Strange question, I know, forgive me!

This make no sense there would have been a donation alternative instead, like a children's hospital or something.

So he was alive after he supposedly died?

Well sorry hun hopefully it never happens to you again I'm sure you were a roller-coaster emotionally over it all.

Ha ha, sweet! I knew there was a reason I liked you. Smart girl.

Well, thats why i asked, if anyone had a similar experience..ive never lost anyone close to me..i know there was inconstancies and im the type of person that believes in someone, ok ok..niave! terrible prank!~

don't trouble yourself over it

I know a lady who stayed with a guy who faked a suicide attempt on her online like that.

It's not just in SL...

friend of my daughter met a guy "online" on one of those social sites Faceplant or whatever it's called..anyway...they became best friends, then fell in "love". "His sister" lived near us all supposedly, and he was going to drive out here to this coast of the USA from the other coast of the USA the day after his 18th birthday with the blessing of his parents to come live with "his sister" while he and the girl planned the wedding, with the knowledge and blessing of HER parents. (she is 16 or so).

well, the guy tells her goodnight, he's starting on the road tomorrow and he loves her and yada yada yada..

His best friend calls her a few days later, saying the boy had rolled his car in a crash with a semi-truck and died and that he wouldn't be coming out. Granted, by this time, they had swapped phone numbers and everything.

She gets suspicious, calles the State Patrol in that are where the boy "died"...no crashes with 18 year olds at all for when the boy supposedly died. She calls the phone number the boy called her from. He gets a woman who doesn't know the boy the girl is calling for. She says "honey, how old do you think **** is?!?!" and laughs at her. She says, don't call here anymore, the person you're looking for never existed".

Happens all the time.

Ohh definitely not - the first fake internet death that affected a friend of mine was in 1998.

Me thinks you worry too much. Don't get emotionally involved with something like this. Chances are it's not true and if it is then there's nothing you can do about it so why worry?

Anyone who commits suicide isn't worth getting all excited over. They are weak for taking that approach to begin with.

Internet suicide hoaxes may be a big problem, and even though that turned out to be the case here, there are a couple of things that should be cleared up. You should not be suspicious when alleged friends or family ask about the alleged dead person's state of mind leading up to the event. That really does happen in real cases. People close to the person look for answers and have to ask that kind of question. The not sending anything part was mildly suspicious but not overly so. Many families would say to make donations somewhere instead of sending something, but not all would. Until you've got something to suggest their still alive, you might as well believe they're dead. Even if they are still alive, after a stunt like this, you should consider them dead to you.

That's a bit over the line. You can say the person committing suicide was weak or that they took the coward's way out, or lot's of other cliches, but saying that they aren't worth getting excited over is too much. Something like that, when it's true, has a devastating effect on everyone that was close to them.

I agree, argos..and so many ppl take their lives, anymore, I have to say I cant believe someone would say someone isnt worth it! This is the mentality that leads the ppl to commit suicide! No one cares. But yes, it did upset me, very much..my eyes are swollen as proof.

I don't know wether or not to be jealous (I've never had a stalker in game ) or wonder wether or not the girls that get stalked have some type of gullible trait that tells the perpetrator"Victim here"".

i've seen this type of person though in game..friend of mine..crazy ideas and views on SL...thought he would walk across the entirity of SL to prove to a girl that he loved her.

Wouldn't accept my explanation that while in theory it was a nice gesture but eventually he would have to fly or tp somewhere to get from one end to the other.He didn't listen.

Then he chose to cover his face with a sphere..he wanted to be the "shadow"..no facial features..was very obsessed with this idea of having no face.

Then he was set on forming an anti linden govt. Go figure!

Somehow he hooked up with a buisness GF of mine..very sweet spirit..and within the week she had him on mute.

Then a week later his alt contacts me bragging it's him..but he's seeing her cousin..to get closer to her. By this time I could hear the men in white suits sirens and saw the nets waving in the air. I told my buisness GF about it and she promptly muted his alt as well.

Then..he was gone for a month..came back talking about having a funeral for himself..I read him the riot act..told him how sick it was and how irreverant to those who had actually died and wouldn't ya know..before he could bury himself in SL he supposedly had a life altering.."crippling" accident and was able to post pictures of all the rods and tubes and braces in his profile.

Good riddance.Maybe i don't have a sweet trusting spirit or maybe i attract the more devious less obvious types.(/me checks her mute list ) but yes..ultimately..if someone is set to take themselves out..I have NEVER tried to talk them out of it RL..I've always tried to find out what they 'really" need help on..and tried to address that..but absolutely do not attend their pity party.

I've had friends that did it...and all I can say is..i wish someone had treated them with kindness way before they considered it. And they never threatened..they just "did". I think people who play those types of games using the internet are manipulators ultimately.Ugh!! reading all that just makes me wanna throttle someone.

~Lana Tomba

Me neither. Ok, I'll make a deal with you. I'll be your stalker if you be mine. lol.

Very true, unfortunately.

