Mayko mentioned Seppuku at the beginning of the Aromatic Grass. I think someone else (her of Lyra maybe) pointed out a disturbing suicide trend in Japan. Someone pointed out the disturbing effects that primitive VR had on a group of people. I have found creepy article that proves what Mayko mentioned and a new disturbing trend brought on by the internet Japanese Internet Trends. Also, as some of you have mentioned, this RP site and other things serve as an escape from life. These are the negative aspects of our technology.

Now, I want to know what you (the reader) think our future technologies, such as The World, could bring and voice and opinion on the disturbing trend mentioned above.

PS: No offense to those of you who said you came here to escape reality. Not all of your reasons are negative, but you gotta admit that some people do have bad reasons.

I am amongst those that come online because there is no other way I can escape the life that is around me. Reading the artical you mentioned, it is in prevention of these suicides that I come online... my own and those of the people I meet. I view myself as a bit of a counselor, trying to prevent anyone from suffering through what I have. So while yes, I am escaping, I'm also trying to do something for myself.

Think of the pressure and stress there is in Japan... from the time you're in preschool, you're already taking tests to get into the best school at the next level. Things are starting to get a little more fair now, but until recently, if you weren't in the right elementary school and getting straight As, there was no way you'd get into the right college without absolute perfection. Since so much is expected of these kids, if they can't achieve what they feel is expected of them, suicide looks like the only way out. They find people online that feel the same way, and, instead of trying to help each other beat the problem as I and many others have done in this situation, they encourage each other to go through with it. Internet or not, they'd still be doing this, its just a side effect of the high standards.

Who says something like The World couldn't have its equivelants of Anti-Suicide, Anti-Drug, etc. clubs built into it? And the material could be regulated enough that while say an article on suicide statistics would be allowable, anything encouraging self-destructive behavior blatently would not.

Also... I live near Columbine High School, I'm sure you've all heard about the shooting there was a few years back, when two boys shot some other students, a teacher, then themselves. The problem has been blamed on the music they listen to, the websites they visited, and the games they played. To quote Eminem, which I will never do again as long as I live, "Where were the parents at?". I hate my parents, but thats mostly because the problems they're constantly bugging me about is drugs, smoking, other things that I would never get involved in. They never once, even as the scars appeared on my arms, my grades dropped, and I cried myself to sleep at night, if I was sad, if I was hurting myself, and never once did they ask what music I was listening to, where I was going online, with friends, etc., unless they suspected it involved sex or drugs. The parents have been trained to ignore any problems they may be causing underneath... be it by being not ever there, and letting anarchy rule, or being too overbearing, too demanding, too overprotective, in the probable case of these Japanese kids.

Just something to think about.


ADDED: heh... it funny how people are avoiding this topic... *chuckles to herself*

With every action there's always a counteraction, with every positive efect, there's always a negative effect. Such is the way of life. It's been that way for as long as the earth has been around, and will be here as long as there is an earth.

Whereas there's positive effects from escaping reality by coming online, there's also negative ones. Like if you sit in front of a computer too much you start to gain weight and lose stamina from sitting ont he comp from so long, and you start to become antisocial in the actual world. My mom has accused me more than once of being antisocial, and I'm not disagreeing with her, I am. It's because I have nothing to say to them. Our ways of life no differ so much, I'm often ridculed by my own famiy for my way of life.

And then my mom wonders why I escape to the internet. Because someone there DOES understand me, and won't ridicule me. I get enough of it at school (well not so much anymore, but last year and years before that), I don't need it from my own family. I'm an Otaku, and half my family couldn't even spell that word for a million dollars. No matter how hard I try to explain it, no one gets it, and then thinks I'm weird. And then they call me a pokemon fan... but let's not get into that.

I'm glad I came online, because I've made some really close friends. We help each other with our problems, and like Lyra, I like to listen to my friends problems. And yes, I have deterred someone from committing suicide once. I like listening to others' problems and helping them find ways to solve them. It's helped more than once. And, if I can just save somones life once, it's a reason to be living.

And one final note. Yes, the internet can be a dangerous place, but you have to know how to protect yourself. If you easily give out personal information, of course it's eventually going to fall into the wrong hands. If you don't trust the person, give as much fake information as you possibly can, and push them as far away form you as possible. And if you really are freaked out, call the cops. They can do something. But calling the cops is a last resort. You gotta have proof or the cops will think it's a waste of their time.

