Community Policing Comes To Video Games Too — But Is It All Good?

from the let-the-community-handle-it dept

Just as we’ve posted something about people trying to figure out how eBay-style community policing can apply to politics, comes this article about how online games are now relying on similar community policing techniques. The various games are getting sick of “griefers” who cause trouble for new players — which can obviously damage a game’s ability to attract new users. Of course, what the article doesn’t discuss is how this community policing system can get out of hand itself. Last year we wrote about a similar community policing effort in The Sims Online which turned a group of players into a virtual organized crime mob. It appears that, just as in real life, in the absence of effective government-backed law enforcement, alternatives make themselves known.


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Comments on “Community Policing Comes To Video Games Too — But Is It All Good?”

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1 Comment
dorpus says:

What if

Every gas station sells a tin of chewing tobacco in teabag pouches for $3 or so. What if a jackass puts those things in a Starbucks coffee dispenser, so people start having mysterious highs and passing out? If you’ve never chewed tobacco before, and you put one of those pouches in your mouth, I guarantee that you will pass out 30 seconds later. Why do drugs when you can have legally pass out for about 25 cents a dose?

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