12 years ago on a closely-knit IRC community I was involved in, the daughter of one of the regulars of this community came online to tell us her mother had died due to some illness (heart attack or something similar).

Everyone was understandably shocked and saddened. An online memorial service was planned. By the time a few days had passed and I arrived at the memorial service, it had been discovered that the "daughter" was in fact the original supposed "deceased."

The person just wanted to leave that particular channel and move on to another one but by faking her own death she left a lot of bad feelings and broken relationships, not to mention no one ever trusting her again, behind.

This phenomenon has a bad effect on innocent people as well. I remember when my father died,one woman on a message board I was running at the time...didn't believe that my father had died. She was a nut case anyway,but to shut her up I posted his scanned in obituary and a link to the online one. I probably should have just told her to STHU and ignored her...I think I was just amazed and shocked that someone would think I would make up such a thing..(yeah I was an innocent and naive internet dweller back then.)

Another time a really good online friend passed away. For months many people speculated that he was not dead. Many searched his name in the SS records,all kinds of crazy things... I can understand some people doubting the legitimacy of these claims,but it doesn't give people the right to go digging up all they can about someone's private life. It was finally proven that he did in fact pass away. Really showed some people's true colors though.

If my cousin shot himself ...
1. How would I know his/her password?
2. Why woulld I even think of looking for people on a game? Screw them. I'm family. They are not.
3. How would I know to go through their "friends" list, calling cards or whatever?
4. Once there, how would I know who was just guy they met once who was an ex-gf?

My opinion: immature drama queen who just wants to hurt you in an effort to exert a last bit of control. Don't be surprized when this so called cousin starts coming on more wanting to "talk and try to make sense of it all."

Your'e asking over the internet..for rl sympathies..about someone in rl..who isn't even on the internet. Unless youre willing to accept a fake no heart felt sympathy from virtual strangers about the passing of someone who was in your rl...its really up to them how they handle it. Its almost like a person is pushing the envelope.

:"Thanx for the laughs".."ThanX for the time spent with me..getting to know me over the internet..but..i want more...so let me get a little bit more intimate with information i release."(just be sure to take everything i say at face value))

As a person who understands that there is a rl out there and tragedies in that real life..I understand letting online friends know..what peaks my curiosity is why do people feel the need to do RL things to show their condolences and "help" in the grieving process?((especially with online friends?)) Why can't they say "I'm sorry for your loss..I hope to see you back here soon"..and be done with it?

~Lana Tomba

/me peers over the hedges at Claire..her eyes..her skin..her ears..twitching in the breeze......"Oh Claire..just to reach thru these binoculars and eat those pixels..i meant "meet" those pixels "(your turn..make it good ))

I'm thinking that I should have a sealed envelope with my internet user names and passwords together with some other players names, if I pop my clogs I would like to think people will know why I'm not replying to their messages, LOL.

I have to say if something were to happen to me,no one would ever know on the internet unless they call my home.(And only a few have that). My husband is computer illterate and the rest of my family wouldn't bother. I can't see anyone knowing all this information(passwords etc....) unless it was a spouse who was also involved in the same online community. JMO.

I think ARing is a bit extreme - but I'd call his bluff. IM him and say I don't believe a word and unless he can provide incontrovertible proof, then I believe he is hoaxing.

Yes.

I've seen this happen twice before in SL, and many times before that elsewhere on the Internet.

Mari

For years I have been a moderator at a major BB for guitar players. We openly encourage every member to make sure that at least one other 'regular' has their RL contact info. The friendships (and other relationships) we forge over common realms are very real indeed, and the emotions are correspondingly real.

One lady "died" in RL,her son came on the message board to tell us. A week later a new member joined with the exact same IP as the deceased lady. I guess this person never heard of IP's... I let her hang herself for about a week and then outed her.Not a proud moment of mine,but people were legitimately saddened about this ladies supposed passing and it pissed me off she was playing these games with them.

That hurt to read..I can't imagine her not knowing that her IP address was used as part of her login to the site.((usually you have to type it in))

I've often wondered ((runnning around as my alt)) if there was a way to track a suspected alts IP address to check to see if it matched the suspected mains..anyone know? ..paranoid here

~Lana Tomba

I've been blessed with not having to deal with this in any virtual setting, including my own MUSH. I did deal with the, "This person is in the hospital because of ..." and I still think one of them was a hoax, but I treated it just the same as I did the real ones.

If he's dead, then he's gone and not coming back. If it's a hoax, it means he wants to completely sever all ties, thus not coming back (if he's smart enough to keep it that way, nasty hoax to pull). Either way, the person is out of your life, you should allow yourself the mourning time for the relationship with the person and then move on. To me, it's just that simple.

One flag for this though: If they had asked for money to be sent to the family, chances are really strong that they're running a scam as well as a hoax. I knew a couple of people who were sucked into that one. It's always best to donate directly to the charity if the person so desires.. or to send flowers. Only if you know the family and can see the body, should you donate money to the family