What to do when a player dies
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 16th 2009 at 5:00PM
This AP story is making its way around the community -- Jerald Spangleberg's daughter was faced with a growing problem when he passed a way: figuring out how to notify the guy's in-game friends. As online relationships grow more and more prevalent, relatives of those who pass away are often having trouble notifying some of the deceased closest friends. Even Blizzard can't help in this situation, apparently -- they have no policy or rules to deal with players who have died, and no way for relatives to log in to the game without the password to let guilds know what has happened.You might suggest that these relationships aren't that big a deal, but when you think that guildies are encountered almost nightly, while real-life friends connect only when schedules allow (maybe once or twice a week), you can see why it might be important to let the ingame associates know what has happened. Unfortunately, all of the solutions so far are pretty morbid -- there are sites that will send email for you, or some players have left lists of contacts to reach when they move on.
The importance of online relationships is likely to increase in the future if the past few years are any indication. And given that the average player is getting older even as they're making more and stronger friends online, it might not be long until we've got a much better solution to deal with this problem.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gnosh Mar 16th 2009 5:06PM
First thing you need to do is make sure to invite to any in-game events.
Because if you don't, they'll show up anyway. Flagged.
Gnosh Mar 16th 2009 5:07PM
HTML-blocker killed the tag.
Meant to say to invite Serenity Now.
The Elitist Jerk Mar 16th 2009 6:33PM
This.
Don't hold in-game weddings in Tanaris either because there's a dragon nearby.
BigB Mar 16th 2009 5:09PM
I find it odd Blizzard didn't have a policy set up. Surely the court approved death notice and attorney papers for power of attorney and the like weren't enough to have the password reset.
I had a friends daughter do this with AOL several years ago. It was a pain but with the proper documentation it did eventually happen and she was able to get online and tell us what had happened.
Arras Mar 16th 2009 5:10PM
I do hope blizzard comes up with a way for relatives to inform guildmates/friends of a player's death.
Otherwise, they may make the mistake of going to the Forums and posting there, which is just a recipe for disaster
Tim Mar 16th 2009 5:14PM
"He set up a site called Deathswitch, where people can set up e-mails that will be sent out automatically if they don't check in at intervals they specify, like once a week. For $20 per year, members can create up to 30 e-mails with attachments like video files."
Oh for crying out loud. I can't wait to get told that various friends are dead, only because they failed to log on or were absent-minded. I think in a few years we'll all be so sick of social networks, we'll wish everyone was dead anyway.
Olicon Mar 16th 2009 5:47PM
Alternatively, this could be fixed by having it being manually sent out, or fixing the message a bit.
The way I would have done it would be to make it a mailing, then leaving instructions for my family to go online (possibly to my mail) and sending out the info for me.
Or the service could simply notify the people on the mailing list that you have been absent for a while, and for them to contact some # if they want to find out your status. That won't raise nearly as much alarm when you go on an extended vacation.
jbodar Mar 16th 2009 7:08PM
Seriously, WTF? Why don't they just make it so if you don't log in for a while, it sets your Facebook status to "Dead, LOL". This is getting ridiculous.
shisho2k Mar 17th 2009 12:15AM
Hahahaha, Death Switch!? I flipped it on accident, whoops, it killed me. Here's your email.
If you want people to know, it's best if you just let relatives to know how to contact them.
Trilynne Mar 16th 2009 5:17PM
I know several of our guild's members IRL, in particular, my fiance. If I somehow died (I'm not at a big risk of this happening any time soon...), then unless he, his brothers, and my two other friends, as well as myself, ALL died in some tragic accident, there would be someone to tell the guild... The previous commentators are right, though, there should be some legal way for powers of attorney or something to cover online passwords.
Kajira Mar 16th 2009 5:24PM
I worry about this a lot. In my particular case, my guildMaster and i are an item, and he is very ill.
Many people in my guild come on every day, if only to say hello, and there's always a ripple of wonder and concern when they don't.
I think in tight knit guilds, there should always be some external method of contact (among the adults) to help with this.
I have left my password with my mother in case we need to let people know that something has happened.
brugh Mar 16th 2009 5:28PM
Well, this whole article is based on the preface of Blizzard not having a way to deal with a deceased player.
This is not the case.
Blizzard can and will transfer the ownership of an account to an immediate family member upon the death of a registered player.
Of course, you will need to supply them with a proof of death, and they will ONLY transfer it to an immediate family member, ie, brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter...
If you make the stupid mistake of registering your account in a fake name, such as Mickey Mouse, Barb Wire, or James Bond, then you are S.O.L..
Popesicle Mar 16th 2009 5:29PM
My father passed away in 2007 and his level 64 Tauren Shaman is still in our guild and sitting in Zangarmarsh where he was last grinding. My brother contacted Blizzard and asked about transferring the toon to his account and they will have no problem with that as long as the death certificate is provided.
Slightly off-topic and this is a bit different, since its only one toon, and he was in our guild, and my brother wasnt asking Blizzard for his password to be reset. But they will allow an account-to-account transfer in this case, without the login info form the other account. Not sure if there is a policy to this effect, or if it was just something they agreed to when asked.
hinu Mar 16th 2009 9:24PM
Thumbs up to Blizzard for allowing something like this, since it makes a lot of sense that death certificates will be accepted. Minimal red tape, minimal fuss. They should put this in their support Q&A!
Tibalt Mar 17th 2009 6:03PM
Sorry to hear that mate.
evankimori Mar 18th 2009 3:43PM
My condolences there bro. It's never easy losing your momma or pappa. Especially for the way things go these days where life's snuffed out so quietly and quickly. :(
Here's to your dad bro. I hope your old man's gettin' all the epics he ever wanted. R.IP.
joshua fischer Mar 16th 2009 5:31PM
Well if you are on a PvP server you go crash the funeral :-)
Lol i still find that funny. If you are going to get that commited to people in a video game you really need to re-evaluate where your life is and you need to get some more out of game friends.
Zorachus Mar 16th 2009 5:36PM
why?
they are as real as anyone else, just cause your eyes cant see them dont make anyless real
toss your phone then
Saintgutfree Mar 16th 2009 5:57PM
I agree with Zorachus... What makes online interaction worth less then in person?
That's kind of.. No, that IS a douche thing to say Josh.
Matthew Rossi Mar 16th 2009 6:39PM
My wife and I play this game together. Many of the people I've met online are now people I see in real life for cookouts, get togethers, etc etc. I know their names and their faces.
Believe it or not, the people you run instances and raids with, the people you PvP against, those are real people. They're not AI's, they're not fake. Your out of game friends are no more, and no less, deserving of basic human consideration as are the people you see when you play WoW.