Are these obscenities received every waking moment, or only during the game? Do they know your real name, your home phone number, your address, or just your avatar name? Are they threatening your online personality, or threatening you?
And most importantly, can you avoid these threats by logging out of a game? Or are these people calling your home after you've turned off your computer at night?
Please don't trivialize these threats by comparing them to in-game banter.
Your last point would hold if we only had the mental capacity to pity one person at a time, in which case would Rebecca Black really win over, say, victims of child sex trafficking?
> Your last point would hold if we only had the mental capacity to pity one person at a time, in which case would Rebecca Black really win over, say, victims of child sex trafficking?
My point is that the irrationality and hostility of the Internet and its users is by no means a new thing, and - as much as I sympathize for Ms. Wu - nobody is exempt from online dickery.
> Are these obscenities received every waking moment, or only during the game?
Depends on whether or not you choose to connect a real-world identity to your in-game identity. This is often the case for, say, screencasters, "Let's Play"ers, etc.
> Do they know your real name, your home phone number, your address, or just your avatar name?
Depends on how motivated they are, and - again - whether or not you've made any connection between the real and unreal worlds for these sorts of trolls to latch onto.
> Are they threatening your online personality, or threatening you?
The latter in many (if not most) cases. That's how it works in a lot of these situations; the other players are real people, and therefore not subject to Fourth-Wall-induced restrictions.
> Please don't trivialize these threats by comparing them to in-game banter.
You'd be surprised how frequently "in-game banter" is the understatement of the century.
And most importantly, can you avoid these threats by logging out of a game? Or are these people calling your home after you've turned off your computer at night?
Please don't trivialize these threats by comparing them to in-game banter.
Your last point would hold if we only had the mental capacity to pity one person at a time, in which case would Rebecca Black really win over, say, victims of child sex trafficking?