
The characters that inhabit it, both players and NPCs live by this mantra of ruthlessness, as it allows them the clarity to push forward with their goals. It's very much a law of the jungle at times, comparable to the underdark, with less personal goal backstabbing and more unity, those willing to make sacrifices are rewarded and ascended above others.
The only gripe I have with the baby, is that there is no sacrifice on behalf of the one murdering it. You essentially did a 1 minute trip round to Stewartsville and back for someone else's child.
I'd rather see the innocent life be one of more meaning, something or someone the player has invested time into raising, even gained the trust of.
Only to stare with abject horror at you as you slaughter it.
That would truly be definitive, over kidnapping for infanticide, but I can't begin to imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth from people already bothered by a few lines of text.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
We have now resolved the bug highlighted above that was preventing the bloodroot baby from being used in the Glomdoring epic. As such, We will now be closing this thread.
Comments
For the record, comparing e-baby sacrifice to e-sexual assault/rape/pedophilia is a false equivalence. There is a culture of sexual assault actively being grappled with. There is a real life counterpart to sexual assault and rape issues, it is contentious because it is real.
Baby sacrifice is not a cultural issue with any real life counterpart. It is not real.
Frankly, if you want to make this argument, I would question why you play Lusternia at all. If your argument is anything that simulates things that would be considered "wrong" in real life, why are you not coming out against PK in general? Stabbing people in the neck over religious conflicts is pretty contentious at its core. Is killing the baby's mother okay so long as it's not the baby? If so, why is infanticide more problematic than murder? If this is ultimately a question of general game morality, I am genuinely curious as to how you absolve yourself from answering all the moral issues present in Lusternia, while expecting accommodations for those you do choose take issue with.
There's no reason not to provide reasonable accommodations to people with genuine concerns. The question, really, is what is reasonable? I, for one, don't find people making arbitrary, seemingly very selective, complaints about morality to be particularly reasonable. It seems to me the more rational answer is to not engage in activities that make you uncomfortable, and if that involves not playing in an org, don't play in the org. Some people are highly sensitive to issues of self harm or grapple with issues of how we care for the homeless. They shouldn't play in Magnagora. Drug abuse or alcoholism? Don't play in Gaudiguch. If fake murder is your trigger, don't play in Glomdoring. It doesn't mean your problem isn't real or genuine, but it is unreasonable to expect the game to change for you.
edit: wtf plant baby?
@Cyndarin
When a daddy loves a mummy he plants a baby in her.
I wonder if I would feel differently about enjoying it if I had a kid or not myself. Either way, I agree that the problem is likely that it's a human baby, and if a plant baby is an option, that seems like it should work. I couldn't say for sure unless I make a character and put them in that situation again, but in theory, it seems good.
~
A gentle breeze ruffles your wings and whispers in your ears, as if for you alone, "Dragonfly's words shine... seeds, sown and tended, inspire... a forest harvest."
~
Maylea reaches out, Her fingers poised in midair. "Now you are of Me, even more than you were before." Her golden and azure eyes glitter. "Walk well, Eldin. Shed glory in My name, and bring life to the lifeless."
Meanwhile the constant massacre of small dogs to feed a collection of animals, only to slaughter them and extract their brains in the Magnagoran epic is certainly likely to be a squick factor to someone else.
As are many of the combat lines, especially deaths from all 3 perspectives. There's subject material in there that could really upset people, I don't understand why people are pointing at this as if it's the singular example of "this is too far by real world moral standards"
In truth, Glomdoring is a horrid place. If it were in the real world, even Kim Jong Un would look on in shock and declare they'd gone too far.
The characters that inhabit it, both players and NPCs live by this mantra of ruthlessness, as it allows them the clarity to push forward with their goals. It's very much a law of the jungle at times, comparable to the underdark, with less personal goal backstabbing and more unity, those willing to make sacrifices are rewarded and ascended above others.
The only gripe I have with the baby, is that there is no sacrifice on behalf of the one murdering it. You essentially did a 1 minute trip round to Stewartsville and back for someone else's child.
I'd rather see the innocent life be one of more meaning, something or someone the player has invested time into raising, even gained the trust of.
Only to stare with abject horror at you as you slaughter it.
That would truly be definitive, over kidnapping for infanticide, but I can't begin to imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth from people already bothered by a few lines of text.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Thank you.