What is protocol here?

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Hi all.

I have a friend in game, who has reasonable strong proof to believe somebody he knows in the game may be attempting to take his *edit* OWN life. My friend does not know this person's name, phone number, location... anything.

Is there... anything? Anything you can think of that might, without liability issues from GMs/etc, enable my friend to contact this person, who, apparently, is not in a clear state of mind.

Your helpful input is appreciated.

Thank you,

Azzazin



EDIT: Looks like my friend had another friend with a phone number of the individual in question. Police were contacted and have the location of the person in distress. Once again, thank you all for your helpful input.

Nowitsawn - Heavens Tear

Most of these threats are usually trollery.

If it looks really serious though, screenshot the chat and send a ticket. GM's could trace his IP and the police could be contacted about it.

Don't try contacting the person directly. This would only make it easier for him to trace you.

MystiMonk - Sanctuary

There is no way he can get in touch with your friend and tell your friend to blacklist him.The only way is if a Admins was to trace their IP which they won't.that will just tell them where the IP is coming from but no name or house although the Admins do have that on record.I would tell your friend that he is fine just play the game and ignore this person.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Pretty much what I already suggested to my friend (as far as the screenshot goes), and as far as letting GMs IP trace and whatnot... . Do the GMs actually have the ability to contact the police? Can IP tracing actually get you close enough to have any effect?

Apparently*, the person in question has... swallowed a bunch of pills? I have no idea who this person is, but... if this is true, it would be a pretty urgent thing. Right?

Thanks again for helpful input,

Azzazin

MystiMonk - Sanctuary

The GM/Admins actually can not contact the Police that must be made by your friend only reason Admins here would contact Police is if there was abuse on them by US.

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary

MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »

There is no way he can get in touch with your friend and tell your friend to blacklist him.The only way is if a Admins was to trace their IP which they won't.that will just tell them where the IP is coming from but no name or house although the Admins do have that on record.I would tell your friend that he is fine just play the game and ignore this person.

You clearly are an idiot.
If the police are told, the person can be tracked down and helped (It has happened to a friend of mine before. I did make sure they did not take their life). If it seems like a serious matter, you don't tell someone "Oh it's fine. Don't worry about it." then blacklist them. That just makes you as bad as most of the people on this planet.

Nowitsawn - Heavens Tear

The police are able to trace IP's down to the exact house address, even through proxies.

It was on the news a while ago in my country, some kid posted a threat to start a school shooting using his neighbours internet connection. He got vanned by the police the same night.

Ofcourse, if they will go that far over something said in an MMO is anyone's guess.

Lesthar - Heavens Tear

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary wrote: »

You clearly are an idiot.
If the police are told, the person can be tracked down and helped (It has happened to a friend of mine before. I did make sure they did not take their life). If it seems like a serious matter, you don't tell someone "Oh it's fine. Don't worry about it." then blacklist them. That just makes you as bad as most of the people on this planet.

At least it's about in-game harrasment. Not a light matter indeed.

Nowitsawn - Heavens Tear

Lesthar - Heavens Tear wrote: »

At least it's about in-game harrasment. Not a light matter indeed.

About that; Was about to ask, @OP: Are you talking about someone threatening to murder someone, or about someone saying he will attempt suicide? Your post isn't really clear on that.

Edit:

Azzazin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

EDIT: Looks like my friend had another friend with a phone number of the individual in question. Police were contacted and have the location of the person in distress. Once again, thank you all for your helpful input.

Oh well, I guess that settles it then.

MystiMonk - Sanctuary

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary wrote: »

You clearly are an idiot.
If the police are told, the person can be tracked down and helped (It has happened to a friend of mine before. I did make sure they did not take their life). If it seems like a serious matter, you don't tell someone "Oh it's fine. Don't worry about it." then blacklist them. That just makes you as bad as most of the people on this planet.

I am not and this is not about suicide is it.It is how legitimate it is to get the police involved anyway what evidence is there or is this one big prank.You clearly clearly don't understand the criminal world.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Suicide; I edited my post above to reflect this (you are right, it was ambiguous).

Azzazin

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary

MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »

I am not and this is not about suicide is it.It is how legitimate it is to get the police involved anyway what evidence is there or is this one big prank.You clearly clearly don't understand the criminal world.