This is just some of my thoughts on this topic, and I'm curious to know other peoples as well. I know this topic is a little hard on some people, but sometimes it's best if you come out with it instead of keeping it bottled up. I'm an extremely violent person know because I did that...

Sorry to revive a dead topic, but I got sick of seeing it there and was in a horrid enough mood to drag it out. I think the lack of responces on this, back when it was up, shows proof of what my friend Niban likes to call Peter Pan Syndrome. We don't wanna grow up.

I'm not against the whole stay young and have fun... I love having fun, and I by no means wanna be an old lady. But... Theres a thing called responcibility. That I see a serious lack of. Along with honesty.

Its sad when you have 3 different people who can post in responce to various topics you're in, and all of them have been asked to, have said that they'll post, and 10 hours later, they still haven't. Its equally sad when someone asks if they can post (even though they just did), you tell them not yet, you're working on posting, and they do anyway.

Both of these things happen far too often.

There's also... going away for more than 10 minutes and not putting on an away message ("Hello? Are you ignoring me? What did I do now?"). You have no clue how many unstable people I've watched been forced into screaming or crying mode just because they think they're being ignored, since people don't use away messages. For god sakes people, its there, use it! >.<

Some people on this site have excuses for acting unbareably immature. I.E., they're the right age to be immature. But most of us are what, 15-25? Try acting like you're no longer in grade school. You know how to behave.

I suppose I'm done ranting now. This was a dead topic anyway. PM me to make bets on how long it'll take for it to die again, since the whole world avoids rational thought.

Makoto suggests that this topic be taken lightly, as all information provided are in shades of grey. There are certains strings that an individual will shy away from plucking because often what seems to be the truth can be terribly...unsettling.
Since the players on //Divergence come from such a broad age group, the question and responses will be interpreted differently. Which is not a bad thing, just a though to keep in mind. We're all here to have fun, right? At least I am.

Japan is not the only country whose parents would like their child to be the ideal student. Each family in each country has their own standards based on their own values and experiences. What is stated here can hardly be used as a basis for the entire population of a single nation. The human soul is a fragile thing, so much it scares me to think how we can all still be sane with everything that is happening around us simultaneously fighting for our attention. Suicide is a switch, and the mystery is determining the events that led up to the flipping of it. Just like any of us can go crazy any moment if we really want too - heck I could go crazy now and send someone to another dimension. The possibility is there locked away in the back of our mind; we see glimpses of it sometimes, but that's it. Even as I type this reply my conscience pulls itself away from the tempting pool of philosophy and psychology and all those things that make my brain hurt. Bad stuff happens, ok? Like heck I want to leave it at just that - but this is a gaming board, not the United Nations.

Mayko made a good point by saying there are two sides to every coin. Light and dark. Cause and effect. Tis how the world turns, so to speak. Lyra also made a good point about how parents who are insecure about themselves expect their child to be confident and successful. Oddly enough it does come down to parenting and the experiences one goes through in life that influences how the conscience reacts to its surroundings. Ultimately nobody really wants to die but if there's nothing to live for or it seems like there is nothing to live for or there is nobody around to tell us there is something to live for or we fail to believe there is something to live for then, well. This is a very dangerous thread - perhaps it should have remained buried.

The people on divergence and those online represent only a small percentage of the entire world population. Compared with those without internet access we are like a grain of sand in a desert. Consider it an option of the priviledged - an alternative way to fulfill a dream or a desire or a temporary relief. If it is a 'perfect world' you're looking for however, you've come to the wrong place. Wait, perfection is not even applicable to the human being - more like an oxymoron. 'The World' is not an escape from anything as long as there is human person inside of it. An example would be the brief conflict that resulted from the discovery of the secondary RP board - what was it, VirusCore or something like that? Of course, listening to me whine about imperfection will not change anything -get off your lazy creative butts and do something about it! Hahaha~

I could sum everything up in three sentences, just to save time:

1) Bad stuff happens when all you see and feel is bad stuff.

2) Technology is a tool for the priviledged and a playground for the blind.

3) Everyone needs someone to lean on, to talk to, to laugh with, etc. Keeps them sane.

That's it for now, ciao!

*note: everything expressed in the above paragraphs are not meant to be taken too seriously - so please, relax. Oh and have fun.

