Short fiction for today

This morning I read When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, by Cory Doctorow, linked to me by wilwheaton's syndicated LJ feed.

The last two paragraphs hit me hard, and I honestly needed a few minutes to recover. 'Cause geez, I've suspected for some time that the secret to life, the universe, and everything is hiding right there.

Strong stuff.

I cast "Cone of Politeness"

On another subject, I played a few hours of WoW last night. World of Warcraft has a few different kinds of game servers: PvE, where you only battle other players if you and the other players choose; PvP, where if you enter certain areas, you can be attacked at any time; and Role-Play, where in-game conversations are expected to remain in the persona of your chosen character.

The point of all this is that I've begun yearning for a new kind of WoW server: RolePlay-21, where players don't have to stay in character, but they all have to converse in-game with maturity, manners, and otherwise like people with fulfilling lives outside the Internet.

I'll move all my characters over there like a shot.