Journal Journal: Do You Have a Digital Will & Binary Testament? 61
A while back, I cancelled my Star Wars Galaxies account. Yes, I know that many of you reading this can identify with me. Someone somewhere destroyed that game (point the finger however you would like).
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel some form of remorse. But it wasn't only the remorse of losing my friends in the game and the daily grinding with my character--there's a little bit of affection I had towards the game that resulted in such fun times I had.
My father grew up with a single shot bolt action .22 caliber center fire rifle. I don't expect computer programmers to know what that is so I'll just describe as a tiny little rifle capable of shooting up pop cans and small game (don't worry, no one in my family is a member of the NRA). As a kid, he would use that rifle to target shoot and kill rats/gophers with his friends.
When I turned 13 or 14, I got my orange card and with that, my father's rifle. This wasn't a Winchester or Browning or even Remington rifle, it didn't even have a serial number on it. The fact of the matter is that the rifle was fired so much that the action eventually broke and my parents refused to spend the money to repair it. It's somewhere in my parent's house now (I don't have a need for a rifle now that I live in large metropolis--although you might be able to argue otherwise). I was sad that a tool and recreation device passed on to me is now gone.
What am I going to pass on to my children? I have no childhood toys that aren't rusted and broken in a machine shed. But I do have accounts to games like Warcraft III, SWG, WoW etc. that I have put many hours into. Further more; there are websites like HSX, MySpace, Flickr and even Slashdot where I have accounts with a lot of information about me. On top of that, what of my three or four free/academic e-mail accounts that I heavily use? Will I go through and delete selected e-mails or will I leave the access information to my family uncensored when I die?
Aren't these e-mails like correspondences of dead relatives except they won't be lost in a fire or flood? Wouldn't a Flickr account be like a photo album that you didn't have to fight siblings for? Isn't my WoW account much like the rifle that my dad passed on to me when I was a kid?
My dad and his siblings did leave me a pong paddle game. I understand that the future holds games far beyond the qualities of those above. But aren't they cherished classics? I spent hours upon hours playing pong with my friends after I inherited the pong console that my dad used. Call me easily entertained but those were some fun times. The pong game eventually broke and I think we went through three or four RF adapters (those things really are poorly made) as we played it into the ground.
We live in the information age.
Let that sink in. The games we play, the electronic trails we leave ... those things will most certainly persist--considering the redundant array of indexed disks that servers use, possibly indefinitely. Will you pass them on to your children? Will it be easier for your life's work to be cumulatively added to a family digital history book? Will my great great great grandson one day have access to the plain old java objects that at a young age set me on my life long profession? Will his eyes one day read this journal entry?
Do you have a digital will and binary testament with all your access information to personal accounts for your love ones to cherish after you pass? Could there be anything greater that would help your memory persist?
*my father aims his rifle and places a tiny hole inside the 'o' on a Coca-Cola can 30 yards away and imagines the future as I do the same*
... 25 years later ...
*I slap devouring plague on an alliance rogue, psychic scream him with my level 60 priest then sit back and watch him flail around a bit before dying ... and I imagine the future as my son does the same*
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel some form of remorse. But it wasn't only the remorse of losing my friends in the game and the daily grinding with my character--there's a little bit of affection I had towards the game that resulted in such fun times I had.
My father grew up with a single shot bolt action
When I turned 13 or 14, I got my orange card and with that, my father's rifle. This wasn't a Winchester or Browning or even Remington rifle, it didn't even have a serial number on it. The fact of the matter is that the rifle was fired so much that the action eventually broke and my parents refused to spend the money to repair it. It's somewhere in my parent's house now (I don't have a need for a rifle now that I live in large metropolis--although you might be able to argue otherwise). I was sad that a tool and recreation device passed on to me is now gone.
What am I going to pass on to my children? I have no childhood toys that aren't rusted and broken in a machine shed. But I do have accounts to games like Warcraft III, SWG, WoW etc. that I have put many hours into. Further more; there are websites like HSX, MySpace, Flickr and even Slashdot where I have accounts with a lot of information about me. On top of that, what of my three or four free/academic e-mail accounts that I heavily use? Will I go through and delete selected e-mails or will I leave the access information to my family uncensored when I die?
Aren't these e-mails like correspondences of dead relatives except they won't be lost in a fire or flood? Wouldn't a Flickr account be like a photo album that you didn't have to fight siblings for? Isn't my WoW account much like the rifle that my dad passed on to me when I was a kid?
My dad and his siblings did leave me a pong paddle game. I understand that the future holds games far beyond the qualities of those above. But aren't they cherished classics? I spent hours upon hours playing pong with my friends after I inherited the pong console that my dad used. Call me easily entertained but those were some fun times. The pong game eventually broke and I think we went through three or four RF adapters (those things really are poorly made) as we played it into the ground.
We live in the information age.
Let that sink in. The games we play, the electronic trails we leave
Do you have a digital will and binary testament with all your access information to personal accounts for your love ones to cherish after you pass? Could there be anything greater that would help your memory persist?
*my father aims his rifle and places a tiny hole inside the 'o' on a Coca-Cola can 30 yards away and imagines the future as I do the same*
*I slap devouring plague on an alliance rogue, psychic scream him with my level 60 priest then sit back and watch him flail around a bit before dying