Look I don't have some long response or personal story to tell about this particular topic. Actually thats not completely true.... I had a friend who was really into drugs and took Special K. For those of you who don't know what that is, its a setative used for large animals(horses and the like). She ended up slipping into a "K hole". A very deep depression. It was so bad that she couldn't stand to live through it. Her mother found her hanging in her basemet the next day. All I'm saying is that technology had nothing to do with it. Sure she listened to System of a Down, Disturbed, and even Manson, but so do I(minus the manson)!

The simple fact is that people do stupid things in life. I truely believe that all four of the individuals in the article would have done the same thing, because in order to go on line and meet with other people who are ready to end thier very livies, you have to be in a state of mind that already has you prepared for it. I honestly believe that if those men hadn't meet then 4 bodies would have been found in 4 diffrent places rather than one. I guess I lied about a long response, but I got caught up in it.... I have determined one thing however. Something i learned when Kristina hung herself. Sucide is a permanent way to end whatever problem you have, but it is very greedy. What about those left behind to deal with the fact that a 16 YEAR OLD friend is now gone? That is something that I thought I would never have to deal with and it hurts. I would never consider it, no matter how hard life gets, because I would never want to cause anyone that kind of pain.

It's amazing how human relationships can shape and mold you to such an immense scale. Truely, that is what we depend on. The relationships between our parents and family, as Lyra talked about, the relationships between our friends (as well as enemies), and even relationships to people you don't really know... Most of us have already been shaped, this process taking place in our childhoods, but it can still greatly affect the way we act. It can attribute to insanity, or depression, and maybe even result to an unfortunate end at one's own hands.

I could never be brave or cowardly enough to commit suicide. If you are not in an altered state of mind at the time, it would take an incredible amount of determination to kill yourself, because obviously it's an extremely serious situation and unless your judgement is clouded by something like drugs, you're aware of what you're doing. Ending your own life...throwing it all away and giving up the possibilities that the future could hold. Probably facing Hell, but who knows? That delves into religion and such so I won't go into that...But at the same time suicide is cowardice because it means that you are forfeiting against whatever had driven you to it, problems that you could have perhaps solves but chose instead to give up. I could never consider suicide, and partially because of what Tirath said. It's absolutely devastating to those around you.

I can't speak from experience...It seems that some of you have had reasons or tendancies toward suicide, but I have never been placed in a situation that is that horrible...I'm fortunate for this and also thankful... I know life can get bad, things can happen that make us wish we weren't alive, but we've just got to hold on through those times and preservere, even if these periods of suffering last a long time. Friends are a very valuable asset in this...a true friend is irreplaceable and if you think about it..could actually be a life saving thing. Referring back to Lyra, it's important to have someone to talk to. Someone to connect with, even if it's not in person. It's preferable to have a friend who you can speak to in person, but if such a case is impossible for you (which would be an unfortunate circumstance), even someone to talk to online would be sufficient. People need to have such supportive relationships...it's almost essential, for some people more than others. Friendship can be a really beautiful thing...

(Tirath, some of Disturbed's lyrics are actually pretty positive, especially on their newer album. I'm guessing your referred to them because of their heavier music?)

peter pan syndrom. no one wants to grow up, cause if you do you then have to accept responcibility for your actions. many people cant accept the consequences and turn to suicide. i have know one of these people, though she was unable to actually kill herself. which would have been unfortunate, she is a bright star in a dark world. always finding herself in trouble, she stopped talking to people and sat on her comp all day. and after about a month of seclusion she attempted suicide. peter pan syndrom indeed, she was a sad case indeed though she is now doing much better.

Hmm....I read this article before(before i joined this site)and read/skimmed it. It is interesting as to why and such. But I can see why they did it but do not understand as to why they would go that far. I have thoughts, but not to harm myself(usually others). And killing yourself for a conclusion really doesn't help much. It hurts others.(hmm..hurts others..) Plus you can't do anything more after you do what you do...And now I don't even know what i'm saying.

I do own the "Believe" CD, I simply referred to disturbed because their type of music represents an apparently strong emotional anger. Never mind that if you listen to the lyrics of these bands, then you would realize that once you get past the shouting there is usually a very postive message... In anycase this is off topic and I think it would be best to leave this rather moot point aside and continue with what is truely important. I am very intrested in everone elses response.....