Whether it is a prank or not, it is not something that should be taken lightly.

Nowitsawn - Heavens Tear

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary wrote: »

Whether it is a prank or not, it is not something that should be taken lightly.

Exactly.

And even if it is a prank, the person should know that you just don't pull off jokes like that.

MystiMonk - Sanctuary

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary wrote: »

Whether it is a prank or not, it is not something that should be taken lightly.

This is the internet not the real world where some one can be threatening your life at gun point or knife.The cops need more evidence before getting involved.They would rather the Admins here deal with this.

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary

MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »

This is the internet not the real world where some one can be threatening your life at gun point or knife.The cops need more evidence before getting involved.They would rather the Admins here deal with this.

How would the Admins deal with someone who is threatening to take their life, exactly?
You have no sense of these things at all.
If someone says they're going to take their own life, then it's best to contact the police so if they are going to, they can be helped. And if they're joking, then whatever happens then happens.
But for no reason should the matter be taken lightly, like I said.

Lesthar - Heavens Tear

Ah, suicide. A person uttering that kind of stuff sure should not be overlooked (as it can make things turn out worse).
Many wished for simple support (someone to confide to) before anything else.

Have the concerned person be reassured as much as possible. Sometimes simple talk can solve all... but yes, it has to be taken seriously.

I hope things will turn out okay.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Well to the people discussing above, part of the story goes like this: person has a wife in real life; person's wife tells him in game that she is divorcing him (IRL) and marrying some other guy; person take bottle of pills (my friend was convinced by this person's actions to believe this to be truth) and that lastly, person's wife was not phoning 911. Now, you can understand the urgency with which (should this be true) this would need to be dealt with. Hence, why I offered to help him out with this forum post. Thankfully, like I said, phone number was found & police contacted.

Azzazin

SerenityMare - Dreamweaver

MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »

This is the internet not the real world where some one can be threatening your life at gun point or knife.The cops need more evidence before getting involved.They would rather the Admins here deal with this.

Apparently you don't live in the real world..


A lot of criminals use the internet to get to people and harm them. Nowadays, you don't even need to give your number, address...etc to get harmed.

Nowitsawn - Heavens Tear

If it at least causes you to be more at ease, just taking a bottle of random pills more often leads to severe sickness rather than death. He would have to know exactly what to use for it to work.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Nowitsawn - Heavens Tear wrote: »

If it at least causes you to be more at ease, just taking a bottle of random pills more often leads to severe sickness rather than death. He would have to know exactly what to use for it to work.

While this may very well be true, we really have no way of knowing anything about about this individual or what he has access to/knowledge of; my friend himself did not know the person very well. I believe the right thing was done in managing to let the police know about this.

If there are* any new major developments that I'm told about, I'll try to remember to post them* here. Once again, thanks all for your help & comments.

Azzazin

MistaBwanden - Sanctuary

I'm done with this before MystiMonk makes another stupid post about this being the internet.

Thank you for doing what you could about this person. I'm sure eventually, they will thank you.

Summer_Blush - Heavens Tear

had a case like this before, ticked the gm's and they said they would contact the police/parents in that area to monitor it or something; was a while ago so cant remember exactly.

only problem was this person who we thought was trust'able and telling the truth about being suicidal was full of sh*t and and just attention seeking, any form of contact was soon dropped with this person and she was told where to shove it lol

MagicHamsta - Lost City

There be no protocol.

Lesthar - Heavens Tear

Summer_Blush - Heavens Tear wrote: »

had a case like this before, ticked the gm's and they said they would contact the police/parents in that area to monitor it or something; was a while ago so cant remember exactly.

only problem was this person who we thought was trust'able and telling the truth about being suicidal was full of sh*t and and just attention seeking, any form of contact was soon dropped with this person and she was told where to shove it lol

That is the risk with such cases. Just like the story of the little boy who excessively yelled 'wolf, wolf!', etc. (even if at some point, prank is not a thing that comes to mind to those people, but rescuers sure could take it as one)

SgtSIaughter - Heavens Tear

If a person is gonna kill themselves, you won't stop them.

If a person TELLS ppl about it before-hand or during, they are lying and seeking attention, ignore them as this just fuels the behavior.

If a person TELLS ppl and is being serious, Darwin will hook um up with an all access pass.

