On Reputation

In the early days of the multiplayer game World of Warcraft, there was a strong ethical code to how players interacted with other players.

It was very hard to level your character to max level, so many players had only one main character in the game. You invested hundreds of hours to build it up. Starting over involved a high cost.

If you did something bad and got caught, people would remember. If you screwed someone over in trade, word would spread and you would have a hard time being invited to good groups or guilds. No one wanted to play with you anymore.

Even though you were anonymous - as in, no one knew who was behind the character in real life - your reputation was still tied to that in-game name which you couldn’t change. Your identity was sticky.

In later versions of the game, they introduced the options for players to change the in-game name of their character or transfer their character to a different realm for a small fee. They said “for ease of playing” so you could play with a friend on a different realm without having to level a new character up from 0.

It completely eroded the ethical code because now you could do something bad and if you got caught, you just change your name or switch to a new realm where no one knows you.

This is the same reason why social media is toxic. The real problem is not that it’s anonymous but that people can just change their Twitter or Instagram handle or create a new account without penalty. It’s a removal of skin in the game.

In the real world, your identity and therefore reputation sticks with you. Sure, you can try changing your name or moving to a new city but that's not so easy to do.

Things that you say or do only because you know you won’t get caught or because you know you won’t get punished if you get caught are the opposite of courageous, they are a testament to your cowardice. Be willing to take a risk for your opinion or shut the fuck up.

The prospect of ruining your reputation is a necessary factor for civil coexistence.