Pic Related

Graviora - Dreamweaver

I don't believe people anymore when they say they're going to kill themselves. Had an incident with an ex a few months ago where he kept threatening to kill himself since I didn't want him anymore. In the end, I told him, "Go ahead. If you go through with it, I won't know. How will I? An email from a friend of yours? Could easily be you."

Pretty much, moral of the story: People telling others they're suicidal is seeking attention.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Graviora - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I don't believe people anymore when they say they're going to kill themselves. Had an incident with an ex a few months ago where he kept threatening to kill himself since I didn't want him anymore. In the end, I told him, "Go ahead. If you go through with it, I won't know. How will I? An email from a friend of yours? Could easily be you."

Pretty much, moral of the story: People telling others they're suicidal is seeking attention.

I disagree. If this were true, there would hardly be any suicides. There are almost always warning signs ahead of time, and it does not necessarily have to mean the person is attention seeking (though I am not denying this as a possibility). And if you think about it this way... in the worst case, the person was lying & a some time was wasted. Simply wash your hands of the affair and ignore the person from henceforth. How-ever, imagine that the person was not lying... YOU just potentially saved a life. I believe that a few minutes of my time are worth far, far, FAR less than the value of a human being's life.

In conclusion, morale is: you can't know (the first time) if the person is attention-seeking or not. Why risk being wrong, and having a person die?

ZAPATON - Sanctuary

Azzazin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I believe that a few minutes of my time are worth far, far, FAR less than the value of a human being's life

Said by an assassin named Azzazin XD

Just joking. I agree with that quote.

Graviora - Dreamweaver

Azzazin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I disagree. If this were true, there would hardly be any suicides. There are almost always warning signs ahead of time, and it does not necessarily have to mean the person is attention seeking (though I am not denying this as a possibility). And if you think about it this way... in the worst case, the person was lying & a some time was wasted. Simply wash your hands of the affair and ignore the person from henceforth. How-ever, imagine that the person was not lying... YOU just potentially saved a life. I believe that a few minutes of my time are worth far, far, FAR less than the value of a human being's life.

In conclusion, morale is: you can't know (the first time) if the person is attention-seeking or not. Why risk being wrong, and having a person die?

I've had a lot of experience about people threatening suicide. An ex boyfriend, my best friends, family, even myself. As someone said, if someone wants to kill themselves, you can't stop them. They would just do it. This girl in the next school district did. She went home from school, smiling and laughing with her friends. Her mom went out for some groceries, and found the girl had hung herself in the dinging room when she returned.

It's a touchy subject, really. It's a "you never know" kinda thing. Just different views on it and evidence supporting both sides.

Kupuntu - Sanctuary

Graviora - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I've had a lot of experience about people threatening suicide. An ex boyfriend, my best friends, family, even myself. As someone said, if someone wants to kill themselves, you can't stop them. They would just do it. This girl in the next school district did. She went home from school, smiling and laughing with her friends. Her mom went out for some groceries, and found the girl had hung herself in the dinging room when she returned.

It's a touchy subject, really. It's a "you never know" kinda thing. Just different views on it and evidence supporting both sides.

I know plenty of people who have been stopped before committing suicide. There are people that have almost killed themselves yet they were convinced that life isn't actually that bad.

MANray_ - Sanctuary

If you have reason to believe someone may comit suicide the method of comunication with said person is unimportant. You're duty bound to report it and do everything within your power to prevent them from succeeding. If you are convinced someone's life is in danger, my advice would be to immediately dial 911 and let them guide you as to what to do. No, you would not under any circumstance be considered to have wasted their time if you had reason to believe the attempt is serious. Liability would lie on the part of those making a prank under the assumption you will act responsably...

Suicide is a very serious issue and the idea that these people cannot be stopped or that they will not change their mind is a very naive assumption. With the exception of legitimate cases of people dealing with chronic pain or debilitating conditions impacting their quality of life, those attempting suicide because of emotional outbursts, depression, financial debt or any other such reasons can receive help and overcome their distress. This is, if in nothing else, an area where we are duty bound to protect each other as members of the same comunity.

If you're unsure about wether a person is being serious i would advice you to try a suicide hotline or other similar information services, they should be able to help you figure out wether the signs are there that indicate the matter should be taken seriously...